Metadata Archive with Snapshot

Introduction

Metadata Archive with Snapshot is a feature that enables users to capture and store a metadata state of their Salesforce organization. This is essential for various purposes such as documentation, compliance, disaster recovery, or backup. Moreover, it’s particularly useful for organizations that need to comply with regulations like HIPAA or SOX by maintaining historical records of their Salesforce configurations.

Creating a Snapshot

Snapshot allows users to capture the metadata of the Salesforce organization in a few simple steps:

1. Within the Snapshot product, locate the desired item in the deployment pipeline.
2. Right-click on the item and select “Take a Snapshot.”
3. Log in to the Salesforce organization for which you want to capture metadata.
4. Select the metadata types that you are interested in capturing.
5. Take a snapshot.

Taking a snapshot creates a ‘metadata picture’ of the Salesforce organization at that particular point in time. This metadata picture is a single document that can be archived, turned into reports, or used for future deployments.

Scheduling Snapshots

In addition to manually taking a snapshot, Snapshot also allows users to schedule snapshots to be captured automatically at regular intervals. Here’s how you can schedule a snapshot:

1. Within the Snapshot product, navigate to Schedule.
2. Create a new recurring event, set the start date and time.
3. Choose the frequency at which the snapshot should be taken (e.g., weekly).
4. Save the snapshot to a Content Folder within your Salesforce account.

Setting up scheduled snapshots is useful for automatically keeping historical records without having to manually take snapshots each time.

Time Series Management

One of the advantages of using Snapshot is that it doesn’t overwrite the previous snapshots. Instead, it keeps all of them, allowing users to see a time series of metadata pictures. To manage and access these historical snapshots:

1. Go to the “Manage Time Series” dialog within Snapshot.
2. View the history of all the snapshots that have been taken.
3. Select the snapshot that you are interested in.
4. Once a snapshot is selected, all reporting will be based on the metadata state in that snapshot.

Utilizing Snapshots

Snapshots can be used for various purposes:

• Viewing: Users can view the snapshots to analyze the metadata and understand how different assets were configured at different points in time.
• Deployments: Snapshots can be used for deploying configurations to another Salesforce organization.
• Backups and Compliance: Snapshots serve as a historical record that can be used for backup purposes or to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

Conclusion

Metadata Archive with Snapshot is a powerful tool that simplifies the process of capturing, storing, and utilizing the metadata states of a Salesforce organization. It is invaluable for documentation, compliance, disaster recovery, and backups. By utilizing the scheduling feature, organizations can ensure that they have regular metadata pictures available for any future needs.