Transforming the individual model to person accounts
Key Takeaway
Person accounts can't be disabled after you enable them, so preview the change in a sandbox first. Before converting, export Contact.Phone and Contact.Fax because they don't carry over. Also export and clear "Reports To" values so you can reload them afterward.
Agentforce Financial Services represents a person in one of two ways. The individual model pairs a standard Account with a standard Contact. A person account combines account and contact fields into one record. Person accounts are the recommended approach for B2C work, and an org on the individual model can transform its existing data to person accounts. The move is one-way and changes how data is stored. A migration plan therefore has to cover what carries over, what doesn't, and what to set up first.
Two ways to represent a person
| Individual model | Person accounts | |
|---|---|---|
| How a person is stored | Standard Account and Contact objects coupled into one view of a person | Certain account and contact fields combined into one object |
| What users see | A paired Account and Contact | One record that looks and works as one record |
| Availability | Supported only for orgs with an existing individual model implementation | Enabled in trial orgs and new installations |
The individual model extends the standard Account and Contact objects with custom fields, record types, and other customizations. Person accounts are the Salesforce platform solution for B2C activities and give better B2C support for most organizations. An org on the individual model can migrate to person accounts for a simplified, customizable user experience.
Each person account consists of one account and one contact, so it counts against both account storage and contact storage.