Understanding and Creating Public Groups in Salesforce

Public groups in Salesforce are defined as entities that can be seen and accessed by all members and employees working as a team. These groups are designed to be accessible to everyone in the team and are crucial for managing queries and sharing records, reports, and dashboards effectively. This article will guide you through the basics of public groups in Salesforce, their usage, and the process of creating them in both the classic and lightning environments.

What are Public Groups in Salesforce?

A public group in Salesforce is a group that includes users with different profiles and is used to apply sharing rules. These groups can be used to place different user roles, roles and subordinates, and even other public groups together, allowing for the application of sharing rules to all members involved. Public groups facilitate better organization and management of data and access permissions within Salesforce.

Why Use or Create Public Groups in Salesforce

Create and use public groups in Salesforce for defining sharing rules and extending sharing rules beyond role hierarchies. Public groups allow you to group users with different profiles, roles, and subordinates, making it easier to manage access permissions and apply sharing rules to all relevant users. This simplifies the process of managing large organizations with many sharing rules.

How to Create Public Groups

Creating Public Groups in Salesforce Classic

Login to your Salesforce organization. Navigate to Setup. In the setup, go to Administration and select Users Groups, then Public Groups. Alternatively, you can use the Quick Find Box to search for Public Groups and click on them. Click on the New button to create a new public group. Enter a Label for the group, which will auto-populate the Group Name. Check the Grant Access using Hierarchies checkbox to share access based on role hierarchies. If you don’t want to use role hierarchies, uncheck the Grant Access using Hierarchies checkbox. Use the search box to select users, roles, roles and subordinates, or other public groups and add them to the Selected Delegated Groups. Click Save to create the public group.

Creating Public Groups in Salesforce Lightning

Login to your Salesforce Lightning account. Click on the gear icon and select Setup. Enter 'Public Groups' in the Quick Find Box and click on them. Under the Public Groups page, click on the New button. Enter a Label for the group and then the Group Name. Select the Grant Access using Hierarchies checkbox if you want to share access based on role hierarchies. Click on the drop-down menu and select public groups, roles, role and subordinates, or users. Add available members to the Selected Delegated Groups. Click Save to create the public group.

Conclusion

Creating and managing public groups in Salesforce is a powerful way to streamline your sharing rules and manage access controls. Whether you are working in Salesforce Classic or Lightning, the process is straightforward and can significantly enhance the functionality and security of your Salesforce instance.