The document describes the Force.com platform, emphasizing its database and logic as a service capabilities, including automatic tuning and workflow management. It highlights the platform's architecture, which supports multi-tenancy and efficient data processing, as well as its built-in query optimization and apex code execution governance. Additionally, it notes the platform's declarative development tools, enabling business analysts to create applications without extensive coding skills.

1. Force.com Platform
Created by: Roy Gilad
March 2012

4. Database As A Service
Create any table
Add any field
Build any relationship
Security & sharing
Automatic tuning
Automatic backups
Automatic upgrades

5. Logic As A Service
Declarative Logic
History Tracking
Rollup Summary Fields
Workflow Rules
Formula-Based Logic
Formula Fields
Validation Rules
Procedural Logic
Apex Triggers
Apex Classes
Apex Web Services

6. Logic As A Service
Workflow
End-to-end approval processes
Immediate & time-based workflow
Email notifications
Automated task creation
Automated field updates
Reminders
Flexible routing options
Send outbound SOAP messages

7. Force.com’s native Application
Framework provides declarative
development, no coding

8. Validation rules and simple formulas:
Business analysts can “code” these

9. Not so simple: Rollup-summary fields
provide for easy cross-object summaries

10. User Interface as a Service
Profile /
Record Type
/ Page
Layout
mapping
controls UI
behavior
UI generated
automatically,
no technical
skills required
UI generated
by developer
/ technologist
Full
control of UI
behavior
Limited
control over
look and
feel, but all
UIs are
consistent
Page Layout
Point and click to
add Custom
Buttons and
Embedded
Mashups
Visualforce

11. Single tenant applications: lots of waste
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12. Multi-tenancy
App
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13. How it’s built?

14. Force.com: metadata-driven, multi-tenant,
Internet application platform
PolyMorphic
Application

15. Metadata, data, and pivot table
structures store data corresponding to
virtual data structures

16. The Objects table stores metadata
about custom objects (tables)

17. The Fields table stores metadata about
custom fields (columns)

18. The Data heap table stores all structured
data corresponding to custom objects

19. A single slot can store various types of
data that originate from different objects

20. The Indexes pivot table manages
tenant-specific selective indexes

21. The UniqueFields pivot table facilitates
uniqueness for custom fields

22. The Relationships pivot table facilitates
referential integrity and optimizes joins

23. All data & metadata structures are
partitioned to improve performance and
manageability
• Tables hash partitioned by OrgId
• Separate conn pools point to physical hosts
• App tier is also dynamically partitioned by
OrgId
• Distributed metadata cache w/transactional
invalidation

24. Force.com’s bulk processing
optimizations reduce overhead for data
loads

25. Data definition processing is optimized
to avoid performance hits or
concurrency limits
Examples:
• Sort all records by primary key before attempting
DML
• Operate on tables in deterministic order
• Slot reallocation for field datatype change
• Deferred calculation for new rollup-summary field
• Background processing of mass changes

26. The Recycle Bin: Smart Undeletes

Restore
Individual object instances
(records)
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Related object instances
(parent/child records)
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Entire fields and objects
(dropped columns and
tables)

27. Force.com’s full-text search engine
• Asynchronously maintains
indexes for all text fields
• MRU caches contain
recently updated objects
• Optimizes ranking of search
result records based on
current user, modification
history, and weighting
preferences

28. Multi-tenant Query Optimization
Principles
• Consistent SQL generation across the application
• Deep awareness of pivot table structure
• Flex schema does impose a cost
• Tenant, user, object, fields statistics are crucial
• No runaway queries allowed
• Deep integration with the sharing model

29. Force.com’s query optimizer writes
optimal queries for internal data access
operations
Multi-tenant
optimizer
statistics

30. Apex code is stored as metadata,
interpreted at runtime, and cached for
scalability

31. Features

32. Apex is deeply integrated with
platform features
• Bulk DML
• Email and messaging
• Asynchronous processing (Futures)
• XmlStream / HTTP (RESTful) services classes
• Declarative exposure as new Web Services

33. Force.com governs Apex code
execution
Limits on:
 CPU
 Memory
 # of DML statements
 # calculations
 # web service calls
 … and more

34. Unit tests must accompany Apex
code
 Required 75% code coverage
 Profiling is built into the platform
 Run during application install
 All tests are run before each
platform release by us

35. thank you
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