To achieve a competitive edge, businesses must implement a highly comprehensive business intelligence platform. An efficient business intelligence platform offers effective reporting, analytics, and dashboards. Reporting & Analytics have been one of the top features of any Salesforce application, whether it’s Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, or Marketing Cloud. When we talk about Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, or Marketing Cloud, the data is quantitive & creating reports is seamless. But how about using standard reports & dashboards when the data is of some billion records? Yes, we are talking about Big Objects.
Designed for massive datasets, Big Objects lets businesses store, manage, and analyze historical or external data without performance issues. Unlike standard objects, they scale effortlessly, ensure fast queries with indexing, and allow easy integration with external sources.
Salesforce Reports and Dashboards transform raw data into actionable insights. Reports help filter, group, and analyze data for in-depth analysis, while Dashboards provide high-level visual overviews through interactive charts and graphs. With customization, businesses can tailor reports to match their unique needs.
To make Big Object data work in reports and dashboards, follow a structured approach:
- Create a Custom Object – Extract key data using SOQL queries.
- Transform Data – Aggregate and filter for precise insights.
- Optimize Performance – Use indexed fields and data partitioning for faster queries.
Salesforce makes data visualization simple, but handling huge datasets requires the right approach. Big Objects ensure scalability, powerful reporting, and data-driven decision-making without hitting storage or performance limits.
Understanding the Limitations of Big Objects Reporting
While Salesforce Big Objects provide a scalable solution for handling large datasets in Salesforce, they come with several reporting limitations that businesses must navigate.
Overcome Big Objects Reporting Limitations with Salesforce Native Data Archiving using DataArchiva
The Right Approach: Creating Standard Reports with Big Objects
Since Big Objects cannot be used directly in Salesforce Reports and Dashboards, businesses need a structured approach to extract and analyze data efficiently.
- Extract Data to a Custom Object
Use Async SOQL or Batch Apex to pull relevant Big Object data into a standard or custom object. This allows full use of Salesforce’s reporting capabilities.
- Pre-Process Data for Reporting
Aggregate, filter, or transform data before storing it in a custom object to improve query performance. Indexed fields should be leveraged for efficient retrieval.
- Automate Data Transfers
Schedule data extraction jobs to ensure reports remain up to date without manual intervention. ETL tools or Apex-based automation can help ease this process.
- Use External BI Tools
If the dataset is too large for Salesforce reporting, tools like Tableau and Einstein Analytics offer better visualization and querying capabilities.
By implementing these strategies, businesses can overcome Big Object reporting limitations while still leveraging Salesforce’s native reporting tools for real-time insights and better decision-making.
While querying Big Objects, Async SOQL is being used because of the sheer size of the data. It is a highly scalable solution that uses a subset of SOQL commands.
Using Async SOQL for Data Movement
Async SOQL is a game-changer for moving large amounts of Salesforce data, especially when working with Big Objects, which store massive datasets. Unlike standard SOQL, Async SOQL runs in the background, breaking queries into chunks and processing them asynchronously. This makes it ideal for extracting, archiving, or migrating millions of records without hitting governor limits.
Since Big Objects aren’t designed for real-time querying, Async SOQL helps extract and process data efficiently. Businesses can schedule queries to move data into standard or custom objects, making it accessible for Salesforce Reports and Dashboards without slowing down performance. This ensures that reporting datasets stay up to date while keeping Salesforce optimized.
The catch? It’s not real-time and requires setup, but if you’re handling historical data or need periodic extractions, it’s a hands-free way to keep your data structured and actionable.
How to use Async SOQL for Standard Reports & Dashboards with Big Objects?
To create standard reports & dashboards with Big Objects, you need to follow the below process;
- Step-1
Identify the Big Object that holds the data for which you need a report.
- Step-2
Create a custom object. This object holds the working dataset for the Big Object data that you want to report on.
- Step-3
Create an Async SOQL query that builds your working dataset by pulling the data from your Big Object into your custom object.
- Log in to Workbench.
- Select Queries, then Async SOQL.
- For the Source object, choose the big object that you chose in Step-1.
- Select the source fields and filter criteria.
- Set the operation type to INSERT.
- For the Target object, choose the custom object that you created in Step-2.
- Map the source fields from the big object to the target fields in the custom object.
- Now run the query and wait until it complete. Run time depends on the volume of data.
- Step-4
After the query runs, query the custom object in Workbench to see that the data is there.
- Step-5
- Now, build a report using the working dataset you created.
- From Setup, enter Report Types in the Quick Find box, then select Report Types.
- Create a custom report type.
- For the Primary Object, select the custom object created by you in Step-2.
- Set the report to Deployed.
- Run the report.
The information in the working dataset can be used not only in the reports but also in the dashboards or any other Lightning Platform features.
Asynchronous Processing in Salesforce
Asynchronous processing in Salesforce lets you handle heavy tasks without slowing down your org. Since Big Objects don’t support real-time SOQL queries, batch jobs, Bulk API, and Async SOQL help process and move large datasets efficiently.
Need to analyze Big Object data? Apex Batch jobs and scheduled processes can extract relevant records into standard objects for reporting. Data Loader or ETL tools also ease this process. By handling data in the background, async processing ensures that reports stay fast and responsive, even with billions of records.
Bottom line? Async processing keeps Salesforce fast while managing massive datasets easily.
Standard SOQL vs. Async SOQL: What's the Difference?
When working with Salesforce data, you have two key options: Standard SOQL and Async SOQL. Each is designed for unique scenarios based on data volume and performance.
Standard SOQL is ideal for real-time queries and perfect for situations where immediate access to smaller datasets is needed. It is great for UI displays and quick responses in Apex code. However, it can run into limitations with larger datasets.
In contrast, Async SOQL is built for heavy-duty tasks and is capable of handling massive datasets, including billions of records, without hitting system limits. It executes in the background, preventing timeouts and allowing multiple queries to run simultaneously. This makes it especially useful for filtering on indexed fields and working with Big Objects that contain extensive historical data.
In summary, choose Standard SOQL for quick, immediate results and Async SOQL when you need to scale and efficiently manage large datasets!
DataArchiva’s Solutions
Salesforce Big Objects are great for handling massive datasets, but they come with major reporting limitations—no standard UI access, limited SOQL functionality, and the need for asynchronous data extraction. Businesses often struggle with creating real-time reports, optimizing storage, and managing historical data efficiently.
Instead of dealing with complex Async SOQL queries or data duplication into custom objects, DataArchiva provides a seamless data archiving solution. It helps businesses archive old records to Big Objects, cut storage costs, and keep Salesforce running smoothly.
- Archive Historical Data Efficiently
Move infrequently accessed Big Object data to cost-effective external storage (AWS, Azure, On-Prem, etc.) while keeping it accessible within Salesforce.
- Enable Real-Time Reporting
With DataArchiva’s intelligent data retrieval and seamless integration, archived data remains reporting-friendly, ensuring businesses can generate insightful reports & dashboards without complex workarounds.
- Reduce Storage Costs
Avoid overloading Big Objects or creating extra custom objects for reporting. Store massive datasets externally while keeping Salesforce performance optimal.
- Simplify Data Access & Compliance
Unlike Big Objects, which have no sharing rules, DataArchiva ensures that role-based access controls (RBAC) and compliance mandates (GDPR, HIPAA, etc.) are met effortlessly.
- Automate Data Archiving & Extraction
With scheduled archiving, businesses eliminate the need for manual data transfers while ensuring that reports always reflect up-to-date insights.
Big Objects are powerful but not ideal for reporting. Instead of building complex workarounds, DataArchiva ensures you can efficiently manage, store, and report on your Salesforce data—without the limitations.
Book a demo to learn more!
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DataArchiva offers three powerful applications through AppExchange including Native Data Archiving powered by BigObjects, External Data Archiving using 3rd-party Cloud/On-prem Platforms, and Data & Metadata Backup & Recovery for Salesforce.
For more info, please get in touch with us at sales@dataarchiva.com
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Mehzia Naz