Definition
A Salesforce feature that records and displays changes made to specified fields on a record, showing the old value, new value, who made the change, and when, stored in a related history list.
Real-World Example
Consider a scenario where an admin at Redwood Financial is working with Field History Tracking to ensure the Salesforce org runs smoothly and securely. They configure Field History Tracking during a scheduled maintenance window, test it in a sandbox first, and then deploy to production. The result is tighter security and a more streamlined experience for all 200 users in the org.
Why Field History Tracking Matters
Field History Tracking is a Salesforce feature that records and displays changes made to specified fields on a record. When tracking is enabled on a field, Salesforce captures the old value, the new value, the user who made the change, and the timestamp every time the field is modified. The history is stored in a related history list on the record, providing a chronological audit trail of changes.
Field History Tracking is essential for any field whose change history matters: fields driving compliance reporting, fields affecting business processes, fields involved in audits. Salesforce supports tracking on most field types, with limits on how many fields can be tracked per object (typically 20). For longer retention or richer auditing, Field Audit Trail (a Shield feature) extends history retention beyond the standard 18-24 months. Mature orgs are deliberate about which fields to track because tracking has storage and limit implications.
How Organizations Use Field History Tracking
- •Coastal Health — Tracks changes to clinical fields on Patient records for HIPAA audit purposes. The history is preserved as an audit trail without requiring custom code.
- •Redwood Financial — Uses Field History Tracking on Account financial fields to support their banking regulator audits. Auditors can see exactly who changed what and when.
- •NovaScale — Combines Field History Tracking with Field Audit Trail for fields requiring long-term retention beyond the standard period.