What relationship should an administrator create to link a new custom object tracking customer payment information to opportunities?

The correct choice emphasizes the importance of a master-detail relationship when linking a custom object tracking customer payment information to opportunities. In Salesforce, a master-detail relationship creates a strong association between two objects, where the custom object (customer payment information) will inherit properties and permissions from the master object (opportunity). This allows for the sharing of permissions and provides a hierarchical relationship that enforces data integrity.

By establishing this relationship, the custom object would automatically display as a related list on the opportunity record. It also enables roll-up summary fields, allowing the opportunity to aggregate values from the related custom object records, which might be necessary for reporting and analytics related to customer payments.

Conversely, using a different relationship type, such as a lookup relationship, would provide a more flexible but less structured association, where the custom object would not necessarily inherit permissions or allow for summarized data on the opportunity record. While lookup relationships are useful in many scenarios, they don’t enforce the same level of ownership or data integrity as master-detail relationships, which is crucial in this context where payment tracking closely ties to the financial aspects of opportunities.