Salesforce New-User Onboarding Checklist for Administrators

Before creating the account

Confirm the person, start date, manager, job responsibilities, and access approver. Agree whether the account belongs in production, a sandbox, or both. Use an approved onboarding request as the record of the intended access.

• Confirm name, work email, locale, language, and time zone.
• Choose a compatible user licence and check availability.
• Identify the baseline profile, role, applications, and record scope.
• Specify permission sets, permission set groups, public groups, and queues.
• Record any expiry date or additional approval for temporary access.

Create the user and apply approved access

Create the user in Salesforce Setup using the organisation’s identity and username conventions. Follow the established SSO and account activation process. Select a minimal appropriate baseline profile and add approved functional access with permission sets or permission set groups.

If a comparable user exists, use User Cloner as a review aid. Compare its supported assignments, remove exceptions that do not fit the new role, and confirm licence compatibility. Copying another user is not a substitute for the approved access list.

Prepare the first login

Coordinate account notification and authentication setup with the organisation’s identity process. Have the user complete their own credentials and authentication steps. Confirm the correct Salesforce URL and support contact; never ask a colleague to share a password.

Run a practical acceptance check

Test the actual work the new user must do rather than checking only that login succeeds.

• Open the required app and relevant objects.
• Create or update an approved test record where appropriate.
• Confirm expected field visibility and record access.
• Check relevant reports, queue work, and integrations.
• Verify that unrelated sensitive data and administrative functions remain restricted.

Close the request and schedule review

Record the final configuration, exceptions, approvals, and test outcome. Give the user a short role-specific handover and the support route for access problems. Arrange review of temporary permissions and ensure that future role changes and offboarding remove access that is no longer needed.

Continue with the relevant Salesforce resources