How to retain the create date of a deleted Lead record after merging

Question

What I would like to achieve via automation is to record the created date of the latest record on the retained record after merging.

Example: A new lead comes in on 01/01/22 and a duplicate lead is found dating back to 15/06/2019. A user merges the two together and the create date remains as 15/06/2019 regardless which you choose as master. I have a custom field called 'Latest enquiry date' that I would like to update with 01/01/22.

I realise this can be done manually during the merge process but I'd prefer an automated solution to ensure this is done every time. When leads are merged in Salesforce, I don't believe there is a merge or create trigger fired, just update and delete triggers so I'm struggling to find when to fire a field update.

Any suggestions welcome.

Answer 1

In the after-delete trigger on Leads, you'll have a populated value in the MasterRecordId field, which you can use to determine how you'd like to update your custom field.

trigger ManageLatestEnquiryDate on Lead (after delete) {
  Map<Id, Lead> masterLeadRecords = new Map<Id, Lead>();
  for(Lead record: Trigger.old) {
    masterLeadRecords.put(record.MasterRecordId, null);
  }
  masterLeadRecords.putAll([SELECT CreatedDate, Latest_Enquiry_Date__c FROM Lead WHERE Id = :masterLeadRecords.keySet()]);
  masterLeadRecords.remove(null);
  for(Lead record: Trigger.old) {
    Lead masterLeadRecord = masterLeadRecords.get(record.MasterRecordId);
    if(masterLeadRecord != null) {
      Date tempDate; 
      if(masterLeadRecord.CreatedDate > record.CreatedDate) {
        tempDate = masterLeadRecord.CreatedDate;
      } else {
        tempDate = record.CreatedDate;
      }
    }
    if(masterLeadRecord.Latest_Enquiry_Date__c == null || masterLeadRecord.Latest_Enquiry_Date__c < tempDate) {
      masterLeadRecord.Latest_Enquiry_Date__c = tempDate;
    }
  }
  update masterLeadRecords.values();
}

Ideally, you should use a trigger handler framework, but this basic version should suffice if you just need to get a solution started.