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Data Model & Schema

Objects, relationships and record types — the schema decisions you cannot cheaply undo, made deliberately.

Module overview 5 sections Free Updated 13 Apr 2025
Data Model & Schema
Modules
Apex Triggers
  1. Module overview
  2. 01 · Order of execution, the map
  3. 02 · One trigger per object
  4. 03 · The handler pattern
  5. 04 · Bulkification: 200 records or bust
  6. 05 · Recursion control
Data Model Basics
  1. Module overview
  2. 01 · Standard objects vs custom objects
  3. 02 · Relationship types, decided with three questions
  4. 03 · Record types and when not to use them
  5. 04 · Schema Builder, the honest map
  6. 05 · Junction objects in practice
Integration Patterns
  1. Module overview
  2. 01 · Request-reply with named credentials
  3. 02 · Fire-and-forget with platform events
  4. 03 · Batch sync without tears
  5. 04 · Middleware or point-to-point?
  6. 05 · Watch: a callout built end to end

Objects, relationships and record types — the schema decisions you cannot cheaply undo, made deliberately.

What you'll learn

How to choose between standard and custom objects, pick the right relationship type with three questions, use record types for the right reasons, read any org's real schema in Schema Builder, and build a many-to-many properly with a junction object.

Prerequisites

Admin Foundations lessons 01–02, or equivalent comfort with objects, fields and records. A free Developer Edition org to build in.

How the sections chain

Five sections, oldest first, each building on the last: you start by deciding whether an object should exist at all, then how it relates, then how it varies, then how to read what is already there — and finish by building the trickiest shape, the junction, end to end.

What you'll be able to do

  • Run the reuse test before creating any custom object
  • Choose lookup vs master-detail with three questions, not habit
  • Spot the three warning signs of record-type overuse
  • Audit an inherited org's schema in ten minutes
  • Model a many-to-many with correct sharing on both sides

The sections

  1. 01 · Standard objects vs custom objects Account, Contact, Opportunity, Case solve more than you think — the checklist to run before you create anything custom. 10m
  2. 02 · Relationship types, decided with three questions Lookup, master-detail or junction — answered by ownership, cascade delete, and roll-ups. 15m
  3. 03 · Record types and when not to use them Record types shine for genuinely different processes on one object — and multiply your maintenance everywhere else. 10m
  4. 04 · Schema Builder, the honest map The one Setup tool that shows your data model as it is, not as the ERD on the wiki claims it is. 10m
  5. 05 · Junction objects in practice Many-to-many done properly: two master-details, sharing inherited from both sides, and a real example built end to end. 15m