Salesforce solution architecture is the design of how Salesforce products and features meet a set of business needs.
Salesforce Select Partner · TOGAF certified architects · 20+ enterprise implementations
Salesforce solution architecture that turns business needs into one design across clouds.
A solution architect maps what the business needs to the right Salesforce products and design, records the gaps and decisions in a solution design document, and gets sponsors and delivery teams to agree it.
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- 20+Enterprise implementations
- 15+Years of team experience
- 30+Salesforce certifications
- 5.0/5Client satisfaction (CSAT)
Proven Success With
30+ Salesforce certifications · 5.0/5 CSAT
New to Salesforce solution architecture?
What is Salesforce solution architecture?
A solution architect compares each need with what Salesforce does as standard, and decides how every gap is closed.
The result is a solution design document that sponsors approve and delivery teams build from.
The role
What does a solution architect do on a Salesforce program?
Three roles that are often confused. The solution architect starts from the business need and owns the overall design.
Solution architect
- Starts from
- Business needs across clouds
- Main question
- Which products and design meet the need?
- Main output
- Solution design document
- Works most with
- Sponsors and process owners
- Relevant credentials
- Application Architect, cloud consultant credentials
Technical architect
- Starts from
- Platform limits, data and code
- Main question
- Will it scale, stay secure and ship safely?
- Main output
- Technical design and standards
- Works most with
- Developers and integration teams
- Relevant credentials
- System Architect, Certified Technical Architect
Functional consultant
- Starts from
- One process in one cloud
- Main question
- How should this process work in Salesforce?
- Main output
- Configured process and test scripts
- Works most with
- Users and process owners
- Relevant credentials
- The consultant credential for the cloud
On smaller programs one architect may cover the solution and technical roles. See Salesforce technical architecture for the technical side.
Responsibilities
What is a solution architect responsible for?
Six responsibilities, each with something your team keeps.
01Business-to-solution designBusiness goals and processes mapped to Salesforce products and features.
- Goals and constraints from sponsors
- Processes mapped end to end
- Products and clouds chosen
02Fit-gap analysisEach requirement compared with standard features, and every gap given a decision.
- Standard features first
- Configure, build, buy or change the process
- Reasons recorded
03Solution design documentScope, design, data, integration, security and decisions in one document.
- One document per program
- Versioned and approved
- Used by delivery teams
04Cross-cloud designSales, Service, Marketing, Experience, Data 360 and Agentforce designed together.
- One customer model across clouds
- Hand-offs between teams designed
- License and product choices explained
05Stakeholder alignmentWorkshops, options and trade-offs, ending in a signed-off design.
- Options presented with trade-offs
- Conflicts settled with sponsors
- Sign-off recorded
06Design assuranceBuilds checked against the design until go-live.
- Design questions answered during build
- Changes assessed against the design
- Deviations approved or reversed
When you need one
When do you need a solution architect?
Most programs bring one in at one of these points.
Several clouds at once
Sales, Service and Data 360 in one program.
A new way of working
A new sales model, service model or channel.
A proposal to check
A partner design or estimate you want reviewed.
Requirements keep moving
Scope changes faster than the team can build.
Agentforce plans
Agents that need data, processes and channels designed.
Fit-gap analysis
How does a fit-gap analysis work?
Each business requirement is mapped to the Salesforce feature that meets it. Anything without a clean match is a gap that needs a decision.
Business requirement
- Quote with approved discounts
- Route urgent cases to experts
- Partners register their own deals
- One customer view for sales and service
- Answer routine questions automatically
Salesforce solution
- Sales Cloud quotes and approvals
- Service Cloud Omni-Channel routing
- Experience Cloud partner site
- Data 360 unified profile
- Agentforce agent
Standard first
Standard features are checked before any custom build is considered.
Every gap decided
Configure, build, buy from AppExchange, or change the process.
Written down
Each decision and its reason goes into the solution design document.
Solution design document
What goes into a solution design document?
The sections we write. Each is reviewed with the people who own it.
- SDD-01
Scope and goals
What the program must achieve, and what is out of scope.
- SDD-02
Current state
Systems, processes and data in place today.
- SDD-03
Requirements and fit-gap
Every requirement with its fit and gap decision.
- SDD-04
Solution overview
Clouds, products and features, and how they connect.
- SDD-05
Data model
Objects, ownership and data moving in from other systems.
- SDD-06
Integration overview
Systems, directions and patterns at a high level.
- SDD-07
Security and access
Who sees and does what, by role.
- SDD-08
Decisions and risks
Trade-offs, assumptions and open risks, with owners.
Stakeholder alignment
How does a design get agreed?
The solution architect sits between the business and delivery. Decisions are made by the people who own them.
- Business sponsor
- Process owners
- Solution architect
- Technical architect
- Delivery team
- Business sponsor to Solution architect: Sets goals and constraints
- Solution architect to Process owners: Runs requirement workshops
- Process owners to Solution architect: Confirms needs and priorities
- Solution architect to Technical architect: Checks the design against platform limits
- Technical architect to Solution architect: Returns constraints and options
- Solution architect to Business sponsor: Presents options with trade-offs
- Business sponsor to Solution architect: Approves the design
- Solution architect to Delivery team: Hands over the solution design
- Delivery team to Solution architect: Raises questions during build
How to engage
How do you engage a solution architect?
Four steps to an approved design. The proposal states the model: a fixed-scope engagement, a monthly plan or an architect inside your team.
Free review
A 60-minute architecture review with a written plan.
Proposal
Scope, model and milestones agreed in writing.
Discovery
Workshops with sponsors and process owners.
Design
Fit-gap and solution design document drafted and reviewed.
- Does the design meet the business need?
Approve
Delivery starts against the design.
Approve with changes
Trade-offs recorded, then delivery starts.
Rework
Open questions answered, then reviewed again.
Cost and timing
What it costs and how long it takes
The review is free
A 60-minute architecture review of your Salesforce solution design setup, with a written plan you keep.
A fixed-scope proposal first
Before any work starts you get a written proposal: a fixed-scope project with milestones, or a monthly plan. You approve it, or you do not.
Timing follows scope
How long it takes depends on what is in scope. The proposal states the milestones, so you see the timeline before you commit.
Client stories
Client work we have delivered
Real engagements, described by industry. Each story covers the starting position, what we built and how we delivered it, end to end.
Commercial & Business ServicesOne Operating Backbone From Quote to Invoice for a Fire Protection ContractorSales Cloud, work orders and scheduling for a fire protection contractor, synced two-way with QuickBooks Time, Dashpivot and Xero through custom Apex REST.Sales Cloud · Field Service · Salesforce Platform · Apex RESTRead the story 
Financial ServicesLead-to-Funded Automation Across Eight Lending BrandsSales Cloud for a US alternative lender: lead-to-funded automation, an eight-brand, 15-step email sequence engine design controlled by Salesforce status, Instantly API integration and Gmail sync.Sales Cloud · Salesforce Platform · Flow · ApexRead the story 
Commercial & Business ServicesPhase 2 of an Enterprise Program Across Sales, Service and CPQA multi-cloud Phase 2 of about 960 hours for an enterprise B2B business: Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and Salesforce CPQ joined into one process, from architecture to release and change management.Sales Cloud · Service Cloud · Salesforce CPQ · Salesforce PlatformRead the story Client reviews
What clients say about working with our architects
See how teams describe working with SynconAI, from first scope to production delivery.
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Sales CloudService CloudAgentforce
Jack BennettConsumer Goods & Retail · United States
“I had a very urgent deadline for our project reporting to be delivered and needed to build the module, dashboard and output reports in Salesforce. SynconAI were very responsive - they met with me online, responded to my emails quickly and took calls - whatever was needed to progress the work quickly. We are thrilled with the outcome and will continue to work with SynconAI in the future to continue to build our Salesforce capability and platform.”
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Sales CloudSlackFlowAgentforceMuleSoft
ManufacturingAustraliaSalesforce Verified
“They have been great and helping us transform out business by bringing what I conceptualize to life. Great at translating process/workflow needs into a solution. Been a pleasure work with and they're a critical part of our team and will be instrumental into bringing about my vision.”
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“Working with SynconAI was a seamless and highly professional experience from start to finish. They took the time to deeply understand our business processes before designing and implementing a Salesforce solution tailored specifically to our operational needs. The team demonstrated strong technical expertise across Salesforce configuration, automation, integrations, reporting, and user experience design.”
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Frequently asked questions
Salesforce solution architecture, answered.
Straight answers about the solution architect role, fit-gap analysis, design documents and how to engage one.
The design of how Salesforce products and features meet a set of business needs across clouds, recorded in a solution design document that the business approves and delivery teams build from.
A Salesforce solution architect maps business needs to Salesforce products, runs fit-gap analysis, writes the solution design document and gets sponsors and delivery teams to agree it.
The solution architect starts from business needs and owns the overall design. The technical architect makes sure it scales, stays secure and ships safely: data volumes, integration, security and release governance.
A comparison of each requirement with what Salesforce does as standard. Each gap gets a decision: configure, build, buy from AppExchange or change the process.
Scope and goals, current state, requirements and fit-gap, a solution overview, data model, integration overview, security and access, and the decisions and risks behind the design.
Application Architect covers data and sharing design. Consultant credentials for each cloud in scope, such as Agentforce Sales Consultant or Agentforce Service Consultant, show product depth.
As a fixed-scope engagement with milestones, on a monthly plan, or as a dedicated architect inside your team. The free 60-minute review is the usual starting point.
Salesforce, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, Data 360, Agentforce, AppExchange and Omni-Channel are trademarks of Salesforce, Inc. TOGAF is a registered trademark of The Open Group. SynconAI is an independent consulting firm and is not affiliated with or endorsed by these organizations.
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