Makes it easy to do bulk data manipulations and find records
June 17, 2020

Makes it easy to do bulk data manipulations and find records

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • DupeBlocker
  • MassEffect
  • MassImpact

Overall Satisfaction with DemandTools

We regularly use DemandTools to make bulk data changes in Salesforce. Sometimes we need to find a number of records that meet criteria and make changes to them. For example, after an academic term commences we will find all of our admissions applications from that term that have not matriculated and we will mark them as closed (Mass Impact). Other times we will receive a list (CSV) from a department on campus who needs a value set and we will upload that list and enter the new values (Mass Effect). Other times we need to see how many people meet a certain condition so we will download those records (Power Grid). Or we may need to add Salesforce data to what we have in our SIS system so we use Power Grid to download those records along with their external ID and in Excel we join that up with SIS data.

Pros

  • Bulk data changes
  • Quickly query Salesforce for records
  • Fixing errors made by finding erroneous records
  • Finds fields related to records, not just fields on the key records themselves

Cons

  • The user interface looks very dated.
  • We really did not enjoy working with their sales reps when we signed our contract.
  • We have two Salesforce instances, one with DemandTools and one without. The one without has much more work involved with spreadsheets to make bulk changes.
  • Probably haven't saved another position, but has certainly saved significant time. Allows us to make bulk changes we might not do otherwise.
We didn't look around because DemandTools used to be free for non-profits when CRM Fusion owned it. Once Validity purchased it they immediately started to charge all non-profits. The only other tools we've used are Apex Data loader from Salesforce and Dataloader.io. They can do the job but Apex Data loader is complex to use and you have to do all your manipulations within spreadsheets.
Salesforce Maps (formerly MapAnything), Conga Composer
When you need to make bulk changes or find records meeting certain criteria, DemandTools is an extremely helpful tool. Also great for merging data from Salesforce with other systems provided you have a foreign key in your data (or external ID). If you need to save dynamic values for a variety of records it is not quite as useful as its formulas aren't all that comprehensive. When setting criteria for finding records you can use AND/OR logic but the OR logic is quite tedious to use.

Using DemandTools

2 - Salesforce administration and operations.
2 - You should be fairly technical and have access to a number of fields in Salesforce. We generally don't want other users using it in case they make mistakes with lots of records.
  • Bulk data changes
  • Finding records meeting criteria
  • Merging Salesforce data with external systems
  • It can be faster to report on data than within Salesforce since we can see related records easily
  • We can merge data with our student information system for external reports
It's a great product. The only thing that holds us back is it was frustrating working with their sales team. We also don't like that when Validity purchased DemandTools they immediately started charging us quite a bit while it had been free for non-profit users when CRMFusion owned it. They also don't let you buy it for just 1 or 2 seats, you have to pay, I believe, in batches of 100 seats.

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