The document discusses Salesforce technical debt, which is the cost of rework caused by choosing easy solutions over better ones, and identifies common indicators such as poor code quality, usability complaints, and outdated features. It outlines the business impact of technical debt, emphasizing lower productivity and higher costs, and offers a four-step approach to reduce it, including mapping business processes, managing integrations, and cleaning up the Salesforce org. Additionally, it highlights the benefits of using tools like Panaya Foresight for assessment and maintenance of the Salesforce environment.

1. TACKLING
SALESFORCE
TECHNICAL
DEBT
OZ LAVEE, CTO
Hosted by:

2. All lines are
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Submit your
questions in
the Q&A Box
This
session
is being
recorded

3. AGENDA
Technical Debt in Salesforce
—
The Cost of Technical Debt
—
Common Indicators of Technical
Debt
—
How to Reduce Technical Debt?
—
Live Demo

4. 4
TECHNICAL DEBT: DEFINITION
In software development, technical
debt is the implied cost of additional
rework caused by choosing an easy
(limited) solution now, instead of
using a better approach that would
take longer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_debt
Do not avoid technical
debt
Control Technical Debt
If you have
everything
under control,
you’re not
moving fast
enough
Mario Andretti

5. Technical
Debt in
Salesforc
e
Profiles, permission
sets, roles, groups,
page layouts, and
record types not
assigned to anyone
Inactive
validation rules,
flows, processes,
and workflow rules
Active users who have
not logged in to
Salesforce for a
long time
Reports, dashboards,
and list views that
are not used
Solutions built using
older or outdated
features and versions
Solutions that are
not scalable,
leverageable, or
easy to maintain
Hard-coded
references in your
configuration or
code

6. 6
• Users complain about the app usability and user
experience
• The Salesforce org becomes difficult to
manage/administrate
• Salesforce code deployments take longer
• Performance issues and errors
• It is difficult to troubleshoot bugs and defects
• Frequently running into governor limit issues
SIGNS OF TECHNICAL DEBT

7. Poor Code
Quality
Extensive
Configurations
Large-Scale
Customizations
Apex classes, Visual Force
pages, Triggers, Workflow
Rules, Validation Rules,
Custom objects and Fields
Custom Report types,
Dashboards, Email templates,
Content libraries, public
list views
Not in accordance with
Salesforce best practices.
(multiple triggers on
objects, anti-patterns)
THE COST OF TECHNICAL DEBT
The business
impact
Technical Problems Lower Productivity Higher Costs
Scalability constraints,
poor performance, governor
limit issues,
incompatibility with
external apps
Failure to meet the
business needs, poor user
experience, inability to
innovate
High operational costs,
increased implementation
costs due to complexity

8. 8
Poll Question
#1
Do you feel that
your Salesforce
org suffers from
technical debt?

9. 9
WHY DOES IT HAPPEN?
So many little reasons…
• Project delivery pressure – quick and easy solutions to
meet deadlines
• Salesforce is so easy to customize, so why not?
• Siloed development processes / lack of governance
• The “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” approach
• Inherited an org with outdated and unused features and
functionalities
• Poor understanding of Salesforce design principles and
architectural best practices (anti-patterns)
• ‘Clean-up’ takes time and resources that admins, developers
and decision makers simply don’t have!
and let’s admit it – there is always something more

10. 10
It’s time
to
take
action!
Reduce Salesforce
Technical Debt
In 4 steps

11. 11
Poll Question
#2
Do you
proactively
tackle technical
debt?

12. 12
Map Out the Key Business
Processes Managed in Salesforce
Today
o Create a list of the key decision makers and
“Salesforce super-users” from different teams
(Sales, Marketing, Service, etc.)
o Set meetings with each team to map the
processes they use
o Understand process variations for specific
scenarios
(Learn how variations occur for different product lines, team
members, etc.)
o Document your findings
1

13. 13
Revisit users, roles and
permissions
o Control system administrator permissions
Remove people who are not qualified, and review with them how
a different access level can still give them all the
permissions they need
o Avoid using shared licenses
Various members login with the same username and password
o Use of Salesforce Optimizer
It will help you quickly assess your org’s sharing rules,
admin permissions, profiles, etc.
2

14. Some integrations are not represented as an installed
app.
Put on your detective hat to ensure nothing is missing!
Speak to all system admins, developers or CRM management
to ensure you have a full list of active integrations.
14
3 Manage your integrations, Apps and
syncs
o Find your Salesforce integrations
Enter your “Setup” and go to “Installed Packages”, where you
can quickly access your third-party apps
o Audit Your Existing Integrations
Understand (from the business users) what they are used for
and make sure they are configured properly
o Identify and Implement Needed Modifications

15. 15
4
o Make a list of all standard and custom
objects being used in your Salesforce
instance
o Organize it into categories that make
sense to your team.
Here is our suggestion:
o Page Layouts
o List views
o Salesforce Apps
o Homepage
o Fields
o AppExchange Apps
o Reports
Clean up your Org!
Clean up time!!!

16. 16
REDUCE TECHNICAL DEBT
WITH PANAYA FORESIGHT

17. PANAYA FORESIGHT
CHANGE INTELLIGENCE
Endorsed by: Trusted by more than 150 companies including:
Real-time Impact
Analysis
X-ray
visibility of
ORG
Optimal
Planning Time &
Costs
Accelerated &
documented Testing
Actionable Risk
based insights

18. 18
ASEESS YOUR ORG
Use the Org
Overview dashboard to
quickly get valuable
insights into your
Production org and make
educated decisions about
improving its maintenance
and health.

19. 19
QUICKLY IDENTIFY TECHNICAL DEBT
Gain immediate access to
a complete list of fields
with related Technical
Debt indicators.

20. 20
CLEAN UP YOUR ORG – WITHOUT RISK
Scope and analyze any
component you are about
to remove to avoid
inadvertently deleting
functionality that’s
still in use

21. +
Use Panaya ForeSight to map and
document your processes
 Get a full list of all the
automations in your org in one
click
 Identify processes that are not
in use (based on your findings)
 Clean them!
 After your meetings add notes
to the relevant processes

22. 22
LIVE DEMO
WATCH FORESIGHT IN
ACTION

23. Book your personalized
Org clean-up
demo
Panaya.com/start-demo/salesforce

24. Thank you
And have an easy
and productive
cleaning!
Panaya.com

25. Page Layout Updates
 Review and update the order of
fields displayed on the screen,
in the most user-friendly way
 Organize related fields into
logical sections and use
descriptive Section Names
 Order your sections to make data
entry and viewing of data simple
and logical showing the most
important information near the
top of the screen
 Customize related lists to ensure
that the most appropriate fields
are displayed on each of those
related lists
 Decide how you want related
records sorted: alphabetically?
Sequentially by date created? by
last modified? Etc.
List View Updates
 Delete all unused List Views
 Create specific list views that
are appropriate for specific
groups of users
Salesforce App Manager
 Review for each App the tabs
included in the navigation
 Identify which tabs could be
eliminated
 Identify which tabs should be
included
 Review and update the sequencing
of tabs
Home Page
 Review Lightning Components that
should be eliminated
 Identify which Lightning
Components should be added
 Review the placement of each
Lightning Component
 Identify which Lightning
Components should be dynamically
visible only for certain types of
users
Field Updates
 Review the Field Level Security
to hide or control edit
permissions
 Review and update picklist values
in each dropdown field
 Set default values where
appropriate
 Populate the Help Text feature in
each field that your users find
confusing
AppExchange Apps
 Identify which Installed Packages
are no longer being used
 Uninstall any packages no longer
needed (Don’t forget cancel
subscriptions for paid apps)
Reports
 In Optimizer Report, identify all
reports not being used by anyone
in your organization.
 Move all unused reports to a
consolidated “Archived Folder” or
simply delete them entirely