Well-Architected

Salesforce architect diagrams

Elements.cloud is a full enterprise architecture platform, enabling customers to build more reliable and scalable solutions through better upfront architecture design.

Through a strategic partnership with Salesforce, Elements support the Salesforce Diagramming standard.

Elements architect diagrams

Diagramming: supercharged

Elements is an enterprise platform that helps Salesforce architects and their stakeholders plan, collaborate and deliver Salesforce more effectively. At the heart of this process are Salesforce Diagrams, which cover key areas such as Capability Diagrams, Systems Landscape Diagrams and ERDs.

Salesforce Diagrams in Elements are collaborative and connected artifacts. They extend the diagramming standard. They have drill downs, attachments, and version control enabling them to cover a wide scope and evolve as business needs change.

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Enterprise architecture

Elements is an enterprise architecture application. It manages access controls, versioning, collaboration, and the linkages between artifacts.

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Extending Salesforce diagramming

Elements collaboration and connection features make the Salesforce Diagrams notation far more powerful – use drag-and-drop features for connecting diagrams directly to the Salesforce metadata dictionary.

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Salesforce templates

All the existing Salesforce templates are available in Elements. And every new template developed by Salesforce will be available first in Elements.

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Everything in one place

Connect everything together: Architecture diagrams. Process maps. Brainstorm canvases. Requirements. User Stories. Metadata dictionaries. Documentation.

Eliminate friction

Everything in one place

Salesforce Diagrams in Elements are connected to the other business analysis artifacts in your Salesforce org:

  • Architecture diagrams
  • Process maps
  • Brainstorm canvases
  • Requirements
  • User stories
  • Metadata dictionaries
  • Documentation

Connect existing artifacts

You may already have drawn diagrams using tools like Google Slides, Powerpoint, Lucidchart, or Miro in isolation. Elements brings everything together in one place, synchronized to your Salesforce org, and always up-to-date.

Building on Well-Architected

Extending the Salesforce diagrams standard

Elements is an enterprise application that has opened opportunities to make the current standard more powerful. Such as the dynamic header that is hidden when not needed. Or the ERD data objects automatically linking to the object in the metadata dictionary when resources are added. Or version control managed to down the four levels.

The power of connections

An enterprise application with diagramming powers

Well-Architected solutions require rigorous business analysis, from wish lists to a complete user story passed to the DevOps environment. Elements are with you every step of the way. 

Use Elements to capture and manage feedback, business requirements, process maps, architect diagrams, user stories, metadata dictionaries with impact and dependency analysis, user stories, and releases.

Time is wasted, and the potential for miscommunication and, therefore, risk is increased by using tools to draw pretty diagrams that need to be integrated into the implementation process.

Frequently asked questions

Where do you find out more about Salesforce Well-Architected?

architect.salesforce.com offers a wealth of resources, including documentation on diagram notation which can be found here.

What is an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) diagram?

An Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) is a graphical representation of the relationships between entities in a database or system. It is a useful tool for designing and visualizing the structure of a system, and for communicating the design to stakeholders. 

Does an architect need enterprise architecture app or a drawing tool?

The architecture diagrams are living documents. They need to be managed, support collaboration and have version control. They are also connected to other artifacts. That can only be achieved (without a considerable admin overhead) with an enterprise architecture tool.

Is this relevant to just Certified Technical Architects?

Certified Technical Architect is the highest level of certification. But there are different types of architect who all need a tool for documentation; solution architects, functional architects, data architects, technical architects.

Can I trial Elements?