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The Salesforce Database Explained

The Salesforce Database Explained

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Salesforce is the market leader in customer relationship management or CRM. Salesforce, founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff, is one of the world’s oldest cloud-based software firms. Salesforce is widely regarded as the world’s leading CRM platform and has expanded to service over 150,000 paying clients in the previous two decades.

Given the importance of Salesforce in CRM, businesses must understand how this platform operates. To grasp how the platform works, you must be familiar with the Salesforce database. Continue reading to discover more about Salesforce, the strength of its database, what salesforce uses which database, and how the Salesforce database may assist your organization right away.

Salesforce

Salesforce began as a CRM Software as a Service (SaaS) provider. Salesforce currently offers a variety of software solutions as well as a platform for users and developers to create and distribute custom software.

Salesforce.com’s architecture is multi-tenant. This indicates that several clients use the same technology and are all running the most recent release. You do not need to worry about application or infrastructure changes because they occur automatically. This allows your firm to concentrate on creativity rather than technology management.

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What is a Database?

A database is a collection of structured data. A database should also ensure that data can be organized, managed, and eventually altered. Databases use tables to do this. The majority of you are undoubtedly familiar with the table format. Consider how Microsoft Excel organizes data. This is comparable to how databases arrange data. There are tables and rows, and everything is contained within a well-organized and structured tabular framework.

However, Excel is not a database. It’s just a spreadsheet. Databases not only assist in structuring and organizing data through tables, but they are also used to store massive volumes of data for various users. So, if you tried to open a 1GB Excel file, you’d be stuck at your computer for… well, forever. Databases do not utilize Excel’s cell-based storage mechanism and load data quickly.

As a result, databases should be three things:

  • Tables are used to structure and organize information.
  • Capable of loading more data than RAM allows
  • Can accommodate many users/admins

That’s pretty much all! However, not all databases are made equal. Some databases are flat, immobile, and hyper-focused on a single activity. Others get slightly more difficult.

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What is the Salesforce Database?

Salesforce’s databases are handled by Oracle. This may appear unusual given that Salesforce and Oracle are direct rivals. But, like Apple and Samsung, they have a semi-symbiotic connection. Oracle CX competes with Salesforce, however, Salesforce employs several of Oracle’s database qualities, including self-securing and self-repairing capabilities, to better its end product. Salesforce also used PostgreSQL and a few other languages, although the majority of its platform is built on Oracle Databases.

The structure and operation of the database class salesforce assist to explain how Salesforce can cater to over 150,000 clients and manage all of their needs. The Database Class Salesforce is the heart of all functionality. It uses a tabular technique to organize, and handle data.

It also serves as a repository for massive volumes of data acquired from numerous users. This allows Salesforce to load more than the system RAM. This data is accessible to many users and administrators for quick and easy retrieval at any time.

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Evolution of Salesforce Database

Salesforce’s database utilities have grown since the company’s inception in 1999 to the state they are in now. Salesforce was founded to develop new commercial software applications. This is where the software would be distributed via a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) paradigm.

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The architecture of the Salesforce Database

The Salesforce database design Architecture is intended to provide a flexible and adaptable interface for customers, workers, and partners to utilize. It is made up of a sequence of interconnected layers, as seen in the diagram below.

The architecture of Salesforce Database

The various layers are joined together to provide a strong and multitenant database.

As a cloud-based corporation, all of the components are housed in a multitenant cloud.

APIs, data services, and AI services all rely on metadata. This is the fundamental layer of the services.

  • The architecture’s multi-tenancy assures that regardless of the growth of the organization, access to processing power, data storage, and essential functions stays constant.
  • The metadata includes all custom setups, functions, and scripts. This component of the architecture allows the user to browse the site more quickly.
  • The APIs allow various software in the architecture to communicate with one another for quick information exchange. These are used to find the metadata that is being sought.

Aside from functional characteristics, the physical organization of the Salesforce Database consists of several components. Salesforce uses distinct nomenclature for the three fundamental components of the database. Objects, Fields, and Records are the three types.

Objects in Salesforce Database

Tables are used in relational databases to store data. Each table is made up of several columns that each contain a certain sort of data. These salesforce database tables can also be linked using unique IDs.

An Object is a table that contains a collection of fields and data records. Various sorts of relationships connect objects.

Types of Objects:

The Salesforce platform supports a wide range of object kinds. These mostly include:

  • Standard Objects: These are objects that the Salesforce software has already built for you. This comprises standard information such as Contact, accounts, Leads, and so on.
  • Custom Objects: Custom Objects are ones that you may construct based on your needs based on certain business processes or features.
  • External Objects: External objects can be developed to map data held outside your company. The mix of these categories allows organizations to move between different sorts of data and makes the platform more adaptable to their needs.

Also, read about Salesforce data types and field types.

Fields in Salesforce Database

In Salesforce, a field is a custom database column. The data for the records are saved in the object fields. Each field represents a certain sort of information.

In Salesforce Databases, there are primarily two types of field references:

  • Standard Fields: Certain fields remain constant across all Salesforce objects. These are pre-built and available on the platform.
  • Custom Fields: In addition to normal fields, you may build custom fields on both standard and custom objects in Salesforce.

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Records on Salesforce Database

Salesforce Database generates data for leads, tasks, opportunities, accounts, and notes. This is where the real data is kept.

A range of record kinds is available for tying various business operations to users, customers, and administrators depending on their user profiles. The records are used to differentiate between different sorts of data that are kept and handled.

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Keys in Salesforce Database

Keys are used as unique identifiers in the Salesforce Database. There are two sorts of keys used: primary keys and foreign keys.

  • Primary Key: A primary key is a column or group of columns that uniquely identifies an object record. Multiple columns can be utilized to define the main key in some cases. Data from each column is utilized to assess if a record is unique in this case.
  • Foreign Key: A foreign key is a column or combination of columns from one object that references another object’s main key. Although the foreign key does not always refer to the main key, it always uniquely identifies a row or record in a database.

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Understanding Salesforce Relational Database

Relational databases, like conventional databases, have rows and columns. However, each row has a distinct identifier (or key) that defines it. Each table also has its key. As a result, you may use that one-of-a-kind key to link to other tables. This provides a large web of interconnected tables, allowing you to perform amazingly difficult things like track, measure, and use customer data. To effectively store and manage all of this consumer data, you need a database that is quick, secure, and sophisticated enough to effortlessly connect crucial data points. That is precisely what Salesforce’s database offers.

Salesforce items are linked together using specifically defined relationships. Salesforce objects primarily define three types of connections. These are based on data sharing, deletion, and accessing issues. The Database Class Salesforce contains the following sorts of relationships:

  • Many to Many
  • Many to One
    • Master-Detail
    • Look Up
    • Hierarchical
    • Self

Conclusion:

This Blog provided you with a thorough overview of the Salesforce Database. You learned about the Salesforce Database’s architecture, keys, three important elements, and connections. You also learned about two main approaches for migrating data from Salesforce to any data warehouse: manual and automated.

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About the Author

Salesforce Certified Professional

Rahul is a seasoned Salesforce Certified administrator and app builder with 10+ years of experience in many Salesforce technologies, such as Salesforce CRM and business process automation. In his free time, he likes to write and read about the latest technologies.