A school of engineering is interested in Salesforce. There are several other Salesforce environments across the university with varying degrees of usage and configuration. The university is largely decentralized where schools operate independently of each other and often in silos. There is high turnover in staff and leadership.
Which Salesforce environment strategy should the consultant recommend?
A. The school of engineering should have its own Salesforce environment.
B. The university should consolidate all of the Salesforce environments.
C. The school of engineering should initiate a Center of Excellence (CoE).
A. The school of engineering should have its own Salesforce environment.
Explanation:
In a decentralized university where schools operate independently and there’s high staff turnover, establishing a Center of Excellence (CoE) is the most strategic and scalable approach. A CoE provides a governance and collaboration framework that helps schools like the College of Engineering:
Share best practices, standards, and reusable assets across departments
Promote cross-campus alignment while respecting local autonomy
Reduce duplication of effort and technical debt
Improve onboarding and continuity despite staff turnover
Enable strategic planning and innovation across multiple Salesforce orgs
A CoE can be structured in a federated model, where each school maintains its own org but aligns with shared governance, architecture, and data standards2.
❌ Why the other options don’t fit:
A. The school of engineering should have its own Salesforce environment: This may be necessary eventually, but without a CoE, it risks becoming another siloed org with inconsistent practices
B. The university should consolidate all of the Salesforce environments: In a decentralized institution, this is often impractical and can face resistance from independent schools with unique needs