Author: zeusexam

Extending Custom Objects One of the main tasks of a Salesforce admin is the definition of the data model that holds all your CRM data. If you are reading this book, you certainly know how to create new custom objects and fields: mastering data model customization is, without any doubt, a skill you should acquire…

Importing data with Data Loader Data Loader is a standalone application that’s used to bulk import (and export) data. It can actually do all kinds of CRUD operations (insert, update, delete, and export). To download the app, go to Setup | Integrations | Data Loader and select the download link for your operating system (Windows…

Handling data changes So far, we have talked extensively about how to release metadata changes, but what about data changes? You may need to cleanse some fields on your records (due to a bug or a change request) or import a new table or even delete a given object from your organization because you don’t…

Deploying changes with other tools If we need more control over the deployment process, we can use other tools that are provided by the Salesforce platform. The first one, which is also at the core of the other methods, is the use of Metadata APIs. This is a set of APIs that are used to…

Deploying changes with packages Packages are like change sets but without the constraint that states that organizations should all be children of the same production organization. This means that change sets are not available on Developer Edition organizations, whereas packages are, and that we can only deploy metadata that is isolated from the destination organization’s…

Did we forget something? Let’s say that everything has been set up (although it hasn’t—don’t worry, we’ll understand why shortly). Click on the Upload button to send the change set to the destination organization: The change set is now being uploaded to the Production organization and a notification email will be sent to inform you…

Deploying changes with change sets In the previous section, we talked about the metadata changes that are deployed into a chain of sandboxes until the final production release. There are different ways to achieve a metadata deployment: Unlike change sets and packages, the other ways require you to master a developer’s attitude. Let’s start with…

About sandbox flow architectures Partial Copy and Full sandboxes require an additional license to be purchased (contact your Salesforce account manager for more information). There is no mandatory sandbox configuration setup, but let’s have a look at what we can design. Take a look at the following sandbox architecture, which can be adapted to most…

Developer sandbox This sandbox is used mainly for the development process. It contains a copy of all the production metadata but no records at all (exceptions include users, for instance). Having no access to real production data allows administrators and developers to safely develop their features without worrying about how data should be handled. The…

Change Management It’s important to provide your team with a safe place to implement new features using sandboxes. They should learn to master change management with change sets and learn which other tools can be used to move organization configurations from one organization to another. It is equally important to learn how to pull and…