Creating Sandbox
Creating sandbox account
CRM admins can create multiple sandboxes in one account to test different configurations independently. While creating a sandbox you need to do the following:
1. Choose the sandbox type: There are four types of sandboxes to meet different business requirements: Configuration, Sample Data, Partial Data, and Full Data. The table below explains the benefits.
Sandbox Type | Useful For | Sandbox Specification |
Configuration | Testing and deploying CRM configurations using your data. | Users can test all or selected CRM configurations in the sandbox based on the requirement. |
Sample Data | Testing configurations with system-generated sample data. | Sample data sandbox allows users to populate sample data and select configurations based on their requirements, creating a safe and secure environment for testing. |
Partial Data | Testing with partial production data and configurations. | Users can select modules or records from production to test, while keeping sensitive data safe and saving storage space. |
Full Data | End-to-end testing with complete production data and configurations | Full data sandbox copies the entire data from production along with the required configuration. This enables the user to have a trial run to see the effect of their changes without impacting the Production environment. |
2. Select the configurations: You can select the configurations to test, from the Items availability in Sandbox . For example, to test user related configurations, you can check the required features under Users and Control. Only the selected configurations will appear in the created sandbox.
3. Select the data population type: The sandbox account can be tested with pre-populated sample data or data from the CRM account. However, any changes made to data in the sandbox account cannot be deployed to production.
Sample Data Sandbox
If you want to save the time spent on manually creating records or importing them to the sandbox account or don't want developers or users to view CRM records you can populate sample data for testing. On choosing this option 10 sample records each for the Leads, Accounts, Contacts, Deals, Tasks, Calls, Meetings, and Notes modules will be populated. You can access records under the respective modules and make edits as needed. During deployment these records will not be populated on to the CRM account.
Partial Production Data Sandbox
If you want to see the exact changes that will happen to the CRM records you can populate some of the CRM data into the Sandbox environment. You can choose the number of records that should be populated in each module. You can also choose the specific modules that needs to be populated with data in the sandbox account.
For example, if you choose 100 records/module, the most recently added 100 records of the chosen module will be populated onto the Sandbox account. In case the records associated with the CPQ rules are not part of the recent 100 (or given limit) records, we will include the missed records on top of the most recent 100 (or given limit) records. If the module contains a mandatory lookup field, i.e., a lookup field marked as required, then the lookup module's data will also be populated in the sandbox with recent records of the selected record count. The association between these modules will be maintained inside the Sandbox.
In the example, 500 recent records from Leads, Contacts, and Quotes modules will be populated to the Sandbox account. Since, Quotes module has two mandatory lookup modules (Account and Products) and another non-mandatory lookup module for Deals , automatically data from Accounts and Products modules will be populated onto the Sandbox account. You cannot unselect any of the mandatory lookup modules that gets selected automatically.
Full Data Sandox
If you want to test configurations in a setup that exactly matches your live account, you can choose full data population. This creates a complete replica of your production account, including all standard and custom modules along with their records. It allows you to perform thorough testing using real-time data before deployment.
Number of Sandbox accounts of different types that can be created depends on the subscribed CRM edition:
| CRM Edition | Sandbox Type | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Configuration | Configuration and Data | Full-data | |
| Enterprise | 3 | 2 | – |
| Ultimate | 7 | 3 | 1 |
| Enterprise/Ultimate Trial Edition | 2 | – | – |
Note Regarding Full-Data Sandbox:
- Available only for Ultimate Edition users with 10 GB data storage.
- Can be rebuilt once every 30 days.
- Limited to one Full-Data Sandbox per organization.
- Certain modules, records, and fields that are not currently supported will not be included during the sandbox creation:
- Campaigns
- Activities modules (Tasks, Meetings, and Calls)
- Draft Records
- Integration-related modules
- Converted Lead Details (Contacts converted from Leads will be copied, but not the Leads themselves)
- Competitor (Deal related list)
- Picklist tracking
Notes on CPQ Features:- CPQ Guided Selling and CPQ Settings will be supported in both "Configuration" and "Configuration and Data" type sandboxes.
- CPQ Product Configurator and Price Rules will be supported only in "Configuration and Data" type sandboxes with data population type as "Partial Production Data".
- When selecting "Partial Production Data," the lookup modules associated with the first panel of Price Rules and the first and last panels of the Product Configurator must be selected. This ensures the necessary records are exported to the sandbox.
- For Product Configurator/Price Rules creation inside the sandbox environment, only records imported from the production environment will be listed. Records created directly in the sandbox will not be listed.
4. Set accessibility of the sandbox accounts: You can add CRM users who you want to access and test the configurations in the sandbox account. When you create multiple accounts different users can be given access to different accounts based on what you want them to test and validate. They will be able to access only those accounts to which they are added.
Once added, an email invitation will be sent to the users along with the sandbox URL for easy access.
Availability
Permission Required
Users with Manage Sandbox permission can carry out the following actions:
Users with Manage Sandbox permission can carry out the following actions:
- Create or edit sandbox
- Rebuild sandbox
- Add developers
- Deploy changes to production
- Deactivate the sandbox account
- Delete sandbox account
Creating a sandbox
To create a Sandbox
1. Go to Setup > Data Administration > Sandbox.
1. Go to Setup > Data Administration > Sandbox.
2. In the Sandbox page, Click the Create New Sandbox.
3. In the Create New Sandbox pop-up, do the following:
- Enter a name for the Sandbox.
- Enter a brief description of the Sandbox.
- Edit the access URL.
- In the Type section, choose the type of sandbox you want to create:
- Configuration
- Sample Data
- Partial Data
- Full Data
- Select All to include all configurations.
- Selected to include specific configurations only.
- In Accessible To, select active CRM users and developers from the drop-down list.
4. Click Create.
Note: Full data sandbox creation takes longer than other sandbox types. The creation time depends on the amount of data in your production account.
You can access the sandbox by clicking the Go to Sandbox button on the top-right corner. This Sandbox environment will have a bright orange ribbon with the sandbox title. This is used to differentiate Sandbox from your production setup.
Adding a developer
A developer is a non CRM user who can be added to sandbox accounts to test and validate different CRM functions. A developer can be a part of as many Sandbox accounts as possible. The purpose of adding a developer is to:
- Ideate, create, and test all complex processes involved in automation tools like
- workflow rules, schedules, functions and others.
- Write and test custom functions for activities that involve complex processes.
- Make sure all the processes are error-free before deployed into the production account.
- A developer must be assigned a role, profile, and reporting manager. You can select the existing CRM Roles and Profiles based on the record access and configuration permissions you want to give for the developer. For example, developers with Manage Webform permission can create and test with webforms. Read more on Roles and Profiles. A user higher than the selected role can be set as the reporting manager and they will be able to access the sandbox of that developer.
To add a developer
- Go to Setup > Data Administration > Sandbox.
- In the Sandbox page, click the
icon on the top right corner.
- Click Add Developer .
- In the Add Developer popup, enter the following details:
- First Name of the developer.
- Last Name of the developer.
- Email address of the developer's email to which the activation invitation is sent.
- Role : Select the role of the developer in the Sandbox account.
- Profile : Select the profile of the developer in the Sandbox account.
- Accessible to: Select the Sandboxes that will be accessed by the developer.
- Reporting manager: Select a user in manager profile as the reporting manager.5. Click Save.
Note:
- An email invitation is sent to the developer with the Sandbox URL to access the account.
- The Add Developer button is available only after at least one sandbox account is created. For one account, up to 5 developers can be added.
- You need not purchase CRM user licenses to add the developers.
- A developer can access only the sandbox account.
- If the role or profile you want to select is not available in the sandbox account, the developer will be automatically assigned the default role (CEO) and profile (Administrator).
Viewing list of sandbox accounts
Users who have Manage Sandbox permission in their profile can view the list of Sandbox accounts that are created by going to the your CRM Setup > Data Administration > Sandbox. This page will categorize and display all necessary information about the sandbox accounts such as the account name, changes, accessible users and developers, creation date, and status.
From here, one can click on a desired sandbox and go to Change Set to view the changes made during the testing.
Additional storage for Full Data Sandbox
The Full Data Sandbox comes with 10 GB of storage by default. Organizations can expand their Full Data Sandbox storage by purchasing upto 30 GB additional storage.
To purchase additional storage:
- Go to your CRM live account, navigate to Setup > Data Administration > Storage.
- You will be on the Data Storage page. Switch to Sandbox tab from the production.
- Review your current storage usage, then click Add Storage.
- In the upgrade add-on popup, select your desired storage amount (which will be displayed in multiples of 500 mb) and click calculate price.
- The total amount inclusive of tax will be displayed. Click Purchase to proceed and a payment window will appear as a popup within the same page.
- Complete your purchase through the Zoho Store checkout process.
Admins and users with view storage permission can purchase additional storage.
If your production storage exceeds your Full Data Sandbox capacity while creating or rebuilding a sandbox, you'll see an alert showing how much additional storage is needed.
Click Purchase Additional Storage and follow steps 5 and 6 to complete your purchase.
When you purchase 30 GB of data, your total storage increases to 40 GB. When you create a new sandbox, you’ll be notified of the available storage, and you will only be able to copy up to 40 GB of data.
Note: The storage page is only accessible when you have an active Full Data Sandbox.
Deletion of Sandbox Account for Trial Editions
Sandbox is available in Enterprise and Ultimate trial editions. If the user or org downgrades to free edition or any other editions that does not support sandbox then the account will be deleted after a grace period of 30 days However, the account will be retained if:
- Within the grace period if the user or org decides to retry the trial editions, the Sandbox account will be retained for another 30 days. After the end of the trial period the account will be deleted.
- Within the grace period if they purchase Enterprise or Ultimate edition.