Salesforce Premium Training – WeLearnSalesforce

New Salesforce Advanced Administrator Certification Exam Guide – December 2021

Trailhead by Salesforce have not only switched their certification exams over to the Winter ’22 Release, they have also updated the exam outline of the Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator Exam Guide. We have summarized all important updated for you. Plus, you will find links to topics you may not yet be familiar with so you can study up in no time.

Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce

Salesforce Advanced Administrator Certification Exam News

First up: NO NEED TO FREAK OUT! If you have booked your cert exam or you are planning to register, please know that the majority of topics have not changed. We have summarized all important updates for you. Plus, you will find links to topics you may not yet be familiar with so you can study up in no time.

As for the most part of the new exam outline, you will find changes around wording, structure and then a few additional topics. HOWEVER, as with every release cycle, you need to be familiar with the relevant Release Notes anyways. Some of the new topics are now considered baseline knowledge and as an Advanced Administrator, you will likely have heard of most of them already.

What is changing? 🤔

Salesforce Advanced Administrator Certification Exam Topics & Weighting

10 Exam Topics have been re-grouped into 7 Exam Topics. The weighting has increased significantly on the following topics:

Objects & Applications -> increased by 8%
Auditing & Monitoring -> increased by 4%
Process Automation -> increased by 7%

Other topics have either not changed or have been decreased:

Security & Access -> no change
Sales Cloud / Service Cloud -> combined and decreased by 9%
Data Management / Analytics Management -> combined and decreased by 7 %
Environment Management & Deployment (formerly Change Management) -> decreased by 3%

Many exam objectives from the original 10 exam topics are the same. Some topics have simply been moved to another section, reworded or extended to cover more complex scenarios.

A few new topics have been added, however nothing dramatic you wouldn’t already have come across as an Advanced Administrator. These topics are:

Security & Access

Objects & Applications

Auditing & Monitoring

Cloud Applications

Managing orders

Data & Analytics Management

Process Automation

The following exam objectives are being removed entirely:

Salesforce Experience Cloud Security Settings
Salesforce Content

Mapping Table of New to Current Salesforce Advanced Administrator Certification Exam Outline

Our Salesforce Advanced Administrator Certification Course follows the current exam outline of 10 exam topics. This means the course contents you need to prepare for the certification exam still cover the majority of relevant exam topics, including the main part of the above-listed topics. We’ll be adding the few remaining topics very shortly.

Here’s an overview of how our course curriculum (a.k.a. exam outline) matches with the New Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator Exam Outline.

NEW SALESFORCE ADVANCED ADMINISTRATOR EXAM GUIDE	OLD SALESFORCE ADVANCED ADMINISTRATOR EXAM GUIDE
Security & Access (20%)	Security & Access (20%)
Objects & Applications (19%)	Extending Custom Objects and Applications (8%)
Auditing & Monitoring (10%)	Auditing & Monitoring (6%)
Cloud Applications (11%)	Sales Cloud Applications (10%) Service Cloud Applications (10%)
Data & Analytics Mgmt (13%)	Data Management (10%) Analytics – Reports & Dashboards (10%)
Environment Management & Deployment (7%)	Change Management (10%)
Process Automation (20%)	Process Automation (13%)

Please leave us a comment below and share any questions or other thoughts with us.

We’d love to hear from you!

WHAT ELSE…

We make learning simple with our range of well-structured Salesforce Video Tutorials, downloadable Study Workbooks and realistic Practice Exams. Available for Salesforce Administrator, Advanced Administrator, Platform App Builder and more.

All materials are in line with the official Salesforce Certification Exam Outline including regular release updates.

TOP 10 SALESFORCE WINTER’22 RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS

The Salesforce Certification Exams have just switched over to Winter ’22. That’s right! Even though all Salesforce Orgs are already well into the Winter ’22 release cycle, the Salesforce Certification Exam cycles follow a slightly shifted time frame to give you a chance to catch up.

Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce

Whether or not you are planning to get a Salesforce Certification, keeping up-to-date on the latest Salesforce features gives you a competitive advantage. Let’s get to know the TOP 10 Salesforce Release Highlights that we believe are most important to YOU:

#1 Flow Builder becomes less scary

For many Admins or Salesforce beginners, Flow Builder can feel very overwhelming. But, it really doesn’t have to be. As with everything, it just needs time and practice for you to become confident. Plus, Salesforce is adding more and more click-not-code features into Flow Builder with every release, truly making Flow Builder so much easier to work with.

Developing Flow Builder is one of Salesforce’s priority items. Please note that you still need to be familiar with Workflow Rules and Process Builder because many Salesforce Customers have many of those in place. Check out my article on Why You Should Still Learn Workflow Rules and Process Builder.

And because Flow Builder is a priority, there are so many exciting updates, here is a list of some of my favorites:

Subflow Element in Record-Triggered Flow

Rollback Pending Record Changes When A Flow Element Fails

Outbound Message Available for Record-Triggered Flow

Avoid Creating Incompatible Resources from Choice Components

Choose More Options When You Debug a Flow

#2 Manage Record Access with Restriction Rules

The Record Sharing Model consists of Org-Wide Defaults, Role Hierarchy, Sharing Rules, Team and Manual Sharing. You will now have another tool at your hands to manage any remaining exemptions with Restriction Rules. Restriction Rules were previously in Beta and have now become generally available which is awesome.

While your baseline Record Sharing Model pretty much opens up access to records, restriction rules take away access. It’s like setting a filter criteria to display only selected records of those that a User already had access to.

Tip: Restriction Rules are currently only available for custom objects, contracts, tasks and events.

#3 Use Session Activation for entire Permission Set Groups

This feature was only available for individual Permission Sets and can now be used for entire Permission Set Groups. Permission Set Groups are used to allow assigned Users to complete very specific tasks. Access to these permissions can be limited to pre-defined sessions like a certain time frame during a workday. This is typically applied when highly sensitive data is involved.

No Tip, just use it. 😉

#4 Permission Set Groups assignments with Expiration Dates

I can’t believe it’s finally here, even though it’s currently in Beta. So let’s hope it stays for good. Managing the many Profiles and Permission Sets plus Permission Set Groups is hard enough, but removing permissions when no longer needed just adds to the pile. You can now have permissions sort of remove themselves by setting an expiration date. It can be used for both individual Permission Sets or entire Permission Set Groups. Once enabled you’ll find another button at the top. Go check it out!

Tip: Must be enabled in Setup under User Management Settings.

#5 Einstein Search is now available by default

With each release, Salesforce’s own AI tool Einstein becomes even smarter. One of which is Einstein Search. It has been available for a while though but now it’s turned on by default, and most importantly, at no extra cost. Einstein Search supports three key features: Personalization, Natural Language Search and Recommended Results.

Tip: Einstein Search features can be enabled/disabled in the Setup under Einstein Search Settings. Note: Developer Orgs/Trailhead Playgrounds are not supported.

#6 Gauge Charts in Dashboards respond dynamically

Charts used in Dashboards reference the data of the underlying report. However, when you apply a Gauge Chart the KPIs you wish to track against the data in the report, need to be defined manually. Therefore, the targets stay static. With the new ‘Dynamic Gauge Chart’ feature, you can make the entire Gauge Chart respond dynamically based on the filter criteria specified in the underlying report.

Note: This feature is currently in Beta and may not become generally available.

Tip: In order to make use of the Dynamic Gauge Chart, you need to enable this feature in the Setup under Reports and Dashboards Settings.

#7 Even more Inline Editing in your Reports

Not sure why this is in Beta, Inline Editing in Reports is not new but is being improved. I guess Salesforce is still finetuning its capabilities. With this release, Users can even inline edit date, picklist or lookup type of fields (not all but most of them 😉).

Tip: Inline Editing must be enabled in Setup under Reports and Dashboards Settings.

#8 Expand Your Collaborative Forecasts

Forecasting becomes more flexible. Salesforce has added a new category called “Most Likely” which sits in-between Commit and Best Case.

Tip: In Object Manager, select Opportunities and open the field ‘Forecast Category’. Note: You can label the field with any name you like, however it won’t match the category and can confuse yourself and the Forecast Users. And don’t forget to match relevant Opportunity Stages to this new Forecast Category!

#9 Territory Assignments Rules run on selected Accounts only

Territory Assignment Rules typically run through all your Accounts which can take a fair amount of time. No more! You now have the option to choose a subset of Accounts only.

No tip, just enjoy the new pop-up when you click the Run Assignment Rules button.

#10 Change the Sort Order of Upcoming and Overdue Activities

This may not be as exciting for Admins as it may be for Users. This one is a great addition for any Sales or other User who relies on Task and Event management. Salesforce has added an option to sort the list of Upcoming and Overdue Activities by oldest or newest.

No tip, just use it. 😉

There are so many more features to explore. Go check them out and remember you can earn points for learning all about them: Winter ’22 Release Highlights

Let us know in the comments which feature you enjoy the most. We’d love to hear from you!

WHAT ELSE…

We make learning simple with our range of well-structured Salesforce Video Tutorials, downloadable Study Workbooks and realistic Practice Exams.

And if you are brand new to the world of Salesforce, make sure to sign up for our FREE 21-Day Salesforce Beginners Challenge.

Profiles and Permission Sets – The Big Misunderstanding

Profiles and Permission Sets are THE tools to manage Salesforce User permissions, permissions to manipulate data that lives in Salesforce records. BUT… what about access to these records? Is that not covered by Profiles and Permission Sets too? So you thought, but not quite. It’s all about understanding how they play along with the entire Data Security Model. What does this mean? Let’s break it down into edible pieces.

Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce

Profiles and Permission Sets are THE tools to manage Salesforce User permissions, permissions to manipulate data that lives in Salesforce records. BUT… what about access to these records? Is that not covered by Profiles and Permission Sets already? So you thought, but not quite. It’s all about understanding how they play along with the entire Salesforce Data Security Model. What does this mean? Let’s break it down into edible pieces.

What you really need to understand is that Profiles and Permission Sets have to be seen from a record owner’s perspective. It’s like going into a public parking garage. 🚗🚙 One of the cars is yours or is the car you have the key to. However, all the other cars are there too but you can’t drive them. Not without a key. 🔑

It’s the same with accessing Salesforce records. A Salesforce Object is like a parking garage and contains a lot of records. However, not all records are necessarily accessible to you. A Salesforce User Profile only determines which Salesforce Object a User can go into. It does not determine which of the records within the specific Object the User can actually ‘drive’. Therefore, we need to discuss how Salesforce Users get access to the individual records.

SALESFORCE DATA RECORD ACCESS MODEL

That’s where the Salesforce Data Record Access Model comes into play. That’s the one that determines whose records you are allowed to access, like giving a User one or more keys to drive selected cars. It’s the highest priority of every Salesforce Organization to protect the data of their customers, partners, supplies and others. Not every Salesforce User should have access to every Salesforce record, only those they need to work with on a daily basis, in order to fulfill the job they were hired for.

Unfortunately, this is not the case for many organizations. Especially smaller organizations oftentimes leave record access open to everyone because they don’t have the capacity to get to know the Salesforce Setup items. And what makes things worse, most Salesforce Users are given a System Administrator Profile. Sounds familiar? I hope not, but I’m sure it does. 😉

We won’t discuss the entire Salesforce Record Access Model in this article. We’ll focus on the two most important elements from a Salesforce User perspective. And this is about what they can DO in Salesforce and what they can SEE after they’ve logged in.

WHAT SALESFORCE USERS CAN DO

It all starts with Profiles and Permission Sets for sure. They are used to determine what Users can do in Salesforce, including what they can do with the records they have access to. This is referred to as ‘Object Permissions’. The four essential permissions you need to be familiar with are Create, Read, Edit and Delete. In short, the ‘CRED’ permissions. There are two more, but let’s stick with CRED for now.

Salesforce provides a number of Standard Profiles to get you started with, so you don’t have to define and select them all from scratch. These Standard Profiles contain a carefully selected combination of Object and other permissions Salesforce has determined relevant for most common job functions. But remember to clone them first and save them as Custom Profiles. Only assign Custom Profiles to your Salesforce Users because Standard Profiles cannot be changed. You have been warned. 😉

And please also consider that Profiles should only contain the very minimum of permissions. Everything else is managed through Permission Sets and Permission Set Groups.

WHOSE SALESFORCE RECORDS USERS CAN SEE

As mentioned earlier, Profiles and Permission Sets only determine which parking garage (Salesforce Object) Users can get into, but not which individual cars (Salesforce records) they will have the keys to.

When we apply this concept to the CRED permission, this looks like this:

DO = Create – Set up a new record within this Object

SEE = Read – Access to the Object

DO = Edit – Change data on records within these Objects

DO = Delete – Get it out of Salesforce

By default, when a Salesforce User has been granted access to a Salesforce Object, they automatically have full access to records they created and own. This does not apply to records a Salesforce User does NOT own.

However, also by default, Salesforce does not restrict access to many Salesforce records, to begin with. That’s why it often appears as if Users automatically have access to all records when they have Read access through their Profile. While this makes it easier to get started with Salesforce it makes it harder later in life when you do need to take away access.

And that brings us to the Sharing Settings. The baseline settings which determine whether Users have access to all or only their own records is managed through the Organization-Wide Defaults (OWD). Each Object has a specific access level selected.

The access levels you can choose from vary by Object. Here is what the most common access levels mean:

And this is just the starting point. As soon as you choose something like Private or Read-Only you will have managers and executives come yelling and screaming why they can’t see their teams’ data anymore. It’s because you’ve taken it away. 😱 But the good news is, that you have other tools to give access back by business unit or other specifications. 😅 And this makes up your Data Record Access Model:

Now you know why Profiles and Permission Sets alone do not dictate access to Salesforce records. You must use them in combination with the Sharing Settings:

DO = Create – Set up a new record within this Object

SEE = Read – Access to the Object -> Access to individual records managed through Sharing Settings

DO = Edit – Change data on records within these Objects

DO = Delete – Get it out of Salesforce

This is a lot to take in. The entire Data Security Model including record access is pretty complex and needs time and practice. I hope this article has clarified some of the key elements you need to consider when it comes to data security.

If you’d like to dive deeper, we have it all covered in detail in our comprehensive Salesforce Administrator Certification Course. You can get a sneak peek at our Free Salesforce Introduction Course. Have a look, no strings attached. 🙂

Let me know in the comments if this is helpful.

WHAT ELSE…

We make learning simple with our range of well-structured Salesforce Video Tutorials, downloadable Study Workbooks and realistic Practice Exams.

And if you are brand new to the world of Salesforce, make sure to sign up for our FREE 21-Day Salesforce Beginners Challenge.

8 HOT TIPS TO PREPARE FOR YOUR SALESFORCE CERTIFICATION EXAM

Getting a Salesforce Certification will unlock career opportunities you didn’t know were out there. But first, you need to get it, before you can add it to your CV and LinkedIn Profile. Let me share my 8 hot tips with you how you can pass the exam at 1st attempt so you don’t loose any time to find your Salesforce Dream Job.

Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce

Getting a Salesforce Certification will unlock career opportunities you didn’t know were out there. But first, you need to get it, before you can add it to your CV and LinkedIn Profile. Let me share my 8 hot tips with you on how you can pass the exam on 1st attempt so you don’t loose any time to find your Salesforce Dream Job.

Of course, I can’t promise you will pass the exam, but I can promise that your chances to pass will increase significantly.

🌶 HOT TIP #1 – Study the official Salesforce Certification Exam Guide.

It’s been created for a purpose. 😉 It contains all the information you need to know about the certification and the exam, such as timing, cost and most importantly the exam objectives and their weighting. The greater the weighting, the more complex the topic, the more you need to deepen your skills.

🌶 HOT TIP #2 – Study the right Salesforce exam relevant topics.

You’ve got the exam objectives right there. BUT… they can be hard to interpret. Each exam topic contains a number of sub-topics. To help you understand better what the exact topics actually involve and what they mean, I’ve created a Study Checklist for you. Each exam objective, which is represented as a section, is broken down into individual topics in chronological order. It includes the obvious topics plus topics beyond what the exam outline tells you. Because I don’t want to leave you guessing. 🤓

This comprehensive Study Checklist will help you focus on all Salesforce exam-relevant topics and learn in a structured way. You want to be able to connect the dots otherwise you will get lost in the maze of Salesforce features and functionalities. As amazing as they are, you can’t possibly learn them all at once.

The Study Checklist is also a great way to tick off each topic as you progress and add notes to help you learn and review.

Of course, just knowing the topics won’t help you understand how they work. So…keep reading….

🌶 HOT TIP #3 – Study and practice with Trailhead, that’s what it’s there for.

Hands-on practice is the best way to memorize all that knowledge you are learning about. Use our WeLearnSalesforce Trailmix. It is based on the official Trailmix that you will find in the exam guide. However, I’ve optimized it into a more logical structure and added some modules and projects to fill some gaps giving you a well-rounded learning experience.

🌶 HOT TIP #4 – Don’t freak out!

It can feel overwhelming and you may find yourself lost with all that content on Trailhead. Trailhead is mainly text-based which can be cumbersome to work through. Plus, not all topics are actually covered on Trailhead yet.

That’s why… I have created Study Workbooks for you to keep you calm and focused. The Study Workbook covers all topics you will find on your Study Checklist and explains each topic with diagrams, flowcharts, checklists and best practices along with detailed descriptions. Each learning unit also contains additional learning resources like links to the corresponding Trailmix modules or projects and links to other supporting Salesforce Documentation.

And for those of you that love watching videos and prefer learning in a more guided way, I have created a comprehensive Salesforce Video Tutorial for you that gives you the complete learning experience. It almost feels like you are sitting in a classroom with the instructor upfront teaching you all about each topic, showing you around in Salesforce to see how things come to life. And we’ll do plenty of hands-on exercises together.

🌶 HOT TIP #5 – Check out Salesforce customer stories.

Why? Wouldn’t it be nice to see how Salesforce works in the real world? Indeed it would! While I’m including real-life business cases in our study materials, reading about Salesforce customer stories is a great addition. Salesforce has an awesome collection of customer stories showcasing how and why they are using Salesforce. These stories give you an idea of which Salesforce Products and features they are using. This helps you build the bridge between business and system requirements.

You can even use these scenarios to design your own version of a solution in your own Trailhead Playground or Developer Org. You get more hands-on practice plus you are building your own system experience which you can showcase with recruiters and potential future employers.

Source: salesforce.com/customers-success-stories

🌶 HOT TIP #6 – Check your exam readiness.

Once you have learned everything and gotten familiar with business use cases, you have probably forgotten half of what you have been studying. That’s perfectly normal.

That’s where Practice Exams come in handy. Practice Exams are the perfect way to test your knowledge and identify your strength and weaknesses. And, they give you a chance to get familiar with the exam format and complexity of exam questions and answers.

I have created a bundle of realistic Practice Exams for you so you can check your exam readiness. The results include detailed explanations and plenty of resources to help you deepen your learnings.

🌶 HOT TIP #7 – Register for the exam when you feel confident and you are ready to take it.

You will need to register through a Webassessor account. If you don’t have one yet, you can easily create a new one.

Some say that you should register for the exam ahead of time, like three months into the future. This gives you a deadline you can work towards. However the exam is easy to reschedule and you may find yourself postponing it, or, taking it, just for the sake of it because it’s booked, but then you may fail. You may not. But if you do you’re not only losing time but also money. The certification exam is US$200 and the retake is US$100.

What I recommend instead, is, yes, absolutely plan for it. Put a date in the calendar by when you’d like to be ready. When you get closer to that date, check in on your learning progress, for example with Practice Exams. If you reach at least 80-90%, you have a pretty good chance to pass the real exam, meaning you can go register. Of course, I can’t promise you will pass but the more you practice the more likely you will.

Upon registration, you will have to choose your test taker style. You can take the exam onsite at a Kryterion test center or online from home or work or anywhere you choose, as long as you have a computer, internet and a webcam. Both options are of course proctored.

The online option will require you to install some software to access the exam. Exams taken at a Kryterion test center only require some form of ID and a happy smile. You are even given scratch paper too, which you won’t be allowed to use in an online exam.

Get familiar with the requirements for each test taker style and choose the one you prefer. Many locations offer plenty of time slots throughout the week, so you should be able to book something not too far in the future.

🌶 HOT TIP #8 – Keep practicing! Practice practice practice.

Get your hands on the system. Trust me. That’s the best way to memorize what you are learning. You still have time, go back to the Practice Exams, do them again, practice weaker areas even more. This will give you so much more confidence.

I’ve put all these steps into a comprehensive Salesforce Certification Guide. It contains even more useful tips and tricks. No go ahead, and download it right away. It’s free, with no strings attached.

I hope you’ve been finding these hot tips helpful. Is there anything else you’d like to know? Please leave me a comment. I’m here to help! 🙂

Before You Create Your Next Salesforce Report

Are you a little bit like me? A co-worker comes over to you asking if you could help with this particular report they need, and then you jump right into the Report Builder to see what you can whip up. Not anymore! Let me explain why. This will save you a lot of headaches.

Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce

WELL … I used to pro-react like that too, but not anymore. After I’ve gone through the pain of recreating what I started too many times, I’m now tackling this differently.

And if you have been following me for a little while you know that I have been a Salesforce Trainer for many years, on top of my Salesforce Administrator experience. Which means, I’ve not only learned myself how to approach Salesforce tasks like creating Reports and Dashboards in more a logical way, I’ve also seen the same pattern repeated by many of my students.

If you recognize this pattern in yourself, then let me walk you through the steps you need to consider BEFORE you create any type of report.

THE FIRST STEP IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP

Salesforce Reports aggregate the data which is stored in any of your Salesforce Objects, such as Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Cases and so on. The data in these objects is being analyzed to understand business relevant metrics like user adoption, data quality, sales revenue, customer enquiries, you name them.

This means, you need to understand what type of data is stored in which Object and how some data is related to data living in other Objects. Take Opportunities for example: Opportunities store data about the customer, the amount to be invested, order number, delivery status etc. However, the information about the service or product the customer is interested in, is stored in another Salesforce Object, the Product Object. Products are then attached to the corresponding Opportunity through a link, or in Salesforce terms, through an Object Relationship.

Therefore, the Report Type you will need to select as your very first step when building a new Salesforce Report, determines what type of data you will be able to include in your report.

In our example, you will need to select the Report Type ‘Opportunities with Products’ in order to ensure you can add data from both Objects, Opportunities as well as Products. If you were to select the Report Type ‘Opportunities’ you would not be able to add Product details.

Did you know? -> In case you realize you selected the wrong Report Type later in life, after you’ve already added a lot of items to your report, you won’t be able to switch to another Report Type. No, you will need to start from scratch! 🤯

UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU NEED TO INCLUDE IN YOUR SALESFORCE REPORT

We often get desperate requests which sound something like this: ‘Can you quickly run a report on our latest sales numbers?’

Nice try! It’s actually a little more complex than that. Meaning, you would need to know what sales numbers they are talking about. Sales numbers of whose records and what time frame are they referring to?

Your next question should be about the details. ‘Details’ is what is stored in the different fields like the Opportunity Name, Amount, Close Date and so on. How much of this do they care about?

And that’s not all. Is there anything which should be filtered in or out? Do they want to see sales numbers of all customers or only a particular region or a particular product?

FIND OUT HOW THE REPORT NEEDS TO BE PRESENTED

Now that you know WHAT you need to include, what about the look of the report? HOW do they want the data to be displayed?

Reports have different purposes, such as analyzing data entry gaps, executive strategy meetings, sales forecast planning and so on. This means, the way the report is grouped and summarized will make a big difference.

Therefore, you also need to ask whether they need to see every single detail, or just a summary by sales rep or by customer or else. Do they require sub-totals or grand totals? And, do they wish to add a Report Chart or even require an entire Dashboard to get a visual representation. Visuals are great additions for PowerPoint presentations in meetings. Or even better, a live demo in Salesforce during the meeting.

As you can see, creating Salesforce Reports requires a lot of detail and understanding how the data in Salesforce is stored and managed.

If you follow the above steps, I can promise you that your reporting life will become so much easier and more fun. Creating Reports and Dashboards became one of my personal favorites amongst the many Salesforce tasks. The results which come out of these reports can reveal so much about your Salesforce Users as well as your business success.

If you want to learn more about creating Reports and Dashboards, it’s included in our Salesforce Administrator Certification Course. Our PDF Workbooks contain lot’s of checklists, flow charts, diagrams and best practices, like the above. You can even download and pin them to your office wall. 🤓

Let me know in the comments if this is helpful. And, of course, if you have another cool technique you use, let me know too.

WHAT ELSE…

We make learning simple with our range of well-structured Salesforce Video Tutorials, downloadable Study Workbooks and realistic Practice Exams.

And if you are brand new to the world of Salesforce, make sure to sign up to our FREE 21-Day Salesforce Beginners Challenge.

TOP 10 SALESFORCE SUMMER’21 RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS

The Salesforce Certification Exams have just switched over to Summer ’21. While you might already get excited about the Winter ’22 features, make sure to get familiar with the release highlights of the current Summer ’21 release.

Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce

The Salesforce Certification Exams have just switched over to Summer ’21. What? Isn’t everyone already talking about Winter ’22? That’s right. However, we’re still in Summer ’21. The Salesforce Certification Exam cycles follow a slightly shifted time frame to give you a chance to catch up.

Whether or not you are planning to get certified, keeping up-to-date on the latest Salesforce features gives you a competitive advantage.

At WeLearnSalesforce we follow a declarative-first development approach which is in-line with what Salesforce recommends. It’s therefore with great excitement to see that Salesforce are adding more and more click-not-code functionality.

Here are my TOP 10 Summer ’21 favorites:

#1 Enable Topics for Objects in Lightning Experience Setup

Not only does Salesforce focus on integrating more click-not-code features, they also focus on providing the necessary productivity tools. Some of these tools already existed in the old Salesforce Classic interface and were loved by many, but haven’t gotten transferred over into Lightning. This included ‘Topics for Objects’ which is now available in Lightning Experience too. One less item to cross off your ‘Switch-to-Classic-items’ list.

Tip: Enable ‘Topics for Objects’ from Setup, then add ‘Topic’ component to Lightning Record Pages

#2 Power Up Recently Viewed Lists with Customizable Actions

There wasn’t much you could do with ‘Recently Viewed’ List Views apart from seeing a list of recent records. It’s now being recognized as a fully worthy list view and also allows Custom Actions to be made available.

Tip: From the Object Manager, select ‘Search Layouts for Salesforce Classic’ in order to manage which buttons appear on List Views. Even though it says Classic, it applies to Lightning Experience too. 😉

#3 Inline Editing in Reports (BETA)

For those Salesforce End Users who have been using inline editing on List Views, they will love this feature being available from within Reports too. Previously, you were able to include the record ID in the report to allow Users to open a record in a separate window for editing. This is no longer necessary. Just make updates right in the Report viewer.

Tip: This is currently in BETA. While you don’t necessarily need to contact Salesforce to use features in BETA, for this one though you will.

#4 Auto Add Fields to Custom Report Types

You might have noticed a new checkbox ‘Auto add to custom report type’ when creating Custom Fields. In organizations where you work with tons of Custom Report Types, this feature is super handy to have.

Tip: It’s pre-selected by default, which I personally think is a little too pro-active of Salesforce. You may have Custom Report Types where you do not want to add the field to, so you have to remember to deselect this checkbox.

#5 Download a Dashboard Image

You can now download an image of an entire Dashboard, not just an individual Dashboard component. This is a great addition and perfect to use in PowerPoint presentations or any other place.

No tip. Just use it. 🙂

#6 See Record Access Reasons

Have you been using the Sharing button in Classic? Not only is the Sharing button now natively available for many Objects in Lightning Experience, you can now also see the Sharing Hierarchy. You can choose to view the access shares using the ‘Sharing’ button or using the dedicated ‘Sharing Hierarchy’ button which Salesforce have added for your convenience. I’d say it’s one button too many but probably more intuitive to use for some.

Tip: You can see the Sharing and Sharing Hierarchy buttons when you are either the System Administrator, the Record Owner or a User in a Role above the Record Owner.

#7 Set Expirations for Assignments on Permissions in Permission Sets and Permission Set Groups (Beta)

Managing assignments of Permission Sets with Permission Set Groups has already been a major improvement. You can now even add an expiry date to the assignment to auto-expire the permissions. So you don’t have to worry about keeping track manually.

Tip: This is also currently in Beta. As a Customer you can opt to try this service at your own discretion.

#8 Dynamic Actions Bar for Your App Page (Pilot)

Dynamic Actions are getting even more dynamic. While you can dynamically adjust the action buttons in the Highlights Panel on Lightning Record Page, you can now add additional action items onto your record pages.

Tip: This is currently in Pilot and only available to selected customers. Enquire with your Salesforce Customer Support Rep.

#9 Build Multicolumn Screens in Flow Builder

Building meaningful Screen Flows can be so rewarding. With each release Salesforce are adding tons of new features to Flow Builder. One of which is that you can now add more than one column to your Screen elements. This not only gives you more freedom to build out Screen elements but also adapts dynamically to smaller screens like mobile devices.

Tip: Use the ‘Section’ component, add your columns, then drag other components into each column.

#10 Find Failed Flows Faster

When you have dozens or more Processes and Flows set up, you had to search your inbox to find the error emails for the ones that failed. No more tedious searching, you can now go straight to where the ‘Paused Flow Interviews’ were. This has been rename to ‘Paused and Failed Flow Interviews’.

Tip: Switch the List View selection to view either Paused or Failed Flow Interviews.

There are so many more features to explore. Go check them out and remember you can earn points for learning all about them: Summer ’21 Release Highlights

Let us know in the comments which features you enjoy the most. We’d love to hear from you!

WHAT ELSE…

We make learning simple with our range of well-structured Salesforce Video Tutorials, downloadable Study Workbooks and realistic Practice Exams.

And if you are brand new to the world of Salesforce, make sure to sign up to our FREE 21-Day Salesforce Beginners Challenge.

New Salesforce Administrator Certification Exam Guide – June 2021

Official Salesforce News: After June 23, 2021 Trailhead has updated the content of the Salesforce Certified Administrator Exam Guide. We provide you with a mapping table of NEW vs. OLD Topics and their Weightings.

Salesforce Administrator Certification Exam Guide has been Updated

After June 23, 2021 Trailhead has updated the content of the Salesforce Certified Administrator Exam Guide. We provide you with a mapping table of NEW vs. OLD Topics and their Weightings.

First up: NO NEED TO WORRY!

If you have booked your cert exam or you are planning to register, there is no reason to freak out! Because the exam objectives as such are not changing much. The knowledge topics and concepts you need to be proficient in are still the same.

What is changing is mostly the grouping and order of the exam outline. Meaning, Trailhead is taking the current exam objectives and groups them into more logical buckets.

There are just very few somewhat newer topics. HOWEVER, as with every release cycle, you need to be familiar with the relevant Release Notes anyways. Some of these topics are now considered baseline knowledge, that’s why they will be mentioned more officially in the exam outline. That’s about it!

What is changing? Salesforce Administrator Certification Exam Guide Topics & Weighting

The previously 12 Exam Topics have been re-grouped into 7 Exam Topics.

The weighting has increased significantly on the following topics, which means you will get more Certification Exam Questions on these:

Object Manager & Lightning App Builder (20%) -> increased by 6%

Workflow/Process Automation (16%) -> will be twice as much, increased by 8%

These New Certified Administrator Exam Objectives have been added:

Most exam objectives from the original 12 exam topics are the same. There will be a few new topics to be added which you should already be familiar with from the Release Notes:

Einstein Lead Scoring

Einstein Opportunity Scoring

Forecast Impact

These Certified Administrator Exam Objectives have been removed:

Products & Price Books

Salesforce Content

Salesforce Knowledge

Salesforce Experience Cloud Site

Salesforce Lightning for Outlook

Mapping Table of New vs. Old Salesforce Administrator Certification Exam Guide

Our Salesforce Administrator Certification Video Course, Study Workbook & Practice Exams have been be updated accordingly.

Here’s an overview of how our course curriculum (aka exam outline) will match with the New Salesforce Certified Administrator Exam Guide:

NEW SALESFORCE CERTIFIED ADMINISTRATOR EXAM GUIDE	OLD SALESFORCE CERTIFIED ADMINISTRATOR EXAM GUIDE
Configuration & Setup (20% )	Organizational Setup (3%) User Setup (7%) Security & Access (13%)
Object Manager & Lightning App Builder (20%)	Standard & Custom Objects (14%)
Sales & Marketing Applications (12%)	Sales & Marketing Applications (14%)
Service & Support Applications (11%)	Service & Support Applications (13%)
Productivity & Collaboration (7%)	Activity Management & Collaboration (3%) Desktop & Mobile Administration (3%) AppExchange (2%)
Data & Analytics Management (14%)	Data Management (10%) Analytics, Reports & Dashboards (10%)
Workflow / Process Automation (16%)	Workflow / Process Automation (8%)

Our Salesforce Administrator Certification Video Course, Study Workbook & Practice Exams have been be updated accordingly.

WeLearnSalesforce Administrator Certification Course / Study Workbooks / Practice Exams

How Do Salesforce Administrators Choose The Right Customization Tool?

It’s an ongoing debate! Making use of Salesforce’s declarative tool set or add an app from the AppExchange or get the whole thing coded? Each has their own advantages. This article will explain how you can make a dignified decision.

Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce

Have you ever struggled with the decision whether your Salesforce customization should be done with the declarative tools Salesforce gives you out-of-the-box? Or whether there could be a better solution with an app from the AppExchange or even by coding from scratch?

There is no easy answer! First and foremost you should have a pretty good understanding of the Salesforce platform’s capabilities and limitations. And once you get started to learn all about Salesforce, you will quickly realize that it’s no small feast. And on top of that, Salesforce brings out three releases per year with even more awesome out-of-the-box functionalities. It may leave you scratching your head…

At WeLearnSalesforce we care deeply about the success of our Salesforce Trainees and want to help them make educated decisions for what works best for their business’ Salesforce implementation as well as future updates and maintenance. But not only System Administrators are involved in the decision making process. If you are a Product Manager, Business Analyst, Consultant or otherwise involved, this is relevant for you too.

In this article I will walk you through the three customization options, their benefits and challenges and how to choose the best possible solution.

Best Practice Considerations

Before we dive deeper into each, as a rule of thumb, always consider declarative customization first. If you don’t seem to get anywhere with this, have a look at the AppExchange and only, only if you still don’t find what you are looking for, consider programmatic development.

If you are a Developer reading this, you may be thinking “What the f&$!#%”. I totally get that. Coding gives you a lot of flexibility and often a very reasonable solution, but we want to look at the greater picture and the sanity of Salesforce configurations.

Use a Questionnaire

Of course it’s not always as simple as yay or nay. There are a number of factors to take into consideration before deciding how to go about a planned Salesforce configuration, no matter if it’s an entire implementation project or a change request of an existing setup. I’ve been part of many Salesforce implementations and have seen the struggles first hand. It’s impossible to cover every single scenario, but you can avoid a lot of issues early in the process by asking the right questions from the start or even before that.

So I’ve put together a list of questions you should think about before deciding what you want to do:

What business problem are you looking to solve? What would be the benefit for the business?
What specific outcome are you trying to achieve?
Are you imposing your business processes onto Salesforce or could it benefit from the way Salesforce is already set up?
What is your Salesforce Support package (called “Success Plan“)? What type of support is already included?
What is your budget for the configuration and future maintenance?
What is your timeframe? How urgent is the implementation or change request?
Do you want to develop in-house or externally?
How do you maintain any related or unrelated changes in the future?

These are just high-level questions. We won’t go into detailed project management related questions, we save that for another article. However, these questions already give you an idea of how complex your decision may become.

Do your Homework

Depending on what your answers to these questions look like, they will either have a small or big impact on your business’ success. Because Salesforce is being implemented to make your business processes better, right? And who is using Salesforce? Your business users! Hence, user adoption plays a huge role. Which means setting up, maintaining and supporting your Salesforce org depends on the way it is being managed behind the scenes.

So here is a table for you to help you compare and understand the differences between each of the three customization options you have available:

	Declarative Development	Extend with Apps from the AppExchange	Programmatic Development
What is it	Salesforce Configurations without using code. Using tools such as Process Builder, Flow Builder, Lightning App Builder, Einstein Automation etc.	Salesforce owned or Partner Apps. Integrate seamlessly with a Salesforce Org.	Using code-based tools to set up functionalities beyond declarative capabilities.
When to use	When the business follows a common business scenario. When business processes are less complex.	When a declarative feature is not available and cannot be replicated with declarative tools.	When the business follows complex processes. When a declarative feature is not available and cannot be replicated with declarative tools and a suitable solution cannot be found on the AppExchange.
What are the Benefits	Out-of-the-Box. No additional fees. Point-and-Click (Relatively) easy to maintain.	Managed Packages (incl. automatic upgrades). Unmanages Packages at your own disposal. Click-and-Install Only small configurations required (in most cases).	Code and automate anything you want. The sky is the limit.
What are the Challenges	Limited capabilities as per Salesforce Edition. Documenting business processes and how they are implemented. Changes may require more complex updates of Processes and Flows.	Compare with Salesforce Products and potential Partner Apps. Most come at an additional fee. Time and patience to research and test potential app solutions.	Can become very convoluted. Keeping control over what is declarative versus what has been coded. Documenting business processes and how they are implemented. Changes require manual code updates.
What Skills are required	Solid understanding of fundamental Salesforce features and limitations. A certification like Salesforce Admin, Advanced Admin, Platform App Builder can be beneficial. No coding required.	Solid understanding of fundamental Salesforce features and limitations. A certification like Salesforce Admin, Advanced Admin, Platform App Builder can be beneficial. Good understanding of other Salesforce Products and how Partner Apps work with Salesforce.	Experience with object-oriented languages like Apex, Java, as well as with Lightning Components and Visualforce. A certification like Platform Developer I or JavaScript Developer I can be beneficial. Understanding of fundamental Salesforce features and limitations is beneficial.

Declarative vs. AppExchange Extensions vs. Programmatic Tools

Make an educated Decision

As you can see, each has their advantages and requires thorough investigation. It all starts with a solid understanding of the Salesforce fundamental features that we teach in our Complete Salesforce Certification Courses. We have a Free Salesforce Administrator Introduction Course to give you a taster.

I truly hope you are finding the information in this article useful. There are certainly other factors to be considered in a Salesforce implementation or enhancement that I haven’t mentioned. Let me know in the comments below what else you would add to the list.

TOP 10 SALESFORCE SPRING’21 RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS

The Salesforce Spring’21 Release has arrived, most Salesforce Orgs have been updated. As always, we encourage you to keep up-to-date on the latest and greatest Salesforce features. So, here are our Top 10 Favorites.

Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce

The Spring’21 Release has arrived, most Salesforce Orgs have been updated. Your Trailhead Playgrounds are usually the last ones to receive the updates.

If you want to find out which version your Salesforce Org is on, you can go to https://status.salesforce.com, search for your Org’s instance and view the details.

BTW, if you are not sure which instance your Salesforce Org belongs to, check the Company Information page in the Setup.

As always, even if you don’t have to complete any maintenance modules, you should keep up-to-date on the latest and greatest Salesforce features. Make sure to check the Certification Maintenance Schedule so you don’t miss yours!

You may have seen this message across the original Release Notes page:

Source: releasenotes.docs.salesforce.com

The Release Notes are moving all the way into Salesforce Help. It’s best to bookmark the page in your browser, so you can easily find them again.

And without further ado, here are our Top 10 favorite features:

#1 Catch Potential Duplicates Before Saving

Duplicates are a pain in the b… so the good news is, Duplicate Management is getting better and better. In combination with Dynamic Forms, Users will already get an alert while they create or edit a Lightning Record Page. On other pages, Users will only get an alert after they hit the Save button.

Tip: Set up Matching and Duplicate Rules for the relevant Object.

#2 Accounts can now be added as Campaign Members

Still in BETA and may not last, but for now we are super happy it’s here, and very much hope it will stay on. Accounts can finally be added as Campaign Members. This means you start planning your Marketing Campaigns using List Views and Reports based on Accounts instead of individual names which you may not have yet.

Tip: Enable Accounts as Campaign Members in the Setup.

#3 Collaborative Forecasts adjustments now available on the Salesforce Mobile App

If you are working in a competitive sales driven environment and you are on the go most of the time, you’ve certainly had your frustrations with your Salesforce mobile access. There is one more item which has been enabled: your Forecast predictions. Some days are more productive than others and you want to be able to track your progress in real-time. Now you can adjust your Forecast numbers on the fly to the next Customer.

No tip, just use it. 😉

#4 Opportunity Products can be referenced on other Objects too

Opportunity Products are the specific Products which are added as line items on an Opportunity, referred to as ‘OpportunityLineItem’. There wasn’t much else you could do with it. Now, you can. You can reference these OpportunityLineItems on other Objects. Let’s say you have a Shipment Object and want to reference the specific OpportunityLineItem which is being shipped, you can create a Lookup Relationship and select the Opportunity Product.

Tip: Create a Lookup Relationship field on a Custom Object and select ‘Opportunity Product’ from the Related To picklist.

#5 Convert Leads to a Business and Person Account simultaneously

This is for Salesforce Orgs that have Person Accounts enabled. When you convert a Lead and the Company field is left blank, it turns the Lead into a Person Account automatically. However, sometimes you need both the Business and Individual. Just think about bank accounts or insurance accounts where you have couples or families and you need to bundle the individuals into “Family” accounts. You can now have the converted individual Lead added to Business Account. It does require a Custom Flow though. There are new arguments made available for LeadConvert() class.

Tip: Enable the Contacts to Multiple Accounts feature if you haven’t already.

#6 Lightning Sync to be replaced with Einstein Activity Capture

We all love syncing our inbox and calendar with Salesforce, and while Lighting Sync did the job, Einstein Activity Capture is the future. And the future is arriving faster than you’d think. Hence, Lightning Sync won’t get anymore support. Einstein Activity Capture is the way to go.

Tip: Disable Lighting Sync before you enable Einstein Activity Capture. Do it carefully, you don’t want to create a mess. 😉

#7 Add Multiple Fields to Your Reports

Really? This one was a mystery to me. What Classic Reports could do so nicely long ago, Lightning Reports couldn’t. Creating Reports from scratch with Lightning was really something to get used to, if you were like me, moving from Classic to Lightning. Another milestone with Reports has been reached, you can now select multiple Fields to add to your Report.

No tip, just go for it. 😉

#8 Salesforce Mobile now has a Home Page

The Home page used to be a privilege of the Desktop User Interface, and now it can be set up for the Salesforce Mobile menu as well. This is in Beta and only for iOS Users but totally worth checking it out.

Tip: Set up a Custom Attribute in the Manage Connected Apps settings for the relevant mobile app, e.g., the Salesforce for iOS.

#9 Standard Read Only Profile becomes a Custom Profile

Salesforce has been extending the permissions available in this Read Only Profile over time. Since it used to be a Standard Profile it was not editable. This is going to change. Salesforce will turn this into a Custom Profile. It’s never been a good idea to assign Standard Profiles to your Users anyways, unless you have signed up for a Salesforce Edition which does not support Custom Profiles. Now, this change will be automated, you don’t really have to do much. BUT, the Metadata API is changed from ‘ReadOnly’ to ‘Read Only’. Therefore, if you are referencing this in Apex code, calls, files etc. you will need to change the reference.

#10 Manual Sharing has arrived in Lightning

Yeah! This has been a handy feature in Classic already. I call this the “last resort” sharing option which you can use when a record isn’t already shared through the Role Hierarchy, Sharing Rules or other sharing settings. It allows Users to choose if and with whom they want to share a particular and possibly sensitive record.

If you wanted to use this in Lighting you had to install an app from the AppExchange and make numerous customizations to get the action button onto record pages.

Tip: The Sharing action button only appears if the Org-Wide Defaults for the Object are not already Public Read/Write.

Getting up-to-speed on all these exciting release features is only half as exciting if you cannot earn any points to add to your shiny Trailblazer Profile. Therefore, check out more Salesforce Spring’21 Release Highlights with this Trailhead Module:

https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/content/learn/modules/spring-21-release-highlights

There’s so much more to explore, we can’t possibly put it all in one article. What are your favorite new features? Let us know in the comments.

WHAT ELSE…

Are you a Salesforce Beginner or want to freshen up on your Admin skills? Then check out our complete Salesforce Administrator Certification Course. It covers all the basics you need to know as a successful Salesforce professional with lots of hands-on exercises.

WeLearnSalesforce Administrator Certification Course

And if you are not sure what you know or don’t know, how about you test your knowledge with our realistic Practice Exams. You get lots of business scenarios and the results include detailed explanations and plenty of learning resources.

WeLearnSalesforce Practice Exams – Salesforce Administrator Certification

Is An Online Salesforce Video Training Worth It?

Have you been thinking about a career change into a Salesforce job? But you don’t have the time amongst all other obligations you already have on your plate? Finding your way through the maze of information and learning resources, make you feel overwhelmed? Let’s take a deep breath together and consider your options.

Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce

“If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.” Zig Ziglar

In this article, you will find:

Benefits of an online on-demand video-based Salesforce Training
Downsides of an online on-demand video-based Salesforce Training

Can an Online Salesforce Training which is video-based and on-demand be as effective as in-person training?

THE BENEFITS

Free resources are plenty, time is short, money is tight. Sounds familiar? Then maybe an online on-demand Salesforce Training would just be perfect for you … or would it?

Let’s look at the benefits one-by-one:

1. Save time and money

First up, online on-demand Salesforce Training is usually much more affordable than in-person training. How is this possible? Well, it’s simple, the teacher’s expenses are lower and the reach of students is much greater. This means the savings can be shared, leaving a much smaller amount with you, the individual Salesforce Learner.

Plus, you save on other costs like travel and accommodation. Neither do you have to get away from your job and potentially loose income or leave time.

And time is the next key factor. In-person training requires travel time and full-day’s attendance. Online training doesn’t require any travel time, and learning units can be attended to whenever they fit in during the day, after work or on weekends. This type of flexibility is unbeatable.

2. Practice in your own time and space

You have full control over your learning schedule. An online on-demand Salesforce video training can be accessed at any time that works best for you. Whether that’s before the kids get up, on your commute to work, during lunch, after dinner, after your sleep-in on Sunday, you choose.

A Salesforce video training can also be adjusted to your very personal pace. If the speed is too slow, you simply turn it up, and if it’s too fast, you can turn it down or pause to practice on your own. You can make it work to your personal preferences.

3. Learn from anywhere on any device

Because online Salesforce Training is run through an internet browser, you can access your learning videos from any device that has an internet connection and a browser. Simply choose your preferred laptop, tablet or other mobile device and get started. And the best part is that you can take your device anywhere, as long as the battery lasts. Whether that’s your desk, couch, beach, pick your favorite.

4. Learn with Salesforce Experts

Choosing an online Salesforce Training also enables you to practice with Salesforce Instructors who would otherwise not be available because they may live on the other side of the planet. With online training, you have the chance to learn with experienced trainers like Peggy Schael, no matter where you live.

5. Access to learning contents for review

Online on-demand Salesforce Training usually offers lifetime access to video content. This gives you the ability to re-watch videos as often as you like, whether you didn’t understand something or you want to refresh your memory. And in case you have attended an in-person Salesforce Training, you can use the video contents to review certain learning topics.

Our WeLearnSalesforce Courses even contain a Study Workbook you can print and use for notetaking as well as a Study Guide to tick off the learning topics you feel confident about. So you don’t forget anything that is required for your Certification Exam.

6. Connect with Salesforce Learners from all over the world

Learning online doesn’t mean you can’t ask questions or share your own learning experiences, failures and successes. There are so many amazing Salesforce Community Groups with wider audiences or very specific audiences tailored to a certain topic.

Like our dedicated WeLearnSalesforce Facebook and LinkedIn Community Groups. Not only will you reach other Salesforce Learners with your specific questions, but your WeLearnSalesforce instructor is also there for you too.

THE DOWNSIDES

While all of the above sounds great, let’s look at the potential downsides:

1. No face-to-face interaction

In-person training gives you face-to-face interaction with the Salesforce Trainer as well as fellow Salesforce Learners. Some people prefer real-life environments that make it easier for them to connect to other people. It’s a different kind of engagement using an online forum versus a real-life conversation.

Weigh in on your preferences of in-person interactions against a global community that you can contact at any time from anywhere, e.g. our WeLearnSalesforce Facebook and LinkedIn Community Groups.

2. Commitment and Motivation

If you are someone who works best under pressure of deadlines, continuous check-ins and due dates to stay on track, an in-person training may be better suited. Most online trainings do provide a recommended timeline as well as a structured agenda to follow, but it may be difficult to find the commitment without being surrounded by motivated fellow students.

There are however many online study groups (e.g. our WeLearnSalesforce Facebook and LinkedIn Community Groups) you could join that may achieve something similar for you.

3. Guidance and Knowledge Checks

In an in-person classroom, the Salesforce Trainer would usually come around and check-in with you personally. You can show directly on screen what you are working on and where you might be stuck. Some people struggle with finding a solution to their problems by themselves.

In a classroom, the Salesforce Trainer can give you on-the-spot help and guidance to find the solution. While this is a great benefit of in-person training, you can use our WeLearnSalesforce Practice Exams to check in on your knowledge and to get explanations and additional learning resources.

Now, is an Online Salesforce Video Training worth it?

This question can hardly be answered with a straight “Yes” or “No”. The answer entirely depends on your personal needs. Everyone has a different learning style, time and budget allowance, so only you know the answer.

We have put together a comprehensive comparison table of Salesforce Training Resources, so you can make an informed decision about the learning methods you would like to use.

We are comparing the official Trailhead Platform and Trailhead Academy Courses with our independent WeLearnSalesforce Video Courses. Each of them has its own advantages:

If you are still unsure whether an online on-demand Salesforce Training is right for you, try out our Free Salesforce Administrator Introduction Course and see for yourself. No strings attached.

Try out our Free Salesforce Administrator Introduction Course

We would love to hear your feedback. Please leave us a comment and let us know how you prefer to learn.

Happy Learning!