---
schema_version: "1"
id: e032345c4b5d57e47bca51ea8fa1962fe35b52f966dbefff967eae616ba97b15
title: Plan and Prepare for Deployment
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/platform/264-0-0/plan_for_deployment.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.plan_for_deployment.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 72f0fb8272a7548914d3d580d3bd666e2380783b2ca5a1c52aeabcbcdcb6b168
description: A successful deployment starts with a solid plan. To avoid conflicts or missing dependent metadata and configuration data during deployments, review these prerequisites, best practices, and limitations.
products:
  - Salesforce Platform
  - Security
release: "264"
---
# Plan and Prepare for Deployment

A successful deployment starts with a solid plan. To avoid conflicts or missing dependent metadata and configuration data during deployments, review these prerequisites, best practices, and limitations.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col style="width:100%"></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: Lightning Experience</td></tr><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: <strong>Professional</strong>, <strong>Enterprise</strong>, <strong>Performance</strong>, <strong>Unlimited</strong>, and <strong>Developer</strong> Editions</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Prerequisites

- Authorize the source and target orgs to send and receive changes.
- Include all required metadata components and their dependencies to prevent deployment failure. Use the Metadata Dependencies window to understand the metadata dependencies in your org. See [About Metadata and Data Dependencies](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.dx_inspector_metadata_data_dependencies.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Identify, map, and visualize the relationships between metadata components and data records in your org. You can view dependencies early to select all required metadata and data before deployment, which prevents deployment failures.").
- Review the list of metadata supported for deployment. You can deploy only the metadata types tracked using source tracking. See [Metadata Coverage Report](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/success/metadata-coverage-report/references/coverage-report/metadata-coverage-report.html).
- Review your data structure, including all objects, fields, records, and relationships, to identify which configuration data to migrate.
- Map the relationships between your selected objects. For example, Accounts are parents to Contacts. To maintain data integrity, plan the migration order based on these dependencies.
- Understand how the deployment affects different metadata types and data objects. Some metadata components can’t be overwritten. See [Special Behavior During Deployments](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.deploy_special_behavior.htm&language=en_US).
- Verify that you have the object and field-level permissions in the target org to create and edit records for the specific objects intended for configuration data migration.

## Best Practices

- Set [external IDs](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.os_build_tool_global_keys.htm&language=en_US) before you start. While optional, we recommend using external IDs for configuration data migration. The deployment process uses the External ID field to match records between the source and target orgs. If an external ID is present, the process upserts records, which prevents duplicates in your target org.
- Back up your target org’s metadata and data before starting the deployment so that you can restore the previous state, if needed.
- Deploy in small batches to minimize risks and identify issues more quickly.
- Monitor your org limits to better coordinate deployments.
- Review the additional deployment best practices. See [Deployment Best Practices](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.deploy_best_practices.htm&language=en_US).

## Limitations

- In the Metadata Dependencies window, selecting a parent row or using the **Select All** option doesn’t automatically select child rows. This is a limitation of the lightning-tree-grid component, where the row checkbox selects only the individual row.
- Each deployment operation can migrate up to 2,000 records per object, with a total limit of 10,000 records.