Compiled Formula too big Max is 5,000

Question

I was trying to enter the below formula into a new formula field to track Contract End Dates when compared to a picklist and date field, while incorporating leap years. But I hit a compile Limit, I am a solo admin and have very minimal developing skills. Thank you for your input!

DATE ( 
/*YEAR*/ 
YEAR( Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c ) + FLOOR((MONTH(Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c) + Contract_Term_Months__c - 1)/12), 

/*MONTH*/
 CASE(MOD(MONTH(Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c) + Contract_Term_Months__c, 12 ), 0, 12, MOD(MONTH(Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c)+ Contract_Term_Months__c, 12 )), 

/*DAY*/
 MIN(DAY(Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c), CASE(MOD(MONTH(Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c) + Contract_Term_Months__c,12), 9, 30, 4, 30, 6, 30, 11, 30, 2, 

/* return max days for February dependent on if end date is leap year */ IF(MOD(YEAR(Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c) + FLOOR((MONTH(Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c) + Contract_Term_Months__c)/12), 400) = 0 || (MOD(YEAR(Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c) + FLOOR((MONTH(Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c) + Contract_Term_Months__c)/12), 4) = 0 && MOD(YEAR(Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c) + FLOOR((MONTH(Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c) + Contract_Term_Months__c)/12), 100) <> 0 ), 29,28), 31)) )

Customer_Installation_Completed_Date__c is a date field and Contract_Term_Months__c is a formula field with the following formula

CASE( 
Contract_Term__c, 
"12 months", 12, 
"24 months", 24, 
"36 months", 36, 
"60 months", 60, 
"N/A", null, 
null)

Answer 1

The query that’s compiled from your formula syntax is limited by the maximum query size that the database can execute. This limit is the same for all Salesforce editions: Maximum formula size (in bytes) when compiled: 5,000 bytes.

Fortunately there are ways to work around this limit, and you can avoid it in many cases by making your formulas more efficient.

• Minimize the number of references to other fields
• Minimize the number of times formula functions are called
• Rethink your picklist
• Think about the problem another way
• If all else fails, use a workflow field update

I believe you can move this into Workflow field Update (quick and easy way). For Your Information there is a limit on total number of bytes used for Formula fields (32,000 bytes total size per object).

Answer 2

What you need to do in these cases is to create a workflow rule with a field update. The formula field is much larger so you will not create a compile error (for size)

The workflow rule should be as simple as you can make it but ensure that you have a check to make sure the date in question is not blank