5 ways to accelerate your Salesforce org merge with metadata audits

Salesforce org merges can be a complicated process, especially when it comes to merging metadata between different orgs. Metadata refers to the configuration, customization, and development components that make up the Salesforce org. Merging metadata is a critical step in the org merge process, as it ensures that all components are integrated and function properly.

To accelerate Salesforce org merges and ensure a successful outcome, one of the most effective strategies is to automate metadata audits. Automating metadata audits enables you to get a holistic view of the orgs, make org survivorship decisions, and identify metadata inconsistencies quickly and efficiently. 

Five ways to accelerate your Salesforce org merge:

1. Identify duplicate metadata

During a Salesforce org merge, it's common to have duplicate metadata components across different orgs. This can cause confusion and create conflicts between different components. Automated metadata audits can help identify duplicate components and provide a clear overview of which components need to be merged.

How Hubbl Diagnostics helps: Using Hubbl Diagnostics for an automated metadata audit can help you rapidly compare:

• All types of record-triggered automation on identical objects from multiple orgs
• Fields and their utilization on identical objects from multiple orgs
• Installed packages and identify new versions available to upgrade prior to the merge
• Global picklist value sets and identify identical picklists eligible for new global picklist value sets

Plus, a full CSV export can be used to compare any metadata from each org.

2. Ensure metadata consistency

Inconsistencies in metadata can cause issues and errors during the Salesforce org merge process. To facilitate a smooth and efficient merge, it’s important to ensure metadata is consistent across all orgs

How Hubbl Diagnostics helps: Hubbl Diagnostics can be used to scan and identify any metadata inconsistencies. For example, you can compare automations by object and review by firing event to uncover similar automation with different names. 

"Anyone who has gone through an org merge or migration project knows the immense amount of metadata you need to wade through to effectively plan and orchestrate the new org... Having a tool to distill this complex metadata into executive-level visualizations saved us hundreds of hours of work.” 

— Lauren Margolin, Salesforce Manager, Microbiome

3. Validate metadata quality

Prior to a Salesforce org merge, metadata should be assessed against the Salesforce Well-Architected Framework for quality, ensuring all components meet required standards. This helps avoid common issues, such as broken functionality or invalid data, during the merge process.

How Hubbl Diagnostics helps: Hubbl Diagnostics identifies quality issues and provides recommendations for individuals metadata items. This allows users to:

• Compare directly against Salesforce Well-Architected best practices
• Make survivorship decisions based on the code quality
• Create a strategy to address issues prior to, during and after the org merge

Custom Code security review is provided, even in free Hubbl Diagnostics Essentials scans.

4. Org survivorship decision-making

Deciding which org should survive is sometimes challenging, and choosing the best org often requires a deep-dive into the metadata of each org. It’s difficult to visualize the “why?” in org survivorship because there are over 24,000 metadata items in the average org. 

How Hubbl Diagnostics helps: Hubbl Diagnostics allows you to uncover org complexity and understand how a Salesforce org was implemented in minutes. For example, 

• Use the Hubbl Score (org complexity score) to see an instant indication of which org may be easier to build in as the survivor.
• Compare migration to Flow progress to see the percentage of workflow and process that requires migration.

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5. Post-merge monitoring 

After the merge is complete, it's important to thoroughly test the new org to make sure that everything is working as expected. This includes testing any custom objects, automations, and permissions that were established prior to the merge.

Even if all is well, it’s important to remember that metadata is continually evolving and changing. To drive user adoption and increase efficiencies, it’s important to monitor metadata with regular audits.

How Hubbl Diagnostics helps: Hubbl Diagnostics can help you proactively monitor your org to stay ahead of any issues that arise as development is executed by your admins, contractors, and consulting partners. 

How Microbiome Labs accelerated their Salesforce org merge with Hubbl Diagnostics

Microbiome Labs recently underwent an org merge after being acquired by Novozymes. The task of planning and orchestrating a successful merge fell on the shoulders of Lauren Margolin, Salesforce Manager at Microbiome Labs, and her team. They faced the challenge of merging complex Salesforce orgs, a process that requires extensive manual work. By leveraging Hubbl Diagnostics and its automated metadata audits, Lauren and her team were able to ensure a seamless org merge with minimal disruption to the business.

• The Challenge: Microbiome Labs' legacy Salesforce org had been in use for several years, accumulating redundant automations, unutilized fields, and custom code complexities. Additionally, with only four months to complete the project, it was critical the team maintained executive alignment by providing visualizations and comparisons to quantify progress and drive trust in the project. 
• The Solution: Microbiome Labs utilized Hubbl Diagnostics to help plan and optimize its org merge. Throughout the project, Lauren and her team conducted 17 Hubbl Diagnostics scans to analyze their org merge progress. They focused on field utilization, schema analysis, and profiles and permissions—a critical aspect for Novozymes, who followed a principle of least privilege for data access. 
• Results: With a clear understanding of their org's complexity, they could navigate the merge process with minimal disruption to their business operations. Given the large and well-established nature of the Novozymes org, it was crucial to ensure nothing "broke" during the merge, and Hubbl Diagnostics played a pivotal role in achieving this. Overall, the use of Hubbl Diagnostics saved Lauren and her team hundreds of hours of manual work, resulting in a significant return on investment.

“At the end of the day, Hubbl Diagnostics helped make our Salesforce org better for our users. And as a Salesforce Manager, that’s my primary goal! Single Source of Truth: Trust. Adoption. Security. Data Quality. Reliable Analytics!”

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The tool for successful Salesforce org merges 

As you can see there are many ways that Hubbl Diagnostics can help you during your Salesforce org merge process, saving you hundreds of hours in org analysis in each step along the way. 

Most importantly though, Hubbl Diagnostics includes automated executive level visualizations of your metadata so it is easy to communicate with stakeholders, improving decision-making, and creating happier and more successful teams.