Lookup Relationship in Salesforce

With its wide range of functionalities, Salesforce has become an essential tool for managing customer relationships, streamlining business processes, and improving overall efficiency. Salesforce’s lookup relationships is a significant capability that allows users to connect two objects and establish a parent-child relationship between them. To effectively manage records, this feature is essential for organizing data. 

In this blog post, we will dive deeper into lookup relationships in Salesforce, discussing their benefits, use cases, and how they can help businesses streamline their processes and improve customer interactions. 

Lookup Relationship in Salesforce – Meaning and Examples

A lookup relationship is a feature that allows Salesforce users to establish a connection between two objects, making it possible to “look up” one object from another object’s related items. This type of relationship can take the form of a one-to-one or one-to-many connection. For instance, when linking accounts and contacts, the relationship is one-to-many, as a single account can have several associated contacts. As such, lookup relationships play a crucial role by enabling users to easily access related data and streamline business processes.

Let’s take the example of a courier company where a delivery location needs to be linked to a corresponding delivery schedule. To achieve this, we can create a field called “DeliverySchedule” in the Delivery Location object that establishes a lookup relationship with the “Delivery Schedule” custom object. This allows us to easily retrieve relevant data and associate it with the corresponding delivery location. With lookup relationships, Salesforce users can establish such connections between different objects and streamline their processes, resulting in increased efficiency and better management of data.

Also, read – How to Create Record Types in Salesforce?

Master-Detail and Lookup Relationship in Salesforce

Both relationship types are essential for data management and enable businesses to improve their customer interactions, streamline processes, and gain insights into their operations.

A master-detail relationship is a kind of connection in Salesforce in which the child object relies on the parent object. As a result, if the parent object is removed, all the linked child objects will also be removed. This type of relationship involves a one-to-many arrangement, allowing a single parent record to have numerous child records.

A master-detail relationship is useful in scenarios where the existence of a record depends on another record. 

To illustrate, consider an e-commerce platform where a single order can comprise multiple line items. In this case, the parent object would be the order object, while the child object would be the line item. In this case, when an order is deleted, all related line items must also be deleted.

A lookup relationship, on the other hand, is a type of relationship in Salesforce that allows users to link two objects together without creating a dependency between them. A lookup relationship, like a master-detail relationship, is a one-to-many relationship. However, in this type of relationship, the child records are not deleted when the parent record is deleted. Instead, the child records remain in the system, but their lookup fields become empty.

Lookup relationships are useful when a record’s existence does not depend on another record. For example, an account can have several opportunities in a sales CRM. In this scenario, if an account is deleted, it should not delete the associated opportunities. Instead, the opportunities should remain in the system and no longer be linked to the deleted account.

Also, read – What is Governor Limits in Salesforce?

Types of Lookup Relationships in Salesforce

There are two types of lookup relationships in Salesforce; one-to-one and one-to-many.

One-to-one lookup relationships are useful when there is a need to link two objects with a direct and exclusive relationship. For example, in a human resources system, a one-to-one lookup relationship can be used to link an employee record with their manager’s record. In this case, each employee would be associated with exactly one manager, and each manager would be associated with exactly one employee.

One-to-one lookup relationships can streamline data management and improve efficiency by providing a direct and exclusive link between two objects. However, it’s important to note that one-to-one relationships are less common but can be helpful in certain scenarios.

One-to-many lookup relationships are useful when there is a need to link two objects with a hierarchical or parent-child relationship. For example, consider a sales CRM system where a single account can be linked with several contacts. In this case, the account would be the parent object, and the contacts would be the child object. The user can easily access all the contacts associated with a specific account by establishing a one-to-many lookup relationship between the two objects.

One-to-many lookup relationships can help businesses manage their data more effectively and gain insights into the relationships between objects. It also helps improve data accuracy and reduces the need for duplicate data entry.

How to Create Lookup Relationship in Salesforce

Here are the instructions to create a Lookup Relationship in Salesforce:

1. Sign up or log in to www.salesforce.com.
2. Go to SETUP>OBJECT MANAGER
3. Choose the Child Object that will be part of the Lookup Relationship.
4. Click on Custom Fields and Relationship, then click the New button.
5. Select the Lookup Relationship option and click on Next.
6. Choose the Related to Object label, and then select the Child Object. Provide the Field Label, Field Name, and click “Next.”
7. Configure the field-level security for the reference field. Ensure all profiles have access to the field-level security, then click “Save.”
8. Select the page layout for the child object field and select “Next.”
9. Click “Add Custom Related List” in the new window and click “Save.”

Summing Up

In conclusion, Salesforce’s lookup relationships are pivotal in organizing data and streamlining business processes by enabling users to establish connections between different objects. Businesses can efficiently manage their data and gain valuable insights with various types of lookup relationships, such as one-to-one and one-to-many. Understanding the difference between master-detail and lookup relationships and knowing how to create and configure lookup relationships is essential for any Salesforce user aiming to make the most of the platform’s powerful features.

Additionally, streamline your certification preparation journey by signing up on saasguru and enrolling in a Salesforce training course tailored to your needs. By deepening your understanding of Salesforce’s capabilities, you can leverage the platform’s powerful features and maximize your organization’s success.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Can we convert lookup relationship to master detail in Salesforce? 

Yes, It is possible to convert a Lookup relationship to a Master-Detail relationship in Salesforce, but it is important to ensure that all lookup field records have a value, as Master-Detail relationships do not allow null values. Be aware that this change can affect your existing custom reports due to the different standard report types for each relationship type.

2. How many lookup relationships per object in Salesforce? 

A standard or custom object in Salesforce can have up to 40 Lookup relationships. Additionally, an object can have a maximum of two Master-Detail relationships.

3. How to change Lookup to Master-Detail relationship in Salesforce? 

Before changing a Lookup relationship to a Master-Detail relationship, make sure that all lookup fields have values assigned to them. Then, navigate to the object’s field settings, find the Lookup field you want to change, and modify its properties to change it to a Master-Detail relationship. Be aware that converting relationships can affect your custom reports, and testing them immediately after the conversion is recommended.

4. How to delete a Lookup relationship in Salesforce?

In order to delete a Lookup relationship in Salesforce, you need to navigate to the object that contains the relationship field. Within “Object Manager”, select the object, then “Fields & Relationships”. Find the Lookup field you wish to delete and click on it. Then, click on the “Delete” button. Note that deleting a relationship field may impact other features in your Salesforce org that reference this field, so always double-check before deletion.

5. How to understand parent and child in Lookup relationship in Salesforce?

In a Lookup relationship in Salesforce, the ‘parent’ is the primary object that can have related ‘child’ objects. Each child object holds a reference to a parent but doesn’t depend on it for its existence. For example, in a relationship between ‘Account’ (parent) and ‘Contact’ (child), an Account can have multiple associated Contacts, but each Contact can also exist independently of the Account. A parent record can have multiple child records, but each child record can only be associated with one parent record.