What is considered a best practice to control data processing times?

Best practices for controlling data processing times are essential for ensuring efficient data management and performance within Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Limiting the amount of stored data can significantly reduce processing time as a smaller dataset requires fewer resources for access, updating, and reporting. By minimizing the volume of data, companies can enhance the speed of queries and reduce the wear on system resources, leading to better overall performance.

Additionally, using settings to add and update data rather than overwriting it can be beneficial as it ensures that historical data is preserved while new information is incorporated. This method prevents potential data loss and enhances data integrity. By maintaining historical records, marketers can also better analyze trends over time without encountering delays caused by constant data replacement.

Together, these practices—limiting stored data and carefully managing how data is updated—form a comprehensive approach to optimizing both data processing times and system performance. These strategies not only help in making the system more efficient but also support effective data management practices overall.