Salesforce Org Refresh Process Use this doc to keep all our Salesforce orgs aligned. Update it whenever we change the refresh flow, automate new tasks, or shift responsibilities.
Org
Purpose
Owner / Role
Refresh Cadence
Production
Live customer org
Release Manager
N/A
Full Sandbox
UAT & Integration
QA Lead
Quarterly
Partial Sandbox
Partial data testing
QA Lead
Monthly
Dev Sandboxes
Individual Dev work
Each Developer
On demand
Responsibility
Typical Role(s)
Scheduling & Coordination
Release Manager
Merging & Final Approvals
Release Manager
Testing & QA
QA Lead
Org Maintenance
QA Lead, Devs
Product Acceptance & Sign-Off
Product Owner
Pre-Refresh : Notify team, confirm all code is merged.Refresh : Verify Production stability, initiate refresh.Post-Refresh : Deploy from Git, load test data, adjust sandbox settings.Validate & Document : Run tests, do a quick smoke test, log results.
3.2 Automation & Ownership
Step
Owner
Automation Level
Typical Time
Notify Team
Release Manager
Manual
~5 min
Check/Merge In-Flight Work
Devs
Manual
Varies
Verify Production Stability
Release Manager
Manual
5 min
Initiate Sandbox Refresh
QA Lead
Manual (Salesforce process)
Hours
Deploy from Git (CumulusCI/Actions)
Devs/CI
Partially Automated
~30 min
Load/Create Test Data
QA Lead
Manual (CSV/script)
15 min
Adjust Validation Rules/Triggers
Release Manager
Manual, could be scripted
10 min
Run Automated Apex/UI Tests
QA Lead/CI
Fully Automated (CumulusCI/Robot)
20–30 min
Smoke Test & Spot Checks
Product Owner
Manual
15 min
Log Duration & Issues
Release Manager
Manual
5 min
Retrospective
Release Manager
Manual
10–15 min
4. Scheduling & Frequency
Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly : Depends on team velocity.Time of Day : Off-hours (Friday night or weekend, if possible).Communication : Slack or email with a 24-hour heads up.
