As we all know, Salesforce is the global leader in CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Industry. Recently a study has shown that by 2026, Salesforce and its various partners in the ecosystem will create around 9.5 million jobs and $1.5 trillion in revenues. Also, the study demonstrated that salesforce is driving huge growth for its partners as well with an estimate of partners earning around $6.19 for every $1 that Salesforce is going to make by the year 2026.

Now coming to the point to discuss what will be the base for these jobs and how creating that foundation/base is going to help you to initially land a job and then grow your salesforce career.

A Salesforce Admin certification will help you get your Salesforce career off to a great start. Every higher-level Salesforce certification begins with a Salesforce admin certification.

So, the basics of Salesforce in terms of functionality are covered in the admin module/part of it. Thus, regardless of the job that you are going to land as a fresher in Salesforce, you will need to be well versed in the admin part of Salesforce.

HOW TO CRACK SALESFORCE ADMIN CERTIFICATION

Let’s now cover in a detailed way as in

1. Roles and responsibilities of a Salesforce Admin.
2. Preparation for the examination
3. Scheduling/Appearing for exam
4. Tips & Tricks

Salesforce Admin Roles & Responsibilities

Salesforce administrators are experts in Salesforce’s customer relationship management software and processes. They work for major organizations, where they are responsible for Salesforce system administration, Salesforce product training, and sales database maintenance.

Salesforce Administration plays the following roles :

• Ensure that Salesforce systems and products work at their best.
• Salesforce systems are being upgraded and configured for better integration.
• Roles, profiles, sharing rules, workflows, and groups in Salesforce are all managed.
• Importing leads, contacts, and other data from the sales department.
• Building custom reports and dashboards, as well as maintaining the sales cloud.
• Database maintenance procedures such as diagnostic tests and duplicate entry cleanup are performed.
• Providing training and support as well as evaluating and installing new Salesforce releases.
• Error reports and updates to field history tables are among the processes that are documented.
• Reports for sales and other departments are being prepared.

Certification Exam Preparation

The Salesforce Certified Administrator test assesses a candidate’s understanding and skills in the areas listed below. A candidate should have prior Salesforce Administrator expertise and be able to show how to use each of the features/functions listed below.

Broadly there are six categories

These topics are further classified as –

1. Organizational Setup

Describe the elements that make up the corporate profile (e.g., company information, fiscal year, currency management business hours, default settings,).

2. User Setup

Identify the processes for creating and/or maintaining a user account, troubleshoot typical user access and visibility concerns are given a situation.

3. User Interface

Differentiate between the numerous UI components that an administrator can modify, as well as the consequences.

4. Custom & Standard Objects

The standard object architecture and relationship model should be described, For custom and standard objects, show how to create, remove, and configure fields, page layouts, and list views, determine the relevant fields and page layouts for bespoke and standard objects based on a situation, For both custom and standard objects, explain how to create, remove, and alter record types.

5. Data Security & Access

Describe the many security choices available to a company, Describe the Salesforce sharing model’s features and capabilities, as well as the numerous settings and permissions that a profile may govern.

6. Sales & Marketing Apps

The sales and marketing applications part of the test will assess your understanding of Salesforce’s capabilities and how they will affect your sales process.

7. Service & Support Apps

The service and support applications component of the exam, which accounts for 6% of the overall exam, needs you to be able to describe Salesforce’s case management system and related apps.

8. Chatter

Features of chatter

9. Data Management

Data Import and export. Data management is critical to every Salesforce customer’s success. Obtaining meaningful data may assist your team in achieving their objectives and determining what’s next for your company.

10. Analytics, Reports & Dashboards

The display of data is the focus of this section. You’ll need to understand how to build and configure reports and dashboards, as well as how to distribute them. Analytics, reporting, and dashboards will be covered in about 13% of the test questions.

11. Automation Workflow

Describe the process of evaluating workflow, Describe the workflow rules and actions’ capabilities, Determine the best workflow option for a given case, Describe the approval process’ capabilities and use cases.

12. Activity Management

To describe to users as in what are the various capabilities of activity management

13. App Exchange

Uses of App Exchange and how to use various applications available there.

14. Desktop & Mobile App

Describe Salesforce Mobile’s capabilities, describe the Salesforce for Outlook installation and synchronization options.

Content Sources

The best way to prepare these topics is Trailheads. It is the world’s most advanced online learning site, offering a variety of online and instructor-led training courses that are essential for preparing for admin certification. It allows users to learn about the platform in an interactive manner and to experiment with new features and adjustments without affecting the platform’s functionality.

“Trailhead is a fun way to learn”

Trailhead offers a 35-hour completely tailored training course that may be taken online through the Trailhead site.

Other Methods of Training are –

1. Instructor lead courses
2. Videos on YouTube and other open sources

Scheduling/Appearing for Certification Examination

The test can be taken in one of two ways: onsite at a proctored location or online with a virtual proctor.

1. Onsite Proctored – Salesforce certification examinations are delivered by Salesforce in collaboration with Kryterion, a global network of testing facilities. Visit http://www.kryteriononline.com/Locate-Test-Center to find a center near you. Exam timetables are created by each testing facility, so availability may vary. Exam registration is typically needed at least 24-72 hours in advance; however, Salesforce suggests that you register for at least one week in advance to guarantee that your desired day and time are accessible.

2. Online Proctored – One may take Salesforce certification examinations from the comfort of your computer with online proctoring. Through a webcam, a proctor oversees these tests. Daily online proctored tests are available, except for significant US holidays and system maintenance. Online proctoring does not need advance registration; you can register and start a test on the same day. Allow additional time to prepare your computer if you’re taking a test through online proctoring for the first time.

• To begin the exam registration process, go to www.webassessor.com/salesforce and establish a test taker profile, then follow the procedures.

Exam Facts

1. Number of questions – 65 MCQs (Sometimes there will be 5 non-scored questions)
2. Total Time – 105 mins
3. No negative marking
4. Passing score – 65% (i.e., 39 MCQs need to be correct)
5. Each question carries the same weightage
6. Fee – 200$ +GST (for the first attempt), and for every retake, it is USD 100
7. You can take 3 attempts in a particular release.

Some Tips & Tricks

1. Take appropriate time for training

• Recognize that planning for anything does not work that can be completed in a single day. As a result, you’ll need plenty of time and patience to prepare for the exam.
• Consider at least a month of preparation to gain the necessary information for the various exam components.
• Spend a couple of hours a day studying, and as you get more interested in learning, the period will progressively rise, adhere to the instructions.

2. Focus on Important Topics

• Concentrate on the topics that have the highest weighted percentage.
• Examine the most recent Certification exam to gain a sense of the exam format.
• Categorize the topics into strengths and weaknesses to get a good understanding of which ones require more work and for which you have less expertise.

Other Tips

• You have 105 minutes to finish the Salesforce admin certification exam, which consists of 65 multiple-choice questions.
• If you don’t know the answers to any of the questions, skip them and try again once you’ve finished the others.
• Sometimes, especially when presenting for the first time, questions appear to be difficult. However, hard work and a little planning will always assist you in achieving more success. If you fail the first time, stay calm and patient because you will have three chances to pass the exam.