Salesforce Admin Object and Field

Object

It is like a table in a database and a sheet in Excel. Objects are divided into Standard and Custom objects (External objects, Platform events, and BigOject also exist). Major standard objects are Lead, Account, Contact, Opportunity, and Case. These objects always exist regardless of your product and edition. Custom objects are literally objects that you have created.

 

Object Relationship

The relationships that an object can have are Lookup, Master-Detail, Many-to-Many, Self, External, and Hierarchical. Relationship configuration is not mandatory, and you can set it up according to your business needs and structure. Let's start by examining the key concepts of Lookup and Master-Detail relationships.

Lookup Relationships

Lookup Relationship

Lookup relationship

• 1:1 or 1:N.
• When a connected record is deleted, the opposite record is not deleted (loosely coupled).
• Cannot create Roll-up summary.

• Standard - standard / standard - custom object.

Lookup relationship Example

• Account that keeps customer information and Opportunity that arises from the customer: A customer can have one or multiple Opportunities.
• Account that keeps customer information and Delivery that holds the customer's delivery information: A customer may have only one delivery record or more.
• Opportunity that holds opportunity information and Contract that contains contract information derived from the Opportunity: It can have either one contract information per Opportunity or multiple contract information.

 

Master-Detail Relationships

Master-Detail Relationship

• Master and Detail relationship.
• 1:1 or 1:N.
• When a parent record is deleted, its child record is deleted (strongly coupled).
• Can create Roll-up summary.
• Standard objects cannot be on the detail side.
• Each object can have up to two Master-Detail relationships.
• A child record inherits permissions and security from its parent record.

Master-Detail Example

• The Room object that has room information can have one or more records of the Event object, which contains event information: If there is no room information, there is no need for event information to exist.
• The Account, which contains corporate customer information, can have one or more records of the Contact object, which stores corporate contact information: If there is no corporate customer information, there is no need for corporate contact information to exist.

 

Field

It is an attribute or column in a database. In Excel, it corresponds to a single column. Fields are also classified into Standard and Custom fields. There are multiple types of fields available. Additionally, when creating a field, you can check the required option to enforce that a value must be entered when creating a record.

• Standard: Fields that are automatically created when you create an object. Standard field types can be also seen as follows:

Source:https://www.salesforceben.com/simple-salesforce-explained-how-to-get-started-with-salesforce-fields/

• Custom: Fields that you create. Types are listed below:
  • Auto Number: Each time a record is created, the system automatically increments a number by 1 and inserts it according to a predefined format (Oppty-01, Oppty-02...).
  • Formula: Function field. It is a read-only field.
  • Roll-Up Summary: A read-only field that performs calculations such as sum, min, max, and count on objects with a master-detail relationship.
  • Lookup Relationship: Set a Lookup relationship.
  • External Lookup Relationship: A type used to establish a lookup relationship with objects outside of Salesforce.
  • Checkbox: true/false.
  • Currency: A number field that allows decimal values. Recommended for use when there is calculation-related logic.
  • Date: Date (06-22-2023). Can be inputted using a calendar popup.
  • DateTime:  Date and time (06-22-2023T07:00:000+0000). Can be inputted using a calendar popup.
  • Email: Maximum of 80 characters. Automatically checks for email format.
  • Geolocation: latitude and longitude.
  • Number: Numeric type.
  • Percent: A decimal type and displayed as a percentage.
  • Phone: Maximum of 40 characters. Checks the phone number format.
  • Picklist: A field type where one value can be selected from a list (similar to selecting one value from a dropdown list).
  • Picklist (Multi-Select): Allows selection of multiple values from a list.
  • Text: A maximum of 255 characters.
  • Text Area: A maximum of 255 characters and multiple lines of input.
  • Text Area (Long): A maximum of 131,072 characters and multiple lines of input.
  • Text Area (Rich): Text type that allows a maximum of 131,072 characters and supports formatting (e.g., attaching images).
  • Text (Encrypted): A type that encrypts and stores the value when entered.
  • Time: A type for storing time. However, there is a limitation that it doesn't automatically convert according to the logged-in user's time zone.
  • URL: Maximum of 255 characters. Opens the URL in a new window when clicked.

We have learned about Salesforce objects and fields in this article. Creating objects and fields and making data can be easily done through practice. However, configuring who sees and what is not something that can be done with a few practices. It requires a good understanding of your business processes and the roles and permissions of each process.

As you study Salesforce, you will face many challenges. Sometimes it is hard to understand concepts. Sometimes Trailhead may not give you the clear answers you want. However, if you don't give up and continue to study and practice steadily, I believe you can become an outstanding admin.

In the next post, I will introduce a website that is useful when you need to create multiple fields.

 

Reference

Data Modeling

https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/data_modeling

Data Security

https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/data_security?trailmix_creator_id=strailhead&trailmix_slug=prepare-for-your-salesforce-administrator-credential