Use this link to share with your colleagues:
All About Sandboxes: https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/829688
Ever wanted to try something out in PatronManager, but afraid you're going to mess something up in your system? Sandboxes to the rescue!
A sandbox is a copy of your PatronManager account you can use to test all sorts of customizations without affecting your real account (also called your production account).
In this article, we'll cover:
- What, exactly, is a sandbox?
- When should I use a sandbox?
- Do sandboxes cost anything?
- How do I set up a sandbox?
- How do I log into my sandbox?
- Wait! Why isn't there any data in my sandbox?
- How do I test transactions in a sandbox?
- I made an awesome customization in my sandbox - how do I bring it to my production account?
What, exactly, is a sandbox?
Specifically, a sandbox is a copy of the metadata in your PatronManager account. Huh?
That means when you create a sandbox, it'll work functionally just like your normal account. All the page layouts, custom fields, custom objects, and apps you've set up will all get copied over to your sandbox.
Records are not metadata - which means your sandbox won't have any Contacts, Accounts, Donations, Ticket Orders, or Ticketable Events in it. That's OK, though - you can have fun making fake records to play with!
When should I use a sandbox?
Any time you're going to change the way you and your staff use PatronManager, it's worth trying those changes out in a sandbox first. This is especially true for customizations like:
- Automations (e.g. workflow, Process Builder, or Flow)
- Installing new apps
- Making certain fields required
- Validation rules
- Any customizations to Salesforce Duplicate Management
- Custom record types
- Custom Sales Processes
- Declarative Lookup Rollup Summaries (DLRS)
Specifically, you want to make sure you test transactions and qualification before you implement your customizations in your PatronManager account. Here's an article about testing customizations, and here's specifically a rundown of how to test transactions.
Do sandboxes cost anything?
Nope! You get 25 Developer Sandboxes included with your account.
You also get 1 Partial Copy Sandbox included in your account, which will bring over some record data from your Production account.
You can pay for a "full copy" sandbox, called a Full Sandbox, which also brings things like people data over, but that's certainly not necessary (and isn't an option our own staff ever utilizes).
In general, we recommend using a Developer Sandbox. This is the most basic sandbox, but it's the only one you'll need to test customizations and how they work with PatronManager. It's also useful for training or practicing with PatronManager.
Partial Copy Sandboxes are good for User Acceptance Testing, or UAT. If you don't know what this means, then you likely don't need to use this.
How do I set up a Sandbox?
Here's an article that'll walk you through the process, step by step.
Each member of your staff can have their own sandbox, if you like, or you can share sandboxes.
How do I log into my sandbox?
It's slightly different from logging into your production account, so follow this article for instructions.
If you need someone else to log in (like a colleague or a PatronManager staff member), you'll need to give them access.
Wait! Why isn't there any data in my sandbox?
As we said before, sandboxes are a copy of the metadata in your production account - this means custom fields, workflows, objects, etc., will be present in your Developer and Partial Copy Sandbox.
However, record data will not get copied over. We recommend creating some fun fake records to play around with right away, including:
- A few Contacts / Accounts
- Some donations
- Ticketable Events / Event Instances / Allocations / Price Levels
- Some Ticket Orders
We think it's pretty fun making "dream seasons" of shows you'd never produce and filling your Accounts and Contacts with your favorite fictional characters!
How do I test transactions in a sandbox?
You can fully test your customizations with the instructions in this article, and then you can test transactions with the instructions in this article.
If you have PatronPortal, please note that if you test Memberships on the Public Ticketing Site (PTS) in your sandbox, PatronPortal functionality will not be mimicked in the sandbox.
I made an awesome customization in my sandbox - how do I bring it to my production account?
While you can certainly rebuild your customizations in your production account, you can also bring over those changes all at once with a change set! We've got an article to walk you through the process.
You can't bring record data over with a change set, but this is a quick way to avoid rebuilding any automations or custom fields from scratch.