You may be ready to see how your data looks in Salesforce Sales Cloud, but first you should check that you know where it will be imported to in your new database. Not all CRMs structure their data in the same way, so let's take a quick look at the main modules in Salesforce so you can understand how they are used and what your current data will correspond to. For those who want to dive deep into the details of the Salesforce data model, you can check out their documentation here.


Accounts

The Accounts module is where you will track the company-level data for the clients that you work with. If you do not work with companies, but with individuals (for example, with contractors), you can use a "Person Account" instead of a standard company account. With either type, you can consider this module as the top-tier level in your data's hierarchy. Everything else funnels down from the account level - contacts, opportunities, etc. are all tied back to up an account. Your existing database may use different terminology - Salesforce Accounts are equivalent to "Organizations" or "Companies" in other CRM systems.


Contacts

This module is where you will track the individual points of contact at the clients you work with. These are typically contacts for existing business opportunities you manage, or potential, well-qualified opportunities that you are cultivating. Most CRMs have a contacts module, but others may call it "people" or "individuals".


Opportunities

The opportunities module is where you will track your company's sales. This includes your sales funnel, from the point a lead becomes qualified as a potential opportunity, through the sales stages, until it is closed (whether it is won or lost). Your opportunities (or, deals, in some CRMs) will be linked back to the contacts and/or accounts that they are associated with.


Leads

The leads module in Salesforce Sales Cloud is intended for your tracking contacts who you have identified as a prospective client, so you can track your progress and eventually convert them to actual accounts/opportunities in your database (see more about converting leads here). Some businesses may not use the leads module, and others may be coming from a CRM database which does not have a separate module for lead tracking.


If your data is not currently segmented into leads vs. contacts, then you'll need to decide whether you want to make this a step in your migration - or, if you will implement post-migration as part of your new Salesforce business processes. If you want to incorporate this into your data migration, it is crucial to determine how to identify a contact vs. lead in your current CRM database. For example, do you have a "status" or "lifecycle stage" field which classifies a contact as a prospect vs. a business contact.


Additional Modules

There are many other modules in Salesforce sales cloud which you may need to utilize. You will see Salesforce allows you to track campaigns, cases, pricebooks, products, and many more. You may wish to refer to Salesforce documentation to determine if your company may wish to use these as part of your new Salesforce implementation.


Custom Objects

If you have additional data to track, which does not fit well within Salesforce's standard objects, you may wish to use custom objects. These are typically extensions of your standard objects, but where you store data that is specific to your company or industry and needs to be tracked separately. Typically you still link back to your standard objects to maintain a relational database - for example, a company using Salesforce for human resources may use a custom object for payroll data, which is linked back to the individual contact record.


Your specific Salesforce implementation will be up to your database admin and your company's specific needs and processes. For the purpose of the migration, however, make sure you are familiar with the above, so you can accurately scope out your migration needs and understand how the data will be structured in your new Salesforce database.