# Find the Salesforce technical debt worth removing, and prove it is safe. > SyncOnAI 360 Technical Debt finds and ranks debt in a Salesforce org from evidence: duplicate validation rules, similar fields, overlapping automation, redundant permission sets, forked Lightning components, colliding scheduled jobs, unused metadata and legacy automation. Findings carry an estimated cost to fix, become work items and ship through approval. Source: https://synconai360.com/features/technical-debt ## Key facts - **6**: Detectors for duplication and overlap - **55**: Audit checks, including legacy automation - **$150/h**: Stated rate behind each fix estimate - **0**: Fields called unused without complete evidence ## Why Salesforce technical debt never gets paid down Every admin knows the org has dead fields and tangled automation. Debt survives because nobody can say exactly where it is, what it costs, or whether removing it will break something. - **No inventory.** Debt is anecdotal: a list someone started in a spreadsheet, never finished, never refreshed. - **No price.** Without a cost, cleanup loses every prioritisation meeting to new features. - **Fear of deletion.** A field that looks unused might feed an integration. Without proof, nobody deletes anything. - **Legacy that keeps running.** Workflow Rules and Process Builder still fire alongside the Flows that were meant to replace them. ## What kinds of Salesforce technical debt does SyncOnAI 360 find? Detectors look for duplicate validation rules, similar fields, overlapping automation on the same object, redundant permission sets, forked Lightning Web Components and scheduled jobs that collide. The audit adds active Workflow Rules and Process Builder, large numbers of inactive Flows, custom fields and objects without descriptions, field sprawl and ancient Apex API versions. Similarity is judged on text and structure, so each result explains what looks alike and why. Whether two rules should become one is a business decision, and the tool leaves it with you. - Duplicate rules and similar fields - Overlapping automation and colliding jobs - Redundant permission sets and forked components - Legacy Workflow and Process Builder ## How is Salesforce technical debt prioritised? The Technical debt lens ranks duplicates, unused metadata and legacy automation for each org. Audit findings carry a severity and an effort band, minutes, hours or days, from what the fix involves, priced at a stated rate so cleanup can compete with feature work on equal terms. The assessment also models the annual carrying cost and three year exposure of leaving a finding alone, which is the business case for doing the work. Severity and effort are shown side by side, so quick, serious items rise to the top. - Ranked per org - Effort priced in dollars - Carrying cost for the business case ## How do you know metadata is really unused? Only when the evidence is complete. SyncOnAI 360 never concludes a field, class or Flow is unused from a missing reference alone; if the source needed to prove it could not be read, the result is unknown, with the reason. That makes the cleanup list one you can act on. Before removing anything, impact analysis shows who writes to a field and what uses it, and the change goes through a proposal with its blast radius. - Unused only with complete evidence - Unknown, with a reason, otherwise - Impact checked before removal ## How do you remove Salesforce technical debt safely? Turn findings into work items on a project board in one step, or into a priced statement of work. In the Flow builder, one fix, such as removing a hardcoded id, can be applied to every affected Flow at once and reviewed as one set, and fault handling can be added across a Flow in one edit. Every change is a proposal with checks and blast radius, approved by a second admin for production, with a receipt and rollback. When the audit runs again, fixed findings are marked verified fixed. - Findings to work items or a SOW - One fix across many Flows - Governed removal with rollback - Verified by re-audit ## A technical debt cleanup 1. **Find.** Detectors and the audit list duplication, overlap, unused and legacy items. 2. **Price.** Each finding gets an effort band and a cost. 3. **Prove.** Check impact and evidence before removing anything. 4. **Plan.** Put the work on a board or into a SOW. 5. **Remove.** Ship through proposals and confirm with a re-audit. ## Technical debt, with and without SyncOnAI 360 | Without | With SyncOnAI 360 | |---|---| | A half-finished spreadsheet | Debt detected and ranked from evidence | | No cost, so no priority | Every finding priced at a stated rate | | Afraid to delete anything | Unused only when the evidence is complete | | The same fix, Flow by Flow | One fix across every affected Flow | | No proof the cleanup worked | Re-audits mark each fix verified | ## Who uses technical debt analysis - **Salesforce admins.** Get a ranked list of duplicate rules, overlapping automation and legacy Workflow and Process Builder for each org, with the evidence behind each item, and remove what is safe with impact checked first. - **Salesforce architects.** See where the org has drifted: several Flows on one trigger, overlapping automation, forked components and redundant permission sets, each explained, so a consolidation plan rests on evidence. - **Consultancies.** Turn a debt assessment into a priced statement of work in one step, and show the client verified fixes after the re-audit, which makes cleanup an engagement rather than unbilled goodwill. - **Platform owners.** Weigh cleanup against feature work on equal terms: every finding carries an effort band, a cost and the yearly carrying cost of leaving it, the business case a budget conversation needs. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is Salesforce technical debt? Configuration and code that make the org harder to change: duplicated rules, overlapping automation, unused fields, legacy Workflow and Process Builder, and code that ignores best practice. ### Can it find unused fields? Yes, when the evidence supports it. A field is only called unused when the source needed to prove it was read; otherwise the result is unknown, with the reason. ### Does it find Process Builder and Workflow Rules? Yes. The audit flags active Process Builder and Workflow Rules, and large numbers of inactive Flows. ### How is debt prioritised? By severity and by effort, priced at a stated rate, with the annual carrying cost of leaving it as the business case. ### Can it fix the debt automatically? It drafts fixes as proposals, including one fix applied across many Flows. Every change is reviewed and approved before it deploys. ### Does duplication detection understand our business rules? It compares text and structure and explains what looks alike. Whether to merge is a business decision left with you. ### Can cleanup become billable work? Yes. Findings become a priced statement of work in one step. ### Is technical debt analysis on every plan? Yes. Every plan includes every feature.