Revenue Cloud Sandbox Guide

If you’ve worked with CPQ, you know how critical sandbox testing is before deploying pricing rules to production. Revenue Cloud is no different. In this guide, I’ll walk you through choosing the right sandbox type, managing test data, and avoiding the common pitfalls I’ve seen on Revenue Cloud implementations.

Sandbox Types Overview

Salesforce offers four sandbox types, each with different capabilities and refresh intervals (official documentation).

Developer Sandbox

Best For: Individual development, testing new features, fixing bugs

Revenue Cloud Use Case: Initial configuration testing, experimenting with pricing rules, learning the platform without affecting shared environments.

Developer Pro Sandbox

Best For: Larger projects, concurrent testing with multiple developers

Revenue Cloud Use Case: Testing product catalog configurations, building pricing procedures, developing custom components.

Partial Copy Sandbox

Best For: Testing with realistic data, UAT environments

Revenue Cloud Limitation: Revenue Cloud data is not automatically copied to Partial Copy sandboxes. You must explicitly configure sandbox templates to include Revenue Cloud objects, and even then, the 5 GB limit and 10,000 records per object cap can be insufficient for production-like testing. Revenue Cloud implementations are extremely data-heavy—product catalogs, pricing configurations, and attribute definitions all live as data records, not metadata.

Full Copy Sandbox

Best For: Performance testing, load testing, final staging before deployment

Revenue Cloud Recommendation: If you have access to a Full Copy sandbox, use it for Revenue Cloud testing. This is the only sandbox type that reliably captures the complete Revenue Cloud data model—product catalogs, pricing procedures, attribute definitions, configuration rules, and all the complex object relationships. The 29-day refresh limit is a constraint, but the data completeness is worth it.

Sandbox Allocations by Edition

Your sandbox allocation depends on your Salesforce edition (see official allocations):

Note: Enterprise Edition doesn’t include Developer Pro sandboxes or Full Copy sandboxes by default—these require additional purchase.

Creating a Revenue Cloud Sandbox

Step 1: Navigate to Sandbox Setup

1. Go to Setup > Environments > Sandboxes
2. Click New Sandbox

Step 2: Configure Sandbox Details

1. Enter a Name (e.g., “RevCloud-Dev” or “RevCloud-UAT”)
2. Select the Sandbox Type based on your needs
3. For Partial and Full Copy sandboxes, select a Sandbox Template to control data copying

Step 3: Create and Wait

1. Click Create
2. Sandbox creation can take from minutes (Developer) to hours (Full Copy)
3. You’ll receive an email when the sandbox is ready

Why Revenue Cloud Makes Sandbox Strategy Critical

Before diving into data management, you need to understand why Revenue Cloud is different from standard Salesforce implementations.

Revenue Cloud stores configuration as data, not metadata. Your product catalog, pricing procedures, attribute definitions, configuration rules, and selling models are all stored as records in custom objects—not as metadata that automatically copies with every sandbox. This means:

• Change Sets won’t deploy your Revenue Cloud configuration
• Partial Copy sandboxes won’t include this data unless you explicitly configure templates
• Even with templates, the 10,000 record limit per object can truncate large product catalogs
• Object relationships are complex—Price Books must exist before Products can reference them

My recommendation: If you have a Full Copy sandbox available, prioritize it for Revenue Cloud work. If you’re limited to Partial Copy, be prepared to invest significant effort in sandbox template configuration and data validation.

Data Management Strategies

Using Sandbox Templates (Partial Copy Only)

If you must use Partial Copy sandboxes, you’ll need to carefully configure sandbox templates (see template documentation):

1. Go to Setup > Environments > Sandbox Templates
2. Create a template and include these Revenue Cloud objects at minimum:
   • Product2 and PricebookEntry
   • Product Catalog and Product Category objects
   • Attribute Category and Attribute Definition objects
   • Product Classification objects
   • Pricing Procedure related objects
   • Accounts and Contacts (sample set for testing)
3. When you add child objects, Salesforce automatically includes parents to maintain relationships

Warning: Even with a well-configured template, you may hit the 10,000 records per object limit on large catalogs. Validate that your complete product hierarchy copied correctly after each refresh.

Data Masking and Anonymization

For sandboxes containing sensitive data:

• Implement data masking for customer information
• Anonymize payment and financial data
• Use Salesforce Data Mask or third-party tools
• Ensure compliance with data protection regulations

A Note on Data Seeding

You may see recommendations to seed sandbox data using Data Loader or Apex scripts. Be cautious with this approach for Revenue Cloud.

Revenue Cloud is extremely data-heavy. A typical implementation involves dozens of interconnected objects with strict dependency order requirements. For example:

• Price Books must exist before PricebookEntries
• Product Classifications must exist before Products can inherit attributes
• Attribute Categories must exist before Attribute Definitions

Manually seeding this data is error-prone and time-consuming. If your only option is Developer or Developer Pro sandboxes without production data, consider:

1. Using specialized DevOps tools like Gearset, Salto, or Prodly that understand Revenue Cloud object dependencies
2. Building a minimal “starter kit” data set that you maintain and version control
3. Accepting that your testing environment won’t match production fidelity

// SandboxPostCopy can help with basic setup, but won't solve
// the fundamental data volume challenge
public class RevCloudSandboxSetup implements SandboxPostCopy {
    public void runApexClass(SandboxContext context) {
        // Useful for: permission set assignments, integration credentials
        // Not practical for: recreating entire product catalogs
    }
}

Sandbox Refresh Best Practices

Before Refresh

1. Export any work in progress that hasn’t been deployed
2. Notify team members to avoid losing uncommitted changes
3. Document current configurations you want to preserve
4. Back up custom data not in production

After Refresh

1. Reassign permission sets for Revenue Cloud access
2. Update integration credentials (sandbox endpoints differ)
3. Verify pricing procedures are active
4. Rebuild product indexes if needed
5. Test critical workflows before resuming development

Testing Strategies for Revenue Cloud

Unit Testing

Use Developer sandboxes for:

• Testing individual pricing rules
• Validating product configurations
• Apex code development and testing

Integration Testing

Use Developer Pro or Partial Copy sandboxes for:

• Testing API integrations with external systems
• Validating data flows between Revenue Cloud and other Salesforce clouds
• End-to-end quote generation testing

User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

Use Full Copy sandboxes if available, otherwise Partial Copy with validated templates:

• Business user validation of quote workflows
• Training sessions with realistic data
• Process verification before production deployment
• Critical: Verify that your product catalog and pricing data copied completely before UAT begins

Performance Testing

Requires Full Copy sandbox:

• Load testing with production data volumes
• Performance validation of pricing calculations
• Stress testing quote generation with large bundles
• Do not attempt performance testing on Partial Copy—the limited data will give misleading results

Deployment from Sandbox to Production

Change Sets (Limited Use for Revenue Cloud)

Change Sets work for metadata, but not for Revenue Cloud configuration data:

What Change Sets CAN deploy:

• Custom fields and objects
• Flows and process automation
• Custom Lightning components
• Apex classes and triggers

What Change Sets CANNOT deploy:

• Product Catalog records
• Pricing Procedures (stored as data)
• Attribute Definitions
• Configuration Rules
• Product Classifications

For Revenue Cloud configuration, you’ll need Data Loader, specialized DevOps tools, or manual recreation.

Salesforce CLI / SFDX

For more control over deployments:

# Retrieve metadata from sandbox
sfdx force:source:retrieve -m CustomObject:Quote,Flow:PricingFlow

# Deploy to production
sfdx force:source:deploy -m CustomObject:Quote,Flow:PricingFlow -u production

DevOps Center

Salesforce DevOps Center provides:

• Visual change tracking
• Automated deployments
• Built-in conflict resolution
• Pipeline management

Common Sandbox Issues and Solutions

Issue: Revenue Cloud Data Missing After Refresh

Solution: For Partial Copy sandboxes, verify your sandbox template includes all required Revenue Cloud objects. Check that you didn’t hit the 10,000 record limit on any object. For Developer/Developer Pro sandboxes, remember that no data copies—you’ll need to recreate or import it.

Issue: Missing Permission Sets

Solution: Permission Set Licenses may not transfer. Manually assign PSLs after sandbox creation. Check that Revenue Cloud permission sets are assigned to test users.

Issue: Integration Endpoints Failing

Solution: Update integration endpoints to use sandbox-specific URLs. Production credentials won’t work in sandbox.

Issue: Product Catalog Not Visible

Solution: Rebuild Product Index tables from Product Catalog Management Home. This is required after any sandbox refresh where product data changed.

Issue: Pricing Not Calculating

Solution: Ensure pricing data tables are refreshed, pricing procedures are activated, and the default pricing recipe is selected in org settings. Run “sync pricing data” after major data changes.

Issue: Object Relationship Errors During Data Load

Solution: Revenue Cloud has strict dependency order. Load data in this sequence: Price Books → Products → PricebookEntries → Attribute Categories → Attribute Definitions → Product Classifications → Product Category assignments.

Sandbox Cloning Strategy

Create a “golden” sandbox with your standard Revenue Cloud configuration:

1. Set up a Developer Pro sandbox with baseline configuration
2. Configure all standard settings and permission sets
3. Clone this sandbox for new development work
4. Reduces setup time for new team members or projects

Resources

Here are the official Salesforce resources for sandbox management:

• Sandbox Licenses and Storage Limits - Official storage and refresh limits
• Salesforce Editions and Feature Allocations - Sandbox counts by edition
• Sandbox Templates - How to configure data copying
• Partial Copy Sandbox Considerations - What copies and what doesn’t
• Revenue Cloud Data Model - Understanding Revenue Cloud object relationships
• DevOps Center - Deployment management

Conclusion

Revenue Cloud’s data-heavy architecture makes sandbox strategy more important than typical Salesforce implementations. The key takeaways:

1. Use Full Copy sandboxes if you have them—they’re the only type that reliably captures complete Revenue Cloud data
2. Partial Copy requires careful template configuration and validation that your data actually copied
3. Change Sets won’t deploy Revenue Cloud configuration—you need Data Loader or specialized tools
4. Don’t underestimate the data seeding effort if you’re working with Developer sandboxes

Plan your sandbox strategy early in your implementation. The 29-day Full Copy refresh limit means you need to coordinate testing windows carefully.