Salesforce is a powerful CRM platform that enables businesses to manage their data effectively. However, when dealing with extremely large datasets, standard and custom objects may not be the best solution due to storage limitations and performance constraints. This is where Big Objects come into play. This blog explains what big objects are, their features, use cases and considerations when using them.
What are Big Objects?
Big Objects in Salesforce are designed to store and manage massive amounts of data (billions of records) while ensuring high performance and scalability. Unlike standard and custom objects, which are stored in the core Salesforce database, Big Objects are optimized for large-scale data storage and retrieval.
There are two types of Big Objects:
- Standard Big Objects – Predefined by Salesforce and available for specific use cases, such as the FieldHistoryArchive.
- Custom Big Objects – Created by developers to store historical data, logs, or any other large-scale data that needs to be retained for long periods.
Features of Big Objects
- Massive Data Storage: Capable of handling billions of records efficiently.
- Scalability: Optimized for high performance without affecting core Salesforce storage limits.
- Retention and Archiving: Commonly used for historical data archiving and compliance requirements.
Use Cases for Big Objects
Big Objects are ideal for:
- Historical Data Archiving: Store and retrieve old records without affecting standard object limits.
- Audit Logs: Maintain long-term system logs for compliance.
- Performance Analytics: Analyze trends over extensive time periods.
- Machine Learning & AI: Store large datasets for AI model training.
Important Considerations
- Big objects support only object and field permissions.
- Once deployed, the index of a big object cannot be edited or deleted.
- Big objects support custom Salesforce Lightning and Visualforce components instead of standard UI elements.
- You can create up to 100 big objects per org.
- Transactions including big objects, standard objects, and custom objects are not supported.
Supported Field Types:
- Lookup Relationship
- Date/Time
- Number
- Phone
- Text
- Text Area (Long)
- URL
To create an index for your big object, at least one custom field must be marked as required.
To learn more, click Big Objects | Big Objects Implementation Guide | Salesforce Developers
