# Sizing volumes, latency and API allocations

*Integration Architect Study Guide · Translate Needs to Integration Requirements · Last updated October 16, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/integration-architect/translate-needs-to-integration-requirements/sizing-volumes-latency-and-api-allocations*

Size an integration against its limits: daily API request arithmetic by edition and license, platform event publishing versus delivery allocations, event filters and parallel subscriptions, Bulk API 2.0 throughput levers, latency levers from gzip to Platform Cache and SOSL, callout timeouts, ownership skew and large file uploads.

- Certification: Salesforce Integration Architect
- Exam section: Translate Needs to Integration Requirements
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/integration-architect

**Official exam objective:**

> Given a use case, identify performance needs (volumes, response times, latency) and propose appropriate integration solutions that will meet business requirements.

## What the exam expects

- Calculate an org's daily API request allocation from its edition and licenses and compare it with an integration's estimate.
- Size platform event publishing and delivery, and shrink delivery with filtered custom channels or speed triggers with parallel subscriptions.
- Shorten bulk loads and extracts (operation choice, delta-only fields, parallel result downloads) and move next-day data to batch.
- Cut response time with gzip, Platform Cache, SOSL and selective indexed filters, within callout timeouts.
- Spot volume side effects: ownership skew from the integration user, file size limits, billions of rows.

Key terms: **allocation** (an org-wide budget, not per user); **event delivery** (events delivered to API subscribers such as Pub/Sub API clients); **partition key** (field whose hash picks a parallel subscription); **selective filter** (one the optimizer can drive from an index); **ownership data skew** (one user owns more than 10,000 records of an object).

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Edition daily API requests | 100,000 + 1,000 per Salesforce or Platform license + add-ons | [API Request Limits](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/salesforce-app-limits-cheatsheet/guide/salesforce-app-limits-platform-api.html) |
| Unlimited and Performance daily API requests | 100,000 + 5,000 per Salesforce or Platform license + add-ons | [API Request Limits](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/salesforce-app-limits-cheatsheet/guide/salesforce-app-limits-platform-api.html) |
| Default event delivery (24 hours) | 50,000 Performance and Unlimited; 25,000 Enterprise | [Platform Event Allocations](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.platform_events.meta/platform_events/platform_event_limits.htm) |
| Default event publishing (per hour) | 250,000 Performance, Unlimited and Enterprise | [Platform Event Allocations](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.platform_events.meta/platform_events/platform_event_limits.htm) |
| Parallel subscriptions | Up to 10 partitions; custom high-volume events only | [Parallel Subscriptions](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.platform_events.meta/platform_events/platform_events_ps.htm) |
| Get Parallel Results | Up to five result URIs per call; API 58.0+ | [Get Parallel Results](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_asynch.meta/api_asynch/query_get_parallel_job_results.htm) |
| Apex callout timeout | 10 s default; 120 s cumulative per transaction | [Callout Limits](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_callouts_timeouts.htm) |
| Custom index selectivity | Under 10% of records, up to 333,333 | [Indexes](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce_large_data_volumes_bp.meta/salesforce_large_data_volumes_bp/ldv_deployments_infrastructure_indexes.htm) |
| Multipart ContentVersion upload | Up to 2 GB | [Insert or Update Blob Data](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_rest.meta/api_rest/dome_sobject_insert_update_blob.htm) |

## Check yourself

- Why doesn't adding integration users raise an org's API capacity?
- When does a filter reduce a subscriber's delivery usage?
- What is the default Apex callout timeout?
- Why should a high-volume integration user have no role?

## Sources

- [API Request Limits and Allocations](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/salesforce-app-limits-cheatsheet/guide/salesforce-app-limits-platform-api.html)
- [Platform Event Allocations](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.platform_events.meta/platform_events/platform_event_limits.htm)
- [Event Delivery Usage for Filtered Streams](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.platform_events.meta/platform_events/platform_events_filter_allocations.htm)
- [Parallel Subscriptions for Apex Triggers](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.platform_events.meta/platform_events/platform_events_ps.htm)
- [Order of Events in Parallel Subscriptions](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.platform_events.meta/platform_events/platform_events_ps_order_events.htm)
- [Introduction to Bulk API 2.0 and Bulk API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-asynch/guide/asynch-api-intro.html)
- [Loading Data from the API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce_large_data_volumes_bp.meta/salesforce_large_data_volumes_bp/ldv_deployments_best_practices_api_loading_data.htm)
- [Differences Between Bulk API 2.0 and Bulk API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_asynch.meta/api_asynch/bulk_common_diff_two_versions.htm)
- [Get Parallel Results for a Query Job](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_asynch.meta/api_asynch/query_get_parallel_job_results.htm)
- [Compression Headers](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_rest.meta/api_rest/intro_rest_compression.htm)
- [Platform Cache Limits](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_platform_cache_limits.htm)
- [Using SOQL and SOSL](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce_large_data_volumes_bp.meta/salesforce_large_data_volumes_bp/ldv_deployments_techniques_using_soql_and_sosl.htm)
- [Indexes](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce_large_data_volumes_bp.meta/salesforce_large_data_volumes_bp/ldv_deployments_infrastructure_indexes.htm)
- [API Performance](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce_large_data_volumes_bp.meta/salesforce_large_data_volumes_bp/ldv_deployments_case_studies_api_performance.htm)
- [Callout Limits and Limitations](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_callouts_timeouts.htm)
- [Ownership Data Skew](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.draes.meta/draes/draes_group_membership_data_skew.htm)
- [Insert or Update Blob Data](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_rest.meta/api_rest/dome_sobject_insert_update_blob.htm)
- [Big Objects](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.bigobjects.meta/bigobjects/big_object.htm)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 16 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Integration Architect pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams