Understanding the Phases of the Salesforce Development Lifecycle

Salesforce is a customer relationship management suite that is used across industry verticals by many companies. The suite is used to manage brand-customer relations, sales-customer interaction, and point-to-point sales processes so that the company’s benefits and revenue generation go smoothly. Salesforce CRM also plays a crucial role in customer engagement and brand building. In its core form, the Salesforce development cycle integrates marketing automation, customer relations and sales management so that professionals can complete repetitive tasks easily.  With the development of targeted salesforce solutions, you can see at least 18.4 per cent jump in revenue from your company processes. 

Salesforce development lifecycle and deployment designer will tell you that the development cycle of the salesforce CRM suite is linked with developing, testing and integrating the applications found in the CRM suite. The lifecycle of the CRM development shows that through systematic development such solutions are created and integrated for better functionality into the Salesforce CRM suite. 

If you are starting to depend on Salesforce CRM and need applications that will work for your business, you need to understand the Salesforce development lifecycle and deployment to hire a good Salesforce development company in India for the task ahead. 

Planning and Analysis in the Salesforce Development Lifecycle

1. Requirement Gathering

⤞ Identifying business needs

Before you start the Salesforce certified development lifecycle and deployment, you need to identify the business needs and the areas where the Salesforce apps will work. Without knowing the exact business needs you are targeting, you cannot gather the information needed to take the development cycle forward.

⤞ Stakeholder interviews and surveys

A Salesforce development agency will hold stakeholder interviews, research, and surveys to determine the gaps where the newly developed Salesforce app will be deployed. This gives a direction to the development project.

2. Feasibility Study

⤞ Assessing technical feasibility

A feasibility study is also important as it assesses how feasible this app will be in meeting the technical requirements needed for the processes. It will also assess if your company has the technical resources it needs and what the budget will be to complete such a project.

⤞ Cost-benefit analysis

The Salesforce development company also focuses on doing a complete cost-benefit analysis so that your company can know the upcoming costs and whether the project will be really beneficial for the team. When the cost outweighs the benefits, the project is not started immediately and is shelved.

Also Read: 10 Salesforce Development Companies in India

 3. Project Scope Definition

⤞ Defining project objectives

The development team discusses the project with the client company and defines the project objectives and the goals of the project development process. These objectives define the purpose of the app or the tool and fit it into the larger picture of the Salesforce CRM suite.

⤞ Setting project timelines and milestones

Once the objectives and what needs to be achieved are outlined thoroughly on the app framework, the salesforce application development lifecycle is timed, and the timelines, as well as milestones of the whole process, are defined realistically so that the team knows the deadline to which it has to develop and the roadmap it follows to create the application.

Design in the Salesforce Development Lifecycle

1. System Design

⤞ High-level design

A high-level design is done to create the wireframe that includes all the important aspects of the application and ensures that all the needed components are included. A Salesforce-certified development lifecycle and deployment designer is a person who does both aspects of the system design framework.

⤞ Low-level design

Low-level design happens when the designer identifies the specifics of the design framework and completes the whole framework by adding the details and the necessary features to complete the design.

2. Data Modeling

⤞ Creating data models

The salesforce app needs to be integrated with the databases, and for this, the team needs to create data models that will handle the data channels for the flow of information and completion of processes. The Salesforce application needs to have a proper data channel architecture and strong database integration for the application to be successful.

⤞ Designing database schema

Once the data models and nodes are identified, the team also creates the database schema to set forth the database integration process and complete the integration so that the app works properly with all its features and can carry out data analysis.

3. User Interface Design

⤞ Wireframing and prototyping

Wireframing and prototyping of the UX and UI interface are important as they determine how easy the application will be to use. The user interface will include the icons, navigation flow, and other aspects of the app’s daily use, which needs a lot of attention. The front-end design team has to focus on creating the first wireframe and then fleshing it out to create the whole UX layout.

⤞ UI/UX considerations

When creating the UI/UX layout, the team has to consider some important things. The UI/UX layout has to be simple and easy to use so that the goal of high usability is realized. The UI/UX layout should have elements that target the user audience and make the app accessible to them. A good UX designer or team will be able to create a layout that goes with the app’s purpose and target audience.

Development in the Salesforce Development Lifecycle

1. Code Development

⤞ Apex development Visualforce pages

The code development first starts with Apex Development and Visualforce pages. The code development is done to create the first and most important layer of the code base.

2. Version Control

⤞ Using version control systems

Version control systems are used in the development phase to control and review the many versions after different changes that happen during development. The development phases are completed by monitoring the code base with version control systems.

⤞ Branching strategies

The use of branching strategies is also done to manage the different versions and keep the code stable. Collaboration among the different teams of the software development lifecycle

3. Integration

⤞ Integrating with third-party systems

⤞ API development and management

Testing in the Salesforce Development Lifecycle

1. Unit Testing

⤞ Writing test classes

For the unit testing round, the test classes need to be written; while this is mostly done by developers and testers manually, it is nowadays completed with necessary automated tools.

⤞ Code coverage requirements

The unit testing process needs to cover all code blocks and ensure that the software code is tested thoroughly before it goes ahead to the next step of testing.

Also Read: Advantages and Disadvantages of Using .NET Framework in 2024

2. Integration Testing

⤞ Testing interactions between modules

The testing interactions between modules are done before integrating the different code blocks and changes to create the final output. Modules and changes in the said modules are tested to ensure that the application code base works seamlessly after the interaction.

⤞ Ensuring seamless data flow

Seamless dataflow is ensured during integration testing to ensure that the necessary nodes and data schema get the right information at all times to carry out their functions.

3. User Acceptance Testing

⤞ Conducting UAT sessions with stakeholders

Once the backend is tested during the salesforce application development and deployment lifecycle, the front end and the effect it has on users are also tested. A small group of the user base is involved in the UAT sessions.

⤞ Gathering feedback and making adjustments

The user feedback is collected during the initial testing process, and it is used to make final modifications to the application before the deployment phase begins.

Deployment in the Salesforce Development Lifecycle

1. Preparing for Deployment

⤞ Creating deployment plans

Salesforce developer consultant team connects with the testing team, and once the testing and improvements are done, it creates deployment plans for the software. The deployment is done in a planned and phased manner so that the application can be integrated into the workflow very smoothly.

⤞ Ensuring environment readiness

The environment readiness of the application is tested to ensure that the performance of an application is well maintained even when the factors of its environment fluctuate.

2. Deployment Strategies

⤞ Using Change Sets

Change Sets are a tool from the Salesforce suite that helps developers deploy changes and applications by bundling the changes together in an automated manner. This simplifies the application deployment process and reduces the need to use manual intervention for the deployment.

⤞ Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment tools

There are many CI/CD tools available for deployment that easily deploy the changes and the updated version of apps as soon as the development is finished. This is a rapid process that has many automation features.

3. Post-Deployment Activities

⤞ Conducting sanity checks

The deployment team checks the different nodes and systems of the new application to ensure that the code is intact and stable.

⤞ Monitoring system performance

The team also assesses the application’s performance parameters to ensure that the system and the application are running seamlessly and maintain performance standards. This is done to ensure that the performance does not glitch over a period of time.

Maintenance and Support in the Salesforce Development Lifecycle

1. Monitoring and Performance Tuning

⤞ Using monitoring tools

After deployment, the salesforce development team offers support and maintenance with tools that are used to monitor the performance closely. When issues arise, these tools notify the team as soon as possible.

⤞ Identifying and resolving performance issues

The team then identifies and resolves the performance issues so that such issues do not arise in the future and the performance standards are maintained. 

2. Bug Fixing and Enhancements

⤞ Managing support tickets

The support tickets are taken out to report bugs and issues that arise. The post-deployment team manages these tickets and goes on to troubleshoot the issues.

⤞ Planning and implementing enhancements

The most notable and frequent bugs are noted, and performance and usability enhancements are made to ensure that the application works properly and is useful to the user base for a long time.

Also Read: Getting Started With Salesforce Lightning: A Guide For New Users

3. User Training and Documentation

⤞ Conducting training sessions

Once the software development and deployment lifecycle is completed initially, the team should also conduct training sessions among professionals and administrators to ensure that the application is used properly.

⤞ Updating documentation

The documentation and details are updated according to the changes and improvements of the Salesforce CRM application so that users can refer to the documentation at any time.

Get Started with the Salesforce Development Lifecycle Today!

Salesforce development services in India are very in demand now that Salesforce CRM is a popular business solution. With its new versions, salesforce CRM has become an updated and useful suite of tools. The customized development of Salesforce applications is done through professional team skills. From requirement planning to post-deployment support, a good salesforce development company can help you complete all the steps of the salesforce development lifecycle very easily.