Best Practices for Importing Data into Salesforce

The most efficient methods for arranging the data before moving it once you’ve decided which method is the best for importing or exporting your data. 

Salesforce Does Not Have “Undo” 

1. You should constantly have a procedure in case you ever need to recover an earlier version of your work, even though it might not be easy.  
2. Let’s imagine you wish to re-insert contact records after deleting them. Did the deleted contacts have any Tasks or Cases attached to them? They won’t be on the recently added records if that is the case. Always undertake an impact analysis before altering or deleting existing data and keep a record of the procedures you’ll take if something goes wrong. 
3. After an import is finished, keep the created result files in a safe location. You will have a record of the work that was done in this manner, and you will also have access to the files in case you need them to support a rollback. 
4. Salesforce does not support “CTRL + Z,” in contrast to Excel. After an import is finished, the records remain in the system. Although Salesforce doesn’t have native functionality to reverse an import, back-stops may always be secured using Salesforce Backup and other ETL products that support rollback. 

Don't forget to check out: An Ultimate Guide on How to Import Data in Salesforce

Remove Duplicates Before Importing 

1. In Salesforce, duplicates may be a headache. The existence of duplicate data has a significant negative impact on reporting, user experience, and data quality. Try to deduplicate the source data before performing the import when importing records into Salesforce. 
2. Use ETL tools or even Excel to achieve deduplication! You can avoid any issues by deduplicating before attempting the import. 
3. Incorporate this with Deduplication Rules to provide a unified approach. Instead, then relying just on the Standard Deduplication Rules, consider your company’s needs. Additionally, if necessary, add your own matching rules. 

Verify the procedures 

1. Have you ever imported data into Salesforce and wondered why the records didn’t look exactly like your source data? It’s because a Salesforce process is altering or updating the data. Clicking on Where is this utilized will allow you to see where any improper custom fields are located. 
2. Look up examples in books like Triggers, Process, and Flows, and consider how the fields are handled. Do these procedures have an effect on your imports? 
3. Check to determine if those processes will result in Limit problems as well. An illustration would be a trigger that modifies connected data in accordance with specific criteria. To make sure you are within the Salesforce limits and your imports will run without problems, think about adjusting the batch size of your imports. 
4. Salesforce provides a variety of APIs for data import. The Bulk API was developed primarily for bulk data imports, in contrast to the REST and SOAP APIs, which are intended and optimized for imports that change a small number of entries at a time. Make sure you choose the appropriate API for your needs, and test each one’s speed and capacity. 

Use Excel’s VLOOKUP Caution! 

1. The most popular data tool around! While Excel undoubtedly has advantages and provides a simple and practical way to open and edit data, it is prone to mistakes. It’s possible to make mistakes, but no one wants to have the conversation of explaining to their users that the data in Salesforce is incorrect due to a simple typo or a wrong formula. 
2. Did you know that VLOOKUP is not case-sensitive, by the way? Make sure to use the Salesforce’s 18-character IDs rather than the typical 15-character IDs when exporting reports and performing a VLOOKUP. Otherwise, the search can return some unexpected results. 
3. The most essential Excel capabilities, like concatenation, field formatting, and VLOOKUP, are provided by ETL tools. You can frequently utilize a data loader’s lookup functionality in place of a VLOOKUP when constructing lookup relationships to obtain the ID instead: 

A different approach will be required for any large data sets because Excel can only handle up to about one million rows. 

Automate Whenever Possible 

1. You might want to automate the task if you plan to import data on a daily basis. It will not only greatly simplify your life but also ensure accurate data in Salesforce. 
2. By simply saving the mapping file, you may use the Salesforce Data Loader to avoid forgetting a field when you import data again. 
3. The employment process may also be able to be automated if you have any experience with Windows Batch Scripts. In any case, you can create automation like scheduling and mapping without writing any code by using a data importing tool. 

Check out another amazing blog here: Top 11 Extensions for Salesforce Developers

Test first in sandboxes 

Salesforce developed sandboxes to provide users the opportunity to test new features before they are released. So why not include Sandboxes in data tests as well?