As you’ll know, there are several Salesforce certifications for each of the CTA domains. Looking at the
Application Architect domain specifically, the following credentials comprise it:
Figure 1.2 – The Application Architect domain
You may already have some or all the other credentials in the Application Architect domain. For those of you who may not, I strongly encourage you to gain your Platform App Builder and Platform Developer 1 credentials as you go through your journey as a Salesforce Data Architect. Both of these exams contain foundational questions related to data on the platform and can act as another enabler for success with the Salesforce Certified Data Architect credential.
The Sharing and Visibility Designer credential will have some overlap with the Data Architect credential as data and sharing on the Salesforce platform are relatively intertwined. When you complete this credential, I suggest moving on to the Sharing and Visibility Designer credential because some of the concepts that will be introduced in this book are pertinent to that credential. You can see how the Application Architect credentials relate and why it is useful to gain the foundational learning that’s introduced in the Platform Developer 1 and Platform App Builder credentials if you have not already done so (although these are not strict prerequisites to taking the Data Architect exam). The Application Architect domain credential is automatically awarded upon completing the constituent exams, as per the preceding diagram.
Now that we know about the credential and what the exam looks like (including some tips and habits to help bolster learning), let’s break down the Salesforce Data Architect job profile.
According to the Salesforce Certified Data Architect Exam Guide (located at https://trailhead. salesforce.com/help?article=Salesforce-Certified-Data-Architecture-
and-Management-Designer-Exam-Guide), a Salesforce Data Architect is someone who does the following:
architecture frameworks covering major building blocks, such as data sourcing,
integration/movement, persistence, master data management, metadata
management and semantic reconciliation, data governance, security, and delivery.
The candidate also has experience assessing customers requirements in regards to data quality needs and creating solutions to ensure high-quality data (for example, no duplicates, correct data) and can also recommend organizational changes to ensure proper data stewardship. The candidate has experience communicating solutions and design trade-offs to business stakeholders.
Let’s break this definition down a little.
The first paragraph of that definition contained a lot of terms, but ultimately, it describes someone
who can understand the requirements and applies data architecture principles and experience when formulating a solution or design. To me, this is part-and-parcel of our day job: understanding requirements and designing solutions. There is also mention of performance, data management, security, scalability, and governance. The second paragraph focuses on data quality and stewardship. All these aspects are
covered in this book.
When we turn our attention to what the profile of a Data Architect is, a lot of parallels can be drawn to
the humble Salesforce administrator, consultant, or architect – we listen to what our stakeholders want
and design solutions that address those requirements, all while being mindful of the considerations and trade-offs that may present themselves along the way.
A Data Architect applies their knowledge of the data architecture of the Salesforce Customer 360
platform, including its features and their impact on the system when producing designs or solutions, such as the following:
With the definition of the profile of a Salesforce Data Architect broken down a little, we can turn our attention to the learning journey that will be outlined in this book.
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