Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator Certification

The Salesforce Advanced Administrator exam can feel like a daunting task, but with the right preparation you too can conquer it. Let’s take a look at some key resources that will help you become a Certified Advanced Salesforce Administrator.

The Advanced Admin exam is meant for seasoned Salesforce admins who have earned their Administrator certification. You should be able to perform all of the core administration configuration for Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Chatter, and Content. You should also have an in-depth knowledge of platform automation and the customization of reports and dashboards.

In order to take the Advanced Admin exam, you must first take and pass the Administrator exam.

Once you've passed the Advanced Admin exam, you can move on to the Platform App Builder, Sales Cloud Consultant, and Service Cloud Consultant exams.

Passing the Advanced Admin exam will help show your current employer as well as prospective employers that you are serious about your craft and have leveled up your ability to manage a larger more complex Salesforce instance. Therefore, it will help you get closer to landing a senior administrator role with more earning potential.

The exam is broken up into the core topic areas of the platform with regards to administration. Each topic has a varying level of focus. For instance, there is more focus on Sales Cloud apps than Content Management. Even so, it is best for you to have a solid understanding of each topic area in order to pass the exam.

For this key area, you’ll want to focus on the below areas:

1. Record and field data access - These will mostly be scenario-based, so you’ll need to know when to use one security mechanism over another (i.e. profile versus sharing rules).
2. Enterprise Territory Management - You don’t need to know the full depth and breadth, but you do need to understand the basic setup and how it impacts record sharing.
3. Profiles, Permission Sets, and Delegated Administration - You need to understand the difference between these and know how they can work together.

For this key area, you’ll want to focus on the below areas:

1. Products and Forecasting - You will want to know how products, pricebooks, schedules, and quotes are all related, as well as how an organization can customize them to fit its needs.
2. Forecasting - Here you will need to have a good understanding of how forecasting works in Salesforce.
3. Knowledge and Entitlements - You should know how to configure and manage both Knowledge and Entitlements.
4. Service interactions - You need to have an understanding of the core service interaction areas within Salesforce (Chat, Case Feed, Service Cloud Console, Communities, Omni-Channel).

For this key area, you’ll want to focus on the below areas:

1. Approvals - You need to know how approval processes in Salesforce work in different scenarios.

2. Automation - You should understand how the different types of automation within Salesforce solve business problems.

There are many resources that will help you study for this exam. Specifically there are several great Pluralsight courses I'd recommend reviewing:

1. Salesforce Sharing and Security Fundamentals

2. Administering Sales and Marketing Applications in Salesforce

3. Formula Fundamentals in Salesforce

4. Salesforce Workflow: Getting Started

5. Salesforce Process Builder: Getting Started

6. Implementing Salesforce Approvals

7. Salesforce Automation with Flow Builder: Getting Started

After you've checked out these courses, I also recommend reviewing the Advanced Admin Trailmix on trailhead.

Now that you’ve reviewed the core topic areas of focus for the exam, you’re ready to register and get one step closer to becoming a Certified Advanced Admin! To register for the exam you’ll need to take the following steps:

1. Go to https://www.webassessor.com/salesforce and login/register
2. Once logged in, you’ll choose Register for an Exam in the top menu.
3. From there, you’ll click the + next to Administrator Exams and do the same next to the Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator item, and choose the onsite or online proctored exam.

The Advanced Admin exam is a core credential that all Salesforce admins and practitioners should strive for, especially if you have at least a year or so of experience managing a Salesforce instance. If you put in the time to learn areas you haven't touched as much, you'll be on your way to passing this exam in no time. Best of luck on your certification journey!