Salesforce Consolidation Checklist To Handle Complex Merge Plans — AppShark
Salesforce Org consolidation is a common practice for companies that are using multiple Salesforce instances and want to bring it all together. Managing multiple Salesforce is challenging and results in inconsistency and data duplication. And, therefore it is best to consolidate Salesforce orgs into one, bring all the data together and create one ‘moment of truth’ for the organization.
Read our earlier blog post to know Why to Consolidate Multiple Salesforce Orgs and Ways to do Salesforce Consolidation. In this blog, we will discuss Salesforce Consolidation Checklist to help you successfully consolidate multiple Salesforce Orgs.
Salesforce Consolidation Checklist- Things To Do For Successful Salesforce Org Merge
1.Start with a detailed Salesforce merge plan
Salesforce merge can be tricky. So it is best to follow a logical and methodical approach. In your consolidation plan, include data migration process, testing process, data validation process and collaboration among team members. Also, create a schedule for various steps and timelines for it.
2. Meticulously conduct data migration
Data migration needs to be handled well as it is a crucial asset. Your Salesforce instance is as good as the data it has. Data migration is challenging because your multiple Salesforce orgs would keep collecting data till they are merged into one. So, you need to set a date to categorize all the data available in a Salesforce org as old data. Any data that is added after the cut-over data needs to be categorized as new data. First transfer the old data to the target Salesforce instance and then new data.
3. Ensure data integrity
When you are merging multiple Salesforce instances, there are chances of data duplication in the target Salesforce environment. Salesforce consolidation is a good opportunity to clean up your data. There are tools available in the AppExchange to help you in record count, identify duplicate records and delete data that you don’t require.
4. Make use of Courtesy Licenses
Salesforce provides Courtesy Licenses. The licenses will help you go back to source Salesforce org and check for data and other errors after you have merged your Salesforce. This will help you protect the integrity of your data and cover for any errors in Salesforce merging.
5. Use a data loader to load your new data
You will need to transfer accounts, contacts, opportunities, and activities, etc. You will also need to export record IDs each time to link the correct record IDs to ensure that contacts link up to accounts. A data loader will help you efficiently and effectively load data.
6. Test
Testing each iteration is important for the success of your Salesforce consolidation. Build a testing plan to ensure that you are able to cover all the affected elements and important scenarios. Build a testing team involving people from different departments and teams in your organization to get a good report on how well your merged new Salesforce environment is working.
7. Post Merger Support
It is normal to identify issues or bugs in the new Salesforce environment in the early days. It will take some time for the environment to get stable and your users settled to the new environment. Ensure that you have technical support during the early days so that you can quickly fix issues and your business functioning is not affected.
Consolidating Salesforce Environments
Businesses gain significant benefits such as a unified view of data, better collaboration, and savings in license fees by merging salesforce environments. All it takes is a methodical approach with proper planning and preparation. Hope our Salesforce consolidation checklist helps you!
If you’re looking for expert assistance to merge salesforce environments, then we can help you. We are a Salesforce Gold Consulting partner with over a decade of experience in Salesforce services .
Originally published at https://www.appshark.com on March 18, 2021.
