Getting Started with Salesforce Agentforce:...

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Salesforce Agentforce brings the power of generative AI to your customer service experience by allowing you to build intelligent AI-powered agents. These agents can handle customer conversations, automate common tasks, and escalate to human agents when needed. In this guide, we'll walk you through the complete setup process, from enabling Agentforce in your Salesforce org to deploying your Service Agent on a public-facing community site.

Need expert help with your Agentforce implementation? Phenoble's certified Agentforce specialists have deployed 40+ agents across sales and service teams. See our Agentforce services →

1. How to Enable Agentforce in Your Org

Before you can build or deploy any AI agents, you need to enable Agentforce in your Salesforce org.

Steps to Enable Agentforce:

Go to Setup in Salesforce.
In the Setup Quick Find, search for and select Einstein Setup.
Click the Turn on Einstein toggle, and make sure Einstein is On
Refresh your browser to reload Setup.
In the Setup Quick Find, search for and select Agentforce Agents.
At the top of the Agentforce Agents page, click the Agentforce toggle, and ensure it is set to On.
Click the Enable the Agentforce (Default) Agent toggle, and ensure it is set to On.

2. How to Create a Service Agent

Create Invocable Apex class

OrderStatus.cls
public class OrderStatus {
    @InvocableMethod(label='Order Status' description='Return status of the order based on order number')
    public static List<String> getStatus(List<String> orderNumbers) {
        List<String> results = new List<String>();

        if (orderNumbers == null || orderNumbers.isEmpty()) {
            results.add('Error: Order number list is empty or null.');
            return results;
        }

        try {
            String orderNumStr = orderNumbers[0];

            Order o = [SELECT Id, Status FROM Order WHERE OrderNumber = :orderNumStr LIMIT 1];

            results.add(o.Status);
        } catch (QueryException qe) {
            results.add('No order found for number ' + orderNumbers[0]);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            results.add('Error: ' + e.getMessage());
        }

        return results;
    }
}

Create Action

Now In the Quick Find, search for and select Agentforce Assets.
Click on Agentforce Assets
Click on + New Agent Action button
Choose Reference Action Type as Apex
Choose Reference Action Category as Invocable Methods
Choose Reference Action as Order Status
Click on Next button
In the Agent Action Instruction Write "Return status of the order based on order number. For example: user provide input like this: share me the status of order number 00000100 so it should return the order status."
Loading Text as "Getting Order Details"
In the Input Section Instructions field write "Order number provided by user" and Select checkbox Require input
In the Output Section Instructions field write "show the status of the order" and Select checkbox show in conversation
Click on Finish button

Create Sample Data

Click on App Launcher and Search for Contract
Select Contracts
Create a Record of Contracts
Now Click on App Launcher and Search for Order
Select Orders
Create a Record of Orders
Make sure order should be linked to the contracts record like this

Setup Agent

In the Setup Quick Find, search for and select Agentforce Agents.
Click + New Agent. Note: If the New Agent button is not present, refresh the page until the button appears.
Select Agentforce Service Agent as the type.
Click Next.
On the Select your agent's topics screen, click Added next to Case Management to remove this standard topic from your agent. The button should now be +Add.
Click Added next to every topic
Click Next.
Enter the agent’s Name and API Name as follows:
Name: Get Order Status
Description: Deliver personalized customer interactions with an autonomous AI agent. Get Order Status Agent intelligently supports your customers with common inquiries about the order status.
Role: An AI customer service agent whose job is to help customers with queries regarding order status.
Company: This is a company which delivers customer orders
Click on Next Button
Click on Create button

Grant Permission to Agent User

Create Permission Set named Get_Order_Status_Permissions
In the Permission Set Go to Object Setting
Find Order object and Give Read and View All Field Permission
In permission set Now Go to Apex class Access and Click on Edit
Select OrderStatus apex class from Available Apex Classes to Enabled Apex Classes
Click on Save
In Agentforce builder screen Click on Setting Icon!
Scroll down and Copy starting text of Agent User field like this
Search this in users list and click on user
Click on Permission Set Assignments link from top
Click on Edit Assignments
Find Get_Order_Status_Permissions permission set and move it to Enabled Permission Sets
Click on Save button

Create a New Topic in Agentforce

Go to your Agentforce Agent
Click on New button and then New Topic
In the What do you want this topic to do(Optional) fill as "This topic will call the order status invocable action and share the order status with the customer."
Click on Next button
Topic Label: Order Status
Classification Description: This topic handles inquiries related to checking the status of an order. It will guide the agent to retrieve and share the order status with the customer.
Scope: Your job is only to retrieve and provide the current status of the customer’s order. Do not attempt to handle any other types of inquiries or issues.
Instructions: If a user does not have their order number, ask for the order number in correct format
Click on Next button
Choose Order Status action
Click on Finish

Omni-channel Settings

In the Quick Find box Search for "Omni-channel Settings" and Select
Turn on Enhanced Omni-Channel Routing toggle button
Make sure Enable Omni-Channel Checkbox is check
Scroll down to bottom and Select Automatically log agents in to Omni-Channel in the new window or tab

Create Routing Configuration

In the Quick Find box Search for Routing
Click on Routing Configurations
Click on New Button
Fill the form as following
Click on Save button

Create a new Queue

In the Quick Find box Search for Queue
Click on Queues and Click on New button
Fill the Label and Queue Name as Messaging Queue
In the Routing Configuration choose routing configuration which we created in Step 2
From Available Objects choose Messaging Session and add it to Selected Objects section
Now from Available Members choose your admin user and add it to Selected Members
Click on Save button

Enable Digital Experience and Embedded Service Deployments

In the Quick Find box Search for "Digital Experience"
Click on Settings
Now select the Enable Digital Experience checkbox
In the Quick Find box Search for "Embedded"
Select Embedded Service Deployments
Click on New Deployment button
Select Messaging for in-App and Web
Click on Next button
Click on Web
Click on Next button
Embedded Service Deployment Name: Order Status ESD
API Name: Auto Populate
Domain: my.site.com
Messaging Channel: Choose the Messaging Channel which we created ealier
Click on Save button
Now Click on the Publish button

Congratulations you have successfully created and deployed your AI Agent to the Community Site!

Frequently Asked Questions

What do you need to enable before creating an Agentforce agent?

Einstein must be turned on first in Einstein Setup, since Agentforce depends on it. After a browser refresh, open Agentforce Agents in Setup and switch on both the Agentforce toggle and the Enable the Agentforce (Default) Agent toggle.

How does the Service Agent look up an order status?

Through an invocable Apex action. The OrderStatus Apex class queries the Order object by order number, and an Agent Action created in Agentforce Assets references that invocable method. A dedicated Order Status topic on the agent then calls the action when a customer asks about an order.

Why does the agent user need a permission set?

The agent runs as its own user, so it needs explicit access to the data and code it uses. The Get_Order_Status_Permissions permission set grants Read and View All Field access on the Order object plus access to the OrderStatus Apex class, and it must be assigned to the agent user shown in the agent's settings.

How do you deploy the agent to a public-facing site?

Enable Digital Experience, create an Embedded Service Deployment using a Messaging for In-App and Web channel backed by your Omni-Channel flow and queue, then drag the Embedded Messaging component onto a community site built from the Customer Service template. Add a CORS allowed origin for your site domain and publish.

Ready to implement? Learn more about our Agentforce Implementation Services.

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Need expert help with your Agentforce implementation? Phenoble's certified Agentforce specialists have deployed 40+ agents across sales and service teams. See our Agentforce services →