Introduction
Let’s be honest—most Salesforce orgs get messy over time. You start with a clean, efficient setup. Then come new features, more users, quick fixes, duplicate data, old workflows no one remembers… and suddenly, your CRM is bloated, slow and frustrating to use.
In fact, 68% of Salesforce instances face avoidable performance issues and most go unnoticed until things start breaking or user adoption tanks.
The good news? You don’t have to wait for things to go wrong. A regular Salesforce health check is your best bet to keep things smooth, secure and scalable. Think of it like a routine tune-up for your CRM, checking performance, cleaning up clutter, tightening security and making sure everything runs the way it should.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through exactly how to run a comprehensive audit, spot issues before they become problems and keep your CRM performing at its best in 2025.
Understanding Salesforce Health Check Fundamentals
What is a Salesforce Health Check?
A Salesforce health check is like a deep-dive diagnostic for your CRM. It helps you understand what’s working, what’s slowing you down and what needs fixing.
Here’s what a health check typically covers:
- System Review → Configuration, speed, performance and user experience.
- Issue Detection → Catch errors, bottlenecks and risks early.
- Optimization → Spot unused features, streamline processes, clean data.
- Risk Management → Keep your org secure and compliant.
- Page load speed, app responsiveness and system uptime
- Clean data architecture and data quality
- Security best practices (like 2FA and access controls)
- Integration stability with external tools
- How easy is it to use?
- Are dashboards helping or confusing?
- Is the mobile app usable in the field?
- Are people actually using what’s built?
- Are workflows aligned with how your team actually works today?
- Are you taking advantage of new Salesforce features?
- Can the system scale with your growing business?
- Monthly: Keep tabs on key performance and user metrics
- Quarterly: Dig into config, security and automation health
- Annually: Big-picture check, strategy alignment and future-readiness
- Ad-Hoc: After new features, major releases, or recurring user complaints
- Users complaining about slow pages
- Reports taking forever to load
- Duplicated or outdated records
- Approvals stuck or automations breaking
- Storage and API limit warnings
- Low login or feature usage metrics
- Test load times in both Lightning and Classic
- Try opening dashboards and reports during peak hours
- Use Salesforce’s Lightning Performance Test to benchmark speeds
- Check how well the mobile app works for on-the-go teams
- Check data and file storage usage, are you nearing limits?
- Monitor API usage, especially if you rely on integrations
- Track automation usage and governor limit hits (Flows, Apex)
- Run deduplication reports
- Audit required fields, how often are they left blank?
- Review validation rules, are they actually enforcing quality?
- Check field-level usage, are you collecting data people never use?
- List all custom objects and fields; are they necessary?
- Review relationships: are they logical or overly complex?
- Look for cleanup candidates (old campaigns, inactive records)
- Plan for data archival; cleaning old data can speed things up
- Identify inactive users who still have access
- Clean up old permission sets, roles and profiles
- Offboard users properly—no lingering licenses
- Check if users are over-permissioned for their roles
- Review login IP ranges and session settings
- Audit sharing rules and field-level visibility
- Enforce two-factor authentication (especially for Admins!)
- Check for guest user access on sites or communities
- Audit Apex classes, triggers and Lightning Web Components
- Identify redundant or conflicting logic
- Highlight any deprecated code or unmaintained customizations
- Tag high-risk components for refactoring
- List all Flows, Workflows and Process Builders
- Look for duplicates, broken paths, or inefficient logic
- Test how long approval processes take from start to finish
- Check for orphaned automations, stuff that’s no longer in use
- Test API integrations: check for latency and uptime
- Review logs for errors or skipped syncs
- Confirm external tools (like ERPs, payment gateways) are syncing properly
- Review how backups are handled for integration-related data
- Causes: Unoptimized SOQL, too many fields, slow Apex triggers
- Fixes: Refactor code, reduce custom fields, archive old data
- Prevention: Use performance monitoring tools like New Relic or Salesforce Debug Logs
- Causes: No data lifecycle, unused file uploads, large attachments
- Fixes: Archive or delete old data/files, compress attachments
- Prevention: Set regular cleanup schedules and alerts
- Use Duplicate Management Rules + Matching Rules
- Merge with native tools or apps like DemandTools
- Train users and admins to use import templates properly
- Tighten up validation rules
- Simplify input forms to avoid user drop-off
- Use screen flows to guide clean data entry
- Track with data quality dashboards
- Look at login data and feature adoption
- Interview users: what’s confusing? What’s missing?
- Re-train and redesign where necessary
- Build dashboards that show team-specific value
- Map out end-to-end processes with real users
- Use Flow to simplify approvals, assignments and alerts
- Eliminate unnecessary steps that add friction
- List all legacy automations, fields and components
- Score them on usage and value
- Replace outdated solutions with native Salesforce features
- Plan regular “code clean-up sprints” just like feature sprints
- Salesforce Optimizer: Identifies config issues and best practices
- Health Check: Security benchmarking
- System Overview: Quick look at storage, API usage, limits
- Third-Party Tools: Consider OwnBackup, Splunk, or Gearset for deeper tracking
- Weekly: Performance dashboards and login issues
- Monthly: Open support cases, adoption reports
- Quarterly: Full config/security review
- Annually: Strategic CRM planning and roadmap alignment
- Page load time
- Report run times
- Storage/API usage trends
- Login frequency
- Record creation vs. completion rates
- User satisfaction survey scores
- Prioritize based on business value
- Document what you change and why
- Communicate changes clearly to end users
- Measure success before and after, tie it back to KPIs
Whether you’re running Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, or a heavily customized setup, regular health checks help you get more out of your investment and avoid long-term headaches.
Key Areas of Assessment
1. Technical Health
2. User Experience
Health Check Frequency
Here’s how often you should be checking your Salesforce org:
Warning Signs Your Org Needs a Health Check
If these sound familiar, your org is long overdue for a tune-up.
Conducting a Comprehensive System Audit ?
Let’s get into the good stuff, how to actually run a health check.
Performance Analysis
System Speed Assessment
Resource Utilization Review
Add-on Value: Set up alerts for hitting 80% of limits, don’t wait until it breaks.
Data Quality Evaluation
Integrity Checks
Data Architecture Assessment
Security and Access Review
User Management Audit
Security Configuration
Customization and Configuration Analysis
Custom Development Review
Workflow and Automation Assessment
Value Add: Use the “Migrate to Flow” tool for legacy workflows and Process Builder flows.
Integration Health Check
Identifying and Resolving Common Issues
Now let’s fix what you found!
Performance Problems and Solutions
Slow System Response
Storage and Limit Issues
Data Quality Issues
Duplicate Records
Incomplete Data
User Adoption Challenges
Low Usage Rates
Complex Workflows
Technical Debt Management
Zivoke Tip: Don’t try to fix everything in one go, tackle the worst offenders first and track improvements over time.
Creating an Ongoing Health Monitoring Strategy
Health checks aren’t one-and-done—they should be part of your CRM’s DNA.
Monitoring Framework
Use These Tools
Review Cadence
Key Performance Indicators
Continuous Improvement Process
Conclusion
Think of your Salesforce org like a high-performance vehicle, it needs regular servicing to stay fast, clean and reliable. Without regular maintenance, even the best implementation will slowly degrade.
A Salesforce health check isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a business must. By proactively auditing performance, fixing data and security issues and monitoring for new risks, you ensure your CRM doesn’t just support growth, it fuels it.
If it’s been a while since you’ve looked under the hood, now’s the perfect time. Let’s get your org back to peak performance.
Ready to run a full Salesforce health check? Get in touch with Zivoke for a free, no-strings-attached assessment and discover where your CRM can do more, with less effort.
