Salesforce is renowned for its ability to handle large data volumes and complex business processes through its highly customizable platform. However, as organizations scale and grow their data models, they may encounter challenges, particularly when dealing with too many SObjects. Salesforce’s data model allows organizations to create custom objects, leading to vast volumes of SObjects that can cause performance degradation and complex data management issues. This article will explore how to handle too many SObjects in Salesforce, providing strategies, best practices, and code examples to optimize your org’s performance.
Too Many SObjects In Salesforce and Solution
SObjects in Salesforce
In Salesforce, SObject (Salesforce Object) is the term used to describe any object within the platform, including both standard and custom objects. These objects represent tables in Salesforce’s relational database, containing records that store your data. Whenever you create a new record in Salesforce, you work with an SObject.
Salesforce provides several standard SObjects, such as Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, and Leads. However, businesses often need to extend these standard objects to capture specific data, leading to the creation of custom SObjects. As businesses grow, the number of SObjects can increase, causing potential issues in managing these objects and ensuring optimal performance.
The Problem with Too Many SObjects
Having too many SObjects in Salesforce can lead to several critical challenges:
- Performance Degradation: With too many custom objects, especially when combined with vast amounts of data, your Salesforce instance may slow down. This affects the speed of queries, reports, and overall user experience.
- Complexity in Data Management: Managing a large number of SObjects can complicate your data model. As more custom objects are created, the relationships between these objects can become difficult to manage, leading to data integrity and governance issues.
- Governor Limits: Salesforce imposes strict governor limits, including limits on SOQL queries, data storage, and API calls. Having too many SObjects can result in hitting these limits more frequently, restricting your system’s performance.
- User Interface Clutter: With an overwhelming number of SObjects, your users may find navigating and interacting with your data difficult. This can reduce productivity and increase the chances of user error.
Signs That Your Salesforce Org Has Too Many SObjects
It’s important to recognize the signs of having too many SObjects before they cause critical issues. Common indicators include:
- Slow Load Times: Pages taking longer to load or time-out errors when interacting with certain objects.
- Complicated Data Structures: Users and admins struggle to understand or manage the relationships between various objects.
- Hit Governor Limits: Frequent errors related to governor limits, such as exceeding the maximum number of SOQL queries.
- Difficulty in Reporting: Complex reporting setups with multiple custom objects make it difficult to extract meaningful data.
Strategies for Managing Too Many SObjects
To address the issue of too many SObjects in Salesforce, several strategies can be implemented to optimize both performance and data management.
Review and Consolidate Custom Objects
One of the first steps is to review your custom objects. Often, custom objects are created to solve specific problems, but as your organization evolves, you may find that some objects become redundant or can be consolidated.
- Consolidate Related Objects: If you have multiple custom objects that store similar data, consider consolidating them into fewer objects.
- Use Record Types: Rather than creating separate custom objects, consider using record types within a single object to differentiate between different types of data.
Optimize Relationships Between Objects
Having a large number of Master-Detail or Lookup Relationships between objects can create data skew and performance bottlenecks. Review your object relationships and make sure they are optimized for both data management and performance.
- Minimize Data Skew: Avoid having too many child records related to a single parent object, as this can lead to performance issues.
- Use External Lookup Relationships: In some cases, using external systems to store large volumes of child data can reduce the load on your Salesforce org.
Archive or Delete Unused Objects
Over time, your org may accumulate unused or outdated custom objects. Archiving or deleting these objects can significantly reduce complexity and improve performance.
- Data Retention Policies: Before deleting objects, ensure you have a robust data retention policy in place.
- Use Custom Archive Solutions: Salesforce provides tools for archiving data, but you may also create custom archival solutions that meet your specific needs.
Optimizing Salesforce Performance with Too Many SObjects
In addition to managing your SObjects more effectively, it’s crucial to implement specific performance optimization techniques.
Optimize SOQL Queries
Inefficient queries are a common culprit when it comes to performance issues in Salesforce. Follow best practices to optimize your SOQL queries.
- Use SELECTIVE SOQL Queries: Make sure your queries are selective by applying WHERE clauses and indexed fields to reduce the number of rows returned.
List<Account> accounts = [SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE Industry = 'Technology' LIMIT 100];- Batch Processing: For large data volumes, process queries in batches to avoid hitting governor limits.
global class BatchProcessAccounts implements Database.Batchable<SObject> {
global Database.QueryLocator start(Database.BatchableContext BC) {
return Database.getQueryLocator([SELECT Id FROM Account]);
}
global void execute(Database.BatchableContext BC, List<Account> scope) {
// Process each account in batches
}
global void finish(Database.BatchableContext BC) {
// Post-processing
}
}Use Asynchronous Apex for Large Data Processing
When dealing with large numbers of SObjects, use Asynchronous Apex to handle the processing in the background without affecting the user interface.
- Batch Apex: Suitable for processing large datasets asynchronously.
global class BatchUpdateRecords implements Database.Batchable<SObject> {
global Database.QueryLocator start(Database.BatchableContext BC) {
return Database.getQueryLocator([SELECT Id FROM Contact WHERE Status__c = 'Active']);
}
global void execute(Database.BatchableContext BC, List<Contact> scope) {
for(Contact con : scope) {
con.Status__c = 'Updated';
}
update scope;
}
global void finish(Database.BatchableContext BC) {
// Final steps
}
}Implement Data Sharding
Data sharding is a strategy that involves splitting your large datasets into smaller, more manageable chunks. This can be done by geography, business units, or record types.
- Use Custom Objects for Sharding: Implement separate custom objects to store data shards and maintain relationships with primary SObjects.
public class ShardDataManager {
public void shardDataByRegion() {
// Implement logic to split data by region
}
}Leverage External Data Storage
If you’re approaching Salesforce’s storage limits, consider integrating external data storage solutions like Heroku, Amazon S3, or Salesforce Connect.
Example using Salesforce Connect:
// Use Salesforce Connect to query data from external storage
List<ExternalObject__x> externalData = [SELECT Id, ExternalField__c FROM ExternalObject__x WHERE ExternalField__c = 'Criteria'];Examples to Manage and Optimize Too Many SObjects
Query SObjects with Selective Filters
List<Contact> contacts = [SELECT Id, Name FROM Contact WHERE AccountId = :accountId AND Status__c = 'Active' LIMIT 500];Batch Update SObjects
global class BatchUpdateContacts implements Database.Batchable<SObject> {
global Database.QueryLocator start(Database.BatchableContext BC) {
return Database.getQueryLocator([SELECT Id FROM Contact WHERE AccountId = :accountId]);
}
global void execute(Database.BatchableContext BC, List<Contact> scope) {
for(Contact contact : scope) {
contact.Status__c = 'Updated';
}
update scope;
}
}Delete Unused SObjects in Bulk
global class BatchDeleteUnusedObjects implements Database.Batchable<SObject> {
global Database.QueryLocator start(Database.BatchableContext BC) {
return Database.getQueryLocator([SELECT Id FROM UnusedObject__c WHERE LastModifiedDate < LAST_N_DAYS:365]);
}
global void execute(Database.BatchableContext BC, List<UnusedObject__c> scope) {
delete scope;
}
}SOQL Query Optimization
List<Account> accounts = [SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE CreatedDate > LAST_N_DAYS:30];Batch Archive Data
global class ArchiveOldRecordsBatch implements Database.Batchable<SObject> {
global Database.QueryLocator start(Database.BatchableContext BC) {
return Database.getQueryLocator([SELECT Id FROM OldObject__c WHERE CreatedDate < LAST_N_DAYS:365]);
}
global void execute(Database.BatchableContext BC, List<OldObject__c> scope) {
delete scope;
}
}Batch Process with Error Handling
global class BatchProcessWithErrorHandling implements Database.Batchable<SObject> {
global Database.QueryLocator start(Database.BatchableContext BC) {
return Database.getQueryLocator([SELECT Id FROM Account WHERE Status__c = 'Active']);
}
global void execute(Database.BatchableContext BC, List<Account> scope) {
try {
for (Account acc : scope) {
acc.Status__c = 'Processed';
}
update scope;
} catch (Exception e) {
// Handle exception
System.debug('Error: ' + e.getMessage());
}
}
global void finish(Database.BatchableContext BC) {
// Post-processing
}
}Archiving Old Data with Scheduled Apex
global class ScheduledArchive implements Schedulable {
global void execute(SchedulableContext SC) {
ArchiveOldRecordsBatch batch = new ArchiveOldRecordsBatch();
Database.executeBatch(batch);
}
}Process Large Data Sets with Queueable Apex
public class ProcessLargeDataQueueable implements Queueable {
public void execute(QueueableContext context) {
List<Contact> contacts = [SELECT Id, Status__c FROM Contact WHERE Status__c = 'Pending'];
for(Contact con : contacts) {
con.Status__c = 'Processed';
}
update contacts;
}
}External Data Storage Using Salesforce Connect
List<ExternalObject__x> externalData = [SELECT Id, Name FROM ExternalObject__x WHERE ExternalField__c = 'Criteria' LIMIT 100];Optimized SOQL Queries for Selectivity
List<Case> cases = [SELECT Id, Status, Priority FROM Case WHERE CreatedDate > LAST_N_DAYS:30 AND Priority = 'High'];Master-Detail Relationship Optimization Example
List<ChildObject__c> children = [SELECT Id, ParentId FROM ChildObject__c WHERE ParentId IN :parentIds];Use of @ReadOnly in Visualforce Controllers for Performance
public with sharing class ReadOnlyController {
@ReadOnly
public List<Account> getAccounts() {
return [SELECT Id, Name FROM Account];
}
}Avoiding Data Skew by Splitting Large Objects
public class DataSkewHandler {
public void splitDataByRegion() {
// Logic to divide data into manageable chunks based on region
}
}
Efficient DML Operations with Bulk Processing
public void updateAccountsInBulk(List<Account> accounts) {
if(accounts != null && !accounts.isEmpty()) {
update accounts;
}
}Using Platform Events to Handle High Volume of Data Changes
public class HighVolumeDataHandler {
public void processDataChange() {
// Logic to process data change using Platform Events
}
}
