The Salesforce architect exams are some of the most rewarding and interesting exams to get. I really enjoy them because they offer a rare chance to dive very deep into a specific area of the platform. These can expand your capabilities within Salesforce, and provide you valuable understanding as you progress your career towards Technical Architect. This is the study guide for the Sharing and Visibility Designer certification exam.
Each of these exams has a study guide (like all other certifications), as well as a resource guide which has linked articles, Trailhead modules, documentation and more. To get the most out of those guides, I have written down some important areas to study and understand. If you understand the concepts below, you’ll do well on your exam.
Sharing and Visibility Designer
The Salesforce Sharing and Visibility Designer exam focuses on your ability to understand the Salesforce sharing model, and how to structure profiles, roles and sharing rules to control visibility. Your comprehension of best practices will help you make good recommendations to designing a Salesforce org that allows data to be secure and only shared to the correct people.
Key Topics
Sharing Architecture
This is the central theme of the exam, so make sure you understand the architecture. This PDF offers a lot of great insight.
Who Can See What?
You will be presented with many scenarios that assess your ability to understand why a user can or cannot see a specific field/record/object. Ensure that you understand the different tools at your disposal: record types, profiles, roles and role hierarchy, permission sets, manual sharing, programmatic sharing, and groups.
There are several articles and links in the resource guide, such as this Record Access, Under the Hood PDF. Beyond just reading what grants or removes access, think through how you would apply those to sample scenarios.
Implicit Sharing
There is implicit sharing within Salesforce. Make sure you know what is granted and when.
Community Sharing
How does sharing apply to a community? Understand the internal/external sharing models, and what types of sharing are available to your community users.
Territory Management
Territory Management is an account sharing model. Make sure you know how it works, and what types of considerations you need to be aware of.
Sharing Types
Understand the differences and use cases for programmatic sharing, manual sharing, implicit sharing and sharing rules.
Encryption
Review Shield and encryption options within Salesforce for sensitive data. How do you allow users to see only the allowed data for their role?
