Provar is a leading Salesforce test automation solution designed to simplify how QA teams test Salesforce. With the increasing complexity of large-scale Salesforce implementations, performance visibility is crucial. That’s where Salesforce Scale Center comes in. This native Salesforce tool gives admins and developers a real-time view of org performance, helping them identify bottlenecks and maintain reliability as they scale.
This guide explains what Salesforce Scale Center is, how to enable it, assign access permissions, and how to integrate it with your end-to-end testing and CI/CD integration workflows using Provar.
What is Salesforce Scale Center?
Salesforce Scale Center is a free, built-in observability and performance monitoring tool available for supported Salesforce orgs. It allows administrators and developers to monitor key performance metrics, detect slow transactions, and compare performance trends over time.
In simple terms, Scale Center helps you answer questions like:
- Is my org running slower than usual after a recent deployment?
- Are certain user actions, flows, or Apex transactions taking longer to complete?
- Which changes caused the spike in CPU or database time?
Key Benefits
- Centralized performance dashboard: View org performance metrics such as page load time, login rate, and database CPU usage in one place.
- Comparative analysis: Compare different time frames to detect regressions or improvements.
- Investigations: Open detailed performance investigations to identify and document root causes of issues.
- Data-driven decision-making: Align testing and release planning with measurable performance insights.
Before You Start: Requirements and Availability
Before enabling Salesforce Scale Center, make sure your org meets the following requirements.
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Supported Editions | Available for Production and Full Copy Sandbox orgs. Not supported in Developer, Developer Pro, or Partial Copy sandboxes. |
| Initial Access | System Administrators have access by default. Additional users can be granted access through the “Scale Center Standard” permission set. |
| Setup Location | Found under Setup → Quick Find → Scale Center. |
| Data Availability | After enabling, allow approximately two hours for performance data to populate. |
| License | Included with most Salesforce editions at no additional cost. |
Note: If you do not see “Scale Center” in Setup, confirm your org type and user permissions.
Step-by-Step: How to Enable Salesforce Scale Center
Follow these simple steps to enable Salesforce Scale Center for your org.
- Log in to your Salesforce org as a System Administrator.
- From Setup, enter Scale Center in the Quick Find box and select it.
- On the Scale Center page, click the Enable Scale Center button.
- Wait about two hours for initial metrics to load into the dashboard.
- Once active, you can monitor real-time performance metrics under the “Org Performance” tab.
When successfully enabled, you’ll see visual metrics for API calls, login times, Apex CPU usage, and more. You can also open “Investigations” to analyze spikes or unusual patterns in performance data.
How to Grant Access to Other Users
By default, only System Administrators can access Scale Center. To share visibility with developers, QA engineers, or release managers, follow these steps:
- Navigate to Setup → Permission Sets.
- Find and open the Scale Center Standard permission set.
- Click Manage Assignments → Add Assignments.
- Select the users who should have access, then click Assign.
It’s best practice to assign Scale Center access to a small, focused team responsible for performance monitoring — such as QA leads, developers, and release managers.
Using Scale Center: Main Features and Views
1. Org Performance View
This dashboard provides an overview of system health and resource utilization. It displays data such as login errors, page latency, database time, and API call performance. Use it to spot long-term patterns or short-term anomalies.
2. Performance Analysis
When you notice performance degradation, open an “Investigation” to explore detailed data. You can view specific metrics by date, isolate problematic transactions, and document your findings for the development team.
3. Performance Comparison
This feature allows you to compare two different time ranges (for example, before and after a release). It’s particularly useful for validating whether a deployment improved or worsened performance.
4. Investigations
Investigations are structured analyses within Scale Center where you capture observations, link related changes, and track resolution progress. They make it easier for teams to collaborate and close the loop on performance issues.
Practical Example: Connecting Scale Center Insights with Provar Testing
Provar users can take full advantage of Scale Center by aligning test automation insights with performance data. Here’s how the two tools complement each other:
- Detect issues faster: When a Provar automated test fails, you can check Scale Center to see if the failure coincided with a performance spike.
- Validate fixes: After resolving a defect, rerun your Provar tests and use Scale Center to confirm that response times have normalized.
- Gate releases: Use Provar in your CI/CD pipeline to automatically run regression tests. If Scale Center shows unusual latency, halt the release for investigation.
- Correlate data: Combine Provar’s functional test results with Scale Center’s performance metrics to identify the root cause of regressions.
Recommended Best Practices
| Goal | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Establish a baseline | Record typical system metrics over a healthy two-week period. Use this as a benchmark for future comparisons. |
| Monitor after releases | Check Scale Center immediately after major deployments to confirm stability. |
| Combine with automation | Run automated end-to-end tests in Provar while monitoring Scale Center metrics in real time. |
| Document investigations | Use the “Investigations” feature to record what happened, what was fixed, and who handled it. |
| Integrate with CI/CD | Incorporate performance checkpoints in your CI/CD integration pipeline. If performance dips beyond a threshold, pause deployments automatically. |
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Scale Center not visible in Setup: Verify that your org is a Production or Full Copy Sandbox. Developer and Partial Copy Sandboxes are not supported.
No data showing after activation: Wait at least two hours for the first set of metrics to appear. Refresh the dashboard afterward.
Users cannot access Scale Center: Make sure they have been assigned the “Scale Center Standard” permission set.
Why Salesforce Scale Center Matters
As Salesforce orgs grow, so does the complexity of their automations, flows, and integrations. Scale Center helps teams stay ahead of potential performance issues by providing proactive monitoring rather than reactive troubleshooting. When used together with Provar, it forms a complete quality and performance strategy.
- Developers gain faster insights into which changes affect performance.
- QA teams can validate not only functionality but also response time.
- Release managers can make go/no-go decisions based on data, not assumptions.
Conclusion
Salesforce Scale Center empowers teams to make data-driven decisions about org performance, stability, and scalability. By pairing it with Provar’s automation capabilities, organizations can seamlessly connect performance monitoring with automated testing. This integration helps you identify root causes faster, reduce downtime, and ensure each release meets both functional and performance expectations.
Whether you’re managing a complex Salesforce implementation or a single production org, enabling Scale Center is a simple yet powerful step toward smarter, more proactive performance management. Explore how Provar supports Salesforce quality and performance at scale today.
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