Salesforce Sandboxes are deployed by businesses across the globe to make several copies of production data for many reasons. For instance, you can create one copy for training, another for testing, etc. The biggest benefit of using Sandboxes is that you will never compromise on the production data in the organization. The operations that are performed with these Sandboxes do not affect the production data in any way and vice versa.
Understanding Salesforce sandboxes better
The environment deployed for testing and development in Salesforce is called Salesforce Sandbox. It has all the configuration, code, and data of the production data inside. There are different kinds of sandboxes, and one can use and record data in different ways. The data is saved, and business owners should note that this data is just a copy of the original data and is no way different from the one that is deployed for the organization. It is a replica of the data, and if changes are made to it for testing or training or any other reason, the original production data will never change. In simple words, you can refer to it as the snapshot taken of the production data on its date of creation. It is a backup of the configuration data and can be easily used for coding, quality checks, testing, etc. However, business owners must note that Sandboxes cannot be used for the backup of business data for the reasons given below-
- You can refresh a sandbox once in 29 days once
- If you want the full and completed sandbox, you need to invest in the unlimited and the performance editions whereas for the others you need to buy these features as add-ons
- The creation and management of multiple sandboxes will depend upon the nature of the license in the edition that you invest in. Note, every sandbox is isolated from one another, so the operation that you perform in one Salesforce sandbox will never affect the other sandbox. Note, that you can deploy changesets from a sandbox to the other in the production org.
Experts state there are instances where a different environment might be needed for a different requirement. For example, in the phrase for construction, several teams can be deployed for development so that each of them gets their own unique sandbox to work on while the team deployed for testing can get their own sandbox for their testing environment. This means if you have multiple teams that are working with your production.org, you are able to use the advantages of Salesforce Sandboxes to get the intended tasks done and completed without wasting time and money.
Creation of the Sandbox Template under Salesforce
With Salesforce, you are able to get the utility to create Partial and Full copies of Sandbox templates. However, if you are using the Developer or the Developer Pro Salesforce Sandboxes you cannot generate Sandbox templates for them. With the help of Salesforce Sandboxes, the user gets the ability to control the size of the data that he wishes to copy from the production data to the Sandbox chosen. The task can also be done vice versa if needed. The user gets the ability to select specific objects too. Given below are the key advantages that the user can enjoy when he uses these data sandboxes-
- The custom, as well as standard data objects, can be selected with the Sandbox template
- If any object is needed by the company, it is there already
- The object relationship can easily be understood
- The list for objects with its total numbers chosen can readily be displayed
Note that the Sandbox template needs to be done on the time and date of its creation. You can store 5GB data with 5GB files in a Full or Partial Salesforce Sandbox. You should select the Sandbox you need as per the size of the production.org. This means you can choose any type of sandboxes. When you have completed copying the data that you need, you will receive an e-mail as a notification. You require to click on the link that you get with this mail to view the Salesforce Sandbox.
If the case you desire to add objects to the Sandbox template, you need to individually tick the checkbox for every object to do so. You will receive a display of these selected objects, and there is an option to de-select these objects too. When you have chosen the objects that you want, you need to save them by clicking on the button for “save.” Once this task is completed, you need to save the Salesforce Sandbox too.
How should you choose the right sandbox?
In case you are using multiple sandboxes, the following are the key tips to help you choose the best one for your needs-
- If you are a part of the development team, you should never choose Full Salesforce Sandboxes as the time, and costs for creation and refreshing becomes expensive. The access to data might not be right at all times for the organization.
- If you are with a testing team, you should use the partial data sandbox as they are best suited to your needs, especially if you need to use subsets or just a part of the production org.
- If you are dealing with testing for user acceptance or staging, you should use the partial copy sandbox-like, for instance, regional data, as this is beneficial for you.
- If you are engaged with production debugging and if you are involved in the testing for a partial amount of the data is accepted, use it for your sandbox.
In conclusion, it can be safely said that Salesforce Sandboxes have a number of advantages provided the user chooses the right one for the intended task. It is prudent to have a good understanding of the different types of Sandboxes so that you can ascertain the right one for your needs and enjoy its complete benefits with success!