Nightmare Salesforce Naming Conventions: So, What’s in a Name?

When you hear the phrase “naming conventions,” you may think mostly about the technical implications – if you’re a nonprofit Salesforce Admin who’s ever relabeled a field in Setup, for example, you’ve seen the warning about how the change can impact merge templates. But how you name Objects, Fields, Flows, Profiles, Roles, Groups, List Views, or even records are important considerations for everyday admins and users. You’ll save yourself nightmares of re-coding, reconciling data, or broken integrations, by being intentional about your naming conventions.

Here are a few important examples to consider:

Field Labels

The Field Label is what users see on the page layout or record, e.g. “Type of Animals”
Field Name (API) – this is what the code will read, e.g “TypeOfAnimals__c”

Field Names also give you some hints about the origin of the field – whether it’s a standard field that’s “native” to all Salesforce accounts, a custom field that’s part of a managed package installed in your account, or a completely custom field created just for your org:

Examples

Created By / CreatedById (standard field)
Date of Birth / Date_of_Birth__c (custom field)
Personal Email / npe01_HomeEmail__c (managed package field)

Thinking ahead is critical with Field (API) Names. You could find yourself in a nightmare of a broken integration if you rename it after creating the connection.

You may have the spooky situation where you have multiple managed packages installed that include fields with the same name but each field would have a different API Name. Although this is possible it is not a best practice. It could cause nightmares in reporting or filtering as both label fields would show up together and you don’t know which one is the one you need to select.

Example: these two fields have the same LABEL but different NAMES

Flow Names

When you need to troubleshoot and quickly isolate where a problem is, it’s important to think through your naming convention. You’ll save some time in not having to visually look for the rule or remember its name which may be outdated or vague.

Let’s say you have a Flow set up that sends an email to donors after the Close Date is updated in their record. To your horror, you discover the Flow is sending to the wrong group of donors. To troubleshoot, you will need to find the appropriate Flow.

If you have no naming convention, you’d have to search for the Flow name:

No Naming Convention Example: Search for “Update Close Date Email”

What if you don’t know the exact name of the Flow? With no naming conventions it’s too ambiguous and would be hard to locate when there are many list views to select from.

Having naming conventions provides the object (Donations) the rule is associated with.

Naming conventions example: Donations: Close Date Email to Donor

In doing this, you can add a filter of “starts with = Donations” which will segment your rules by Object name. Then you can easily find the one that specifies Close Date Email “to Donor.”

The name you choose can impact your Salesforce organization. Names can be a help or a hindrance, as well as a nightmare point of confusion for everyone if not given the proper consideration. Poor naming conventions (or no naming conventions) will make you squeamish as it leads to poor data quality and delays. This is especially true when you are trying to locate a rule or list.

List Views

List views are important to help users segment records by fields. For example, if we take the Leads Object’s list view. It can be stacked in whatever order you want it to be stacked. If you stack it alphabetically the user would start with 2nd Touch Leads and go through each item with follow-ups.

Alphabetical Order
2nd Touch Leads
All Open Leads
Assigned
No Activities Logged
Not Opened
Open Referrals

Here we want the user to first touch base with “Not Opened” leads. So, a number 1 was added in front to make it top priority. Then numbers were added to the rest of the high priority items. Understanding this, helps you set the list in a priority that your users understand when they see it. Now, the user can come in every day and attend to new leads right away then work through the list systematically.

Numerical Order

This is an example which can be modified for different processes. You can use it for follow-ups to donations, task statuses and/or a 30/60/90 day follow-up with corporate sponsors throughout the year. The important thing is that you name the list view in a way that helps drive efficient work progress.

A good naming convention reduces confusion, saves time, and makes it easier to grow your Salesforce in the future. It provides clarity to identify a process or record which is more efficient for users and administrators. You’ll also prevent nightmares when you have integrations with other applications or migrate between databases. Think ahead and be intentional about your naming conventions now so you can rest easy in the future.

Want help implementing these settings, send a request to your support email or contact us to talk about how we can help with your Salesforce needs.

Advanced Steps: How to enforce Naming Conventions

Validation Rules – Our previous blog post
Validation Rules – Salesforce Help

Additional Resources

Salesforce Naming Conventions
Success Cloud Naming Conventions
Trailhead: Choose Naming Conventions