Execute a Seeding Job for Salesforce

After your seeding template is built, you can use it in a seeding job to copy (seed) data into a Salesforce sandbox or into a Salesforce production org. You can do this directly from the Template Builder tab. If the Seed... button isn't available in the Template Builder tab, contact your administrator to grant you the required permission.

1. In the Template Builder tab, click Seed. The <template name> window opens and displays the General tab. By default:

   The Template Source, as defined in the seeding template being used for this seeding job, is the assigned Seeding Source.

   The Seeding application retrieves real-time (Live) data from the seeding source.

2. In the Advanced tab, you can modify the assigned Seeding Source. In the Seeding Source section of the General tab, click Edit to open the Advanced tab. In the Advanced tab, the Seeding Source section's drop-down menu provides the following options:
   • Live (default data source selection. Retrieve real-time data that exists in the live source of the service that is assigned as the seeding source.)
   • Latest Backup. Retrieve the most recent (error-free) data backup of the service that is assigned as the seeding source. This option is particularly useful for scheduled seeding jobs having an ongoing frequency, as it eliminates the need of constantly having to update the scheduled job in order to select the most recent backup for the seeding source.
   • The Recent Backups section lists all (error-free) data backups from the past 6 months that exist for the service that is assigned as the seeding source. You can select any one of these backups from which to retrieve the service data. Backups are listed in descending chronological order (newest to oldest) by their processing start <date><time>. If a <label> is defined for a backup (a best practice), it displays to the right of the backup's start <date> <time>. For very large sandboxes, to reduce API calls, and/or to reduce data retrieval time, select a recent backup from which to retrieve the service data to be seeded, rather than retrieving real-time data from the live source. The Recent Backups option isn't available for block storage, meaning customer backups that are stored on hard drives.
   • Any backup of any service: Select this option if you want the Seeding application to retrieve the data to seed from a backup of a service in any status, regardless of the service's status and/or the Salesforce org's status. To get the desired service ID-backup ID pair to enter into each of their respective fields, see Get Service and Backup IDs for Salesforce Seeding Jobs.
3. When executing a seeding job using a Levels template and a backup of a service, the possibility exists that the backup being used may be missing some of the objects, whether root or child objects, that the Levels template includes. You need to define what Seeding processing must do, if it identifies the described situation. Select one of the following options:
   • Proceed with the Seeding Job (selected by default) - execute the seeding job, despite there being missing objects in the backup being used (go ahead and seed data into the selected Destination)
   • Cancel the Seeding Job - don't execute the seeding job, due to there being missing objects in the backup being used
   If Seeding processing identifies missing objects in a seeding job, then the job's generated Seeding Report includes a Skipped Objects tab. The Skipped Objects tab lists every object missing from the job’s Seeding Source backup, both root and child objects, that was included by the Levels template.
4. In the General tab, select a destination service from the Destination field's drop-down list.
   You can select a listed Salesforce production org to be the seeding job’s Destination (seeding into a Salesforce production org). For the requirements and limitations associated with using a production org as the seeding destination see: Seeding into a Salesforce Production Org: Requirements, Limitations and User Interface Details.
   Upon selection of a destination service, both the Automations and the Update Indexing sections appear in the General tab.
5. In the General tab, select a seeding method from the Seeding Method drop-down list:
   • On a template’s first seeding job per destination service, the Seeding application inserts all the data set records to the destination, without running destination content checks or filtering duplicated data.
   • Incremental: Only nonexistent records are seeded; previously seeded records are not updated. duplicates are not created; The Seeding application ignores any existing records in the destination service that it did not insert. For example, records previously inserted via an external/third-party system.
   • Upsert: Nonexisting records are seeded; previously seeded records are updated; duplicates aren't created, and the Seeding application ignores any existing records in the destination service that it didn't insert. For example, records previously inserted via an external/third-party system.
   • Clean and insert: With this method, the Seeding application first deletes from the destination, all existing records of each object that is defined in the seeding template. Next, the application inserts into the destination all the records, taken from the seeding source, for each of those objects. Objects in the destination that aren't defined in the seeding template remain unaffected by this process. The Seeding application never deletes from the destination the records of auto-cloned objects, for example, the objects Users, Product2, PriceBook, and PricebookEntry. Seeding applies this approach even to any auto-cloned objects that were explicitly added to a seeding template. Seeding handles auto-cloned objects in this manner, because it's Salesforce that initially clones these objects into the sandbox when Salesforce created that sandbox. (In Salesforce, you can always manually delete auto-cloned objects from a destination. If you do so, then the next time you execute a seeding job using that destination, you must select the Advanced tab option Update destination index for template objects.)
   On a template’s first seeding job per destination service, the Seeding application inserts all the data set records to the destination, without running destination content checks or filtering duplicated data.
   The Upsert method involves a longer seeding processing time and may require additional API calls. This method isn't available for seeding a full sandbox.
   The Clean and insert method resets the incremental history tracking data of the destination service.
6. In the Automations section of the General tab, click Edit to open the Automations tab. In the Automations tab, select the automations you want to disable. Use the Search for field or the Show drop-down to filter and find the automations you want to disable. The number of automations selected is displayed. The number of unavailable automations is displayed. You can't select the automations that can't be disabled externally, and can only be disabled manually in the Sandbox.
   Click the arrow next to an automations group to display that group's list of automations.
7. In the Update Indexing section of the General tab, click Edit to open the Advanced tab. If you manually changed, deleted, or added data to the selected destination service, since the last executed seeding job using that destination service, then the destination index must be updated.
   • Do not update destination index (default)
   • Update destination index - this option significantly increases the duration of seeding job processing
8. When a Handling of Missing Objects option is selected in the Advanced tab, the General tab presents it's own Handling of Missing Objects section, which displays the currently selected option and provides the Edit link. Click Edit to open the Automations tab, where you can modify your option selection.
9. Click Seed.
   The button is disabled if there's a seed job running that is using the selected destination. The seeding process begins, and you are transferred to the Recent Seeds tab. During the seeding job, the current object and the number of records for that object are displayed. You can view the total number of retrieved records that'll be seeded. When the seeding job is completed, the Seeding application automatically sends an email notification that informs about the seeding job's status. You can elect not to receive these emails through your account settings.