What should a data architect recommend to prevent race conditions when modifying records in Salesforce?

To prevent race conditions when modifying records in Salesforce, recommending the use of the keywords FOR UPDATE after SOQL statements is an effective approach. The FOR UPDATE clause locks the records returned by a SOQL query for the duration of the transaction. This means that once a record is fetched with FOR UPDATE, other transactions attempting to access that record will be blocked until the lock is released. This mechanism helps ensure that only one process can modify a record at a time, thereby preventing race conditions that could lead to inconsistent data or conflicts during concurrent updates.

Utilizing FOR UPDATE is crucial in scenarios where multiple transactions may attempt to modify the same record simultaneously. By locking the records explicitly during a transaction, you can control the flow of changes and avoid situations where two processes make conflicting updates to the same data.

Other options may involve limiting functionality or restructuring code, but they do not specifically address the issue of locking records to prevent race conditions as effectively as applying the FOR UPDATE clause. This focused approach allows for improved data integrity and consistency within the Salesforce platform.