The Salesforce Account Hierarchy, a built-in feature of Salesforce, allows users to establish connections between Account records, making relationships between parent companies and subsidiaries clear. This feature is useful for creating a clear representation of your organization’s company structure within Salesforce.

Whether you’re a Salesforce Admin or just a user, you’ve probably encountered Salesforce Account Hierarchies and may have questions about its functionalities. Let’s begin by exploring the significance of Account Hierarchies as we guide you through creating your own.

Understanding Salesforce Account Hierarchy

The Salesforce Account Hierarchy feature manages the relationships between Account records, representing parent companies and their subsidiaries (each represented by an Account). Accounts can be organized hierarchically, grouped based on criteria like Country, State, or division.

Note: This guide will explore Salesforce Account Hierarchies in Lightning Experience, but it’s also accessible in Salesforce Classic if your organization has not migrated to Lightning.

Why Use an Account Hierarchy in Salesforce?

The significance of the Salesforce Account Hierarchy lies in its ability to efficiently organize Business Accounts, facilitating user access to records within the system. This feature is particularly valuable for businesses with complex structures.

Note: Account Hierarchies are not accessible when dealing with Person Accounts.

Large corporations, including well-known entities like Accenture, Disney and Salesforce, often comprise multiple legal entities, each with its own set of subsidiaries. To incorporate these organizational structures into your CRM, leveraging the Parent/Child relationship between Accounts is a fundamental aspect of utilizing Salesforce functionalities.

If you tend to explore the Salesforce Account Hierarchy more comprehensively, or aim to incorporate divisions, multiple geographical locations, or both, you can easily achieve this by utilizing a blend of essential Salesforce functionalities:

1. Salesforce Account Hierarchy: This feature establishes a hierarchical relationship between different Accounts, allowing you to connect related records efficiently.

2. Salesforce Account Site: This function is useful for categorizing the nature of the current Account, distinguishing between Branches and Headquarters, for instance. It’s worth noting that this is a standard 80-character text field, providing flexibility for organizations to define their own guidelines for its use.

Account Hierarchy Fields and Functions

To effectively initiate the use of Salesforce Account Hierarchy, users must have the following basic access and settings in place:

Reading Permissions on the Account Object: These permissions can be assigned through either the user’s profile or a permission set.

Access to Read the Parent Account Standard Field: This specific field plays a crucial role in determining the hierarchy at each Account level.

Writing Permissions on the Parent Account Standard Field: Users need these permissions to update the hierarchy when necessary.

Assignment of the Account Hierarchy Action or Button: This should be allocated to users who require visibility into the hierarchy. 

Note: When users access the hierarchy, they will only see Accounts for which they have at least view access. This access can be granted through permissions, sharing rules, or other relevant means.

Adapt Dynamic Actions

Enhance your Salesforce experience with the use of Dynamic Actions. These actions provide a way to precisely manage the visibility of actions on the Record Page, adding efficiency to your workflow. 

For instance, in a scenario where both Sales and Support teams interact with the Account object, you might not want the Support team to access the Salesforce Account Hierarchy. Utilizing Salesforce functionalities like Dynamic Actions, you can easily hide this action for the Support team’s profile by applying a filter. This ensures that each team has access to what they need, streamlining your operations.

Creating Your Salesforce Account Hierarchy

Now, let’s put theory into practice by establishing a Salesforce Account Hierarchy. It’s a straightforward process.

Before proceeding, ensure that the “View Account Hierarchy” action in Lightning or the button in Classic is available on the layout for all user profiles that require access to Salesforce Account Hierarchy.

Once the necessary record access, permissions, and layouts are configured, the rest becomes quite straightforward. We’ll begin by examining the initial hierarchy, which initially comprises only one Account.

By default, the columns in the Account Hierarchy and the Recently Viewed Account list view are identical. We’ll discuss how to manage these columns later.

You can follow these same steps as the hierarchy expands to include multiple Accounts. Additionally, if this data already exists externally to Salesforce, the Admin can expedite populating the Parent Account field through imports using the Data Import Wizard or Data Loader. 

Key Points to Note

When utilizing the Salesforce Account Hierarchy feature, it’s important to be aware of certain limitations and functionalities:

Salesforce Feature: Account Hierarchies are a valuable tool for organizing your organization’s data. They can quickly adapt to your needs.

Limitation: Account Hierarchies are not applicable to Person Accounts.

Limitation: The Account Hierarchy page displays a maximum of 2000 Accounts.

Functionality: Salesforce Account Hierarchy is accessible via the web interface but is not available on the Salesforce Mobile App.

Please refer to Salesforce’s official documentation for additional considerations, as they may address or alter these limitations in the future.

Customize Your Salesforce Account Hierarchy

Having a grasp of the Salesforce Account Hierarchy and its functionalities, the next step is customization. Like various other built-in features, Salesforce Account Hierarchy is a tool, yet there’s room for enhancements in processes and user experience.

Organizations may encounter scenarios where the standard Salesforce Account Hierarchy falls short of meeting their precise requirements. In such cases, custom development can be employed to create a Salesforce feature tailored to their specific needs.

Parent Formula

A notable Salesforce feature to consider is the Salesforce Account Hierarchy. Within this feature, we find the Ultimate Parent Formula. This formula field serves a practical purpose, as it captures specific information from the highest-level Account in the hierarchy. It can hold the Name or another relevant field value from this top-tier Account. Notably, the Ultimate Parent Formula can delve up to 10 levels deep, accommodating even the most intricate hierarchies efficiently.

This improved version maintains a professional tone, uses the requested key phrases, and enhances clarity and detail while adhering to your preferences.

Salesforce Account Hierarchy

Incorporating the new Salesforce feature, the Salesforce Account Hierarchy, provides a valuable resource for managing hierarchical data structures. This addition proves essential, particularly when the standard Salesforce functionalities may not align with the organization’s specific requirements.

Customization options come into play on the Hierarchy Columns tab within the Account object. This allows for the creation of a tailored view, which becomes accessible through the “View Account Hierarchy” action.

The advantages extend beyond mere accessibility; they ensure that Sales Reps are presented with the precise data they need. Additionally, the absence of critical data points becomes readily apparent. 

Note: This specific formula field can showcase any chosen field on the child accounts within the Salesforce Account Hierarchy. It’s not obligatory for the displayed field to be the Account name. This is a useful Salesforce feature to enhance your Salesforce functionalities.

Complexities of Account Hierarchies 

Customizing Salesforce functionalities for Account Hierarchies becomes more intricate. If you possess the skills to work with APEX code or create Lightning Web Components, you can develop a Salesforce Account Hierarchy that aligns with your unique needs. In such cases, consulting a Salesforce Developer is advisable.

Exploring Third-Party Solutions

In situations where it’s impractical or illogical to build a customized hierarchy internally, you can turn to third-party solutions available through AppExchange. These vendors have elevated the Salesforce Account Hierarchy, enhancing its visual and interactive aspects. 

FAQs 

What is the hierarchy of accounts in SalesForce?

SalesForce features an account hierarchy structure that assembles a complex organization into a manageable and simpler system, grouping parent companies and their subsidies in an organized hierarchy.

What is the role of an account executive in Salesforce?

As an account executive in SalesFroce, the individual assumes the role of a consultant on the SalesForce platform, rendering solutions that are innovative and intriguing to the client.

What is the best practice of role hierarchy?

The best practice of role hierarchy is to enhance performance by minimizing the levels in the hierarchy. This means removing unnecessary roles and deleting sharing rules that duplicate access already provided through the role hierarchy. This streamlines access management and enhances system efficiency.