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Learn What’s New with Data for Winter ’24

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

  • Deploy scalable apps and analyze system performance with Scale Center.
  • Set up and maintain backups more easily.
  • Incorporate new capabilities with Data Cloud.
  • Enrich your Contact and Lead information and insights.
  • Organize your data with Data Spaces.
  • Connect to third-party key stores with External Key Management.
Note

Important!

In order to maintain your certification, you must complete all five units of this module.

Salesforce Certification

If you hold a Salesforce Architect certification, keep in mind that you need to complete this unit and the other 4 units in this module by the due date to maintain your certification. Another important part of maintaining your certification is ensuring your Trailhead and Webassessor accounts are linked.

Interested in learning more about getting certified? Check out all the Salesforce Architect certifications.

Protect the Integrity of Your Certification

The quality of our certification exams and the value our credentials provide are our highest priority. Protecting the security and confidentiality of our exams is essential to providing our customers with credentials that are respected and industry-leading.

As a participant of the Salesforce Certification Program, you’re required to accept the terms of the Salesforce Credential and Certification Program Agreement. Please review the Salesforce certification exam-taking policies in the Salesforce Credential and Certification Program Agreement and Code of Conduct Salesforce Help article for more details.

Salesforce introduced a ton of great feature enhancements over the past year. Let’s take a look at some of the more important ones.

Deploy Scalable Apps and Analyze System Performance with Scale Center

Scale Center provides self-service and near-real-time access to performance metrics. Diagnose root causes and act on scale issues earlier in your development cycle. Create analysis reports to troubleshoot errors. Retrieve customized insights and recommendations.

Where: This change applies to Lightning Experience in the Unlimited Edition.

Who: This service is available to all Unlimited Edition Production orgs. Users are subject to the applicable terms provided at Agreements and Terms.

How: From Setup, in the Quick Find box, enter Scale Center, and then select Scale Center.

Unlimited Edition Production orgs automatically get access to Scale Center.

Note

Scale Center isn’t supported in Government Cloud Plus. Don’t enable Scale Center in your Government Cloud Plus org. Contact your Salesforce account executive for more details.

To select a time range and launch an analysis, click and drag on any chart.

Scale Center with menu inset showing Start Analysis options to start a report.

Set Up and Maintain Backups More Easily

Backup and Restore Is Now Salesforce Backup

As of Winter ’24, the Backup and Restore managed package is now renamed Salesforce Backup. All backup and restore functionality remains the same. Product documentation is updated to reflect the new name. During the branding transition, the previous brand name still appears in a few places.

Where: This change applies to Lightning Experience in Enterprise, Professional, and Unlimited editions.

Who: This change applies to editions that have the Backup and Restore add-on subscription.

Improved Page Design and In-App Guidance

Version 2.0.0 of the Salesforce Backup managed package (formerly Backup and Restore) introduces a fresh new look that makes it easier to set up and maintain data backups. Improved page design and clearer labels help you find the information you need faster. The Salesforce Backup page autosaves when you add or remove objects to your policy. And in-app guidance provides tips to help you configure your settings and prepare a smart backup strategy.

Where: This change applies to Lightning Experience in Enterprise, Professional, and Unlimited editions.

How: On the Home page, you can now see the latest backup and restore jobs. Quick links take you to common policy maintenance tasks, and guidance cards provide tips for how to create your backup strategy.

Backup Home Page with improved user interface.

The Settings page now progressively walks you through each step of the setup flow. It also presents clearer iconography to help you monitor your OAuth status and guidance for choosing the right region and building your list of trusted IP addresses.

Backup Settings page with horizontal layout and in-app messaging.

When you view a log’s details to troubleshoot backup errors, you can now view just the objects that weren’t backed up. Spot partial backups faster, and get right to the objects that need your attention.

Export Data from a Backup

Some schema changes, such as a new or removed field, prevent complete data restoration jobs. If you run into problems restoring records in the Salesforce Backup app, you can now download your backup and import the data using another tool. Think of it as a backup method for restoring data. New icons on the Restore page indicate which records you can only restore from a download.

Where: This change applies to Lightning Experience in Enterprise, Professional, and Unlimited editions.

Who: This change applies to editions that have the Backup and Restore add-on subscription.

How: In the Salesforce Backup app, on the Restore page, select a record and click Export. A file downloads to your Documents folder. You can then import the data with a tool like Data Loader or Data Import Wizard.

Export button highlighted on the Restore page of the Backup and Restore managed package.

Incorporate New Capabilities with Data Cloud

Discover updated documentation and new capabilities with the renamed Salesforce Data Cloud (formerly Customer Data Platform). Data Architects can map and model data with Data Cloud. Use data from systems across your enterprise to power experiences.

During the branding transition, previous brand names still appear in a few places. To access new and existing Data Cloud documentation, start on the About Salesforce Data Cloud help page.

Enrich Contact and Lead Information and Insights

Use Data Cloud Related Lists to Enrich Your Contacts and Leads

Data Cloud related lists query for data harmonized in Data Cloud so that you can see information across your enterprise in a single component. You can add related lists with data from Data Cloud to your Contact and Leads record pages. For example, see all email engagements with a customer across multiple orgs.

Where: This change applies to Lightning Experience in Enterprise and Unlimited editions.

Who: Data Cloud admins or Data Cloud for Marketing admins who are also a Salesforce admin with View All (Enrichment) and Modify All (Enrichment) permissions.

How: From the Contact or Lead object management settings, select Data Cloud Related Lists.

Copy Fields from Data Cloud to Enrich Your Contacts and Leads

Copy data from a Data Cloud DMO (data model object) or CIO (calculated insights object) field into your Contact or Lead standard or custom fields. You can enhance your contacts and leads with insights, such as lifetime value, and data aggregated or captured by Data Cloud from other orgs and systems.

Where: This change applies to Lightning Experience in Enterprise and Unlimited editions.

Who: Data Cloud admins or Data Cloud for Marketing admins who are also a Salesforce admin with View All (Enrichment) and Modify All (Enrichment) permissions.

How: From the Contact or Lead object management settings, select Data Cloud Copy Fields.

Organize Your Data with Data Spaces

Now you can segregate your data, metadata, and processes across multiple brands, departments, or regions for a single Data Cloud instance using data spaces. Segregate data to run processes based on your business needs and for a personalized experience. For example, your business requires your users to see and work on data only in the context of their brand or region. You can also merge and analyze data in data spaces.

Where: This change applies to Lightning Experience in all editions.

How: In Customer Data Cloud Setup, under Data Management, click Data Spaces, and then click New.

Connect to Third-Party Key Stores with External Key Management

Encrypt data with keys stored outside of Salesforce and exercise more direct control over keys. With the new External Key Management (EKM) service, use easy on-screen guidance to create a secure connection to AWS Key Management Service (KMS). Salesforce then uses your key stored in AWS KMS to encrypt and decrypt Salesforce data. Key material is only stored as long as necessary to complete encrypt and decrypt operations.

Where: This change applies to Lightning Experience and Salesforce Classic in Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer editions.

Who: Generally Available for customers in the EU Operating Zone as of Winter ’24. For product availability and purchasing information, contact your account executive.

Why: Compliance and regulatory requirements can add extra scrutiny over encryption key ownership, control, and storage. For customers who must store key material outside of Salesforce but want to use an established third-party key management service, EKM offers flexible control. You have more options for confidently complying with regulatory requirements and contractual obligations for handling key material.

How: Before you start, make sure that you have a key in AWS KMS. Salesforce uses your external key as a root key. In Salesforce Setup, on the Advanced Settings page, turn on External Key Management. On the Key Management page, click Manage Root Keys.

A guided wizard opens to walk you through the process of connecting Salesforce to AWS. Add information about your AWS key, including your identifier, region, and a unique description. EKM generates a code snippet, or statement, that you can easily copy into your key policy in AWS.

Highlighted section of external key policy statement to copy into AWS.

Save your updated key policy in AWS, return to Salesforce, and save your work. You can now generate a data encryption key (DEK) in Salesforce and apply it to fields, files, and attachments, and any other data you can encrypt with Shield Platform Encryption.

Generate DEK option highlighted on the Key Management page.

Salesforce uses your root key in AWS to generate a DEK and wrap it for temporary storage in the encrypted key cache. You can review and audit historical key information on the root key Detail view. And as with the Cache-Only Key Service, you can check your connection to AWS for easy troubleshooting and connection maintenance.

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