The Benefits of Removing Technical Debt From Your Salesforce Platform

Turn Your Defiant Salesforce Users Into Cheerleaders

Steve was in a bit of a pickle. He had been working at Whole Spoons, Inc. for the past few months as their Salesforce Admin, and his users were not happy with how clunky, confusing, and overwhelming Salesforce was to use.

This wasn’t Steve’s fault—he had implemented all of the features and fields they asked for, but now it seemed too much. 

So Steve decided to take action; he met with his team to better understand what they currently needed from Salesforce and then reviewed the components in Salesforce that weren’t necessary anymore or could be streamlined.

After some hard work, he eliminated all those extra fields, objects, plugins, and other features cluttering the system—and voila!

His users were thrilled with how easy it was to access information on Salesforce and input data. 

The process improved adoption rates throughout Whole Spoons Inc., resulting in a higher quality of data stored on their system because people didn’t have any trouble finding what they needed when submitting information into Salesforce from now on! 

Steve smiled proudly at this achievement; his efforts made it good to know that everyone was happier using Salesforce.

Introduction

If you are a Salesforce Admin, you already know the importance of keeping your Salesforce platform up-to-date. But did you know that something called “technical debt” can put your business at risk?

If left unchecked, technical debt can lead to severe problems down the line. Fortunately, you can take steps to remove technical debt from your Salesforce platform.

Let’s look at technical debt, why it’s essential to remove it, and how to do so.

What Is Technical Debt in Salesforce?

Technical debt refers to the accumulated unused elements in a Salesforce instance that can lead to long-term problems if not addressed. As a Salesforce Admin, it requires managing and maintaining all the page layouts, fields, custom objects, third-party plugins, validation rules, automation elements, and integrations according to the current needs of the business. If left unattended, these components can create a cluttered and confusing environment that will be difficult for users and admins alike.

The consequences of not addressing technical debt can include long-term performance issues and increased complexity when trying to add new features or functionalities. In addition, there are security risks associated with leaving unused components in your Salesforce instance since they may contain potentially sensitive information or have flaws that could be exploited. It’s also important to remember that the longer you wait to address technical debt, the more time-consuming and costly it becomes. Each component that accumulates added complexity creates even more work when cleaning up an unchanged environment. 

To prevent your Salesforce instance from accumulating technical debt over time, it’s essential to have an effective strategy in place. This includes staying on top of changes in your system by regularly reviewing existing data models, page layouts, and features to identify which ones are no longer necessary or valuable to the business.

It’s also essential to continuously evaluate third-party applications for compatibility with your current version of Salesforce and for potential vulnerabilities that could put your data at risk. Finally, ensure you have adequate monitoring tools to spot issues like slow loading times or performance issues related to excessive API usage due to unnecessary integration points.

The Benefits of Removing Technical Debt

Removing technical debt when managing a Salesforce instance is essential to ensuring optimal performance and user experience. Unchecked technical debt can lead to significant application performance, usability, and scalability issues. 

The first benefit of cleaning up technical debt is that it can improve end users’ overall user interface and experience. Suppose there are too many page layouts, fields, custom objects, third-party plugins, validation rules, automation elements, and integrations in the system that are no longer relevant or needed. In that case, it can slow down loading times and make the navigation process more challenging and confusing.

By removing unnecessary components from the system (i.e., ‘phantom elements’), users can easily find what they need quickly and efficiently- this improves their overall experience with the system and increases productivity.

The second benefit of removing technical debt relates to application scalability and performance. Suppose an existing Salesforce instance contains elements that are no longer necessary but haven’t been addressed yet. In that case, it will inevitably cause lag time in operations due to its heavier load on resources.

This can even cascade on other applications or services connected to Salesforce if those services aren’t performing optimally due to delays from the Salesforce instance. By cleaning up the technical debt from a Salesforce instance, you can ensure that all your applications remain running smoothly without experiencing any slowdown due to phantom elements in your system. 

Finally, another key benefit of removing technical debt from your Salesforce instance is related to cost savings over time.

As mentioned previously, if a Salesforce instance contains components that are no longer necessary but haven’t been addressed yet- they will be taking up valuable resources which could otherwise be more efficiently allocated elsewhere.

By removing these phantom elements from the system, you will be able to free up more computing power for other tasks- ultimately reducing hardware costs as well as maintenance costs by freeing up more of your team’s time for other projects instead of having them continuously work on cleaning up unnecessary components in your Salesforce instance manually.

How to Remove Technical Debt From Your Salesforce Platform

Understand the current requirements for your users

The first step in removing technical debt from your Salesforce platform is understanding the users and their roles within the company. By becoming familiar with how they use the software and what tasks they need to complete, you can ensure that only the information necessary to do their jobs accurately is available. 

This helps improve security and productivity by hiding tabs, objects, and fields that are irrelevant or needed. This strategy also limits the risk of error caused by unnecessary data being stored or accessed. It also prevents users from accessing confidential information that could be used maliciously. 

In addition, understanding what processes users need to undertake enables you to identify any manual processes which may be painful, slow down efficiency, or introduce errors into the system. By addressing these areas, you can reduce the amount of manual effort required and enable faster response times when dealing with customer queries. 

Further, understanding the user’s responsibilities means you can set up alerts and notifications so that changes in data or new records are quickly identified. This enables quick action on any issues before they become a problem and keeps systems running efficiently without the need for complex coding solutions. 

Overall, developing a deep understanding of your users’ needs is an essential first step in reducing technical debt on your Salesforce platform. Identifying areas where unnecessary complexity can be removed and introducing automated solutions where appropriate allows for streamlined processes that boost productivity across your organization while keeping vital business information secure at all times.

Identify Abandoned Apps & Plugins

Removing applications and plugins that are no longer needed can help reduce the system’s complexity and the potential for security vulnerabilities or errors. This approach can help streamline processes, improve performance, and avoid unnecessary complications. 

By taking a proactive stance on removing outdated software, you can ensure that all components run smoothly and at peak efficiency. Unused applications can also create an unnecessary drain on storage space, processing power, and other resources. By cleaning up this clutter, Salesforce will operate more efficiently while keeping costs down and preventing further issues from arising in the future. 

Risk management is also at play here; by reducing the possible points of failure or security vulnerabilities, you can maintain better control over your system and protect yourself against malicious intent or cyber attack attempts. Furthermore, this step helps keep your data safe from potential breaches or manipulation due to out-of-date software which may have been exploited with known exploits. 

Overall, investing time into removing third-party applications and plugins which may be no longer needed is invaluable to improving your technical debt situation in Salesforce. Not only does it increase performance and reduce costs, but it also helps to protect your data from potential threats posed by outdated code. Taking a few minutes each month to review your system for such items could save you time and money when troubleshooting any future issues.

Start documenting your changes

Documentation is a critical step in removing technical debt in Salesforce. It can help organizations keep track of the changes made to their projects over time, helping them quickly identify and resolve issues before they become significant problems. Documentation should include detailed information on all changes made, such as configuration settings, user roles/access levels, when they were made, and who was responsible for them. This will ensure that everyone involved knows what has been done in the past and is aware of any adjustments or corrections that may have been made since. With documentation practices in place, it can help reduce risk by providing an audit trail if problems arise later on down the line. 

In addition to documenting changes and configurations, it’s also essential to maintain a well-structured project life cycle. This means having a set timeline for development, testing, deployment, and maintenance activities so that all stakeholders know each step. A clear structure helps ensure that tasks are completed on time and within budget while ensuring that any technical debt-related issues can be identified quickly and addressed appropriately. 

By following best practices for documentation and life cycle management, it becomes easier to keep track of a project’s progress over time. This makes evaluating which areas need further attention easier and helps ensure that all stakeholders are up-to-date with any changes being made to the project at any given moment. 

Taking these steps towards better documentation practices reduces technical debt by creating an environment where issues can be identified quickly and efficiently resolved before they become significant problems down the line.

Track ongoing technical debt

Removing technical debt in Salesforce is a highly achievable goal, and with the right processes in place, it can be accomplished quickly and easily. By creating a system or tool to document any technical debt incurred during development and implementation, you can track how much needs to be addressed at any given time and thus prevent further accrual of such debt. 

When implementing new projects or initiatives, it’s essential to evaluate them upfront to ensure that poor architecture or design decisions are not made that could lead to the addition of more technical debt. AppExchange apps like Elements Cloud allow businesses to track their technical debt and evaluate new projects quickly and accurately, so they can stay on top of this issue without having to dedicate extra resources. Additionally, generic tools like Confluence, Evernote, Notion, or OneNote can also be used as an effective way to record all relevant information associated with a project’s technical debt. 

By tracking progress over time and monitoring any changes or updates related to the project’s technical debt, businesses can set realistic goals for when they want their technical debt completely eliminated. This helps teams prioritize tasks based on urgency and measure their performance against goals. Businesses should strive to create a culture where everyone is aware of potential sources of technical debt and proactively works towards reducing them whenever possible. 

Overall, developing a system for removing tech debt in Salesforce is beneficial and necessary for ensuring long-term success in this field. By tracking progress over time, businesses reduce the risk of incurring additional tech debt while maintaining momentum in their development efforts. With the right processes, businesses can eliminate tech debt from Salesforce without compromising quality or accuracy.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it’s clear that taking the time and effort to identify and remedy technical debt from your Salesforce platform proactively is a wise investment. Not only will this reduce the likelihood of costly maintenance down the line, but it will also provide greater security for your staff and customers.

Your organization can become even more successful with more efficient processes and higher-quality workflows! Removing technical debt isn’t easy, so make sure you have the right team to help you—a team of dedicated professionals who know their way around Salesforce and can spot potential issues before they become serious problems.

With proactive management of tech debt, your company can benefit from improved user experience, increased productivity, and better overall outcomes. So take the time to invest in removing any existing tech debts to ensure a smoother sailing tomorrow!