Slow down import with a delay between records?

[RichTUniti]

In DTV Import, is there a way to introduce a delay between each record imported or updated?

I know this goes against best practices for fast and API-efficient processing, but in my use case, that may be the best solution. After inserting/updating a Salesforce record, there is an asynchronous callout to a 3rd party system that takes a few seconds to complete. Even if the Salesforce automation is bulkified, it still has to send one record at a time to the external system, and that system occasionally encounters record locking errors in it's database if we send it too many records in a batch. Then at the end of its workflow, it calls back to Salesforce to update related records with an external ID, and sometimes gets record locking errors from Salesforce.

So unfortunately the easiest thing I can think of is to slow down the import. I was looking for a setting to wait, like 5 seconds, between each record insert/update in a single batch file. Is this possible?

[Pugs_Validity · Accepted solution]

Hey @RichTUniti - The best solution we have to offer is Serial Mode. This can be found under the gear icon in General Settings. 

Serial Mode in General Settings

Use serial mode

• Applicable to: Delete, Dedupe, Export, Import, Match, Modify, and Verify
• Default setting: unchecked
• Notes:
  • Serial mode processes batches one at a time, instead of in parallel
  • This may significantly increase processing time, but can avoid issues such as lock contention