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EDA Limitations and Extension Options
Keep in mind these limitations and extension options with Education Data Architecture.
- EDA Limitations
Understand the access, usage, and compatibility limitations in Education Data Architecture. - EDA Extension Options
The EDA framework is not typically implemented standalone as an SIS, course catalog, or system of record because of educational institutions' unique requirements for handling, processing, and retaining student, financial, and transactional data.
EDA Limitations
Understand the access, usage, and compatibility limitations in Education Data Architecture.
Supported Browsers
Supported browsers for EDA are the same as those documented at Supported Browsers in Salesforce Help.
Salesforce Platform Limits Apply
EDA is subject to Salesforce limits on Platform usage. Among other limits, we limit how much data can be stored in a single org and the aggregate amount of CPU usage. For details, see Salesforce Developer Limits and Allocations Quick Reference. In particular, EDA is subject to managed package limits, such as the number of SOQL queries per transaction. For details, see Per-Transaction Certified Managed Package Limits.
If you're new to working with managed and unmanaged packages, we recommend the overview at Understanding Packages in Salesforce Help.
Person Accounts Are Not Supported
Person Accounts are not supported. However, it's okay if you install EDA in an org that has Person Accounts enabled.
Nonprofit Success Pack Is Not Supported
We know many of you are devoted NPSP users. For now, we don't recommend installing NPSP and EDA in the same org.
Geographic Restrictions on Application Access
To comply with U.S. export law and regulations, users in certain geographic regions are restricted from accessing Salesforce products. For details, see Export Compliance terms in the Main Service Agreement.
EDA Extension Options
The EDA framework is not typically implemented standalone as an SIS, course catalog, or system of record because of educational institutions' unique requirements for handling, processing, and retaining student, financial, and transactional data.
EDA is designed to integrate with and complement these other systems. It surfaces key information from your SIS and other systems to create a 360-degree view of constituents campus-wide, and enable deeper, more meaningful engagement.
EDA builds on Salesforce Platform functionality. You can extend the architecture with your own customizations, enable integrations with Salesforce APIs, and enhance its functionality with other products from Salesforce.org and partners in the Salesforce ecosystem—system integrators and ISV solutions on the AppExchange.
Here are some of the ways you can extend EDA to create a complete solution that supports learner and institutional success.
Recruiting and Admissions—While EDA can represent the Relationship and Affiliation data associated with prospects and applicants, and the data associated with Applications and Test Scores, it doesn't offer business logic for managing the recruiting and admissions process. Use Admissions Connect for application review management and Salesforce Marketing Cloud for recruiting campaign management. Also look on AppExchange for industry-specific products.
Course Catalog—You typically set up an integration for course catalog data.
Onboarding, Advising, and Degree Planning—For managing your onboarding programs, appointment scheduling, advising, degree planning, and more, you can use Advisor Link—along with its Pathways feature—to offer a personalized, streamlined student experience for these key student services. Advisor Link delivers advisee services through Experience Cloud functionality. You can explore using an Experience Cloud site with EDA to create an advisee portal experience.
Registrar, Enrollment, and Financial Aid—EDA provides a well-structured framework for tracking program plans, plan requirements, and courses, but minimal functionality for supporting a Registrar's administrative functions. It doesn't provide functionality for financial aid processing or management.
Learning Management System—The details of lesson delivery, discussion boards, and assessment activities are best handled by an LMS application, not a CRM. However, if your organization has lightweight learning management needs, consider myTrailhead from Salesforce for simple guided learning journeys.
Enterprise Document Management—In Enterprise Edition orgs, Salesforce Files offers some file management and sharing functionality. Otherwise, enterprise document management is not included.
Student Groups, Athletics, and Event Management—Student involvement with campus activities can be tracked using Affiliations (affiliated Accounts), which relate Contacts to organized groups. In fact, we offer a preconfigured Account record type called Sports Organization. However, managing group activities, ticketing or event communications, or athletic programs is not included.
Housing and Facilities Management—The EDA data model offers a basic framework of the Account, Facility, and Affiliation objects. Customization is required to make it suitable for managing housing applications, residential life programs, or operations of an institution's physical plant and grounds.
