In today’s era of Big Data, any business’s future existence & growth largely depend on its strategy of collecting, storing, retaining, accessing, and managing the business data. But this massive volume of data comes with plenty of challenges while residing in a Salesforce system such as high storage costs, poor application performance, security & scalability issues, data compliance, and governance. Things become a little more complicated if the business belongs to highly data-driven industries such as healthcare, finance, government, telecom, high-tech, and the education sector.
Efficient Data Management techniques and analytics play a crucial role in shaping the success story of any progressive global enterprise. Therefore Salesforce enterprises are always on the lookout for effective data management strategies to ease this process.
ALSO READ: Top 4 Salesforce Data Management Best Practices: A Complete Guide for Salesforce Admins
Understand the Importance of Salesforce Data Archiving
Most companies prefer archiving older data for cost optimization, storage maximization, and compliance. They are actively looking for enterprise-level data archiving tools, the benefits of which are multifold:
- Keep their historical data to efficiently respond to legal discovery requests & data retention policies,
- Ensure compliance with government policies,
- Improve application performance & employee productivity,
- Reduce huge storage costs.
For a Salesforce user, there are various data archiving options available & companies can opt for a solution like DataARchiva that can fit into their data archiving needs.
Along with the app, our Salesforce data management experts suggest following the top five Salesforce data archiving strategies for the win to make the best use of historical data.
Top 5 Salesforce Data Archiving Strategies You Shouldn’t Miss
Among many techniques, these 5 will surely support you in successfully archiving and retrieving your data whenever required.
Custom External Objects
The external objects are similar to custom objects in Salesforce. But there is a singular difference between them; in external objects, the record data is stored outside the Salesforce Org. Each external object is associated with an external data source definition in the Salesforce organization which specifies how to access the external system. This solution works best for enterprises where data security is not a critical concern.
Heroku-based Solutions
Different open source Cloud-based services can be implemented to archive historical data to the Heroku Postgres platform from the Salesforce system. By making use of the bi-directional synchronization between Salesforce and Heroku Postgres, the Heroku Connect add-on consolidates the data in the Postgres database with the contacts, accounts, and other custom objects in the Salesforce database. However, this is not purely built for archiving purposes. Heroku Connect is known for CRM Multi-Org Consolidation, Business Intelligence, etc.
Data Extraction
A simple data extraction process can also be utilized to archive important Salesforce data. Records and data can be extracted in the form of .csv files directly from the Salesforce system or using an ETL tool. This data is then stored as flat files in an external system which reduces the load on the internal objects. However, this entire process comes with a lot of complexities.
Native Archiving using Big Objects
Big Objects is Salesforce’s big data-based storage system designed to store a maximum of 1 million records in a read-only format in the same trusted Salesforce platform. By using these Big Objects, enterprises can store massive volumes of data and records from an existing object onto the Big Object inside the Salesforce platform. They ensure consistent performance and direct data access for a billion records or more.
However, data from the primary storage can not be moved automatically to the Big Objects storage and requires an enterprise-grade tool to manage the entire process.
AppExchange Archiving Solutions like DataArchiva
Enterprises can also choose from among some of the most popular Salesforce AppExchange applications to meet their archiving requirements. One such AppExchange application is DataArchiva, the only NATIVE Data Archiving Solution designed for the Salesforce platform. It retains the critical data in Salesforce’s Big Data-based storage system called ‘Big Objects’ with seamless integrity and accessibility.
Also if an enterprise wants to archive its Salesforce data to any external database using its platform (Heroku, AWS, Azure), it can implement one of the most popular AppExchange applications DataArchiva External Archiving.
Best Practices to Follow for Salesforce Data Archiving
Strategies with DataArchiva will surely help you properly archive your data and keep Salesforce storage in check. Yet, when coupled with the best practices for archiving, you can see wonderful results.
Classify Data Before Archiving
Identify critical vs. inactive data to ensure only the right records are archived.
Follow Compliance & Retention Policies
Align archiving with industry regulations (GDPR, HIPAA, etc.) to avoid legal risks and ensure secure data management.
Use a Scalable Archiving Solution
Implement an archive that can grow with your data to prevent future storage and performance issues.
Archive Data to Cost-Effective Storage
Move inactive records to external storage (AWS, Azure, etc.) to reduce Salesforce storage costs without losing accessibility.
Ensure Data Accessibility & Searchability
Use indexing and metadata tagging to quickly retrieve archived records when needed for audits or customer service.
Automate Archiving with Set Rules
Define automated policies for archiving to avoid manual errors and maintain a consistent data management approach.
Maintain Data Integrity & Security
Use encryption, role-based access, and backup strategies to protect archived data from breaches or corruption.
Regularly Audit & Optimize Archives
Periodically review archived data to remove obsolete records and adjust retention rules based on business needs.
Integrate Archiving with Analytics & AI
Leverage archived data for trend analysis, compliance reporting, or AI-driven insights without cluttering live Salesforce records.
Conclusion
Now that you are aware of the various types of data archiving strategies available to you, you can make a well-informed decision and choose the best possible solution for your Salesforce system.
Here we would again like to highlight DataArchiva as a highly trusted data archiving solution for all types of Salesforce data, metadata, and internal records. This data archiving tool offers several features like auto-scheduling, bulk archiving, and data integration which make this user-friendly application more secure, scalable, accessible, and analytical.
Want to know more, let’s connect!
FAQs
What is data archiving for Salesforce?
Data archiving for Salesforce is a process that involves securely storing less accessed, obsolete, historical, or compliance data for long-term retention, outside the active system for future use, to
- Optimize system performance
- Save Salesforce data storage cost
- Comply with data retention policies
- Keep data storage clean & relevant
How does data archiving differ from data backup for Salesforce?
Data archiving & data backup is not the same. Data backup acts as insurance for your Salesforce data, preventing data losses during system outages, insider threats, and in cases of unforeseen events by keeping a secure copy of the org data. On the other hand, data archiving is a long-term savings plan, storing less accessed Salesforce data at a lower cost to optimize storage, with the purpose of potential future use that saves from compliance strains.
What are the benefits of implementing a data archiving strategy in Salesforce?
Implementing a data archiving strategy in Salesforce helps businesses fight data storage bottlenecks and align with their data goals, enabling better ways to plan & choose data management tools that can ensure compliance, improve ROI, and retain data for the long-term, minus the additional data storage costs.
What types of Salesforce data should be archived?
Typically >3-5 years old reference data or inactive data or historical records in Salesforce that cannot be deleted but are no longer relevant, but are retained for regulatory purposes and can be easily retrieved should be archived.
What are the security considerations for archived Salesforce data?
Security considerations of archived Salesforce data require encryption of sensitive data when retained, access control edit permissions, and a comprehensive audit log to monitor access to archived data to detect and prevent unauthorized breaches.
Is it possible to archive Salesforce data from different sources or integrated systems?
Yes. DataArchiva supports auto-archiving for any Salesforce standard objects, custom objects, field audit data, system audit data, chatter feeds, files & attachments from all major Salesforce clouds such as Sales, Service, Pardot, Industry including 3rd-party apps built on the Salesforce platform or any custom app built on the Salesforce platform.
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Sambit is a spirited product marketer with a keen interest in SaaS, AI, & Salesforce. With a background in marketing, customer success, branding & content writing, he offers a unique perspective to his writing, combining his 12+ years of expertise in cloud technology and marketing.
Sambit is a spirited product marketer with a keen interest in SaaS, AI, & Salesforce. With a background in marketing, customer success, branding & content writing, he offers a unique perspective to his writing, combining his 12+ years of expertise in cloud technology and marketing. All Posts
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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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