7 Common Software Testing Challenges for Salesforce

Introduction

Salesforce’s intricate suite of applications makes it a popular choice for organizations looking to manage their customer relationship management needs. This complexity, however, brings about unique software testing challenges that can hinder performance and slow down critical business operations. This blog will dive into some of the most common challenges testing teams should keep in mind when testing Salesforce in order to optimize their testing strategy.

Customizations, Configurations, and Applications

Salesforce is highly customizable and configurable, allowing developers to create complex custom applications. As such, no two Salesforce instances are the same. This customization and configuration complexity can make testing more difficult, as it requires an understanding of the specific organization's unique Salesforce environment. Testing must cover every customization and configuration implemented in Salesforce, increasing the test complexity. Comprehensive test planning paired with careful documentation can better map out what needs to be tested in your specific Salesforce environment. Test automation is another way to help streamline the testing process by automating repetitive test cases. By implementing these strategies, testing teams can more effectively and reliably test Salesforce despite its complex nature.

Business Criticality

Business continuity is a crucial factor in any migration project, and software testing plays a pivotal role in safeguarding it. Organizations need to ensure that the migration process does not impact the business operations and that the new system is ready for use as soon as possible. Thorough software testing is necessary to ensure the new system meets the desired business requirements and objectives. In-depth software testing practices can include:

• Thorough test planning
• Obtaining realistic and diverse testing data
• Prioritizing test cases based on criticality and risk
• Implementing continuous integration/continuous deployment

If not thoroughly tested, the new system may fail, leading to a loss of productivity, revenue, and customer trust.

Complex Data Structures & Requirements

Salesforce contains critical customer and sales data, and the underlying complexity requires data structures that have intricate dependencies and relationships. Due to the criticality of this data, it is crucial to test the integrity of the data. Additionally, data is often governed by legal regulations that must be adhered to. A robust test data management strategy is necessary to ensure testing efforts are successful, data structures are maintained, and legal regulations are met. Key aspects of a robust testing strategy can include:

• Identifying clear objectives that need to be met
• Project planning that includes your deployment strategy
• Selecting an appropriate technology stack for your team
• Developing a change management strategy
• Addressing legal and government regulations as needed

External System Integrations

Salesforce is often integrated into numerous systems in an organization's overall software landscape. Testing must cover connecting APIs in isolation as well as end-to-end scenarios across applications. Testing for integration is a critical part of ensuring the functionality of the entire Salesforce system as it verifies your data flow, detects interface issues, assesses error handling, and much more.

System Performance

Because Salesforce resides on the cloud, adequate performance testing can be a challenge. End-users expect fast response times and reliable performance from Salesforce, making it essential to test the performance of the new system thoroughly. This includes testing response times for end-users and ensuring that the system can handle the expected workload and traffic.

Complex Technical User Interface

Salesforce's technical user interface is complex, making it difficult to automate both Classic and Lightning. Dynamic elements, tables, shadow DOM structures, and hidden element identifiers are some of the technical elements that make automation challenging. Automating the testing of the user interface requires specialized tools and knowledge.

Frequent Updates

Salesforce has three seasonal releases (Spring, Summer, and Winter) as well as critical updates and organization-level releases. These frequent releases require extensive testing of the entire cloud environment, including application integrations and customizations, to ensure that all components continue to work as expected. This can be an arduous and time-consuming process that requires a systematic approach and specialized tools, including test automation, to decrease regression testing efforts. Creating a systematic approach ensures updates are properly tested before being rolled out to production.

Conclusion

Software testing Salesforce can be challenging, especially for teams that are in the early stages of their Salesforce integration. By having well thought-out strategies in place, organizations should be able to overcome these hurdles and maintain a successful testing environment for their Salesforce release.

To learn more about software testing best practices for Salesforce, read our eBook, A Modern Testing Approach for Salesforce.