Big data is a big deal! So much so, we can often find ourselves with too much data. Large data sets make it challenging to effectively “crunch the numbers”, or manage performance and scalability. Standard, custom or external objects only minimally resolve this problem. The real solution is Big Objects.
Salesforce provides a game-changing feature within their platform called Big Objects, which provides data storage that does not count against the storage limit. These objects archive and manage massive data volumes within Salesforce without affecting performances, all with a processing scale of billions of records.
Enterprise organizations can take advantage of the two types of Big Objects:
- Standard Big Objects Standard Big Objects include FieldHistoryArchive and is part of the Field Audit Trail product. This provides storage for up to ten years of archived field history data. It is useful to organizations that must comply with industry regulations related to auditing and data retention.
- Custom Big Objects Salesforce users can also create Custom Big Objects by defining and deploying them through the Metadata API. To define a custom Big Object, users need to simply create an object file that contains the following:
- Definition
- Fields
- Index (determined the Big Object’s identity and its ability to be queried)
- Permission set (to define the permissions for each field)
- Package file (to define the contents of the object metadata)
Big Objects Pro Tips
When working with Big Objects, users must use the Metadata API to define a Big Object or add a field to make it custom. You cannot make changes to the data in Big Object; however, you can make a copy with different data. Also, Big Objects do no support sharing rules.
Extreme Gaming, a leading provider of online arcade games, serves as an excellent use case for Big Objects. The company has a very popular game that sees thousands of online players and numerous interactions per day, resulting in the generation of huge quantities of data. With Big Objects, Extreme Gaming has the ability to store the many interactions the players make all within Salesforce.
For companies making the switch from paper to computers and automation for recordkeeping, Big Objects presents a method for archiving huge amounts of data without users having to ever worry about storage capacity. GalaxE partners with companies to build out their Salesforce application, processes, and infrastructure. To learn more about solutions visit https://gx-staging.azurewebsites.net/products today
