For most Salesforce administrators, they do their best to keep their instances clean and easy to understand. That being said, with time, it is easy to have an instance that needs a cleaning. Having done a number of Salesforce instance reviews and cleanings, I thought it would be valuable to share some of the things I look for. They include:
- Apps Installed - What are all the apps presently installed in the Salesforce instances and are they all being used? Often there will be old apps installed that no one is using. By removing them, you can remove a lot of un-necessary objects, tabs, etc.
- Licenses Installed - What are the licenses presently enabled for the instance, and how many of them have been assigned? By looking at this you can get a feel for overall adoption. I often look at the list of users who have login access to ensure they have all been logging in recently.
- Data Storage - What amount of the data and file storage is being used? By looking here you can get a feel for who are the power users, but also what object(s) may, or may not be effectively used.
- Workflows - What are the workflows presently enabled? By looking at this, you can get a feel for what needs to be considered before removing any objects, etc. You will want to check for any Process Builder automations (usually a sign of an advanced administrator).
- Fields and Page Layouts on Key Objects - What are the fields on the key objects (e.g. Leads, Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Contracts and Cases)? What about the page layouts on those same objects? By looking here you can get a feel for some more recommendations on how to optimize the system. Additionally, often there will be data being stored in fields that should be encrypted or protected by field level security, but isn't.
- Newest Features Enabled - What features, from the recent releases, have been implemented? By looking at this you can get a feel for how active the admin has been, but also get a few quick wins/recommendations to give to the client.
- Security Settings - What security settings have been enabled for Org Wide Defaults and also Login. By looking at this you can get a feel of any vulnerabilities that may still exist. This is especially prevalent in older instances.
- Reports and List Views - Often when instances grow, they leave the ability for all users to create Public List Views and Reports enabled. However, in doing so, there is often an excessively large number of views and reports not being used.
- Code Review
So these are just a few of the things I look forward when being introduced to a new client's instance, or helping a client who needs a clean-up project.
