Duplicate Rules vs Sharing Rules in Salesforce: A Complete Guide
Introduction
Managing data in Salesforce goes far beyond just inputting records. Ensuring data integrity and data security is essential for organizations to operate efficiently and make informed decisions. Two powerful features that help administrators achieve this are Duplicate Rules and Sharing Rules.
Though these tools serve different purposes, they are both vital in their own right. In this blog, we’ll explore what Duplicate Rules and Sharing Rules are, how they function, when to use them, and how they can be configured to optimize your Salesforce environment.
What Are Duplicate Rules?
Duplicate Rules in Salesforce are designed to prevent or control the creation of duplicate records. Duplicate data can lead to inconsistent reporting, confusion among sales reps, and a general decline in data quality.
How Do Duplicate Rules Work?
Duplicate Rules work hand-in-hand with Matching Rules to identify records that meet certain criteria—such as matching email addresses, phone numbers, or custom field values. When a user tries to create or edit a record, Salesforce checks it against existing records based on the matching criteria.
Features of Duplicate Rules:
– Block or Allow with Warning
– Custom Matching Rules
– Support Across Objects
Real-World Example:
Imagine a sales rep tries to enter a new Lead with the email john.doe@example.com. If a Lead with the same email already exists, the duplicate rule can either block the creation or alert the user, helping maintain clean and reliable data.
What Are Sharing Rules?
While Duplicate Rules help manage data quality, Sharing Rules manage data access. They define how records are shared across users, roles, and public groups in Salesforce, enhancing collaboration while maintaining security.
Purpose of Sharing Rules
By default, Salesforce uses Organization-Wide Defaults (OWDs) to set the baseline access for records. Sharing Rules let you open up access to certain users who wouldn’t otherwise have visibility or edit permissions based on these defaults.
Types of Sharing Rules:
- Owner-Based Sharing Rules
- Criteria-Based Sharing Rules
Real-World Example:
Let’s say your company has a Customer Success team that needs access to all High-Priority Accounts. You can create a criteria-based sharing rule that automatically shares all records where Priority = High with the Customer Success role.
Duplicate Rules vs Sharing Rules: A Quick Comparison
| Feature | Duplicate Rules vs Sharing Rules |
| Main Function | Prevent/manage duplicate data entries vs Control visibility and access to records |
| Applies To | Leads, Contacts, Accounts, Custom Objects vs Standard and Custom Objects |
| Driven By | Matching Rules vs Roles, Groups, and Field Criteria |
| Configuration | Setup > Data > Duplicate Management vs Setup > Security > Sharing Settings |
| Example Use Case | Block duplicate Leads based on email vs Share Opportunities by region or owner |
Best Practices
For Duplicate Rules:
– Use soft warnings instead of blocks for sensitive user groups.
– Regularly audit matching rules as your data model evolves.
– Combine with duplicate record sets for cleanup and analysis.
For Sharing Rules:
– Keep OWDs as restrictive as possible; open access with rules.
– Use naming conventions to easily identify your rules.
– Test in a sandbox before applying to production.
Conclusion
Both Duplicate Rules and Sharing Rules are essential tools for every Salesforce administrator. While one ensures clean data, the other ensures secure and collaborative access. Mastering both gives you the power to build a Salesforce org that is not only functional but also scalable and secure.
Whether you’re looking to reduce clutter or improve team collaboration, these tools are your foundation for good data governance.