Overview
The Salesforce App enables you to copy the data from a source environment to a destination environment. Data Seeding operation, also known as Sandbox Seeding, helps a Salesforce developer load sandboxes with adequate test data and continue developing features using sandboxes similar to the production sandboxes.
You can either select all records or select specific data sets from a source environment and copy them into the destination environment. You can also apply transformations, enable or disable validations, or apply triggers to a data seeding operation.
For more information about data transformations, validations, and triggers, see Restore & Seeding Template Settings.
The following diagram describes the data seeding workflow.
Data Seeding Workflow
❗ Important
If you use validations when performing data Seeding or sandbox seeding, we recommend reading the validation workflow. For more information, see Validations.
The following steps describe the workflow to copy data from a source to a destination environment.
Step 1: Create a Data Seeding template. For more information, see Creating a Restore & Seeding Template.
Step 2: Select the data to copy using individual record selection, query-based selection, percentage-based selection, and Restore & Seeding Template settings.
Selection Method | Description |
Select individual and related records from an object to restore or copy. | |
Use object queries to select records dynamically. You can add a single object query or multiple object queries. | |
The percentage-based selection method is applicable for a data seeding task, which copies a percentage of data and does not consider selecting specific records. | |
Manage the Restore & Seeding Template settings, such as:
|
For more information, see Configuring Restore & Seeding Template.
Step 3: Start Data seeding or Sandbox Seeding.
Procedure
On the Salesforce App console, click Restore & Seeding Template. The Restore & Seeding Template page appears with the Restore & Seeding Template list.
Select the template and click Show Details. The Restore & Seeding Template window appears.
Specify the source and destination environments in the Source and Destination lists.
Click Start Data seeding in the top-right corner. A Confirmation - Data seeding Summary window appears.
5. (Optional) Select the required destination organization in the Destination Org list.
6. Review the details and click OK to start the data seeding or sandbox seeding.
❗ Important
To ensure validations are present within your production instance during a data seeding activity, do not select the Disable Destination Metadata During Data seeding option.
📝 Note
If your selected objects in the Restore & Seeding Template do not have associated records, the Data seeding task does not begin. This occurs if the associated records are excluded by default. Click Display Overview to check if records are excluded. You can include these records in the Restore & Seeding Template from the Exclude Fields tab of the Restore & Seeding Template settings. For more information, see Exclude Objects.
You can check the status for all associated tasks with data seeding from the Tasks page.
For more information, see Managing Tasks.
You can also schedule seeding data into your sandboxes using the Restore & Seeding Template scheduler. For more information, see Schedule Sandbox Seeding.
View Sandbox Seeding Information from inSync Management Console
As an inSync Cloud administrator, you can view the following on the inSync Management Console:
Summary and list of the data seeding jobs
Details are available through a report. For more information about the generated report, see Salesforce Data Seeding Report.
The following table lists the summary information available for data seeding jobs performed from the Salesforce App console.
Field | Description |
Total Templates | Displays the total number of data seeding templates created till date. |
Organizations Seeded | Displays the number of organizations that are seeded or copied till date. |
Records Seeded | Displays the total number of records that are seeded or copied till date. |
Total Amount of Data Seeded | Displays the total amount of data seeded or copied till date. |
Expiry Date | Displays the license expiry date. |
Licensed Users | Displays the total number of users for the Sandbox Seeding license. |
Last Copy Template Name | Displays the name of the recent data seeding template in use. |
Last Completed Copy | Displays the name of the recently completed data seeding job. |
The following table displays the information available for the list of data seeding tasks performed from the Salesforce App console.
Field | Description |
Data seeding User | Displays the name of the user who initiated the data seeding job. |
Source Organization | Displays the name of the source organization. |
Destination Organization | Displays the name of the destination organization. |
Created On | Displays the creation date of the data seeding job. |
Total Records | Displays the total number of copied records. |