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Salesforce Data Architecture and Management: A pragmatic guide for aspiring Salesforce architects and developers to manage, govern, and secure their data effectively
https://www.amazon.com/Salesforce-Data-Architecture-Management-effectively/dp/1801073244/
published July 30, 2021
376 pages
Author: Ahsan Zafar, Salesforce Technical Architect at PDFTron Systems Inc.
Full Disclosure: Teny Thomas (Senior Marketing Coordinator at Packt Publishing) very graciously invited me to review this book before its publication date.
This book is not intended to make you an expert SOQL programmer. It is, however, focused on those concerns that are of primary interest for people that must perform data architecture management roles/functions. It is broad – and will help you develop your own personal roadmap for areas in which you may wish to develop more specialized knowledge
What I Particularly Liked About This Book:
In general, the book makes few assumptions about your previous data architecture knowledge.
The book is a good supplement to another Packt architecture book, “Becoming a Salesforce Certified Technical Architect” - see my review.
Coverage of metrics and KPIs for data quality.
Experienced Salesforce architects may find this book to be a useful recommendation for developers that are new to Salesforce.
The discussion of the different types of architecture roles – as well the role and responsibilities of the data architect.
The importance of not only technical skills – but also the soft skills (such as storytelling).
The author has a particularly insightful perspective on the challenges of communication – and the importance of communication skills.
The concepts and techniques of data modeling.
The underlying implementation details of the Salesforce physical data infrastructure.
The importance of data management (and its challenges) – and in particular, the concepts around data life cycles.
Practical insights that the author covers (such as the “Do” and “Avoid” guidance notes – and the guidance on multiple triggers, on page-84).
There are important practical insights – and suggestions – on backing-up your data. For those who are inexperienced in data management – and in particular, doing so with Salesforce - that guidance alone in Chapter-3 is worth the price of the book – as many Salesforce users have no doubt been severely burned by NOT following such advice.
A full chapter dedicated to Master Data Management (MDM). For someone new to the topic of MDM - the author’s discussions on how to think about MDM is worth the price of the book alone.
Chapter-5’s coverage of the Data Governance – and some of the important regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA – and the practical suggestions for establishing governance.
I learned some new things in Chapter-6 (“Managing Performance”) that I was previously unfamiliar with – and this was perhaps the most interesting chapter for me, personally. For example, see the discussion of deleted records on page-242. Also note, the Further Reading suggestions at the end of this chapter.
Chapter-7’s discussion on Large Volumes of Data – will probably be of interest to everyone that is involved in the data architecture of any large-scale usage of Salesforce – and in particular – the recommendations for Salesforce Connect usage, and SOQL best practices.
If you have been mystified by just what “data architecture” entails – this book would also be a gentle introduction, regardless of whether you have any interest in Salesforce.
