The Benefits of Declarative Development in Salesforce

Salesforce is a platform that serves both technical and non-technical users. When developing on this platform, you’ll encounter two approaches: declarative and programmatic. Declarative development uses Salesforce’s built-in tools, such as Flow Builder and Lightning App Builder, to create solutions without writing code. In contrast, programmatic development uses Apex code and other advanced tools to create custom solutions.

Let’s explore why declarative development is often the right choice for Salesforce implementations, highlighting benefits such as easy customization, simplified troubleshooting, and improved collaboration.

Customization: Fast and Accessible

One of the primary benefits of declarative development in Salesforce is the speed and accessibility of customization. With built-in tools and features, non-technical users can quickly design, build, and modify solutions to meet business requirements without extensive programming knowledge.

Real-World Example: Automated Lead Assignment

A sales operations team needs to automatically assign leads to sales representatives based on territory and product interest. Using Salesforce Flow (declarative), a business analyst can:

1. Create a Flow that triggers when a new lead is created
2. Use decision elements to evaluate the lead’s location and product interests
3. Automatically assign the lead to the appropriate sales rep based on territory rules
4. Send a notification to the assigned rep

This entire process can be built in hours using Flow Builder, without writing a single line of code. If requirements change, the Flow can be updated quickly by the same business analyst. Learn more about Salesforce Flow and its automation capabilities.

Benefits:

• Reduced Development Time: Solutions can be built in hours or days instead of weeks
• Lower Costs: Less reliance on expensive developers
• Faster Iteration: Changes can be made quickly as business needs evolve
• Accessibility: Business users can build and maintain their own solutions

Troubleshooting: Simplified Problem Resolution

When something goes wrong with your Salesforce functionality, declarative development makes troubleshooting much easier. With programmatic development using Apex classes, issues can be complex to debug, requiring code reviews, log analysis, and potentially extensive testing.

Real-World Scenario: Process Failure

A company has an automated process that creates opportunities from qualified leads. If this process fails:

With Declarative (Flow):

• Open Flow Builder and visually see the entire process
• Use Flow’s built-in debug mode to step through the process
• Identify exactly where the failure occurs
• Deactivate the Flow immediately if needed, without affecting other processes
• Make corrections and reactivate

For more on Flow troubleshooting and best practices, see our guide on Salesforce Flow as the future of automation.

With Programmatic (Apex):

• Review code to understand the logic
• Check debug logs to find the error
• Potentially deploy a fix through a change set
• Test in a sandbox before production
• More complex rollback if issues occur

Benefits of Declarative Troubleshooting:

• Visual Debugging: See the process flow and identify issues quickly
• Isolated Deactivation: Turn off problematic processes without affecting others
• No Code Deployment: Changes can be made directly in the org
• Reduced Risk: Less chance of breaking other functionality

Collaboration: Cross-Functional Teamwork

Declarative development enables a more collaborative approach compared to programmatic development. Its user-friendly tools that don’t require coding skills enable teams to work together efficiently, without depending on technical developers for every change.

Real-World Use Case: Marketing Campaign Automation

A marketing team wants to automate their campaign response process. Using declarative tools:

• Marketing Manager: Designs the campaign response flow using Flow Builder
• Business Analyst: Configures the data mapping and business rules
• Salesforce Administrator: Sets up security and permissions
• Sales Representative: Tests the process and provides feedback

For more on Flow capabilities, see our comprehensive guide on Salesforce Flow automation.

All team members can participate in the solution without needing to understand Apex code. This collaborative approach ensures the solution meets business needs while being maintainable by the team.

Benefits:

• Inclusive Development: Non-technical team members can contribute
• Faster Requirements Gathering: Business users can build prototypes themselves
• Better Alignment: Solutions are built by the people who understand the business needs
• Knowledge Sharing: Team members learn Salesforce capabilities together

Future-Proofing: Automatic Platform Updates

Salesforce continuously updates its platform to improve functionality and user experience. Declarative development components are typically automatically updated to support new features and capabilities, ensuring your solutions stay current.

Real-World Example: Platform Updates

Salesforce releases a new feature that allows Flow to access external APIs directly. If you’ve built your integration using declarative tools:

• Your existing Flows continue to work
• You can optionally enhance them with new capabilities
• No code changes or deployments required
• Automatic compatibility with new features

With Programmatic Development:

• Developers must review release notes for breaking changes
• Custom Apex code may need updates for new platform features
• Testing required to ensure compatibility
• Potential code refactoring for deprecated methods

Benefits:

• Automatic Compatibility: Declarative tools adapt to platform changes
• Reduced Maintenance: Less effort to keep solutions current
• Access to New Features: Easier to adopt new Salesforce capabilities
• Lower Risk: Less chance of compatibility issues

Real-World Use Cases for Declarative Development

Use Case 1: Customer Onboarding Automation

Scenario: A financial services company needs to automate customer onboarding.

Declarative Solution:

• Use Flow to create a guided onboarding process
• Automatically create related records (Account, Contact, Opportunities)
• Send welcome emails and notifications
• Assign tasks to appropriate team members
• Track onboarding progress

Result: Onboarding time reduced from 5 days to 1 day, with consistent process execution.

Use Case 2: Case Escalation Management

Scenario: A support team needs automatic case escalation based on priority and age.

Declarative Solution:

• Flow evaluates case priority and age
• Automatically escalates to appropriate support tier
• Notifies managers and updates case fields
• Creates follow-up tasks

Result: Improved response times and better customer satisfaction.

Use Case 3: Opportunity Management

Scenario: Sales team needs automated opportunity updates based on stage changes.

Declarative Solution:

• Flow triggers on opportunity stage changes
• Updates related fields automatically
• Creates activities and notifications
• Calculates commission estimates

Result: Reduced manual data entry and improved data accuracy.

When to Use Declarative vs. Programmatic

While declarative development is powerful, there are scenarios where programmatic development is necessary:

Use Declarative When:

• Standard Salesforce functionality can meet your needs
• Business users need to maintain the solution
• Rapid development and iteration are priorities
• Complex integrations aren’t required
• You want to minimize long-term maintenance

Use Programmatic When:

• Complex business logic that can’t be handled declaratively
• External system integrations requiring custom APIs
• Advanced data transformations
• Performance-critical operations
• Custom UI components

Best Practices for Declarative Development

1. Start Simple: Begin with basic Flows and gradually add complexity
2. Document Your Processes: Use Flow descriptions and comments
3. Test Thoroughly: Use Flow’s debug mode before activation
4. Version Control: Use change sets or source control for Flows
5. Monitor Performance: Review Flow execution times and optimize as needed
6. Follow Naming Conventions: Use clear, descriptive names for Flows and elements

Resources

• Salesforce Flow Documentation: Flow Builder Guide
• Trailhead: Build Flows with Flow Builder
• Salesforce Help: Automate Your Business Processes

Conclusion

While both declarative and programmatic development have their place within Salesforce, declarative development offers significant benefits for most business scenarios. With advantages such as easy customization, simplified troubleshooting, improved collaboration, and automatic future-proofing, declarative development enables organizations to build and maintain Salesforce solutions efficiently.

By leveraging Salesforce Flow, Process Builder, and other declarative tools, organizations can empower their business users to create solutions that meet their needs while reducing costs, improving agility, and ensuring long-term maintainability.

Start with declarative development for your next Salesforce project and experience the benefits firsthand.