---
schema_version: "1"
id: 88d8b057c91e54538fbdaa4281406771c398526f4421b054edfe758a2c799e85
title: Alignment Concepts
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/sales/264-0-0/territory_planning_key_concepts_alignments.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.territory_planning_key_concepts_alignments.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: ef04d3aad148e332bd3f87d6beeea8ea712ca09b63d2e10d06d1d30f6bdbd6ac
description: Model your territories in alignments that you create from your datasets in Territory Planning. You then choose where to publish your alignments within Salesforce. You also get the choice to map alignment data to specific Salesforce fields or export the data to use in proprietary and third-party systems.
products:
  - Sales Cloud
  - Sales Enablement
release: "264"
---
# Alignment Concepts

Model your territories in alignments that you create from your datasets in Territory Planning. You then choose where to publish your alignments within Salesforce. You also get the choice to map alignment data to specific Salesforce fields or export the data to use in proprietary and third-party systems.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: both Salesforce Classic (not available in all orgs) and 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 with <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.territory_planning_api_access.htm&amp;type=5&amp;language=en_US" target="_blank">Web Services API enabled</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Territory Planning stores models in alignments, which are visual representations of your sales and service teams’ territory hierarchies. Alignments serve different purposes, depending on the system to which you publish them.We see how the data that you import plays a key role in the alignments that you publish.

![Alignments in relation to the data import and alignment publishing process](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-sales-sales_performance_management-264-0-0-production-enus/b1f2feb4-26b8-444f-97f7-be2349869d93/sales_performance_management/images/salesforce_maps_territory_planning_key_concept_alignments_1.png)

## What Happens When You Publish Alignments

Sales and service operations publish alignments to any of these destinations, depending on your teams’ objectives and systems already in place.

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small ">
        <colgroup>
          <col style="width:19.607843137254903%">
          <col style="width:39.411764705882355%">
          <col style="width:40.98039215686274%">
        </colgroup>
        <thead class="slds-text-title_caps ">
          <tr class="">
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d32774e97">Destination</th>
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d32774e100">The alignments publish as...</th>
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d32774e103">Publishing alignments updates assignments for...</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="Destination" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d32774e97 ">Sales Territories</td>

            <td data-label="The alignments publish as..." class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d32774e100 ">
              <p>Territory models, which create Salesforce:</p>
              <ul>
                <li>Models</li>
                <li>Territories</li>
                <li>Assignment rules</li>
              </ul>
            </td>

            <td data-label="Publishing alignments updates assignments for..." class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d32774e103 ">
              <ul>
                <li>Accounts</li>

                <li>Opportunities</li>

                <li>Users</li>

              </ul>
            </td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="Destination" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d32774e97 ">Salesforce Maps</td>

            <td data-label="The alignments publish as..." class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d32774e100 ">
              <p>Shape layers, which reps plot on the map to help them:</p>
              <ul>
                <li>Plan and work their schedules.</li>
                <li>Take advantage of route optimization.</li>
              </ul>
            </td>

            <td data-label="Publishing alignments updates assignments for..." class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d32774e103 ">
              <p>As many as 5,000 auto assignment rules for any records that include geocoding, such as:</p>
              <ul>
                <li>Accounts</li>
                <li>Opportunities</li>
                <li>Users</li>
                <li>Leads</li>
                <li>Cases</li>
              </ul>
            </td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="Destination" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d32774e97 ">Field Service</td>

            <td data-label="The alignments publish as..." class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d32774e100 ">Service territories and polygons.</td>

            <td data-label="Publishing alignments updates assignments for..." class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d32774e103 ">
              <ul>
                <li>Accounts</li>

                <li>Users</li>

                <li>Cases</li>

              </ul>
            </td>

          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>

## Alignment Approval Processes

Alignments affect entire teams and their assignments, so it’s important to avoid accidental changes to or loss of alignment details. To preserve the integrity of alignments, you grant authority to specific teammates who can then publish new and updated alignments. When you grant that authority, you:

- Require that others request approval for changes to alignments before authorized teammates publish them.
- Let others add comments to alignments pending approval.
- Prevent others from making further changes to alignments pending approval.
- Give authorized teammates advance notice when others try to publish alignments. You also let authorized teammates provide feedback about, approve, and deny publish requests.