Salesforce Architecture Blog
Guides for real Salesforce problems
Agentforce and Data 360 architecture, Agentforce Nonprofit and NPSP implementation, and the Apex and Lightning Web Component patterns behind our accelerators. Written for the people who have to make the decision and then live with it.
Agentforce Nonprofit vs NPSP: Which Should You Run in 2026?
Salesforce renamed Nonprofit Cloud to Agentforce Nonprofit and stopped provisioning NPSP to new nonprofits. What that actually means for your org, and a decision table you can take to your board.
Read the guide → Nonprofit · MigrationHow to Migrate from NPSP to Agentforce Nonprofit
Object-by-object mapping from Household Accounts and Opportunity donations to the Person Account and Gift Transaction model, plus dedupe, rollup parity, and a cutover that survives year-end.
Read the guide → Nonprofit · Data ModelThe Agentforce Nonprofit Data Model Explained
Person Accounts, Party Relationship Groups, Contact Points, and the fundraising, program, grantmaking, and outcome objects, with real API names and the relationships that matter.
Read the guide → Nonprofit · FundraisingFundraising Implementation: Gifts, Recurring Giving, and Designations
Model pledges and payments without double counting, build monthly giving that survives a declined card, handle soft credits and tributes, and split restricted funds properly.
Read the guide → Nonprofit · ProgramsProgram and Outcome Management: Prove Your Impact
Intake to enrollment to attendance to outcome. How to design indicators funders accept, and why most impact dashboards fail at the definition stage rather than the reporting stage.
Read the guide → Nonprofit · GrantmakingGrantmaking on Salesforce: From Application to Disbursement
Funding Opportunities, an applicant experience that does not need a licence, review and scoring, budgets, awards, disbursement schedules, and grantee reporting that closes the loop.
Read the guide → Nonprofit · ArchitectureKeep Donor and Participant Data Apart: The Nonprofit Sharing Model
The hardest nonprofit architecture problem, solved properly: organization-wide defaults, public groups instead of one role hierarchy, restriction rules, and what to encrypt.
Read the guide → Nonprofit · BudgetWhat Salesforce Really Costs a Nonprofit in 2026
The 10 donated licenses and what they do not cover, where implementation money actually goes, the line items nonprofits forget, and how to phase a build around a grant cycle.
Read the guide → Agentforce · ArchitectureAgentforce and Data Cloud Architecture: The Reference Design
The five layers every working agent has, how grounding actually flows from Data 360 into a prompt, and the design decisions that separate a deflecting agent from an expensive router.
Read the guide → Agentforce · RAGGround Agentforce in Your Own Documents: RAG with Retrievers
Search indexes, chunking, embeddings, hybrid search, and retrievers, step by step. Plus when the one-click Agentforce Data Library is enough and when it will box you in.
Read the guide → Data Cloud · IdentityData Cloud Identity Resolution: One Profile Your Agent Can Trust
Data streams, DLOs and DMOs, match and reconciliation rules, and the Unified Individual. How to tune match rules so you neither split one donor in three nor merge two families into one.
Read the guide → Agentforce · ActionsAgentforce Custom Actions with Flow, Apex, and Prompt Templates
Topics, actions, instructions, and the guardrails that keep an autonomous agent inside its lane. Which action type to pick, how to write descriptions the planner can use, and how to test.
Read the guide → Agentforce · Nonprofit BlueprintBuild a Donor Support Agent on Agentforce Nonprofit and Data Cloud
An end-to-end blueprint: unify donor records, ground the agent in gift history and gift acceptance policy, and give it a short list of actions it can safely take on receipts and lapsed pledges.
Read the guide → Buyer's GuideHow Much Does a Salesforce Implementation Cost? (2026 Guide)
What drives the price, typical ranges by project size, licenses vs implementation fees, freelancer vs agency rates, and how to keep the budget under control.
Read the guide → AI & AgentforceWhat Is Agentforce and Should Your Business Use It?
A plain-English guide to agentic AI: how it differs from chatbots, real use cases, how it works under the hood, and how to tell if you are ready.
Read the guide → IntegrationSalesforce + Mailchimp Integration: Auto-Sync Your Contacts
When a contact is created or updated in Salesforce, add or update them in your Mailchimp audience automatically. How it works, what you need, and the gotchas.
Read the guide → Industry GuideSalesforce for Staffing & Recruiting Agencies
The right data model for candidates, clients, and placements, plus Sales Engagement cadences, integrations, compliance tracking, and the reports that matter.
Read the guide → Buyer's GuideHow to Choose a Salesforce Implementation Partner (Freelancer vs Agency)
The real trade-offs between freelancer, boutique, and big system integrator. What to look for, red flags to avoid, and the questions to ask before you sign.
Read the guide → Service Cloud · ImplementationSalesforce Service Cloud: A Guide to a Successful Implementation
Design the service process, route cases with Omni-Channel, enforce SLAs with Entitlements and Milestones, and measure the KPIs that prove it works.
Read the guide → Sales Cloud · ImplementationSalesforce Sales Cloud: A Guide to a Successful Implementation
Map the sales process, route leads with SLAs, define opportunity stages with exit criteria, and build forecasting your team actually trusts.
Read the guide → Apex · AutomationRoll Up Fields Across a Salesforce Lookup Relationship (No Code)
Native roll-up summary fields only work on master-detail. Here is how to roll up COUNT, SUM, MIN, MAX, and AVG across any lookup, declaratively.
Read the guide → Apex · ArchitectureA Lightweight Apex Trigger Framework for Salesforce
One dispatcher, one-line triggers, testable handlers, and per-object or per-permission bypass with a built-in recursion guard.
Read the guide → Apex · ObservabilityRollback-Safe Apex Logging with Platform Events
Why logs vanish when a transaction rolls back, and how Platform Events let you keep the error record even after the DML is undone.
Read the guide → Apex · IntegrationA Resilient Apex HTTP Callout Framework with Named Credentials
Stop hand-writing HttpRequest boilerplate. A fluent builder, Named Credentials, automatic retries, and a reusable mock for tests.
Read the guide → LWC · UIInline-Editable Datatable for Salesforce Lightning Pages
Click-to-edit cells, picklist and date editors, frozen and resizable columns, and clean validation-rule errors, all configured in metadata.
Read the guide → LWC · UIBuild a Salesforce Kanban Board for Any Object
Turn a status picklist into a drag-and-drop board with per-column colors and smooth animations, with no managed package required.
Read the guide → LWC · FilesA Better Related Files List for Salesforce Records
The standard Files related list is limited. Add search, filtering, inline preview, and download in one configurable component.
Read the guide → LWC · ComplianceDocument Checklist and Classification in Salesforce
Track required documents, drag files onto checklist items, preview inline, and report on completeness for case and compliance workflows.
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