The Critical Importance of Documenting Your Salesforce Org

Maintaining comprehensive documentation of your Salesforce instance is essential for organizational success. Well-documented Salesforce orgs enable teams to understand system architecture, troubleshoot issues efficiently, onboard new team members, and ensure business continuity. This article covers best practices for documenting your Salesforce org and explains why this investment pays dividends over time.

Understanding Salesforce Objects and Relationships

In Salesforce, data is organized into objects—the primary containers for information. Objects can relate to one another through relationships, creating complex data models that support business processes. Understanding and documenting these relationships is crucial for maintaining system integrity and enabling effective customization.

Documenting Objects and Fields

Create comprehensive documentation for each object—both standard and custom—including:

• Object Purpose: What business process does this object support?
• Key Fields: What are the critical fields and their purposes?
• Relationships: How does this object relate to other objects?
• Data Sources: Where does the data come from?
• Data Owners: Who is responsible for maintaining this data?

By documenting objects and their relationships, you create an essential reference that guides your team through the complexities of your Salesforce instance.

Documenting Automation and Customizations

Salesforce administrators use various automation tools—including Salesforce Flows, triggers, Process Builder, and Workflow Rules—to streamline business processes. These customizations work behind the scenes, automating tasks and enforcing business rules.

Documenting Flows and Triggers

Just as you document object relationships, you must document your automation and customizations:

For Flows:

• Purpose: What business process does this flow automate?
• Trigger Conditions: When does this flow run?
• Related Objects: Which objects does this flow interact with?
• Business Logic: What decisions and actions does the flow perform?
• Dependencies: What other processes or components does this flow depend on?

For Triggers:

• Trigger Conditions: Under what conditions does this trigger fire?
• Actions: What changes does this trigger make?
• Related Objects: Which objects does this trigger affect?
• Business Rules: What business logic does this trigger enforce?
• Error Handling: How are errors handled?

Comprehensive documentation helps prevent conflicts, enables troubleshooting, and ensures that changes don’t break existing functionality.

Documenting Apex Classes and Dependencies

Apex classes contain custom business logic and integrations. These classes often depend on one another, creating a web of dependencies that must be understood and maintained.

Mapping Apex Class Dependencies

Document the dependencies between Apex classes:

• Class Purpose: What functionality does this class provide?
• Dependencies: Which other classes does this class depend on?
• Integration Points: What external systems does this class connect to?
• Test Coverage: What test classes validate this class?
• Deployment Notes: Are there special considerations for deploying this class?

By mapping dependencies, you ensure that changes to one class don’t inadvertently break others, and you can plan deployments more effectively.

Documentation Best Practices

1. Use a Centralized Location

Store all documentation in a central, accessible location:

• Wiki or Knowledge Base: Use tools like Confluence, SharePoint, or Salesforce Knowledge
• Version Control: Track changes to documentation over time
• Access Control: Ensure appropriate team members can access and update documentation

2. Keep Documentation Current

Documentation is only valuable if it’s current:

• Update Regularly: Review and update documentation during each release cycle
• Assign Owners: Designate team members responsible for maintaining specific documentation
• Automate Where Possible: Use tools to automatically generate some documentation

3. Include Visual Diagrams

Visual representations help teams understand complex systems:

• Data Model Diagrams: Show object relationships
• Process Flow Diagrams: Illustrate automation and workflows
• Architecture Diagrams: Show system integrations and dependencies

4. Document Business Context

Technical documentation should include business context:

• Why: Why was this customization created?
• Who: Who uses this feature?
• What: What business problem does this solve?
• When: When was this implemented or last updated?

5. Make It Searchable

Ensure documentation is easily searchable:

• Use Consistent Naming: Follow naming conventions
• Add Tags and Categories: Organize documentation logically
• Include Keywords: Add searchable terms and phrases

Real-World Benefits of Documentation

Organizations with comprehensive Salesforce documentation experience:

• Faster Onboarding: New team members understand the system quickly
• Reduced Risk: Changes are made with full context of existing functionality
• Better Troubleshooting: Issues are resolved more quickly with clear documentation
• Improved Collaboration: Teams can work together more effectively
• Business Continuity: Knowledge isn’t lost when team members leave

Documentation Templates

Consider creating templates for consistent documentation:

Object Documentation Template:

• Object name and purpose
• Key fields and their purposes
• Relationships to other objects
• Data sources and owners
• Common use cases

Flow Documentation Template:

• Flow name and purpose
• Trigger conditions
• Related objects
• Business logic and decisions
• Dependencies and integrations

Apex Class Documentation Template:

• Class name and purpose
• Dependencies
• Integration points
• Test coverage
• Deployment considerations

Resources

• Salesforce Help: Documentation Best Practices - Official Salesforce documentation
• Salesforce Architecture Documentation - Architecture guidance
• Salesforce Metadata API - Programmatic access to org metadata

Conclusion

Documenting your Salesforce org is an investment that pays dividends over time. By maintaining comprehensive, current documentation of objects, relationships, automation, and customizations, you enable your team to work more effectively, reduce risk, and ensure business continuity.

While documentation requires ongoing effort, the benefits—faster onboarding, better troubleshooting, improved collaboration, and reduced risk—make it an essential practice for any Salesforce organization.

Start documenting your Salesforce org today. Your future self (and your team) will thank you.