Reducing technical debt in Salesforce isn’t just a best practice—it’s a necessity. As your CRM grows with custom fields, automations, and quick fixes, so does the hidden cost of complexity. Left unchecked, that clutter drags down performance, increases errors, and frustrates users.
Whether you’re a Salesforce Admin or a business stakeholder, this guide gives you a clear, actionable monthly checklist to reduce technical debt, improve efficiency, and ensure your org can scale with confidence.
🚧 What Is Technical Debt in Salesforce?
Technical debt in Salesforce is the buildup of outdated configurations, unused fields, redundant automations, and poor documentation. It’s what happens when we implement fast fixes instead of scalable solutions.
Examples of Salesforce technical debt include:
- Unmaintained Process Builders or Flows
- Duplicate or unused custom fields
- Validation rules no longer relevant
- Outdated dashboards or reports
Over time, this “debt” leads to slower system performance, frustrated users, and higher maintenance costs. For a full Salesforce Audit be sure to check out my article here.
📆 Why a Monthly Cleanup Is Essential
Cleaning up once a year isn’t enough. Salesforce evolves constantly, and without regular cleanup, technical debt compounds. A monthly cadence lets you address small issues before they become big problems.
This checklist takes under 2 hours a month but can save dozens of hours down the line—plus it makes your system faster, your team happier, and your data cleaner.
✅ The Monthly Technical Debt Salesforce Cleanup Checklist
1. Review Newly Created Fields
- Run a usage report with Field Trip
- Tag any unused fields as “To Review”
- Ensure field names follow your naming conventions (e.g.,
cf_customer_type__c)
2. Evaluate Active Automations
- Audit your Flows and Process Builders
- Remove or deactivate outdated automation
- Consolidate where possible into Flow Builder
3. Clean Up Reports & Dashboards
- Delete reports not accessed in 60+ days
- Ensure dashboards reflect current KPIs
- Remove orphaned dashboard components
4. Validate Integration Health
- Check for failed syncs in connected apps
- Audit API limits and usage
- Confirm all key integrations are functioning
5. Audit Validation Rules
- Review rules that haven’t triggered errors recently
- Remove those that are obsolete
6. Profile & Permission Set Review
- Check for inactive or unused permission sets
- Reduce over-permissioned user profiles
7. Record Type Cleanup
- Identify record types with no new records
- Consolidate or archive those that are no longer relevant
8. Improve Field-Level Data Quality
- Spot fields with high null values
- Remove or fix as needed
Bonus: Document what you changed! Use a shared log or Notion board to track monthly changes for governance.
🤝 How Admins and Stakeholders Can Collaborate
Reducing technical debt in Salesforce isn’t just an admin job. It requires cross-functional support. Business stakeholders can help:
- Identify reports no longer needed
- Flag automations that no longer apply
- Validate which dashboards still drive decisions
Set up a 15-minute monthly sync between Admins and team leads. Keep the checklist short, focused, and consistent.
🧠 Tools to Help Reduce Technical Debt
Here are a few tools to streamline the process:
- Salesforce Optimizer – built-in tool to flag unused or outdated configurations
- Field Trip – free AppExchange tool for field usage analysis
- Salesforce Technical Debt Best Practices (Official)
These tools can give Admins real-time insights without having to manually scan every object.
📈 Final Thoughts: Clean Org, Confident Teams
Reducing technical debt in Salesforce is like doing regular oil changes for your CRM. It prevents breakdowns, keeps performance high, and makes scaling easier.
Instead of running emergency cleanups, build this monthly checklist into your regular routine. Within three months, you’ll notice faster workflows, fewer errors, and way fewer headaches.
Start small. Stay consistent. And commit to a clean, scalable Salesforce org.
💬 FAQ: Reducing Technical Debt in Salesforce
❓ What is technical debt in Salesforce?
Technical debt in Salesforce is the accumulation of outdated fields, automations, layouts, and processes that slow your org down and create maintenance headaches.
❓ How often should I clean up my Salesforce org?
Ideally, you should run a quick cleanup monthly and perform a full technical audit once per quarter. This reduces risk and keeps your CRM high-performing.
❓ What tools help identify Salesforce technical debt?
Use tools like Salesforce Optimizer, Field Trip, Gearset, and setup audit logs to track what’s outdated, unused, or conflicting.
❓ Can business stakeholders reduce technical debt too?
Absolutely. Admins need stakeholders to confirm which reports, fields, or workflows are still relevant. Business input makes cleanup faster and more accurate.
❓ Is technical debt in Salesforce avoidable?
You can’t avoid it entirely, but you can reduce its impact by building a repeatable cleanup process like this monthly checklist.
