AnalyticsSettings Metadata Type in SFDX

Architectural Overview#

The AnalyticsSettings metadata type manages org-wide preferences governing standard Salesforce Reports and Dashboards, CRM Analytics (formerly Tableau CRM / Einstein Analytics), and Einstein Discovery. For a Senior Salesforce Technical Architect, managing AnalyticsSettings through version control ensures consistent analytical capabilities, data replication rules, and data export security across sandboxes and production environments.

Because AnalyticsSettings is part of the Settings metadata family, its declarative flags directly control whether sensitive data can be downloaded from CRM Analytics lenses, whether dashboard components inherit sharing rules, and whether automated data sync (replication) runs in the background.

Directory Location and File Suffix#

Key Metadata Fields#

Declarative XML and Package Manifest Examples#

Below is a production-hardened Analytics.settings-meta.xml file along with its corresponding package.xml manifest.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<AnalyticsSettings xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <enableAnalyticsSharing>true</enableAnalyticsSharing>
    <enableAutoCompleteCombo>true</enableAutoCompleteCombo>
    <enableDashboardComponentSnapshot>false</enableDashboardComponentSnapshot>
    <enableDashboardFlexiTable>true</enableDashboardFlexiTable>
    <enableFloatingReportHeaders>true</enableFloatingReportHeaders>
    <enableInsights>true</enableInsights>
    <enableNullDimension>true</enableNullDimension>
    <enablePowerInsights>true</enablePowerInsights>
    <enableQueryLiveConnectors>true</enableQueryLiveConnectors>
    <enableRemoveHeaderFooterForSub>true</enableRemoveHeaderFooterForSub>
    <enableS1Analytics>true</enableS1Analytics>
    <enableSmartDataDiscovery>true</enableSmartDataDiscovery>
    <enableWaveReplication>true</enableWaveReplication>
    <enableWaveTemplate>true</enableWaveTemplate>
    <maxHoursAppInProgress>12</maxHoursAppInProgress>
</AnalyticsSettings>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Package xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <types>
        <members>Analytics</members>
        <name>Settings</name>
    </types>
    <version>68.0</version>
</Package>

SFDX CLI Retrieval and Deployment Commands#

Because AnalyticsSettings is a pure declarative settings metadata type and not directly queryable via SOQL, use the Salesforce CLI (sf) to inspect, retrieve, and deploy changes:

# Retrieve AnalyticsSettings from the target org
sf project retrieve start --metadata Settings:Analytics --target-org my-org

# Validate and deploy AnalyticsSettings changes
sf project deploy start --metadata Settings:Analytics --target-org my-prod-org --dry-run

Senior Architect Best Practices and Gotchas#

1. Sharing Inheritance Governance: Enabling enableAnalyticsSharing is only the first step. You must also enable sharing inheritance per dataset and configure a security predicate fallback for objects whose sharing descriptors exceed 3,000 shares per record.
2. Data Sync (enableWaveReplication) Lifecycle: Once enableWaveReplication is enabled and existing dataflows are migrated to use synced objects, turning it back to false in XML will fail deployment if active recipes or dataflows still depend on replicated SFDC_LOCAL connectors.
3. Null Dimension Grouping Impacts SAQL: Enabling enableNullDimension changes how CRM Analytics indexes missing text fields. Existing SAQL queries and recipes that implicitly filtered out null dimension rows should be regression-tested in a Full Sandbox before enabling in production.
4. Environment Drift on Unlicensed Sandboxes: If a developer sandbox lacks Einstein Discovery or CRM Analytics Plus licenses, deploying enablePowerInsights or enableQueryLiveConnectors can throw Problem: Property 'enablePowerInsights' not valid in version 68.0. Strip unlicensed tags in your CI pre-deployment script when targeting lightweight developer orgs.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the AnalyticsSettings file stored in an SFDX project?

It is stored at force-app/main/default/settings/Analytics.settings-meta.xml and is retrieved using the Settings metadata type with member name Analytics.

Why does deploying AnalyticsSettings fail in a newly created scratch org?

Certain CRM Analytics flags such as enableWaveTemplate or enableAnalyticsSharing require CRM Analytics licenses or feature flags in the scratch org definition file before deployment.

Does disabling enableDashboardFlexiTable affect existing Lightning dashboards?

Yes, disabling Lightning table components prevents users from adding new flexible tables and can restrict editing capabilities on dashboards already using those components.

How do I enable CRM Analytics data sync via Metadata API?

Set enableDataSync and enableWaveReplication to true inside Analytics.settings-meta.xml and deploy the Settings component to your target org.