Introduction
Maintaining a clean and efficient Salesforce org is essential for ensuring that your business operates smoothly and that your users have a positive experience. As a Salesforce Admin, it’s your responsibility to keep the org optimized, secure, and scalable. A cluttered org not only impacts performance but can also lead to data integrity issues, compliance risks, and frustrated end-users.
In this guide, we’ll cover practical steps and best practices for maintaining a clean Salesforce org, with real-world use cases to demonstrate how these strategies can be applied effectively. We will also show how Dohrinii Technologies can help streamline this process, ensuring that your Salesforce environment is both robust and agile.
1. Regularly Clean Up Data
Data cleanliness is the backbone of an efficient Salesforce org. Over time, organizations accumulate large volumes of data, much of which can become obsolete or duplicated. Admins need to establish a regular schedule for reviewing and cleaning data to avoid potential issues like inaccurate reporting, duplicate records, and poor user experience.
Best Practices for Data Cleanup:
- Use Duplicate Management Tools: Salesforce offers native duplicate management tools that help prevent duplicate records from entering the system. You can set up matching rules and duplicate rules to alert users when duplicates are found.
- Archiving Old Data: Data from past years, such as old leads or closed opportunities, may not be relevant for active reporting. Using tools like Salesforce Data Archiving or External Data Storage Solutions can keep your reports clean while maintaining access to historical data.
Use Case:
A company’s sales department frequently complained that they were seeing duplicate leads, leading to confusion and wasted time. The Salesforce Admin implemented duplicate rules and matching criteria for lead creation, and after a thorough data clean-up, sales productivity increased by 20% due to more accurate lead records.
2. Optimize User Access with Permission Sets
One of the most overlooked aspects of a Salesforce org is the proper management of user permissions. While profiles were traditionally used to manage permissions, Salesforce now recommends using Permission Sets for more granular control. Admins should regularly review user access levels to ensure compliance with internal policies and external regulations.
Best Practices for Managing Permissions:
- Conduct Regular Permission Audits: Regularly reviewing user roles, profiles, and permission sets helps you spot unnecessary or outdated permissions. This can enhance security by ensuring that users only have access to what they need.
- Utilize Permission Set Groups: If multiple users require a similar combination of permissions, you can group permission sets into Permission Set Groups to simplify management.
Use Case:
A financial services company was struggling to manage complex user permissions due to a growing number of profiles. The Salesforce Admin streamlined the process by consolidating profiles and introducing Permission Set Groups for different departments. As a result, compliance improved, and user access became more transparent and easier to manage.
3. Streamline Automation with Salesforce Flow
Salesforce automation tools such as Process Builder and Workflow Rules have been the go-to solutions for automating business processes for years. However, Salesforce is retiring these tools in favor of Salesforce Flow, which provides more powerful and flexible automation capabilities. Keeping automation simple and maintaining only necessary flows will prevent performance degradation.
Best Practices for Automation:
- Review and Consolidate Automations: Ensure that you review existing processes and flows regularly to eliminate redundancies. Overlapping automations can cause data processing delays or conflicts.
- Build Modular Flows: Rather than building large, monolithic automations, break them into smaller, modular flows. This allows easier maintenance and reduces the risk of errors.
Use Case:
A retail company used multiple Process Builders for managing order approvals. The Salesforce Admin reviewed and consolidated all these automations into a single, streamlined flow using Salesforce Flow. The consolidation reduced the time it took for approvals to process by 30%, improving order fulfillment efficiency.
4. Monitor and Optimize System Performance
As a Salesforce org grows, performance can degrade if not regularly monitored. A slow system frustrates users and can impact business operations, especially when working with high-volume data or complex automations.
Best Practices for System Performance:
- Use the Salesforce Optimizer: Salesforce offers a free tool called Salesforce Optimizer that provides insights into your org’s performance. It identifies issues like unused fields, reports, and overly complex processes.
- Limit API Calls and Integrations: Review external integrations and API calls to ensure they are optimized and not overloading the system. Managing API limits is crucial to avoid performance bottlenecks.
- Remove Unused Fields and Reports: Regularly audit and remove unused fields, reports, and dashboards that may clutter the database and slow down the user experience.
Use Case:
A technology company with multiple integrations began experiencing performance lags, especially during peak usage times. The Salesforce Admin ran the Salesforce Optimizer report and identified unused fields and overly complex processes that were slowing down the system. After cleaning up the org, system performance improved significantly, and user satisfaction increased.
5. Audit and Manage Reports and Dashboards
Over time, your Salesforce org may accumulate a lot of reports and dashboards. While some are essential for operations, many become outdated or irrelevant. Regularly auditing reports ensures that your data analysis remains meaningful and that your org stays efficient.
Best Practices for Reports and Dashboards:
- Consolidate Similar Reports: Duplicate or similar reports can lead to confusion and clutter. Consolidating reports with similar criteria can improve reporting efficiency.
- Review Usage of Reports and Dashboards: Use Salesforce’s report and dashboard usage metrics to identify which reports are not being used. Eliminate or archive those that are no longer needed.
Use Case:
A nonprofit organization’s leadership team struggled to find the correct reports for donor activity because they had hundreds of unused or outdated reports. The Salesforce Admin performed a full audit, consolidating reports and archiving irrelevant ones. This clean-up allowed leadership to quickly access critical data, leading to better fundraising decisions.
6. Establish Clear Documentation and Governance
Good documentation and governance are essential to maintaining a clean Salesforce org. Without these, it’s easy for processes to become mismanaged or for admins to lose track of configuration changes.
Best Practices for Governance:
- Maintain Clear Documentation: Document every customization, automation, and integration so that anyone working on the org understands the current setup.
- Implement Change Management Processes: Establish change management protocols to ensure that every modification made in the org is reviewed and approved by the relevant stakeholders.
Use Case:
A healthcare company lacked documentation for its Salesforce automations, making it difficult to troubleshoot when things went wrong. The Salesforce Admin implemented a documentation strategy and established clear governance protocols. This reduced troubleshooting time by 40% and improved collaboration across teams.
How Dohrinii Technologies Can Help You
At Dohrinii Technologies, we specialize in ensuring that your Salesforce org is clean, efficient, and tailored to your business needs. Our team of certified Salesforce Admins and Architects can help you:
- Conduct Data Audits: We’ll identify and clean up duplicate and outdated data, ensuring that your reports are accurate and your Salesforce org is streamlined.
- Optimize Security and Permissions: We’ll ensure that your users have the right access with permission set audits and security health checks.
- Automate Workflows and Processes: Our team will help you transition from outdated automations to Salesforce Flow, optimizing processes to enhance system performance.
- Monitor Performance: We can help you use tools like Salesforce Optimizer to monitor and improve your system’s efficiency, minimizing downtime and maximizing user productivity.
- Provide Governance and Documentation: We offer best-in-class documentation and governance services to ensure that your Salesforce org stays clean and scalable as your business grows.
By partnering with Dohrinii Technologies, you’ll gain the expertise and support needed to maintain a healthy Salesforce org that drives business success. Let us take care of the heavy lifting while you focus on growing your business!