Org assessment: opportunities and constraints
How a business analyst reviews a Salesforce org with the admin (configuration, automation, data model and quality, access, reports, adoption) and sorts findings into constraints such as managed packages, integrations, release calendars, parallel work streams and multiple orgs, versus opportunities such as unused metadata, using a sandbox to explore changes safely.
Analyze the customer's Salesforce environment(s) to identify opportunities and constraints.
~8 min read · 10 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Review an existing org with the admin: objects, fields, automation and validation rules, data model and data quality, profiles and permission sets, reports and dashboards in use, adoption.
- Classify findings as constraints (limits on what the solution can do or when it can change) or opportunities (capability or clean-up the initiative can use).
- Recognise common constraints: managed packages, integrations writing to fields, release calendars, overlapping objects, multiple orgs after an acquisition.
- Spot overlapping changes from parallel work streams in different sandboxes and flag the dependency.
- Recommend a sandbox to walk through a process or try a change without touching production.
Key terms: constraint (a factor that limits possible solutions); opportunity (an existing capability or clean-up the initiative can use); technical debt (the compounding cost of past shortcuts and unused functionality); managed package (installed package whose components are partly locked in the subscriber org); sandbox (an environment isolated from production).
Key facts
- Detail
- Lists references to a custom field (validation rules, layouts, formulas, flows, Apex) before you edit it
- Detail
- Shows the 20 most recent setup changes; download covers 180 days
- Detail
- Some properties are editable only by the package developer; API names of packaged components by no one once the version is promoted and released
- Detail
- Technical (integration, performance) and business (time, budget, resources)
- Detail
- Each extra org adds licensing, sandboxes, integration and admin effort
- Detail
- Operations in a sandbox don't affect production
- Detail
- Metadata plus a sample of production data defined by a template
- Detail
- Replica of production, all data and metadata (field tracking history and Chatter activity are optional)
Sources for this section (6)
- Find Where a Field Is Usedhelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Setup Audit Trailhelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Editable Properties After Package Promotion or Installationdeveloper.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Define Project Scope and Requirementstrailhead.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Resource and Cost Optimizationarchitect.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Sandbox Types and Templateshelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Why is a managed package that owns a process a constraint?
- When should the BA use "Where is this used?" during an assessment?
- Which sandbox type is a full replica of production data?
- Why escalate rather than recommend consolidating two orgs?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
Keep reading with the Business Analyst pack
- Core concepts
- Exam traps
- Worked scenario
The pack includes:
- All 22 lessons of the Business Analyst guide, with reading progress
- Interactive decision walks and step-by-step sequence steppers
- Inline practice questions and one-click topic practice (10 questions for this lesson)
- An official source cited for every claim
- An AI tutor that answers from the guide
- Unlimited timed practice exams