SFDCWallah

Change data capture (CDC) is a feature in Salesforce that allows you to track and react to data changes in your org.

CDC events are generated when a record is created, updated, deleted, or undeleted, and contain the changed field values and other metadata.

You can subscribe to CDC events using various tools, such as Apex triggers, Platform events, or external systems, and perform actions based on the data changes.

CDC has several advantages over triggers and flows when it comes to handling large volumes of data changes or integrating with external systems.

For example, CDC events are asynchronous and do not affect the performance of the source transactions.

CDC events also have a longer retention period than trigger.old and trigger.new collections, which are only available during the transaction.

CDC events can be consumed by multiple subscribers, while triggers and flows can only execute one logic per object.

CDC events also provide more information about the change context, such as the change type, the transaction key, the commit timestamp, and the entity name.

Some use cases where CDC can be useful are:

• Data replication: You can use CDC to replicate data from Salesforce to an external data warehouse or a backup system.
  CDC events provide the incremental changes that you need to keep your data in sync.
• Data quality: You can use CDC to monitor and validate data changes in your org. For example, you can use CDC to check if the data changes comply with your business rules or data policies, and flag any anomalies or errors.
• Data analysis: You can use CDC to perform real-time or near-real-time data analysis on your Salesforce data. For example, you can use CDC to feed data changes into a streaming analytics platform, such as Apache Kafka or Amazon Kinesis, and generate insights or alerts based on the data trends or patterns.
• Data integration: You can use CDC to integrate your Salesforce data with other systems or applications. For example, you can use CDC to trigger workflows or actions in external systems based on the data changes in Salesforce, such as sending notifications, updating records, or calling APIs.

Change Data Capture is a feature in Salesforce that allows you to stream changes of Salesforce records to external systems in real time.

Change Data Capture publishes change events, which represent changes to Salesforce records, such as creation, update, deletion, and undeletion.
The change events include all new and changed fields, and header fields that contain information about the change.

You can use Change Data Capture to synchronize your Salesforce data with external data stores, such as databases, data warehouses, or cache servers.

Change Data Capture can help you reduce the polling of Salesforce data and the processing of large data volumes. Change Data Capture can also enable you to build event-driven applications that react to data changes in Salesforce.

Some use cases of Change Data Capture are:

• Receive notifications of Salesforce record changes, including create, update, delete, and undelete operations.
• Capture field changes for all records.
• Get broad access to all data regardless of sharing rules.
• Get information about the change in the event header, such as the origin of the change, which allows ignoring changes that your client generates.
• Perform data updates using transaction boundaries.
• Build event-driven applications that react to data changes in Salesforce.
• Reduce polling of Salesforce data and the processing of large data volumes.

How CDC is different from triggers and flows in several ways:

• CDC is asynchronous and event-driven, while triggers and flows are synchronous and transactional.
  This means that CDC does not block or delay the data changes, but rather handles them after they are committed to the database.
  Triggers and flows, on the other hand, execute before or after the data changes, and can affect the outcome of the transaction.
• CDC is scalable and reliable, while triggers and flows have limits and governor issues. CDC can handle high volumes of data changes without impacting the performance of your org, and it guarantees the delivery of events to subscribers. Triggers and flows, however, have limits on the number of records they can process, the amount of CPU time they can consume, and the number of SOQL queries they can execute. If these limits are exceeded, the transaction may fail or roll back.
• CDC is flexible and customizable, while triggers and flows are rigid and predefined.
  CDC allows you to choose which objects and fields you want to track, and how often you want to receive events. You can also use Apex, Lightning Web Components, or external tools to subscribe to events and perform custom logic. Triggers and flows, however, are tied to specific objects and events, and have limited options for customization.

Some use cases for CDC are:

• Synchronizing data between Salesforce and external systems, such as ERP, CRM, or BI tools. You can use CDC to detect changes in Salesforce records and update the corresponding records in the external systems, or vice versa.
• Sending real-time notifications or alerts to users or customers based on data changes. You can use CDC to monitor changes in important fields or records, such as account status, opportunity stage, or case resolution, and send emails, SMS, or push notifications to inform the relevant parties.
• Creating reports or dashboards that reflect the latest data changes. You can use CDC to capture changes in key metrics or indicators, such as revenue, pipeline, or customer satisfaction, and update your reports or dashboards accordingly.

CDC is a powerful feature that can help you automate your business processes, integrate your systems, and enhance your user experience.

To learn more about CDC, check out the official documentation here: https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.change_data_capture.meta/change_data_capture/