8 Salesforce Admin Automation Tips in 2025

Did you know that the average admin spends 15+ hours weekly on manual processes that could be automated?

This inefficiency costs organizations thousands in lost productivity.

Discover 8 powerful Salesforce admin automation tips that will transform how you manage Salesforce and reclaim your valuable time.

1. Use Flow Builder as Your Primary Automation Tool

Remember juggling between Workflow Rules, Process Builder, and other automation tools? Those days are officially behind us in 2025. Flow Builder now stands as Salesforce's premier automation solution.

Why Flow Builder Dominates in 2025

Flow Builder has evolved from a clunky interface into an intuitive, drag-and-drop canvas. This transformation makes complex automation accessible to admins of all skill levels.

What You Can Build with Flow Builder:

• Record-triggered flows - Automate processes when records change
• Scheduled flows - Run automations at specified times
• Screen flows - Create guided user experiences
• Platform event flows - Respond to events in real-time
• Autolaunched flows - Execute from buttons or apex

Tools like Deploforce can supercharge your Flow Builder experience. It helps retrieve existing flows, analyze them for improvements, and generate new flows following Salesforce best practices.

Key Flow Builder Features to Master in 2025:

• Flow Orchestrator: Coordinate complex, multi-step processes
• Enhanced Triggers: More options and finer control
• Custom Components: Create richer user experiences
• Performance Analytics: Track execution time and identify bottlenecks

Pro Tip: Start migrating your Process Builder automations to Flow now. Salesforce is gradually phasing out legacy tools, with Flow receiving all new feature investments.

2. Create Reusable Components

Building the same functionality repeatedly wastes precious time. In 2025, smart Salesforce admins focus on creating reusable components that can be deployed across multiple flows and processes.

Types of Reusable Components

Reusable components dramatically reduce maintenance overhead. When you need to update functionality, you only need to modify it in one place rather than hunting down every instance.

Benefits of Component-Based Approach:

• Consistency - Ensure the same business logic is applied everywhere
• Faster Development - Build new flows by assembling existing components
• Reduced Testing - Test components once, trust them everywhere
• Easier Collaboration - Team members can use components without understanding all the details
• Simplified Maintenance - Fix bugs or make improvements in a single location

Deploforce makes working with reusable components even easier. Its AI-powered system can identify patterns in your existing flows and suggest opportunities for creating reusable components.

Best Practices for Reusable Components:

1. Document Thoroughly - Create clear descriptions and usage examples
2. Design for Flexibility - Use input variables to make components adaptable
3. Version Control - Track changes to components over time
4. Naming Conventions - Adopt a consistent naming pattern for easy discovery
5. Regular Reviews - Periodically audit components for improvement opportunities

Pro Tip: Create a "Component Library" custom object to catalog your reusable components with documentation, examples, and versioning information. This makes it easier for your team to discover and use existing components.

3. Implement Version Control

Even in 2025, many Salesforce admins still make changes directly in production or rely on change sets without proper tracking. Implementing version control transforms how you manage your Salesforce configurations and automations.

Why Version Control Matters for Admins

Version control isn't just for developers. Modern tools have made it accessible to admins with minimal technical background.

Popular Version Control Options for Salesforce:

• Git + Salesforce DX - Full-featured but steeper learning curve
• Gearset - User-friendly interface with built-in deployment tools
• Copado - Designed specifically for Salesforce with CI/CD pipeline
• AutoRABIT - Focus on compliance and security with version control
• Deploforce - AI-assisted version control that predicts potential issues and suggests best practices

Version control fundamentally changes your workflow from "change and pray" to a disciplined, documented approach.

Getting Started with Version Control:

1. Choose Your Tool - Select based on team size, complexity, and technical expertise
2. Establish Branching Strategy - Decide how to manage different workstreams
3. Set Up Environments - Configure sandbox environments that mirror your branching strategy
4. Create Commit Standards - Establish rules for what constitutes a good commit message
5. Automate Testing - Connect automated tests to your deployment pipeline

4. Prioritize Declarative Over Code

In 2025, Salesforce continues to expand its declarative capabilities. Smart admins leverage these point-and-click features before turning to custom code solutions.

Declarative vs. Code Solutions Comparison

The "clicks not code" philosophy isn't about avoiding code entirely. It's about using the right tool for each job.

When to Use Declarative Tools:

• Standard Business Processes - Record creation, updates, approvals
• Data Validation - Field validation rules, flow validation
• UI Customizations - Dynamic forms, conditional visibility
• Simple Calculations - Formulas, roll-up summaries
• Common Integrations - Using pre-built connectors and External Services

When Code May Be Necessary:

• Complex Calculations - Advanced mathematical operations
• Custom UI Components - Specialized interfaces beyond standard capabilities
• High-Volume Data Processing - Batch operations on millions of records
• External System Integrations - Complex API interactions
• Specialized Security Requirements - Custom encryption or security protocols

Deploforce helps bridge this gap by analyzing your requirements and suggesting the optimal approach—declarative or code—based on complexity, performance needs, and maintenance considerations.

5. Build with Scale in Mind

Too many Salesforce automations are built for today's needs without considering tomorrow's growth. In 2025, building with scale in mind from the start is non-negotiable.

Common Scaling Challenges

What works perfectly for 10 users and 1,000 records can fail catastrophically with 100 users and 100,000 records.

Scalable Architecture Principles:

• Bulkify Everything - Design all automations to handle multiple records at once
• Minimize SOQL Queries - Consolidate database operations to avoid governor limits
• Use Asynchronous Processing - Leverage scheduled jobs and queueable operations
• Implement Caching Strategies - Reduce redundant calculations and queries
• Create Circuit Breakers - Build in failsafes for unexpected volumes

Performance Testing Checklist:

1. Data Volume Testing - Test with 2-10x your expected data volume
2. Concurrent User Testing - Simulate multiple users performing actions simultaneously
3. Batch Processing Validation - Ensure bulk operations complete successfully
4. Governor Limit Monitoring - Track how close you come to hitting various limits
5. Response Time Measurement - Benchmark and set standards for acceptable performance

Tools like Deploforce can analyze your automation designs for potential scale issues, suggesting optimizations before problems occur in production.

Pro Tip: Create a "Scale Testing Sandbox" with significantly more data than your production org. Test all automations there before deployment to identify potential bottlenecks.

6. Implement Proper Order of Execution

One of the most common causes of automation failures in Salesforce is misunderstanding how different automation tools interact and execute. In 2025, mastering the order of execution is critical.

Salesforce Execution Order Simplified

Misunderstanding this order leads to unexpected behaviors, recursive loops, and performance issues.

Common Order of Execution Mistakes:

• Trigger Recursion - Flows or triggers that inadvertently call themselves
• Race Conditions - Assuming one automation will complete before another starts
• Validation Timing - Placing validation logic after records are modified
• Transaction Boundaries - Not accounting for where one transaction ends and another begins
• Asynchronous Confusion - Expecting immediate results from asynchronous processes

Best Practices for Managing Execution Order:

1. Document Dependencies - Map out how automations interact with each other
2. Use Before-Save When Possible - For simple record updates on the same object
3. Control Recursion - Implement static variables or custom settings to prevent infinite loops
4. Standardize Approach - Choose consistent patterns for similar automation needs
5. Regular Audits - Periodically review automation interactions as your org grows

Deploforce's AI-powered analysis can visualize execution order across your org's automations, highlighting potential conflicts and suggesting optimizations.

Pro Tip: Create a visual diagram of your critical business processes showing all automation touchpoints in execution order. This makes it much easier to plan new automations and troubleshoot issues.

7. Consider Platform Events for Complex Processes

In 2025, Platform Events have evolved into a powerful solution for building complex, asynchronous processes in Salesforce. They're no longer just for integrations—they're essential components in sophisticated automation architectures.

What Makes Platform Events Special

Platform Events create a foundation for event-driven architecture within your Salesforce org, enabling more robust and scalable solutions.

Ideal Scenarios for Platform Events:

• High-Volume Data Processing - Handle large volumes of records without hitting governor limits
• Complex Business Processes - Break down complicated workflows into manageable, discrete steps
• System Integration - Create real-time connections between Salesforce and external systems
• Error Handling - Build sophisticated retry mechanisms for failed operations
• Monitoring and Alerting - Create custom notification systems for critical business events

Implementation Steps for Platform Events:

1. Define Your Events - Create custom platform event objects with relevant fields
2. Build Publishers - Develop flows or code that publish events when specific conditions occur
3. Create Subscribers - Implement flows or triggers that listen for and process events
4. Monitor Performance - Use Event Monitoring to track delivery and processing times
5. Implement Error Handling - Create robust failure handling for mission-critical processes

Deploforce can help analyze your processes and identify opportunities where Platform Events would improve performance or reliability, even generating starter templates for your event-driven architecture.

Pro Tip: Create a "dead letter queue" using a custom object to capture and retry failed Platform Event processing. This provides a safety net for your event-driven processes.

8. Use Scheduled Flows for Recurring Tasks

In 2025, scheduled flows have become the go-to solution for automating recurring tasks in Salesforce. They combine powerful scheduling capabilities with the flexibility of Flow Builder.

Scheduled Flows vs. Other Scheduling Options

Scheduled flows provide the perfect balance of power and accessibility for most recurring automation needs.

Common Use Cases for Scheduled Flows:

• Data Maintenance - Regularly clean up, archive, or update records
• Report Distribution - Generate and send reports on a schedule
• SLA Management - Check for breached service agreements and escalate
• Batch Processing - Process records in batches to stay within governor limits
• Integration Sync - Regularly synchronize data with external systems

Best Practices for Scheduled Flows:

1. Error Notification - Configure email alerts when flows fail
2. Resource Timing - Schedule resource-intensive flows during off-hours
3. Documentation - Add clear descriptions and purpose in the flow metadata
4. Governor Limit Management - Use collection filters to process manageable batches
5. Monitoring Plan - Establish regular checks for flow execution history

One tremendous advantage of scheduled flows is their ability to be managed by admins without developer intervention, making your automation more agile and responsive to business needs.

Deploforce enhances scheduled flows by providing AI-driven recommendations on optimal scheduling patterns based on your org's usage patterns and resource constraints.

Pro Tip: Create a "Flow Scheduler" custom object to track all your scheduled flows in one place. Include fields for business purpose, schedule details, owner, and last run status to give your team visibility into all automated processes.

Conclusion

As we navigate 2025, Salesforce automation continues to evolve at a rapid pace. By implementing these eight tips, you'll create more robust, scalable, and maintainable automations that adapt to your organization's growing needs.

Remember that automation isn't just about saving time today—it's about building a foundation for future growth and innovation. With tools like Deploforce providing AI-powered assistance, even complex automation challenges become manageable.

What automation tip has made the biggest impact in your Salesforce org? Share your experiences in the comments below!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Which automation tool should I prioritize learning as a Salesforce Admin in 2025?

Flow Builder should be your top priority since Salesforce is investing heavily in it while phasing out legacy tools like Process Builder and Workflow Rules.

All new automation features are being added to Flow first, making it the future-proof choice for Salesforce automation.

How do I convert my existing Process Builder automations to Flow?

Start by using Salesforce's official Process Builder to Flow migration tool, available in Setup.

For more complex processes, map out the logic visually before rebuilding in Flow, or use tools like Deploforce that can analyze your existing Process Builders and suggest optimized Flow structures.

What are the governor limits I should be most concerned about when building automations?

The most common governor limits that impact automations are SOQL queries (100 per transaction), DML statements (150 per transaction), and records processed (10,000 in a single transaction).

Pay special attention to queries and DML operations within loops, which can quickly exhaust these limits.

How can I test my automations under high data volume conditions?

Create a dedicated sandbox environment with 5-10x your production data volume and use data loading tools to generate realistic test data.

Use the Flow Debug tool with different test scenarios and monitoring tools like Event Monitoring to identify performance bottlenecks.

Should I still learn Apex if I want to focus on Salesforce automation?

Yes, understanding basic Apex is valuable even if you primarily use declarative tools for automation.

Apex knowledge helps you create custom invocable actions when Flow limitations are encountered and troubleshoot complex automation issues more effectively.

How do I ensure my automations don't break during Salesforce releases?

Implement a proper testing strategy with documented test cases for critical automations and always test in a sandbox after each Salesforce release.

Subscribe to Salesforce release notes to stay informed about deprecated features and consider using Deploforce's AI-powered impact analysis to identify potential issues before they occur.