Common Entity Framework (CoE) | Salesforce Architects

The Salesforce Operating, Governance & Architecture Framework (SOGAF) applies the MIT-CISR Enterprise Architecture Framework to Salesforce implementations and programs.

Introduction

Coming up with a clear definition for the Common Entity, aka Center of Excellence, is tricky. The Common Entity (CoE) within transformation programs has a variety of names:

"Center of Excellence", "C4E", “Center of Expertise”, “Network of Experts”
The terms "Design Authority“ or "Platform Authority“ are also in use for the Common Entity, which creates some confusion
Different descriptions lead to different expectations - and frustration when they are not met
Such issues are common in an entity that finds it difficult decide whether it is a transformation, a competency, or a best practice center

The Common Entity can also play any number of these roles, adding to the confusion:

After all, the Common Entity (CoE) does a bit of everything.

It is the closest thing a transformation program has to a Government, working across departmental boundaries
At times it is a Referee, ensuring both business and IT follow platform “rules”
Sometimes it is a Broker, forging compromise between LoBs or Markets
From the perspective of some LOBs or Markets, it is a Resource, following their priorities

In SOGAF, the Common Entity’s mission revolves around 4 components and 20 activities focused on establishing the purpose, vision, values, roles, processes and metrics of the operating model.

Key Considerations

Establish a sequence to help the organization learn a digital mindset
Design, build, implement, and support the strategy and definition of an experience
Share group practices and create guidelines for standardization and reuse between like groups
Focus on continuous improvement through expertise and coaching, enabling competency in groups
Test new business models, processes, and features to remove friction and identify new customer experiences.

Components

The diagram below depicts the 4 components (Project & Product Management, Platform & Product Enablement, Product Development & Platform Optimization and Adoption & Operations) with their key responsibilities.

Activities

The following table extends each component's reponsibilities detailed above into key activities to be successful.

CoE Component	Key Activities
CoE Mgmt & Salesforce PMO	Set CoE goals, scope & plan, budgeting, sizing & risk Mgmt, people/ team Mgmt, Onboarding of Staff & reporting
Bus. Reqts, Value & Change Control	Demand Management, program scope governance meetings, Change Control Board meetings, stakeholder escalation,
Product Portfolio & Innovation	Set up Innovation Lab & Innovation Hub (evangelization). Product portfolio Mgmt / 3 annual releases, build POCs/ prototypes
Security & Compliance/ regulations	Align with corporate security guidelines, implement security guardrails on programs, compliance training for staff & contractors
Architecture Oversight	Oversee & expertise for Org strategy, configuration & code quality, integrations, data volume, archiving, backup & restore, CD/CI
Design Authority	Establish, own and apply principles, standards, policies. Guarantee compliance and quality (UX, applications, data, security, reuse, scalability, and sustainability). Ensure flexibility to meet business needs and make use of new technologies incl. AppExchange
Product/ Platform/ CoE Standards	Define norms and SOPs, Repeatable methodology for implementation, deployment & maintenance of Platform and applications
Roles & Skills, Communications	Define roles & skills, training paths & certs, toolkits. Communicate on new features, scheduled upgrades and services disruptions
Internal projects consultancy & QA	Project QA methodologies (Agile, Hybrid, Waterfall) and tools for discovery, design, build, test, deploy; reviews & expertise
Shared service for product devt	Have resources, teams, organization (incl. PO) and toolkits to enable delivery of products in factory mode – alone or with SI
Best practice Community	Define, validate and circulate processes, ways of working, lessons learned and solution configuration, either mandatory & ad-hoc
Reusable Assets Mgmt	Collect, centralize, curate and circulate potential assets (solution configuration, code, integration pattern, documentation)
Environment Mgmt	Support all environments – sandbox to production, and marketing BUs, etc – monitor status and quality. Data & metadata migration
Release Mgmt & Integrations	Establish major & minor release schedule, with Tools. Oversee versioning, branching, frequency, components, integrations
Data Migration & Quality Mgmt	Oversee data model and metadata, updates to production data, volumes, quality, compliance, as well as reporting on data
License & Usage Mgmt	Monitor usage of the Salesforce licenses and provide a regular update on utilization. Tool selection
Deployment, Training, Adoption, NOE	Process/ LoB / Market end-user deployment and training. Application and business adoption. Network of Excellence
Administration – App, UI, Data, Platform	Run application - UI & usage (Lightning/ Mobile), automations, standard & custom objects, reports & dashboards, Chatter. Data. Run Platform environments, archiving, backup & restore,. Monitoring, Security. Releases & Roadmap (SF)
Access, Identity, Authorization	User provisioning, authorization & access (Profile & P-set). Identity & SSO, authentication, certificates, (de)activation
End User Support & Ticketing	Run Ticketing process. Address Level 2 (Admin) and coordinate with L3 (Devt.) (app defects) and/or L4 (SF) for support

About the Contributors

Martin Griffiths is a Business Architect Director at Salesforce, with an Anglo-French background and based in Paris, France. Martin joined Salesforce 5 years ago. His 30-year career in CRM, ERP and digital transformation spans business consulting, enterprise architecture and program delivery roles. His focus is advising customers on complex Salesforce-based transformations, operating models and architecture, applying academic frameworks to guide decision-making and address governance at scale topics successfully.

You can connect with Martin Griffiths on LinkedIn Open link in new window .