Salesforce Orgs Definition
For large clients, we often find they have multiple instances of Salesforce CRM. In Salesforce “speak” each instance is referred to as an “org” which is short for “organization”. In some cases, large organizations will deploy separate orgs over time for various divisions, departments or business functions. This blog addresses some of the considerations for clients with multiple instances and whether they should combine the orgs or leave them as independent. If you are considering creating an incremental instance of Salesforce, this blog is also for you.
Maintaining Separate Salesforce Orgs
Pros
- Less time is spent seeking “agreement” from one department to another to make changes
- More rapid initial deployment
- No risk of impacting another group when you make changes
- Can be on different editions (e.g., One group could be on Enterprise Edition and another on Unlimited Edition)
Cons
- Potential for duplicate license costs for users needing to access both orgs
- No ability to run consolidated reports
- No ability to assign tasks across groups
- Duplicate data and inability to keep data consistent across orgs
- Greater costs to set up similar processes/fields in both systems
- Redundant effort for system integration
- Increases cost for 3rd party add-in apps that much be purchased for each instance
- More difficult to manage
Consolidating Salesforce Orgs and Cost Savings
Over time, the cost to consolidate multiple orgs grows significantly. Therefore, if you are considering merging orgs in the future, or are getting ready to deploy a new org, you might want to consider consolidating sooner rather than later. Having seen thousands of Salesforce projects and hundreds of multi-org relationships, we seldom find a good reasons for maintaining separate orgs.
We will typically do an inventory of each org to confirm the best strategy for the combination. For example it might make sense to move move one or more into an existing target org. Or, create a brand new org and move all into this new target. We will also identify issues and questions that will need resolution.
Sample Org Inventory Questions
- Why are you combining the orgs? What are you hoping to gain from doing this?
- How many orgs are you consolidating?
- What are the editions of each org? (Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, etc.)
- What UIs are in place (Classic or Lightning Experience)?
- How many licenses are in each org?
- Is the sum of the licenses the correct number (including by license type)?
- Will there be any changes (additions/subtractions) to the number and types of licenses?
- What third-party apps are installed in each org and which will continue to be used? (include expiration/renewal dates)
- How will we deploy special features like multi-currency, territory management or multi-language?
- What is the desired timetable for the project?
- What people resources does client desire to have involved in project?
Please schedule a call to discuss consolidating your Salesforce orgs with us. We can help you determine if it’s the right move for your institution.
