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Help Salesforce Certified Data Architect Exam Guide

Salesforce
Certified
Data
Architect
Exam Guide

Winter '23 Release

Congratulations on taking the next step to prepare for your Salesforce Data Architect credential.
This exam guide has the information you need to help you study and prepare for your exam. Let’s
get started!  

Contents

About the Salesforce Data Architect Credential

Audience Description: Salesforce Certified Data Architect
Purpose of this Exam Guide
About the Exam
Recommended Training and References
Exam Outline I'm here to help!

Exam Candidate Code of Conduct

Maintaining Your Certification

About the Salesforce Data Architect Credential

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The Salesforce Certified Data Architect credential is intended for the architect who assesses the
architecture environment and requirements; and designs sound, scalable, and performant
solutions on the Customer 360 platform. The Architect will also have experience working with the
following:

Data Modeling & Database Design

Master Data Management

Salesforce Data Management

Data Governance

Large Data Volume Considerations

Data Migration

The architect has experience communicating solutions and design trade-offs to business and IT
stakeholders.

Audience Description: Salesforce Certified Data Architect

A Salesforce Certified Data Architect assesses the architecture environment and requirements
and designs sound, scalable, and performant solutions on the Customer 360 Platform as it
pertains to enterprise data management. The candidate is knowledgeable about information
architecture frameworks covering major building blocks, such as data sourcing,
integration/movement, persistence, master data management, metadata management and
semantic reconciliation, data governance, security, and delivery. 

The candidate also has experience assessing customers' requirements in regards to data quality
needs and creating solutions to ensure high quality data (e.g. no duplicates, correct data) and
can also recommend organizational changes to ensure proper data stewardship. The candidate
has experience communicating solutions and design trade-offs to business stakeholders.

The Salesforce Certified Data Architect has the following background: 

2 to 3 years of Salesforce experience

5+ years of experience supporting or implementing data-centric solutions

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Typical job roles may include:

Advanced Administrator

Data Architect

Technical/Solution Architect

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Advanced Platform Developer

The Salesforce Certified Data Architect candidate has the experience, skills, and knowledge of the
following:

Data modeling/Database Design

Custom fields, master detail, lookup relationships

Client requirements and mapping to database requirements

Standard object structure for sales and service cloud

Making best use of Salesforce standard and big objects

Association between standard objects and Salesforce license types

Large Data Volume considerations

Indexing, LDV migrations, performance

Salesforce Platform declarative and programming concepts

Scripting using those tools (Data loader, ETL platforms)

Data Stewardship

Data Quality Skills (concerned with clean data)

A candidate for this exam is not expected to know the following:

Non-Salesforce Technology/Database Concepts

Configuration of Integration tools

Experience with MDM Tools (Master Data Management)

Lightning Development Experience/Expertise

Programming Language(s)

Recommended but not required - Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder, Platform Developer
I, and Platform Developer II.

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Purpose of this Exam Guide
This exam guide is designed to help you evaluate your readiness to successfully complete the
Salesforce Certified Data Architect certification exam. This guide provides information about the
target audience for the certification exam, recommended training and documentation, and a
complete list of exam objectives—all with the intent of helping you achieve a passing score.

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Salesforce highly recommends a combination of on-the-job experience and self-study to

maximize your chances of passing the exam. 

About the Exam     

Read on for details about the Salesforce Data Architect exam.

Content: 60 multiple-choice/multiple-select questions

Time allotted to complete the exam: 105 minutes
Passing score: 58%
Registration fee: USD 400 plus applicable taxes as required per local law
Retake fee: USD 200 plus applicable taxes as required per local law
Delivery options: Proctored exam delivered onsite at a testing center or in an online
proctored environment. Click here for information on scheduling an exam.
References: No hard-copy or online materials may be referenced during the exam.
Prerequisite: None

Recommended Training and References

We recommend a combination of: hands-on experience, training course completion, Trailhead
trails, and self-study in the areas listed in the Exam Outline section of this exam guide.

The self-study materials recommended for this exam include:

Trailmix:  Architect Journey: Data Architect

To enroll in expert-led courses, launch your Salesforce application, click the Help & Training link
in the upper right corner of the screen (requires login), and search for the desired courses. Non-
Salesforce customers can register for expert-led courses here.

To review online Documentation, Tip Sheets, and User Guides, search for the topics listed in the
Exam Outline section of this exam guide and study the information related to those topics.
Documentation, Tip Sheets, and User Guides can also be accessed through Salesforce Help. 
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Exam Outline
The Salesforce Certified Data Architect exam measures a candidate’s knowledge and skills related
to the following objectives:
 
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Data modeling/Database Design: 25%

Compare and contrast various techniques and considerations for designing a data
model for the Customer 360 platform. (e.g. objects, fields & relationships, object
features).
Given a scenario, recommend approaches and techniques to design a scalable data
model that obeys the current security and sharing model.
Compare and contrast various techniques, approaches and considerations for
capturing and managing business and technical metadata (e.g. business dictionary,
data lineage, taxonomy, data classification).
Compare and contrast the different reasons for implementing Big Objects vs
Standard/Custom objects within a production instance, alongside the unique pros
and cons of utilizing Big Objects in a Salesforce data model.
Given a customer scenario, recommend approaches and techniques to avoid data
skew (record locking, sharing calculation issues, and excessive child to parent
relationships).

Master Data Management: 5%

Compare and contrast the various techniques, approaches and considerations for
implementing Master Data Management Solutions (e.g. MDM implementation styles,
harmonizing & consolidating data from multiple sources, establishing data
survivorship rules, thresholds & weights, leveraging external reference data for
enrichment, Canonical modeling techniques, hierarchy management.)
Given a customer scenario, recommend and use techniques for establishing a "golden
record" or "system of truth" for the customer domain in a Single Org
Given a customer scenario, recommend approaches and techniques for consolidating
data attributes from multiple sources. Discuss criteria and methodology for picking the
winning attributes.
Given a customer scenario, recommend appropriate approaches and techniques to
capture and maintain customer reference & metadata to preserve traceability and
establish a common context for business rules 

Salesforce Data Management: 25%

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Given a customer scenario, recommend appropriate combination of Salesforce license
types to effectively leverage standard and custom objects to meet business needs.
Given a customer scenario, recommend techniques to ensure data is persisted in a
consistent manner. 
Given a scenario with multiple systems of interaction, describe techniques to
represent a single view of the customer on the Salesforce platform.
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Given a customer scenario, recommend a design to effectively consolidate and/or

leverage data from multiple Salesforce instances.

Data Governance: 10%

Given a customer scenario, recommend an approach for designing a GDPR compliant

data model. Discuss the various options to identify, classify and protect personal and
sensitive information. 
Compare and contrast various approaches and considerations for designing and
implementing an enterprise data governance program. 

Large Data Volume considerations: 20%

Given a customer scenario, design a data model that scales considering large data
volume and solution performance.
Given a customer scenario, recommend a data archiving and purging plan that is
optimal for customer's data storage management needs.
Given a customer scenario, decide when to use virtualised data and describe
virtualised data options.

Data Migration: 15%

Given a customer scenario, recommend appropriate techniques and methods for

ensuring high data quality at load time. 
Compare and contrast various techniques for improving performance when migrating
large data volumes into Salesforce.
Compare and contrast various techniques and considerations for exporting data from
Salesforce.

Exam Candidate Code of Conduct

At Salesforce, trust is our #1 value. Protecting the security of Salesforce Credentials is up to all of
us. As a participant in the Salesforce Credentialing program, you’re required to accept the terms
of the Salesforce Credential and Certification Program Agreement.
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Participants in the Salesforce Credentialing Program should:

Use Salesforce-approved study materials available on Trailhead to prepare for your

certification exam, including: certification exam guides, trailmixes/trails, Trailhead
Academy courses, and Trailhead LIVE sessions

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Collaborate with other Trailblazers in the Trailblazer Community by joining a

Community group and finding a study buddy and/or mentor
Review and abide by the guidelines for online proctored and in-person certification
exams
Submit a case with the Credential Security Team if you see any activity that
undermines credential security

Participants in the Salesforce Credentialing Program are prohibited from:

Sharing, using, or requesting certification exam questions and answers, or superbadge

solutions
Offering, receiving, or asking for help during your certification exam
Engaging in any behavior that violates the Salesforce Credential and Certification
Program Agreement

Consequences for violating the Program Agreement include but are not limited
to:

Cancelation of upcoming certification exams

Removal or suspension from being able to complete online proctored exams
Suspension from taking any certification exams
Revocation of Certifications and Superbadges
Removal from the Salesforce Credentials program and the Trailblazer Community

Maintaining Your Salesforce Certification

One of the benefits of holding a Salesforce credential is always being up-to-date on new product
releases (updates). As such, you will be required to complete the Data Architect certification
maintenance modules on Trailhead one time a year.

Don’t let your hard-earned credential expire! If you do not complete all maintenance
requirements by the due date, your credential will expire. 
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Bookmark these useful resources for maintaining your credentials:

Overall Maintenance Requirements

Maintenance Module Due Dates
Verify Your Certification Status
Certification Expiration Details

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