Flexible Hierarchies, Actionable Relationship Center, and Account Hierarchies
Evaluate the various visualization tools available to address complex data relationships. This comparison provides the insights necessary to align the appropriate solution with your organizational goals, whether your requirements prioritize standard relationship mapping or need the time-bound, multi-layered flexibility of a custom framework.
Required Editions
Available in: Lightning Experience Available in: Unlimited and Agentforce Editions |
Salesforce provides features for visualizing complex data, such as Account Hierarchies, Actionable Relationship Center (ARC), and Flexible Hierarchies. Learn their distinct capabilities to determine the optimal fit for your business requirements. While all these features excel at visualizing data, understanding their specific functional strengths and architectural differences is essential for aligning the right feature with your business objectives.
| Feature | Flexible Hierarchies | Actionable Relationship Center (ARC) | Account Hierarchies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Goal | A highly scalable, decoupled framework for visualizing and managing complex business relationships. | Real-time relationship management and quick record actions. | Formal parent-child relationship visualization. |
| Visualization | Graph view and grid view are supported. | Tree view is supported. | Tree view is supported. |
| Data Source | Multi-System: Uses Source System IDs to sync with external systems. | Internal: Primarily looks at native Salesforce object relationships. | Internal: Depends exclusively on the Account object and its built-in self-lookup relationship. |
| Data Structure | Decoupled Data Architecture: Flexible Hierarchies are loosely coupled with the underlying data model. This allows you to construct hierarchies between objects even if no direct relationship or lookup exists between them in the native schema. | Tightly Coupled Architecture: ARC is intrinsically linked to your existing Salesforce schema. It dynamically renders visualizations based on established related lists and lookup relationships defined within your data model. | Tightly Coupled Architecture: The structure is dictated by a Self-Lookup Relationship by using the ParentId field on the Account object. This supports only the account-to-account connections that have been explicitly defined in your metadata. |
| Customization Logic | Data driven: The structure is defined by record-level values and specific data instances. | Metadata driven: The structure is defined based on the pre-defined fields, page layouts, and object relationships configured in your Salesforce setup. | Metadata driven: The structure is governed by the Salesforce Schema rather than the individual data points themselves. The hierarchy is essentially a visual reflection of how you’ve configured the Account object. |
| Search functionality | Supports deep-structure searching by providing essential hierarchical context and intuitive navigation paths. This makes sure that users can locate specific records within complex frameworks without losing sight of their relative position. | Manually expand nodes to find what you are looking for. | Manually expand nodes to find what you are looking for. |
| Node Breadth | There’s no restriction on the number of child nodes that can be associated with a single parent. | Supports a maximum of 10 child nodes per parent node. | There’s no hard database limit on how many child accounts can be linked to a single parent in the background. However, the visualization interface can render up to 2,000 total nodes across the entire structure. |
| Data model | Uses a dedicated data model to store its structural configurations. | Doesn’t use an exclusive data model. Instead, it relies entirely on graph definitions. | The hierarchy is stored directly on the existing fields of the Account object. |
| Sharing | Uses a dedicated sharing model, making sure that hierarchical records can be shared with specific users or groups to maintain visibility while maintaining data governance. | Sharing of records is not supported. | Uses the Standard Salesforce Sharing Model. Visibility is strictly determined by a user’s existing access to the individual account records. |
Feature Selection Guide
When architecting a solution for complex business relationships in Salesforce, the choice between Account Hierarchies, ARC, and Flexible Hierarchies depends on the balance between standard simplicity and strategic depth. Here’s the recommendation when selecting the feature for your business requirements.
| Business Requirement | Feature |
|---|---|
| To map and visualize enterprise-grade environments, such as global banking or insurance. A solution that is audit-ready, multi-system, and time-sensitive. | Flexible Hierarchies |
| To map and visualize related records and perform quick record actions. | ARC |
| To visualize simple parent-child relationships. A solution that is simple, native, and out-of-the-box. | Account Hierarchies |
