This document provides an overview of Salesforce certifications including the different types of certifications available, their requirements, exam information, recommended training courses, and resources for obtaining and maintaining certifications. It outlines certifications for Administrator, Sales Cloud Consultant, Service Cloud Consultant, Developer, and Technical Architect and describes the concepts tested and exam format for each. The document also provides guidance on creating a certification plan, the 5 steps for individuals to become certified, and continuing education requirements to maintain certifications.

1. Cloud Academy:
Certification Overview
Salesforce Partner Program

2. Objectives:
​ Create Your Certification Plan
• Understand the different certifications, requirements, and exams
• Identify individual employees tasked with obtaining certifications
• Set timeframes
​ 5 Steps to Individual Certification
​ Certification Resources
​ Certification Maintenance & Continued Education

3. Certification Plan: Understand Certifications

4. Administrator Certification
​ No prerequisite required
​ Concepts Tested:
• Manage users, data, and security
• Maintain and customize Sales Cloud and Service Cloud applications
• Build reports, dashboards, and workflow
​ About the exam:
• 60 multiple choice/multiple select questions
• Education based – tested on what you learn and remember
• Passing score: 65%
• Registration fee: $200
​ Recommended Online courses:
• Administration Essentials for New Admins
• Administration Essentials for the Service Cloud

5. Sales Cloud Consultant Certification
​ Prerequisite: Administrator Certification
​ Concepts Tested:
• Ability to successfully design and implement Sales Cloud solutions that meet customer business requirements, are maintainable
and scalable, and contribute to long-term customer success
• Design Sales and Marketing solutions to meet business requirements
• Design applications and interfaces that maximize user productivity
• Manage data and design analytics to track key Sales Cloud metrics
​ About the exam:
• 60 multiple choice questions
• Experience based: test questions are based on 'use cases’
• Passing score: 68%
• Registration fee: $200
Recommended Online courses:
• Implementing Sales and Marketing
• Preparing for the Certified Sales Cloud Consultant Exam

6. Service Cloud Consultant Certification
​ Prerequisite: Administrator Certification
​ Concepts Tested:
• Ability to successfully design and implement Service Cloud solutions that meet customer business requirements, are maintainable
and scalable, and contribute to long-term customer success
• Design contact center solutions that make use of cases, knowledge base, and portals
• Design interaction channels and build interfaces to maximize agent productivity
• Manage data and design analytics that track key industry metrics
​ About the exam:
• 60 multiple choice questions
• Experience based: test questions are based on 'use cases’
• Passing score: 68%
• Registration fee: $200
Recommended Online courses:
• Preparing for the Certified Service Cloud Consultant Exam
• Implementing Case Management Across Channels
• Implementing Salesforce Knowledge
• Administration Essentials for the Service Cloud
• Setting up and Building Communities

7. Developer Certification
​ No prerequisite required
​ Concepts Tested:
• Demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities building custom applications and analytics using the declarative capabilities of the
Force.com platform, the programmatic capabilities of Force.com code (Apex) and Force.com pages (Visualforce), and application
development lifecycle management with cloud computing development as a service
• Build custom applications using the point-and-click capabilities of the platform
• Design the data model, user interface, business logic, and security for custom applications
• Design reports, dashboards, and portals
​ About the exam:
• 60 multiple choice questions
• Passing score: 68%
• Registration fee: $200
​ Recommended Online courses:
• Building Applications with Force.com Part 1
• Building Applications with Force.com Part 2
• Extend Analytics module within Administration Essentials for Experienced Admins (ADM211)

8. Technical Architect Certification
​ Prerequisite: Developer Certification
​ Concepts Tested:
• Designed for technical architects who want to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and capabilities to assessing customer architecture; designing
secure, high-performance technical solutions on the Force.com platform; communicating technical solutions and design tradeoffs effectively to
business stakeholders; and providing a delivery framework that ensures quality and success
• Design a technical architecture solution that may span multiple platforms and include integration and authentication across systems
• Manage the development lifecycle to ensure the delivery of highly secure solutions that are optimized for performance and built to scale
• Articulate design considerations, trade-offs, benefits, and recommendations for a technical architecture
​ About the exam:
• Certified Technical Architect program has three components one must successfully complete in this order:
• 1. Self-Evaluation
• Current status as a Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Developer is a prerequisite
• 2. Multiple-choice Exam
• 60 multiple choice questions
• 3. Review Board Presentation
• Presentation and discussion of the architecture solution for a hypothetical scenario and a customer case study
• Registration fee: $6,000 and includes two attempts
• 4 hours allotted to complete the exam

9. Certification Plan: Document Plan & Present to Team
​ Determine your corporate certification goal based on your practice’s focus
• number and types of certification
​ Identify individual employees tasked with obtaining certifications
​ Set deadlines for each individual certification
• Be sure to include prerequisites - Administrator Certification for Sales & Service Cloud Certification
​ Obtain executive support for certification plan
​ Present certification plan & resources to your Salesforce Practice Team
​ Execute on plan

10. Example Certification Plan
Resource August September October Certifications Fee Total:
Employee Name Developer 1 $200
Employee Name Admin Service Cloud 1 $400
Employee Name Admin Sales Cloud Service Cloud 2 $600
Employee Name
Employee Name Developer 1 $200
Employee Name Developer 1 $200
Employee Name Admin Service Cloud 1 $400
Employee Name Admin Service Cloud 1 $400
Program Totals: 1 4 3 8 $2,400
​ Corporate Certification Goal: 8 net new certified individuals
​ Target completion date: January 2016

11. 5 Steps to Individual Certification
​ Step 1: Identify credential to become certified in
​ Step 2: Determine and complete prerequisites
​ Step 3: Prepare for exam
• Review study guide on Salesforce certification website
• Sign up for Partner Online Training Catalog via Partner Community
• Complete recommended online training courses
​ Step 4: Create webassessor login & register for exam
​ Step 5: Complete exam
* After each release (3 per year) you must pass the release exam to maintain your certification

12. Certification Resources
​ Salesforce Certification website: http://certification.salesforce.com/
​ Partner Community: https://partners.salesforce.com
​ Partner Community Release Support: https://p.force.com/releases
​ Partner Online Training Catalog: https://help.salesforce.com/htsctrainingcatalog
• @partnertraining.com credentials

13. Salesforce Certification Website
​ Overview of all certification credentials
​ About the exam
• Outline
• Objectives
• Sample questions
• Recommended training and resources
​ Study Guides
​ Exam schedules & registration via webassessor
​ Verification
​ Support

14. Salesforce Certification Website: Study Guide

15. Salesforce Certification Website: Webassessor
​ Click on register for exam

16. Salesforce Certification Website: Webassessor
​ Login with webassessor credentials OR create new account

17. Salesforce Certification Website: Webassessor
​ Key fields in your profile
​ Ensure your certification is
associated to your company
​ Ensure your certification is
recognized by Salesforce Partner
Program correctly

18. Salesforce Certification Website: Webassessor
​ Verification Opt-In: Yes
​ Ensure your certification can be verified directly
from the certification website
​ Important for potential customers and employers

19. Salesforce Certification Website: Support
​ Open a case
​ Access knowledgebase

20. Salesforce Partner Community
​ Sign up for Partner Online Training Catalog Access
​ Partner Roadmap webinars
• Access to & insight from our PM’s & Program Staff
​ Enablement webinars & office hours
​ Release support & training

21. Partner Online Training Catalog

22. ​ Click Details & Sign Up
• You will receive 2 emails which include:
• @partnertraining.com username & link to create your password
• Welcome to Partner Online Training Catalog
Partner Online Training Catalog

23. Always use your @partnertraining.com credentials

24. Certification Maintenance
​ All certified professionals must successfully complete three online, release-specific exams within a 12-month
period
​ Release exams are published in conjunction with major product releases (Winter, Spring, and Summer)
​ Notified automatically when release training material and exams become available
​ Salesforce.com Certified Administrator Release Exam:
• Salesforce.com Certified Administrator
• Salesforce.com Certified Advanced Administrator
• Salesforce.com Certified Service Cloud Consultant
• Salesforce.com Certified Sales Cloud Consultant
​ Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Developer Release Exam:
• Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Developer
• Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Advanced Developer
• Salesforce.com Certified Technical Architect

25. Certification Maintenance: Salesforce Certification Website
​ Release exam schedules
​ Release exam deadlines

26. Certification Maintenance: Partner Community
Partner Community is your one-stop shop

27. Certification Questions?
​ Join the Collaboration Group
​ Ask questions and engage
​ Use links of left hand navigation of group

28. Thank you