💃 Your blueprint to blueprinting 🕺

Good morning, Salesforce Nerds! In the world of Salesforce, diagrams are your secret weapon. ⚔️ 

Whether you’re explaining your vision to executives, onboarding new team members, or convincing a fellow developer that 🚫 “no, we don’t need another custom object for that,” a well-made diagram can be the bridge between complexity and clarity.

But building great Salesforce diagrams isn’t just about pretty shapes and lines. 😍 

It’s about knowing which pieces to show, which tools to use, and how to tell a story.

Ready to boost your diagramming game? Let’s go! 💨 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Your blueprint to blueprinting

• Know Your Audience

• Tool Time

• Pick the Right Type of Diagram for the Job

• Label Everything Like It’s a Crime Scene

• Takeaways

WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?

Know Your Audience

A Salesforce diagram is part roadmap, part artwork, and part explanation. 💯 

Before you go HAM on a diagram (hey! that rhymed! 😎) think of who you are communicating its contents to.

Different groups of people need a different lens to watch your story unfold through.

🧑‍💼 Executives want big-picture overviews - think of the cloud, app, and feature level.

🧑‍💻 Developers crave detailed data flows and process nuances.

👷 Architects might need both the forest and the trees.

Pro Tip: 

Color code for clarity. Use distinct colors for different cloud systems (Sales, Service, Marketing), third-party integrations, and external systems to help audiences visually segment data. 📊 

CHOOSING YOUR WEAPON OF CHOICE!

Tool Time

There’s lots of tools out there for this - even using an old school whiteboard will work some of the time. 🤙 

Some of the heavy-hitters in this arena are (ordered by ChaCha’s favs):

🥇 Lucidchart: The Salesforce MVP. It’s easy to use, has great Salesforce stencils, and allows for collaboration.

🥈 Miro: Awesome for collaborative sessions, where everyone can join the fun and add their own “very necessary” boxes.

🥉 Visio: The old faithful. Solid for those on Microsoft-heavy teams, and it’s still popular for high-res diagrams.

🤷 Draw.io: Free, web-based, and surprisingly capable.

Pro Tip: 

Whichever tool you choose, learn the shortcuts! Knowing how to copy and paste shapes, align objects, and add connectors quickly will save you hours. Plus, your audience will wonder if you’re actually a Salesforce wizard. 🧙 

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

Pick the Right Type of Diagram for the Job

Not all diagrams are created equal. ❌ 

Different types of diagrams convey different messages and therefore tell different stories. Remember, the whole goal here is that we’re trying to tell the right story to the right audience. 🧠 

There’s a lot to unpack here, but I wouldn’t get too overwhelmed.

Start with these and you’ll be ahead of the game: 👍️ 

✅ Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD): Perfect for laying out custom objects, relationships, and any external database integration. This is where you can map out key fields, object relationships, and data flows, so admins don’t accidentally turn your org into a field graveyard.

✅ System Landscape Diagram: This is your go-to for depicting how Salesforce integrates with other systems (think ERP, marketing automation, or custom apps). It’s great for that “30,000-foot view” when discussing security, API dependencies, and external data sources.

✅ Process Flow Diagram: These gems are for visualizing Salesforce automations (Flows, Process Builder, Apex Triggers). They’re fantastic for business stakeholders who need to see their entire process mapped, including entry criteria, decision branches, and final outcomes.

✅ Deployment Architecture Diagram: For architects and devs, this diagram type shows where code and metadata live across different environments (sandbox to production). It’s useful when planning CI/CD pipelines, release processes, and version control integrations.

Pro Tip: 

When in doubt, start with a simple ERD, then add on a process flow if needed. Trying to do everything in one diagram can result in what we call the “spaghetti monster.” 🧹 

CSI: SALESFORCE EDITION

Label Everything Like It’s a Crime Scene

Salesforce orgs can get complex fast. ⏩️ 

But a good diagram should answer questions before they’re asked.

This can be tricky because you want to avoid clutter while at the same time be absolutely sure to get your point across. 🤔 

Make sure to label your objects, relationships, and automation steps.

Highlight key data fields in ERDs, or color code processes based on whether they’re automated (Flows) or manual (user clicks).

Always include a legend, and don’t assume that everyone will instinctively know what an arrow means (especially in Salesforce). 🫠 

Pro Tip: 

Add annotations or callouts for any custom logic, like a particularly tricky Apex trigger or a complex flow. If a decision point requires specific criteria, spell it out. Your future self - and everyone else - will thank you. 🙏 

WRAPPING IT UP

Takeaways

Building Salesforce diagrams is both a science and an art. 🎭️ 

Done well, your diagrams become part of the architecture story, living on in meeting rooms, shared drives, and presentations.

From entity relationships to process flows, diagrams are how we simplify the complex and turn chaos into a map that makes sense. 🗺️ 

So, next time you’re tasked with diagramming that new custom object or mapping an integration with your ERP, take a deep breath.

You’ve got the tools you need. ⚒️ 

Happy diagramming, fellow architects - may your arrows always point the right way! 🫡 

SOUL FOOD

Today’s Principle

and now....Salesforce Memes