Preface

With the rapid growth of Salesforce economy, there has never been a better time to build a Salesforce-based career. Architects and architect-related skills are in higher demand than ever.

The Salesforce Certified Technical Architect (CTA) credential is ranked as one of the top enterprise architect certifications in the industry. Just run a quick search on the web for job postings, and you will witness the enormous demand for these prestigious certificate holders. The limited number of CTAs around the world gives newly certified CTAs an even more satisfying feeling of joining the club.

This book will start by explaining core concepts every architect should master, including the data life cycle, integration, and cryptography, and building your aptitude for creating high-level technical solutions. Understanding these concepts is vital to understanding the rationale behind some of the best practices suggested in Salesforce solutions. Moreover, having that in-depth knowledge will help you significantly when it comes to explaining how your end-to-end solution works.

You will then explore specific knowledge domains tested in the review board. With the help of real-world examples, this book provides insights into essential topics, such as selecting systems or components for your solutions, designing scalable and secure Salesforce Architecture, and planning the development life cycle and deployments. Finally, you will work through two full mock scenarios that simulate the review board exam, helping you learn how to identify requirements, create a draft solution, and combine all elements to present an effective solution to the review board or a client in real life.

By the end of this book, you will have gained the knowledge and skills required to pass the review board exam and implement architectural best practices and strategies in your day-to-day work.

Second Edition

More than two years have passed since the first edition of this book. There have been a lot of changes to the Salesforce Platform and the Salesforce ecosystem in that time. The second edition brings updated materials to the reader and provides additional notes, hints, tips, and tricks to help you navigate the ever-evolving world of Salesforce. The new edition now gives you unlimited access to our online practice resources platform, letting you practice what you learned in the book from any device. There, you get access to flashcards and exam tips specially designed to help you memorize key topics and be fully prepared to ace the exam. Furthermore, in the new edition, information is organized in a way that makes it easier to create your solution. Some proposed solutions have also been updated to consider the latest innovations and advancements in the Salesforce ecosystem.

Online Exam-Prep Tools

With this book, you will unlock unlimited access to our online exam-prep platform (Figure 0.1). This is your place to practice everything you’ve learned in the book:

Figure 0.1 – Salesforce Certified Technical Architect Online exam-prep platform

Sharpen your knowledge of CTA concepts with multiple sets of interactive flashcards, accessible from all modern web browsers. If you get stuck, you can raise your concerns with the author directly through the website. Before doing that, make sure to go through the list of resolved doubts as well. These are based on questions asked by other users. Finally, review the exam tips on the website to ensure you are well prepared.

Who This Book Is For

This book is intended for Salesforce professionals with a solid understanding of the Salesforce Platform and who have racked up several years of experience as architects. These architects would ideally like to boost their careers further by targeting the Salesforce CTA Credential. The book is also intended for architects who want to add more skills to their arsenal by learning how to design secure, high-performance technical solutions on the Salesforce Platform, as well as how to communicate technical solutions and design trade-offs effectively to business stakeholders and adopt a delivery framework that ensures quality and success.

With the current rapid growth of the Salesforce ecosystem, the borders between traditional roles in some workplaces are blurring. The value of having people with exceptional talent to link the different teams becomes vital. Future CTAs are not afraid to dig deep into business challenges and ask tough questions to reveal the real business value behind a particular requirement. They like to get to the bottom of things and roll up their sleeves to select the right solution approach that serves current and future potential requirements. They do not hesitate to jump into conversations with the development teams to give guidance and best practices and then work with the project management team to prepare that cutting-edge presentation for the stakeholders.

What This Book Covers

Chapter 1, Starting Your Journey as a CTA, provides general information about the book and the certificate. You will cover what the profile of a typical CTA is, how that is related to the day-to-day activities of a Salesforce Architect, and why understanding the way CTAs think is essential, even for senior architects who are not necessarily targeting the CTA certificate. This chapter also provides details about the review board exam setup, whether physical or virtual.

Chapter 2, Core Architectural Concepts: Data Life Cycle, explores the core architectural skills related to data that an architect needs to master. Part of that knowledge is platform-agnostic, although other parts are particularly important for Salesforce Architects. These skills will be used intensively in later parts of this book and during the review board itself.

Chapter 3, Core Architectural Concepts: Integration and Cryptography, explores the core architectural skills related to both integration and cryptography that an architect needs to master. Part of that knowledge is platform-agnostic, although other parts are particularly important for Salesforce Architects. These skills will be used intensively in later parts of this book and during the review board itself.

Chapter 4, Core Architectural Concepts: Identity and Access Management, explores the core architectural skills related to Identity and Access Management (IAM) that an architect needs to master. Part of that knowledge is platform-agnostic, although other parts are particularly important for Salesforce Architects. These skills will be used intensively in later parts of this book and, of course, during the review board itself.

Chapter 5, Developing a Scalable System Architecture, provides an in-depth review of some of the trickiest system architecture areas, such as determining the right selection of systems that forms the overall solution, including both on- and off-platform components, taking into consideration the platform’s capabilities, constraints, and limits. This knowledge will be enhanced further using a mini hypothetical scenario.

Chapter 6, Formulating a Secure Architecture in Salesforce, provides an in-depth review of some of the trickiest areas in security, such as understanding the declarative platform security features and how they can be used to meet record-level visibility and security requirements. This knowledge will be enhanced further using a mini hypothetical scenario.

Chapter 7, Designing a Scalable Salesforce Data Architecture, provides an in-depth review of some of the trickiest areas in data, such as designing the right data migration strategy and tools, along with the different considerations the architect needs to keep in mind. This knowledge will be enhanced further using a mini hypothetical scenario.

Chapter 8, Creating a Lean Solution Architecture, provides an in-depth review of some of the trickiest areas in solution architecture, such as selecting the appropriate combination of declarative and programmatic functionality to fulfill a particular requirement. This knowledge will be enhanced further using a mini hypothetical scenario.

Chapter 9, Forging an Integrated Solution, provides an in-depth review of some of the trickiest areas in integration, such as rationally selecting the appropriate technology used to integrate with external systems, considering the platform’s capabilities and limitations. This knowledge will be enhanced further using a mini hypothetical scenario.

Chapter 10, Development Life Cycle and Deployment Planning, provides an in-depth review of some of the trickiest areas in the development life cycle and deployment planning, such as the ability to recommend a suitable comprehensive test strategy and mitigate the different project risks. This knowledge will be enhanced further using a mini hypothetical scenario.

Chapter 11, Communicating and Socializing Your Solution, provides an in-depth review of some of the trickiest communication areas. This includes explaining a crucial set of soft skills that an architect needs to master in order to present an end-to-end solution to the review board judges or, in real life, to internal or external clients. This includes the articulation of the benefits, limitations, considerations, and design choices behind a proposed solution architecture in a justified and rational manner and being prepared to handle objections and adjust on the fly. This knowledge will be enhanced further using a mini hypothetical scenario.

Chapter 12, Practice the Review Board: First Mock, puts all the knowledge and skills covered in the previous chapters into action. You will be introduced to your first full hypothetical scenario. You will solve it step-by-step, beginning with identifying requirements, creating a draft solution, and combining all the elements to present an effective solution to the judges or, in real life, internal or external clients.

Chapter 13, Present and Defend: First Mock, puts all the knowledge and skills covered in the previous chapters into action. You will continue with the previous chapter’s hypothetical scenario and use the draft solution to create a refined end-to-end solution and presentation. You will get hands-on experience by following a step-by-step guide where the solution is reviewed, adjusted if needed, and the artifacts’ final versions are created. You will then use all that to present an effective solution to the judges or, in real life, internal or external clients.

Chapter 14, Practice the Review Board: Second Mock, puts all the knowledge and skills covered in the previous chapters into action. You will be introduced to your second full hypothetical scenario. You will solve it step by step, beginning with identifying the requirement, creating a draft solution, and combining all the elements to present an effective solution to the judges or, in real life, internal or external clients.

Chapter 15, Present and Defend: Second Mock, puts all the knowledge and skills covered in the previous chapters into action. You will continue with the previous chapter’s hypothetical scenario and use the draft solution to create a refined end-to-end solution and presentation. You will get hands-on experience by following a step-by-step guide where the solution is reviewed, adjusted if needed, and the artifacts’ final versions are created. You will then use all of that to present an effective strategy to the judges or, in real life, internal or external clients.

Appendix, Tips and Tricks, and the Way Forward, provides a collection of tips and tricks to help the candidate on the day of the review, starting with best practices to follow during the presentation, followed by tips regarding time management. The chapter highlights different strategies used by other CTAs to pass the review board exam and provides a set of suggested activities that a candidate who is preparing for the review board should consider, including how to prepare for the last mile, what resources and groups are available in terms of getting support, and how to get into the right mindset on the day of the review board exam.

Requirements for the Online Content

The online content includes interactive elements like flashcards and exam tips. For optimal experience, it is recommended that you use the latest version of a modern, desktop (or mobile) web browser such as Edge, Chrome, Safari, or Firefox.

Instructions for Unlocking the Online Content

To unlock the online content, you will need to create an account on our exam-prep website using the unique sign-up code provided in this book.

Where to find the sign-up code

You can find your unique sign-up code at the start of Chapter 6, Formulating a Secure Architecture in Salesforce.

1. Visit the section mentioned above. There, you’ll find your unique sign-up link and code. Open the link, make a note of the sign-up code, and return to this section.
2. Open the sign-up link. Once the page loads, enter your name and email address (1):

Figure 0.2 – Enter your name and email address in the sign-up form

3. Create a strong alphanumeric password (2) (minimum six characters in length):

Figure 0.3 – Create a strong password in the sign-up form

4. Enter the unique sign-up code (3). As mentioned in Step 1, the sign-up code can be found at the start of Chapter 6, Formulating a Secure Architecture in Salesforce. Once you have entered the code, click the Sign Up button:

Figure 0.4 – Enter the unique sign-up code

Important

You only need to input the sign-up code once. After your account is created, you will be able to access the website using just your email address and password from any device.

5. Select the checkbox (4) if you wish to be notified whenever we add new practice resources or features to the platform.

Figure 0.5: Select the checkbox to receive notifications about new features or practice resources

6. Upon a successful sign-up, you will be redirected to the dashboard (see Figure 0.6). Going forward, you will simply need to login using your email address and password:
   

Figure 0.6 – Online exam-prep platform dashboard

Note

If you are facing issues signing up, reach out to [email protected].

Quick Access to The Website

If you have successfully signed up, it is recommended that you bookmark this link for quick access to the website: https://packt.link/ctabookwebsite. Click the Login link on the top-right corner of the page to open the login page. Use the credentials you created in Step 2 and Step 3 of the Instructions for Unlocking the Online Content section.

Alternatively, you can scan the following QR code to open the website:

Figure 0.7 – QR Code for the Salesforce Certified Technical Architect online exam-prep platform

How to Get the Most out of This Book

This book is designed to help you gain the required knowledge and skills to pass the CTA exam using hands-on examples. It covers all seven knowledge domains that a CTA needs to master in order to pass the exam, and you will tackle a mini-hypothetical scenario for each domain. You will be developing the solution progressively, creating and then recreating solution artifacts as you discover and weigh different design decisions. This is precisely what many architects do in their daily lives. They dig deeper into details, and at every stage, they build a clearer picture of the solution and the correct elements required to make it. They revisit previous decisions and adjust or change them if needed.

You are strongly advised to practice recreating the solution, reconsidering other alternatives, and weighing the pros and cons of each. This will help you build your familiarity with the artifacts and diagrams needed to explain your solution, and you will find that you become quicker and more efficient in creating them. Moreover, the quality of your outcome will also improve.

Diagrams will be provided at every stage and will progressively evolve; you will notice that these artifacts might end up very different from what you started with. The ability to evolve your solution and flexibly change its elements while still maintaining the end-to-end solution picture is a crucial skill that a CTA must master. You will learn much of that throughout the book.

Software/hardware covered in the book	OS requirements
MS Office (or Google Slides and Google Sheets)	Windows, MacOS X, Linux (any)
A diagramming tool, such as Lucidchart, Draw.io, or Visio	Windows, MacOS X, Linux (any)
Salesforce Developer Edition	Windows, MacOS X, Linux (any)

Table 0.1: Recommended tools to use while working with the book’s hypothetical scenarios

The Salesforce Developer Edition org is recommended to try out certain functionalities. You can sign up for a free org using the following link: https://packt.link/5Jll6.

You can use any diagramming tool, free or paid, or even draw the diagrams on paper or a flipchart. To practice the virtual Salesforce CTA review board, you need to become familiar with tools such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel or Google Slides and Google Sheets (the latter is preferred).

Conventions Used

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: “A statement such as hello world could end up as ehlol owrdl.”

New terms and important words are shown like this: “Identify large data volume (LDV) objects.”

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