One common complaint I hear from new Salesforce clients is something like, “Why is it that Salesforce cannot do what I want it to do?”
These clients usually originate from the custom web development space, in which just about anything they want can be realized. Moving to a multi-tenant environment is a new concept for them, one that requires some understanding.
Yes, Salesforce is a platform, and yes, it can be extended to a point. But there are inherent rules to using it. You need to respect their governor limits, which include
- per-transaction apex limits
- per-transaction certified managed package limits
- lightning platform apex limits
- static apex limits
- size-specific apex limits
- miscellaneous apex limits
- email limits
- push notification limits
The reason these limits are in place is because you need to “play nice” with other orgs on the same server. If one org suddenly consumed all the server’s resources, the other orgs would suffer. It also protects you from yourself, such as avoiding infinite loops and poorly designed functionality.
In addition to these limits, just because you can do something in Salesforce doesn’t mean you should. The cost to do something, both in time and budget, might make the desired feature less desirable. More on that in the next email.
The takeaway
It’s your role as a Salesforce consultant to explain the rules of the game and make recommendations based on those rules. Empathy is important and guiding your client to understand Salesforce is an awesome platform, with limits in place for a reason.