On Santa’s Good List: The DO’s & DON’Ts of Data Archiving in Salesforce

‘Tis the most wonderful time of the year! Yes, it’s time for Christmas: the season of joy, nostalgia, & generosity. The street-corners are already full of Santa’s ringing bells, houses are decked with multicolored, twinkling lights, & Christmas trees glimmer with lights & various ornaments. Soups, eggnog, cakes, gifts, decorations, Christmas carols, and jingles make this a perfect cozy holiday to spend time with one’s loved ones.

Giving has become the trademark of Christmas & the days surrounding this holiday. Keeping alive this spirit of generosity, we’re here to offer some valuable tips to all the Salesforce users that leverage the power of data archiving for simplifying their data management processes in Salesforce. Though we’re sure you are well-versed in this process, a little more information doesn’t hurt. So here are some important DO’s and DON’Ts every Salesforce user must remember while archiving the Salesforce data.

DO Set up clear differentiation b/w Archiving & Backup

To most Salesforce users, data backup & data archive seem to be two interchangeable processes whereas these two are as distinct as apples & oranges. Data backup in Salesforce is performed as a data recovery mechanism and involves creating copies of Salesforce data & storing them to be recovered in case of a data loss event. Whereas, data archive in Salesforce is performed for long-term data storage and involves moving the original data from the primary storage into some secure secondary storage. Since backup & archives serve two clearly different purposes, you should treat them as such.

DON’T Treat all Salesforce Data in the same manner

A very common mistake Salesforce users make, while archiving Salesforce data, is to archive everything. Instead, users should properly assess what data is to be archived and what has to be left out. This decision is usually based on the type of Salesforce data & the kind of data retention & internal policies governing the enterprise. For example, while a healthcare firm might need to retain (therefore archive) patient records for 10 years, it might need to retain its financial data for only 5 years & is not required to retain any of its marketing data at all.

DO Assess Various Storage Options

As there are several different options for storing the archived Salesforce data, it’s important to consider the advantages & disadvantages of each storage type before finalizing it. The most popular option for storing archival data is external cloud storage since it’s less expensive & offers unmassed storage capacity. But here the storage provider’s reputation becomes critical due to reliability & data security concerns. Some users also consider on-premise storage to store archival data due to easy accessibility & security but it comes with its own set of challenges in terms of hefty costs & the risk of becoming obsolete.

DON’T Configure Archive Storage in a way that could fail 

Since an enterprise’s archive holds that data that is rarely accessed, there might be an inclination to use a low-cost storage solution for it. Though there’s nothing wrong with it, creating data archives haphazardly can result in a domino effect. This could lead to a huge volume of Salesforce data being lost and/or downtime of the archive system, thereby negating the purpose of archiving & resulting in huge fines if regulatory compliance laws are broken. Therefore, while archiving data it’s important to prevent any component from becoming a single point of failure.

DO Automate Data Lifecycle Management

Regardless of the size of the Salesforce enterprise, it is unrealistic to expect that the data archiving process can be manually handled. When performed manually, not only is the data archiving process extremely labor-intensive but it’s also prone to human errors. Not to mention that it’s extremely difficult to perform manual data archiving consistently as the employee may forget to periodically manage the Salesforce data. Therefore, automating the entire process of data archiving & data lifecycle management, as a whole, should be preferred.

DON’T Try to Go Solo

Finally, going about the process of data archiving in Salesforce is a bad idea. This is because enterprises are usually subject to strict internal policies & compliance laws, failing to adhere to which can lead to grave consequences. Also creating a custom-built data archiving strategy is a tedious, time-taking, & costly process. Therefore, given the exceedingly high stakes surrounding the entire process, it’s recommended to enlist the help of experts or implement proper data archiving applications that are specifically designed to handle the archiving job efficiently.

DataArchiva: Our Christmas Gift For You

As mentioned above, independent handling of the data archiving job in Salesforce is a bad idea & enterprises must make use of appropriate solutions that efficiently take care of the archiving process. One such application is our AppExchange data archiving solution for Salesforce, DataArchiva. This one of its kind application helps users effectively address their data archiving needs by automatically archiving the legacy Salesforce data into external databases (Postgres, Redshift, MySQL, MSSQL, Oracle)  by leveraging various cloud/on-premise platforms (AWS, Azure, Heroku, GCP).

But wait, there’s more the application can do like generating powerful data analytics reports, seamless data restore, global search, & much more. To gain in-depth knowledge about DataArchiva, please download this product datasheet. If you want to better understand how the solution is a good fit for your Salesforce enterprise or want to discuss your unique business use case, please get in touch with us.

Until then, sing songs & be merry for the New Year will be upon us in a hurry. Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

Admin

DataArchiva is an enterprise data management application built for Salesforce that offers complete data management solutions including archive, backup, and seeding.