Determine the Best Record Maching Method for Your Use Case

Overview 

Release provides powerful upsert features which take the standard Salesforce upsert functionality to a whole new level. The following sections describe each approach. In Release, you to specify the approach for each data set element independently. 

To specify a record matching method:

From the Data Set Editor, in Tabs view, click the Element Details tab.

Select the Record Matching Method to use during deployment. All records require use of an Release virtual external ID, Release composite external ID, or Salesforce external ID. Refer to the topics on expanded upsert capabilities for more information about Release’s custom upsert capabilities.

The default record matching method at the time of installation is Virtual External ID. To change the default record matching method, navigate to Setup > Objects and Fields > Object Manager > Data Set > Fields & Relationships > Upsert Record Handling and select a new default in the Values table.

Virtual External ID 

Manages inserts and upserts by tracking IDs through the custom, proprietary Release virtual external ID manager, eliminating the need for standard Salesforce external IDs. The VEID manager works independently for each control org.

Release virtual external ID (VEID) allows you to upsert records without having to know or define any Salesforce external ID fields or specify fields in Release as part of Release composite external IDs. During initial deployment to an empty destination org, the Release VEID manager captures source record IDs and creates associations between source and destination record IDs. Then, the Release VEID manager tracks any subsequent deployments of the same record IDs between any of your orgs.

The Release VEID manager works independently for each control org. When using Virtual External ID as your record matching method, deploying from different installations of Release to the same destination org creates duplicate records.

New users have a much quicker time to deployment, less ramp up effort, less frustration, and reduced learning curve. Experienced users can simplify their data set model and streamline their deployment performance.

To use VEID, simply select Virtual External ID from the Record Matching Method picklist on the data set Element Details tab, save the data set, and perform a deployment.

The Release VEID manager cannot match differing IDs of data records you create in an org by any method (such as a data loader or manual entry) other than an Release VEID org-to-org or version-control deployment. For VEID to be successful, the IDs of records created with a sandbox refresh, sandbox cloning, or tools other than Release VEID must match in your source and destination orgs. Refer to the links in this note for more information.

Standard Upsert 

Performs the action of a standard salesforce.com upsert. If the SOQL query returns more than one matching record, Release generates an error. If one record matches, Release updates the record. If no record matches, Release inserts a new record.

Release allows you to concatenate fields to create composite IDs, rather than rely on traditional Salesforce external IDs. Release provides the following expanded capabilities for creating composite external IDs:

  • Select any object field to be an external ID, not just fields that are explicitly identified as external IDs in Salesforce.
  • Select multiple fields to create a composite external ID. For example, you can uniquely identify an account by combining its name and type.
  • Select one or more parent lookup fields as an external ID to uniquely match a record under the parent records instead of the entire org. This technique is useful for records that do not have a unique org-wide identifier.

Match First Found 

If the SOQL query returns more than one matching record, Release updates the first record. If one record matches, Release updates the record. If no record matches, Release inserts a new record.

Skip Duplicate – If the SOQL query returns more than one matching record, Release skips that source record and does not insert or update any of the matching records in the destination org. If one record matches, Release updates the record. If no record matches, Release inserts a new record.

Options for Handling Duplicate Records 

Release record matching methods provide these ways to handle multiple matching records:

  • Update the first match found.
  • Skip the record entirely.
  • Perform a standard Salesforce upsert (that throws errors when more than one record matches).

The methods apply to both FEIDs you define in Salesforce and CEIDs you define in the field properties on the Object Fields tab.