Salesforce terms starting with P

Platform as a Service - in Salesforce context, the Lightning Platform (formerly Force.com) which provides a cloud-based development environment where customers build custom applications without managing underlying infrastructure.

In Salesforce, a container for distributing custom applications, components, and configurations through the AppExchange or between orgs, available as managed packages (with IP protection) or unmanaged packages (open source).

A relationship between Salesforce packages where one package requires another package to be installed first, typically when a package extension references components from a base managed package.

The process of installing a Salesforce package (from AppExchange or a URL) into an org, which deploys the package's metadata components and makes its functionality available to users based on configured permissions.

In Salesforce DX and second-generation packaging (2GP), the tooling and commands used to create, version, and manage packages, including the sf package commands for building and distributing applications.

The process of publishing a Salesforce managed package to the AppExchange, making it available for other organizations to discover, install, and use, including security review and listing management.

Package Usage is a Setup page that displays license usage and allocation information for all installed managed packages in the org. It shows how many licenses are available, how many are assigned, and which users have been granted access to each package.

A specific numbered release of a Salesforce managed package that can be installed in subscriber orgs, with each version potentially adding features, fixes, or changes while maintaining backward compatibility with previous versions.

A Page Layout in Salesforce controls the arrangement of fields, buttons, related lists, and custom links on a record detail page. Administrators use the drag-and-drop layout editor to organize which elements appear, in what order, and whether fields are required, read-only, or hidden for users assigned to specific profiles.

In Salesforce account hierarchy, the account record that sits above a child account in a parent-child relationship, used to model corporate structures where subsidiaries or divisions roll up to a parent company.

In Salesforce Knowledge or Ideas, a category that contains subcategories in a hierarchical data category structure, used to organize and control visibility of articles or ideas by topic.

A Salesforce sandbox type that copies all metadata and configurations from production plus a sample of production data (defined by a sandbox template), used for testing with realistic data without copying the full dataset.

In Salesforce Classic console, a section of the page that updates independently without requiring a full page refresh, improving performance and user experience when navigating between records in the console.

In Salesforce, a company or individual with whom you have a business relationship through the Partner Relationship Management (PRM) features, typically a reseller, distributor, or channel partner tracked via partner accounts.

Salesforce accounts enabled for partner relationship management that allow external partner users to access your org through an Experience Cloud partner portal, with shared deal registration, lead distribution, and co-selling features.

Partner Experience is a Setup area for configuring Experience Cloud partner portals, which give external partners secure access to Salesforce data for deal registration, lead management, and collaboration. It includes settings for partner user profiles, sharing rules, and the partner community layout.

A legacy Salesforce portal (now replaced by Experience Cloud partner sites) that gave external partner users access to Salesforce data, deal registration, lead management, and collaborative selling tools.

The role assigned to a partner account's relationship with the account owner's organization in Salesforce, describing the business relationship (like Reseller, Distributor, or Integrator) for tracking purposes.

A Salesforce user associated with a partner account who accesses the org through an Experience Cloud partner site, typically with a Partner Community license providing access to leads, opportunities, and collaborative features.

A WSDL file in Salesforce designed for use by AppExchange partners and ISVs, providing a simplified interface for making SOAP API calls that is suitable for building client applications distributed across multiple orgs.

Password Policies is a Setup page where administrators define the password requirements for users in the org. Settings include minimum password length, complexity requirements (uppercase, lowercase, numbers, special characters), password expiration intervals, password history enforcement, and maximum login attempts before lockout.

In Salesforce second-generation managed packaging, a patch version that delivers bug fixes to a specific major.minor version of a package without introducing new features, allowing subscribers to receive targeted fixes.

In Salesforce packaging, a special Developer Edition org created from a managed package's major release to develop patch versions (bug fixes) that can be pushed to subscribers without requiring a full upgrade.

A Salesforce managed package release that contains only bug fixes for a specific major.minor version, distributed to subscriber orgs to resolve issues without introducing new features or requiring manual upgrades.

Path Settings is a Setup page where administrators enable and configure Path, a visual component that displays the stages of a process (like Opportunity stages or Case status values) as a guided, interactive progress bar on record pages. Admins can add coaching guidance and key fields to each step.

In Salesforce Health Cloud, a visual timeline component that displays a patient's medical history, appointments, care plan activities, and clinical events in chronological order on a single longitudinal view.

Paused And Failed Flow Interviews is a Setup page that displays all Flow interviews that are currently paused (waiting for user input or a scheduled resume) or have failed due to errors. Administrators can view error details, resume paused interviews, or delete stuck interviews to free up system resources.

In Salesforce Billing or Payments, a record representing a financial transaction where a customer remits funds against an invoice or balance, tracking payment amount, method, date, and allocation to invoices.

In Salesforce Scheduler, a configuration option that prioritizes appointment bookings during peak business hours first, helping organizations maximize appointment density during their busiest time periods.

In Salesforce Data Cloud (formerly CDP) or Marketing Cloud, a unified profile representing an individual contact or customer, consolidating identity data from multiple sources into a single actionable record.

In Salesforce Forecasting, a quota metric expressed as a percentage of a target rather than a fixed number, used when measuring sales performance against goals on a proportional basis.

In Salesforce, a specific access right granted to a user through profiles or permission sets that controls what actions they can perform, such as API Enabled, View All Data, Modify All Data, or Manage Users.

A Permission Set is a collection of settings and permissions that grant users access to specific tools, objects, fields, and features without changing their Profile. Permission Sets are additive, meaning they extend what a user can do on top of their base Profile permissions. They are a best practice for managing access in Salesforce.

A Permission Set Assignment in Salesforce (PermissionSetAssignment in the API) is a standard junction object that records a single grant of a Permission Set or Permission Set Group to a specific User. Each Permission Set Assignment record holds an AssigneeId (the User receiving the permissions), a PermissionSetId (the Permission Set being granted) or a PermissionSetGroupId, an optional ExpirationDate that automatically removes the assignment when reached, and standard system fields. Permission Set Assignments are the operational mechanism for the additive-permissions model that Salesforce recommends over Profile-based permissions: every User gets a baseline Profile (assigned permanently), and incremental access is layered on through Permission Set Assignments that can be added, removed, or expired without modifying the underlying Profile. This pattern dramatically simplifies permission management - instead of maintaining hundreds of variant Profiles, admins maintain a smaller set of base Profiles plus a library of focused Permission Sets that are mixed and matched per User.

A Permission Set Group bundles multiple Permission Sets together into a single assignable unit, simplifying access management for users who need a combination of permissions. Administrators can also add Muting Permission Sets within a group to suppress specific permissions, providing fine-grained control over the aggregate set of access.

A Permission Set License (PSL) in Salesforce is a supplemental license that grants a user access to features, objects, or permissions not included in their base User License. Unlike a User License (which every user must have), Permission Set Licenses are optional and are assigned only when users need access to specific gated functionality. For example, the 'CRM Analytics Plus Permission Set License' enables Einstein Analytics features, and the 'Identity Connect Permission Set License' enables identity management capabilities. Administrators assign PSLs to users from Setup, and once assigned, the related permissions can be granted through Permission Sets.

A Salesforce feature that combines an Account and Contact record into a single record for representing individual customers (B2C) rather than businesses, storing both company-level and personal information on one object.

In Salesforce user settings, a category of user profile data (like name, email, phone, address) that users may be able to edit themselves and that is subject to data protection and privacy configurations.

Personal Settings in Salesforce Classic is the user-facing configuration area where individual users manage their own preferences without needing administrator access. Accessed via the user's name menu in Salesforce Classic, it provides options for updating personal information (name, email, address), changing language, locale, and time zone settings, configuring email and calendar preferences, managing login history and security tokens, setting up email signatures, and adjusting display options. Personal Settings is the Classic equivalent of My Settings in Lightning Experience.

In Salesforce search, the ability to search for an exact multi-word phrase by enclosing it in quotation marks, ensuring results contain those words in that specific order rather than as separate terms.

A Salesforce field type that presents users with a predefined dropdown list of values to select from, ensuring data consistency and enabling reporting by constraining input to a controlled set of options.

Picklist Settings is a Setup page where administrators configure global behavior for picklist fields across the org, including whether to sort picklist values alphabetically or in a custom order, and whether to restrict picklist field values to only those defined by the administrator.

Picklist Value Sets is a Setup page for creating and managing global picklist value sets that can be shared across multiple picklist fields on different objects. When a value is added to or removed from a global value set, the change is automatically reflected on all fields using that set.

The individual options defined within a Salesforce picklist field, which can be managed as a global picklist value set (shared across fields) or as field-specific values, with options for active/inactive status and record type filtering.

A Salesforce list view feature that allows users to pin frequently used list views to the top of the list view selector for quick access, keeping preferred views readily available without scrolling.

In Salesforce Sales Cloud, the collection of all open opportunities in various stages of the sales process, representing the total potential revenue being actively pursued by the sales team.

Platform as a Service - the Salesforce Lightning Platform (formerly Force.com) delivery model that provides a complete cloud development and deployment environment, allowing customers to build applications without managing servers or infrastructure.

A Salesforce caching layer (part of Platform Cache) that stores frequently accessed data in memory using org cache (shared across users) or session cache (per user), reducing SOQL queries and improving application performance.

Platform Edition (also known as Lightning Platform Starter or Lightning Platform Plus) is a Salesforce edition that provides access to the core Salesforce platform for building and running custom applications without the standard CRM functionality. It excludes standard CRM objects like Opportunities, Forecasts, Quotes, and Campaigns, but includes custom objects, Tabs, Apex, Visualforce, Lightning components, Flows, APIs, and the AppExchange. Platform Edition comes in two tiers: Starter (with basic limits) and Plus (with higher limits and additional features like custom report types). It is designed for organizations that need a custom application platform rather than out-of-the-box CRM.

A Platform Event is a Salesforce messaging mechanism that enables event-driven architecture by allowing systems to publish and subscribe to real-time event messages. Platform Events decouple producers and consumers, enabling communication between Salesforce components, external systems, and asynchronous processes using a publish-subscribe model.

The Salesforce event streaming infrastructure that delivers platform events and Change Data Capture events to subscribers in near real-time, using a publish-subscribe model based on CometD/gRPC protocols.

In Salesforce Maps and Location services, a geographic coordinate or location data point represented on a map, used for geolocation features, territory mapping, and field service optimization.

In Salesforce Ideas communities, a list view that surfaces the ideas with the most votes or engagement from community members, helping organizations identify the most requested features or improvements.

In Salesforce Chatter Answers or Experience Cloud Q&A, a list view that displays the questions receiving the most views, replies, or engagement, helping surface commonly asked topics in the community.

Portal Health Check is a Setup tool that evaluates the security configuration of Experience Cloud sites (formerly Community portals) against Salesforce's recommended security standards. It identifies vulnerabilities such as excessive guest user permissions, insecure sharing rules, and missing authentication requirements.

In Salesforce Chatter, a message shared to a user's feed, a group feed, or a record feed that can contain text, mentions, hashtags, files, links, or polls for social collaboration within the org.

In Salesforce Chatter, the action of sharing another user's post to your own feed or a group feed, increasing its visibility and distribution to a wider audience within the organization.

Post Templates is a Setup page where administrators create predefined Chatter post templates that standardize how users share updates. Templates can include pre-formatted text, merge fields, and structured layouts that ensure consistent communication across the organization.

In Salesforce Visualforce, an HTTP POST request sent back to the server when a user interacts with a form element on a Visualforce page, triggering server-side controller actions and potentially re-rendering page components.

Predefined Case Teams is a Setup page where administrators create reusable teams of users that can be quickly assigned to Cases. Each team member has a defined role (such as Technical Lead or Escalation Manager) and access level, making it easy to assemble the right group of people for specific types of Cases.

A Prediction in Salesforce Einstein is a scored output generated by a machine learning model that estimates the likelihood of a future outcome. Einstein Prediction Builder allows administrators to create custom predictions on any standard or custom object by selecting a target field (what they want to predict), defining the dataset (record filters and example fields), and building a model. The resulting prediction appears as a score (0-100%) or a predicted value directly on the record. Salesforce also provides built-in predictions including Einstein Lead Scoring, Einstein Opportunity Scoring, and Einstein Case Classification, each trained on the org's historical data.

In Salesforce Einstein, a machine learning model trained on historical data to predict future outcomes (like lead conversion probability or opportunity close likelihood), deployable through Prediction Builder or Einstein Discovery.

A Service Cloud feature powered by Einstein AI that uses machine learning to route cases and other work items to the agent who is most likely to resolve them successfully, based on historical resolution patterns.

In CRM Analytics (formerly Tableau CRM, originally Einstein Analytics), a Preparation Recipe is a data preparation step that transforms, cleans, and combines datasets before analysis. Built in a visual recipe editor, it lets analysts define filters, joins, formulas, and aggregations without writing code - shaping raw source data into the dataset that powers dashboards and lenses.

In Salesforce Omni-Channel, a status set by agents to indicate their current availability (like Available, Busy, or On Break), which determines whether new work items can be routed to them.

A Salesforce object that contains a list of products and their prices, with a standard price book holding default prices and custom price books containing special pricing for different markets, customer segments, or promotions.

A Price Book Entry in Salesforce (PricebookEntry in the API) is a standard junction object that connects a Product (Product2) to a Price Book (Pricebook2) and stores the price for that Product within that Price Book. Each Price Book Entry holds a UnitPrice, a CurrencyIsoCode (in multi-currency orgs), an IsActive flag, a UseStandardPrice flag, and a ProductCode field denormalized from the parent Product. Every Product must have a corresponding Price Book Entry in the Standard Price Book before it can be added to any custom Price Book or used on an Opportunity, Quote, or Order. Custom Price Books can hold different prices for the same Product - for example, a "Government" Price Book offering a 20% discount on every item - by creating their own Price Book Entries. Price Book Entries are the reference rows that Opportunity Line Items, Quote Line Items, and Order Products copy from when they are created.

In Salesforce, a Primary Contact is the one Contact designated as the main point of communication for a parent record - typically an Account's primary business contact, or the lead decision-maker on an Opportunity (via the Opportunity Contact Role with Primary = true). Only one Primary Contact exists per parent. It drives default addressees on merge templates, campaign influence attribution, and many report and automation filters that key off "primary contact's" fields.

In Salesforce database architecture, the unique Record ID (15 or 18 character) that serves as the primary key for every record in every object, ensuring each record can be uniquely identified and referenced.

In Salesforce Partner Relationship Management, the primary partner account associated with an opportunity, typically the main channel partner responsible for the deal in partner-driven sales scenarios.

In the Salesforce Classic console, the main browser-like tab that represents a primary record (like a case or account), which can have multiple subtabs showing related records, allowing agents to work across related data.

A Salesforce feature that renders a simplified, print-friendly version of a record or report page, stripping out navigation elements and interactive components so the content can be cleanly printed.

Privacy Center is a Setup tool that helps organizations manage data privacy compliance by providing capabilities for executing data subject access requests (right to access), data deletion requests (right to be forgotten), data portability, and consent preference management in accordance with privacy regulations.

In Salesforce CTI and Service Cloud Voice, a private telephone system used by an organization to manage internal and external calls, which integrates with Salesforce through CTI adapters to enable screen pops and call logging.

Private Connect is a Setup feature that enables private, secure network connections between Salesforce and Amazon Web Services (AWS) without routing traffic over the public internet. It uses AWS PrivateLink technology for private peering, reducing latency, improving security, and helping organizations comply with strict network isolation requirements.

In Salesforce Chatter, a file or post sharing setting where the content is shared only with specific, invited individuals rather than being visible to the entire organization or a public group.

In Salesforce opportunity management, a percentage field on the opportunity record indicating the likelihood of closing the deal, typically auto-populated based on the opportunity stage but editable by the sales rep.

In MuleSoft's API-led connectivity approach (part of the Salesforce ecosystem), a middle-tier API that orchestrates data between system APIs and experience APIs, handling business logic, data transformation, and process coordination.

Process Automation Settings is a Setup page where administrators configure global settings for all process automation tools in the org. Options include setting the default workflow user, enabling email notifications for workflow errors, and configuring how formula fields are evaluated in automation contexts.

In Salesforce approval processes, a record that represents a single running instance of an approval process for a specific record, tracking the current status, submitted date, and the history of approval steps.

In Salesforce approval processes, a record representing a specific step (node) within a process instance, tracking which approver was assigned, the approval or rejection decision, and any comments provided at that step.

A Salesforce Setup tool that displays a visual diagram of an approval process, showing all steps, decision branches, approval/rejection actions, and routing logic in a flowchart format for easy understanding and troubleshooting.

A Salesforce object that represents an item or service your company sells, stored in the product catalog with details like name, description, product code, and family, linked to price books for pricing.

A categorization field on the Salesforce Product object that groups products into logical families or categories (like Hardware, Software, Services), used for reporting, forecasting, and organizing the product catalog.

Product Settings is a Setup page where administrators configure organization-wide behavior for the Product object and Price Books. Settings include enabling or disabling quantity and revenue schedules, configuring how products relate to Opportunities, and setting defaults for price book behavior.

In Salesforce B2B Commerce or Commerce Cloud, a product record configured for display in the storefront checkout process, representing an item available for purchase by customers through the online store.

A Salesforce customer's live production org where real business data is stored and end users work, as opposed to sandbox or development orgs used for testing and development purposes.

Professional Edition is a Salesforce CRM edition designed for small to mid-sized businesses that need full CRM functionality. It includes core features such as account and contact management, lead management, opportunity tracking, campaigns, products and price books, forecasting, and customizable reports and dashboards. Professional Edition supports Visualforce pages but does not include Apex code or full API access without add-on licenses.

A Salesforce configuration that defines a user's permissions, page layout assignments, field-level security, and app visibility, serving as the baseline set of access controls assigned to each user in the org.

The Chatter-specific aspects of a Salesforce user's profile page, including their photo, bio, contact information, feed posts, followers, following list, and groups, visible to other users in the organization.

A Salesforce.org (now Salesforce for Nonprofits) app that helps nonprofit organizations track programs, services, and client outcomes, managing program cohorts, service deliveries, and impact measurement.

In Salesforce DX, a Project is a local directory containing a sfdx-project.json configuration file, source-format metadata, and Git history that developers use with Salesforce CLI (sf, the unified CLI that replaced the original sfdx in 2023) to build and deploy customizations. The Project is the unit of work for source-driven Salesforce development and is typically synonymous with DX Project or Local Project.

In Salesforce DX, the Project Manifest is the sfdx-project.json file at the root of a DX Project. It declares which directories contain package source, the source API version used for metadata format conversions, the default Dev Hub alias, and - for Second-Generation Packaging (2GP) - package aliases, dependencies, and versioning. Salesforce CLI (sf, the unified CLI that replaced the original sfdx in 2023) reads sfdx-project.json on every command to understand the project layout.

In Salesforce Ideas, the action of moving an idea from one zone or status to a more visible or advanced state, or in packaging, promoting a beta package version to a released (production-ready) state.

A Salesforce tool that lets admins and developers create reusable prompt templates for generative AI, combining grounding data from CRM records with instructions to generate consistent, context-aware AI outputs across sales, service, and marketing.

In Salesforce implementation and development, a Prototype is an early, disposable build of a feature, screen, flow, or integration - used to validate the design with users before committing to a production-quality implementation. Salesforce teams often prototype in a scratch org or developer sandbox, use Lightning App Builder and Flow for low-code prototypes, and treat the prototype as throwaway or scaffolding rather than the final artifact.

Note: 'Prototype object' is not a recognized standard Salesforce term or feature. In general software development, a prototype refers to a preliminary version of a product or feature built to test concepts before full development. In the Salesforce context, if used informally, it may refer to a draft custom object created during the design phase of an application, but it has no official platform definition or specific behavior.

In Salesforce Health Cloud, the healthcare organization or facility that delivers care to patients, represented as an account record with provider-specific attributes like NPI, specialty, and network affiliation.

A Salesforce calendar visible to all users (or specific groups) in the organization, used for sharing company-wide events, team schedules, and resource availability beyond individual user calendars.

A Salesforce group consisting of individual users, roles, roles and subordinates, or other groups, used in sharing rules, folder access, email distribution, and queue membership to manage collective access and notifications.

Public Health Analytics Settings is a Setup page for configuring pre-built analytics dashboards designed for public health organizations. These dashboards provide visualizations for disease surveillance, vaccination tracking, community health metrics, and emergency response coordination.

In Salesforce Knowledge, an article version that has been published and is live and available to users through the channels it was configured for (internal app, customer portal, or public knowledge base).

In Salesforce Knowledge, a translated version of a knowledge article that has been published and made available to users in the target language, part of the multi-language knowledge base feature.

In Salesforce Chatter, the user who creates and shares a feed post, or in Experience Cloud, a content publisher who creates and distributes articles, posts, or other content to the community.

In Salesforce Knowledge, the workflow of creating, editing, reviewing, translating, publishing, and archiving knowledge articles through their lifecycle stages, managed by article actions and approval processes.

Purchase Rules is a declarative rule within the Salesforce platform that applies business logic to records based on field values and conditions. When criteria are satisfied, the rule performs its configured actions automatically, ensuring consistent enforcement of business policies.

In the Salesforce Mobile App, push notifications sent to a user's mobile device alerting them about Salesforce events like approval requests, task assignments, Chatter mentions, or custom notifications defined by admins.

In the Salesforce Classic console, push notifications that update the console in real-time when records the agent is viewing are modified by other users or system processes, keeping the agent's view current without manual refresh.

In Salesforce managed packaging, the process where an ISV automatically pushes a new package version to all subscriber orgs without requiring individual customers to manually initiate the upgrade.