Alternative to Conga for Salesforce Document Generation

Alternative to Conga for Salesforce Document Generation

Document generation is an almost universal need for businesses and nonprofits leveraging the Salesforce platform as a CRM and beyond. Companies want to build quotes, contracts, invoices, product sheets, and many other documents off the data they manage through Salesforce, in as few steps as possible. This document compares six of the most popular tools available on the appexchange today. A summary table highlights core attributes, including basic technical capabilities. In addition, each tool is further described in more detail with an emphasis placed on the user experience for both the admin setting up the template as well as the end user generating documents from records.

Conga Composer

Overview: With 816 reviews to date and a 4.8 star rating, Conga Composer is by far the most widely adopted document generation tool for Salesforce. Conga Composer caters to a wide variety of needs, allowing for multiple complex SOQL queries to pull virtually any datapoint you may want in your document, advanced logic options within the document to be created, and a vast library of parameters to govern the behavior of the solution during document generation. Despite the new Document Automation Wizard in Lightning, even an experienced Salesforce admin will have to invest several days to understand how to build expert solutions. Conga Composer offers a full suite of related products to cover requirements surrounding the document generation process, such as document collaboration or contract negotiation.

Best for: Businesses with complex document generation requirements, high standards, and a technically strong Salesforce admin. 

Admin User Experience: Conga Composer uses the concept of Conga Solutions, which consists of a report or SOQL query to pull data, a template, and parameters. Templates are edited in the MS Office suite. A Template Builder provides the correct merge fields to be inserted baes on the query. Parameters can be looked up and added into the solution. A custom button can be added to the page layout for each specific solution. This setup provides a lot of flexibility for the experienced admin, it does not however provide an intuitive user experience. 

Template Setup Effort: Getting from zero to a first template set up in Conga Composer took me approximately two days when I first started using this tool a few years ago. The Lightning version now includes sample solutions, which are likely to accelerate the onboarding process. Subsequently, setting up a simple quote template from an existing company format will take an estimated four hours including testing. 

End User Experience: End Users may use either the custom buttons set up by their admin to generate a specific document directly, or, if included on the page layout, launch Conga Composer and subsequently select the relevant template from a list. Either way, a canvas app is opened which is not in line with Lightning Design System, creating a visual break. 

Titan

Overview: Titan’s MS Word Add-in provides a fantastic user experience when creating templates. It’s incredibly easy to use, there is no need to separately build out a data model or otherwise define which objects you want to work with, fields and tables can simply be added in as you go. Subsequently defining how the records are related is also easy, and no SOQL statement, scripting or other code is required to set up even advanced logic for a template. A preview option allows for quick testing of the template, before publishing it. Setting up delivery methods and establishing the full connection to Salesforce is a little more challenging, as the admin has to navigate their online Titan account, which is primarily geared towards form creation. Finding the options relevant to document generation can be challenging. The same applies to the support documentation, which is extensive (though it primarily consists of videos) and can be hard to navigate. 

Best for: Companies with webform needs in addition to document generation needs taking advantage of the full Titan offering. Admins wanting a pure clicks-not-code experience with extensive video guidance. Could be a good fit for non-admins setting up the template in MS Word, and admins only supporting in the online setup steps.

Admin User Experience: Titan provides a very quick access to the templates itself. Rather than first having to set up a solution, package, or similar, they only need a Titan account, the add-in in Word, and can then start directly building out the templates. The MS Word Add-in is incredibly easy to use and fits in visually, too. Titan is a true clicks-not-code tool, even for advanced logic. There is no need to copy-paste merge fields or write SOQL queries to filter results. The Add-in also provides an option for previewing the template. Once the template is set up, it can be published to the Titan account. This is where the setup becomes more challenging, as the user interface contains a multitude of options that are not relevant to document generation, making it harder to navigate. The admin follows a few general setup steps in the Titan account, then needs to set up various pieces for each individual template. Similar to FormStacks Documents, a mapping has to be set up, though in Titan this can be largely automated. In addition, collaborators have to be set up per template in order to allow Salesforce users access. Depending on the desired automated delivery method (storage, email, e-signature), further setup is required, though the end user may also select these methods manually when generating documents.

End User Experience: The end user clicks a Generate Document button from the starting record. They can then select the relevant template, and either view/download it or choose from a range of options, including Download, Email, or attaching the document. The UI is in line with Titan and does not clash with Lightning Design System.