can too many validation rules cause a performance issue with large data - Apex CPU Time?

Question

I have a bulk update process which effects updates records in more than one salesforce objects like - Account, Contact, Contract , Opportunity and Oppt Line Item.

This bulk process does not update hundreds of records. But, yes - a lot of code is being executed and I get Apex CPU time limit exceeded error when there are more records being processed.

When my bulk process is run : all the triggers , process builders, workflows and validation rules get executed.

I am trying to understand how are validation rules executed - like does each validation rule run each time a save is done?

Does this effect the Apex CPU Time? If yes, I would like to deactivate some of the validation rules (over all - I have around 30 of them) which I don't need during this bulk process.

Answer 1

Apex Triggers, Flows, and Process Builder consume CPU limits, but validation rules, workflow rules, matching rules, duplicate rules, assignment rules, escalation rules all do not count towards the CPU limit. However, there is still also a hard limit of 600,000 ms (10 minutes) for every transaction. If you're running in to CPU limits, it is most likely a combination of Triggers and Processes. Yes, validation rules are run at least once per DML operation, as noted in Triggers and Order of Execution. Having a ton of Validation Rules does not impact the governor limit directly. It's hard to verify certain scenarios, like if a trigger calls a DML operation, etc, but it's been my experience that only Apex Triggers can even trigger (no pun intended) a CPU governor limit error.