10 Salesforce Role Hierarchy Best Practices

Salesforce role hierarchy is a key part of the Salesforce security model. It defines the relationships between users and how they can access data. A well-designed role hierarchy can help you control data access, improve performance, and simplify administration.

In this article, we will discuss 10 best practices for designing Salesforce role hierarchies. By following these best practices, you can create role hierarchies that are effective and efficient.

1. Use the Role Hierarchy to control access

The role hierarchy is the key to controlling access in Salesforce. By default, users have access to all data, but this can be restricted by using the role hierarchy. For example, you can use the role hierarchy to restrict a user’s access to only their own data, or to data that they are explicitly granted access to.

When setting up your role hierarchy, it’s important to consider the following:

– Who needs access to what data?
– What level of access do they need?
– How should the data be organized?

Organizing your data correctly is crucial for ensuring that users have the correct level of access. If data is not organized correctly, users may be able to see data that they should not have access to.

It’s also important to remember that the role hierarchy is not static. As your organization grows and changes, so too will the role hierarchy. It’s important to review and update the role hierarchy on a regular basis to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of your organization.

2. Use Roles to create a hierarchy of users in your organization

When you have a role hierarchy in place, it’s easier to manage user permissions and data access. For example, let’s say you have a sales team of 10 people, and you want them to be able to see all the data for accounts that they own. However, you don’t want them to be able to see the data for accounts that other members of the team own.

With a role hierarchy, you can give the sales team members the “Sales User” role, which will allow them to see all the data for accounts that they own. Then, you can create a higher-level role called “Sales Manager” and give that role permission to see all the data for all the accounts in the Salesforce org.

By using roles to create a hierarchy of users, you can more easily control who has access to what data. This is a much more efficient way to manage user permissions than trying to do it manually.

3. Create an unlimited number of roles

The more roles you have, the granular your permissions will be. This is important because it allows you to give users just the right amount of access they need to do their job, no more and no less.

It also makes it easier to troubleshoot issues. If there’s a problem with someone’s access, you can quickly narrow down which role is causing the issue. And if you need to make a change to someone’s permissions, you can do so without affecting other users.

Finally, having a large number of roles gives you the flexibility to change things as your business needs evolve. So if you need to add or remove a permission for a certain group of users, you can do so without impacting others.

4. Add up to 1,000 roles to the role hierarchy

The role hierarchy is used to control data access in Salesforce. By default, all users have access to their own data, and the data of users who are lower in the role hierarchy. However, users who are higher in the role hierarchy have access to the data of users who are lower in the role hierarchy.

This means that if you add more roles to the role hierarchy, users will have more data access. This can be useful if you want to give certain users more data access, or if you want to restrict data access for certain users.

However, it’s important to note that adding too many roles to the role hierarchy can slow down Salesforce. Therefore, it’s best to add up to 1,000 roles to the role hierarchy.

5. Assign one or more profiles to each user

When a user is created in Salesforce, they are automatically assigned the “Default User” profile. This profile has very limited permissions, and as such, gives the user very little access to data and functionality within Salesforce.

If you want your users to be able to do anything more than log in and view their own personal information, you’ll need to assign them a different profile. The best practice is to assign each user the most restrictive profile that will still allow them to perform their job duties.

For example, if you have a user who only needs to be able to create and edit leads, you would assign them the “Lead User” profile. If you have a user who needs to be able to create and edit both leads and opportunities, you would assign them the “Standard User” profile.

By taking this approach, you can be sure that each user has the minimum level of access necessary to perform their job, which helps to reduce the risk of data leaks and other security issues.

6. Create and assign multiple profiles per user

When you have a user who needs access to data that falls under multiple roles in your Salesforce org, assigning them to just one profile will not give them the level of access they need. By creating and assigning multiple profiles per user, you can ensure that they have the appropriate level of access to all the data they need.

Not only does this make it easier for users to get the data they need, but it also helps to keep your Salesforce org more secure. By having users only have access to the data they need, you reduce the risk of sensitive data being exposed to unauthorized users.

7. Set sharing rules based on role

If you have a large organization with many users, it can be difficult to keep track of who should have access to what data. By setting sharing rules based on role, you can ensure that only the users who need access to certain data have access to it. This helps to keep your data secure and prevents unauthorized users from viewing or modifying it.

It’s also important to remember that role hierarchy does not replace the need for security controls such as permissions and profiles. Role hierarchy should be used in conjunction with these other security controls to create a comprehensive security strategy.

8. Set permissions for records owned by other users

If you have a user who is lower in the role hierarchy than another user, they will not be able to see records owned by the higher-up user unless you explicitly give them permission. This can cause problems if the lower-level user needs to access those records for their job.

To avoid this issue, you should always set permissions for records owned by other users in Salesforce. You can do this by going to the record’s sharing settings and adding the lower-level user with the appropriate permissions.

By taking this extra step, you can ensure that all users in your Salesforce org have the access they need to do their jobs effectively.

9. View data that is shared with you

When you are working with data in Salesforce, it is important to be able to see all of the data that is shared with you. This includes data that is shared with you by your role hierarchy, as well as data that is shared with you directly.

The reason why this is so important is because it allows you to make sure that you are seeing the most accurate data possible. If you can’t see all of the data that is shared with you, then you might make decisions based on incomplete information.

To view the data that is shared with you, simply go to the “Shared With Me” tab in Salesforce. From there, you will be able to see all of the data that is shared with you, both from your role hierarchy and from other users.

10. Manage record-level security with OWDs and Sharing Rules

When it comes to managing data security in Salesforce, the two most important factors are the Organization-Wide Default (OWD) and Sharing Rules. The OWD defines the baseline level of data visibility for all users in an org, while Sharing Rules can be used to grant additional access to records on a case-by-case basis.

Together, these two features give admins granular control over who has access to which records, making it easy to ensure that sensitive data is only visible to those who need to see it.