Cross-object formula fields are useful for accessing data from relatedobjects, but they also have some drawbacks and risks, especially when used excessively in a revenue cloud project. Some of the risks are:
They can easily exceed limits if not carefully designed and tested. Cross-object formula fields count against the total number of fields allowed per object, and they also consume more resources than regular fields. If the formula is too complex or references too many objects, it can cause performance issues, errors, or failures. For example, a formula can only reference up to 10 unique relationships, and a record can only trigger up to 16 levels of cross-object formula updates. 12
Formula field data is not always available during CPQ quote calculation. CPQ quote calculation is a process that evaluates the pricing, discounts, taxes, and other factors of a quote. During this process, some cross-object formula fields may not have the latest data or may not be accessible at all, depending on the order of execution and the timing of the updates. This can lead to inaccurate orinconsistent results, or even prevent the quote from being calculated. 3
They are computationally expensive. Cross-object formula fields require more processing power and time than regular fields, as they need to query and calculate data from multiple objects and relationships. This can affect the overall performance and responsiveness of the revenue cloud project, especially when thereare many cross-object formula fields involved. Additionally, cross-object formula fields can trigger cascading updates and validations, which can further increase the computational load and complexity. 4
[References:, 1: What Is a Cross-Object Formula? - Salesforce, 2: Formula Operators and Functions - Salesforce, 3: Salesforce Real Dumps Practice Exam Questions by Dumpswarp, 4: Create Cross-Object Formulas Unit | Salesforce Trailhead, , , , ]
