The code that makes up your Salesforce development projects will impact much more than simply the functionality of the finalized product:
- Failing to streamline operations wastes team member time, reducing the ROI for each project.
- Fixing errors and bugs in later stages of the DevOps pipeline increases costs and makes these operations more difficult.
- Improper coding structures can create data security risks that open you up to cyberattacks as well as fines and penalties if you operate within a system that is subject to government regulations.
Strong code has a positive ripple effect across every aspect of your Salesforce development efforts.
However, even the most talented teams are liable to make mistakes. Human error is “the primary cause of software defects.”
How can your company ensure your code is healthy as early in the process as possible? How can bugs and vulnerabilities be rooted out so they can be addressed before they have a chance to grow?
Static code analysis tools enable Salesforce developers to have complete confidence in the code they are producing. But in which ways?
Here are 7 benefits your Salesforce development team can expect from utilizing Salesforce Static Code Analysis Tools:
1. Quality Code
The first and perhaps most obvious benefit of utilizing static code analysis tools is that it improves the overall quality of your code. This basic fact is going to impact other benefits on this list, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that high quality code is an essential element of a successful Salesforce update or application.
Salesforce development releases are intended to perform a specific function. This is best achieved with flawless coding structures.
Continuous testing and health checks on your lines of code ensure that the update will function properly. Consistently high quality releases position you as an industry leader in the minds of your customers.
2. Increased Visibility
You won’t be able to verify the quality of your lines of code if you aren’t able to see what’s going on. Static code analysis tools like CodeScan provide dashboards and reports for you to perform high-level analysis on the overall health of your code.
Realtime information into the state of your code allows you to make any necessary changes to ensure the final product meets your standards and expectations.
Visibility allows your programmers to spot and fix errors the moment they are entered into the system. Realtime code health analysis strengthens coding structures so your team doesn’t have to search through thousands of lines of code to find errors.
3. Reduce Technical Debt
Many Salesforce development teams have their eyes on a quick release without regard to proper functionality and security. This leads them to take the quick route to deployment, knowing they’ll have to go back and address these shortcuts in the future. The growing amount of future work is what’s known as technical debt.
Static code analysis tools detect errors as they occur, drastically reducing the technical debt facing your team as you move through the release phase of the development cycle.
An abundance of technical debt creates redundant work for your development team. They will be too busy reworking old projects to address new concerns. This slows down your release cycle and ultimately costs your company money.
4. Heightened Data Security
Data security should always be a top concern. This is especially true for regulated industries such as healthcare and the financial industry. A failure to properly protect sensitive information can put you at risk of falling out of line with government regulations.
Proper coding structures reduce vulnerabilities and support your data security strategy as a whole.
Cybercriminals are always on the look out for aspects of your system that can be exploited. An improper software update with bugs can create the backdoor these cybercriminals need to create an entrance to your Salesforce environment. Data breaches or data loss events can create massive headaches for IT teams and lead to financial or regulatory consequences.
5. Higher Release Velocity
The ability to release reliable updates and applications faster than your competition positions you to best address the needs of your customers. Manually combing through every line of code to find bugs and vulnerabilities takes a massive amount of time and slows down every release.
Static code analysis tools automate some of the most time-consuming tasks in the Salesforce DevOps pipeline, allowing your team to produce reliable products at a faster rate.
Automating code reviews frees up your team members to spend time on moving a project through the pipeline or even getting started on the next release.
Integrating static code analysis tools with a dedicated CI/CD platform further streamlines these processes and enables your team to produce fast and reliable releases.
6. Increased Productivity
Salesforce development teams work their best when they are allowed to focus on addressing the task at hand. Going back over previously completed work to find and resolve errors in the code repository distracts them from moving projects forward. This slows the release cycle and impacts the end user’s experience.
Automating code review processes allows your development team to focus on what they do best—write new lines of code.
Release velocity is heightened through the reduction of redundant work. And productivity is supported by the time this affords your developers. Static code analysis tools reinforce surrounding aspects of the DevOps pipeline by affording your team ample time to address them.
7. Saved Money
Profitability is the ultimate goal of every company. A failure to achieve this threatens the long-term success of a business. Optimizing and streamlining your Salesforce DevOps pipeline not only helps position your company as a leader in the industry, it reduces costs throughout the process.
Static code analysis tools save your team members from wasting their time. And saved labor hours equate to saved money.
A Salesforce DevOps pipeline involves the efforts of a series of teams and processes. A failure in one aspect has the potential to negatively impact another. Static code analysis tools help ensure proper coding structures which will have a positive impact on every other aspect of these complicated pipelines.