- What is a profile?
- A collection of settings and permissions that defines what a user can do; every user is assigned exactly one profile.
- What is a permission set?
- A grant of additional permissions and access assigned on top of a profile; a user can have many. It only grants, never removes, access.
- What is a role in Salesforce?
- A position in the role hierarchy that controls record-level access (who can see whose records via the hierarchy), separate from permissions.
- What is an org-wide default (OWD)?
- The baseline, most restrictive level of record access for an object; sharing is then opened up from there with roles and sharing rules.
- What is a validation rule?
- A rule that checks data against a formula when a record is saved and blocks the save with an error message if the formula returns true.
- What is a sharing rule?
- A rule that grants additional record access to groups of users beyond the org-wide defaults, based on record ownership or field criteria.
- What is a record type?
- A setting that offers different page layouts, picklist values, and business processes to different users for the same object.
- What is a report type?
- A template that defines which objects and fields are available for a report, and how related objects are joined (with or without related records).
- What is a dashboard?
- A visual display of report data using components such as charts, gauges, metrics, and tables; each component is sourced from one report.
- What is Flow?
- Salesforce's primary declarative automation tool; Flow Builder creates flows that can guide users, automate logic, and act on records.
- How many profiles can a user have?
- Exactly one. A user is assigned a single profile; extra access is layered on with permission sets and permission set groups.
- How many permission sets can a user have?
- Many. Permission sets are additive grants you can assign to multiple users to extend their access without changing the profile.
- What is a permission set group?
- A bundle of permission sets assigned together; muting permission sets can remove specific permissions within the group.
- Profiles vs. permission sets: best practice?
- Use minimal-access profiles plus permission sets/groups to grant access. This is more scalable and easier to maintain than many custom profiles.
- What does field-level security (FLS) control?
- Whether users can see and edit specific fields. It overrides page layout visibility; a field hidden by FLS is hidden everywhere, including reports and the API.
- What is an object permission?
- CRUD access on an object: Create, Read, Edit, Delete, plus View All and Modify All. Set on profiles or permission sets.
- What are 'View All' and 'Modify All'?
- Object-level permissions that let a user see or edit ALL records of an object, ignoring sharing settings. Use sparingly.
- What does the role hierarchy do?
- Grants users access to records owned by or shared with users below them in the hierarchy (roll-up access), independent of profiles.
- What are the record-access levels, most to least restrictive?
- Private; Public Read Only; Public Read/Write; Controlled by Parent. OWD sets the baseline per object.
- What is manual sharing?
- Granting a single record to a specific user or group, available on records with private or read-only OWD. Largely replaced by other tools in Lightning.
- What are the four ways to open up record access beyond OWD?
- Role hierarchy, sharing rules, manual sharing, and team/account sharing (plus Apex-managed sharing for code).
- What is a public group?
- A collection of users, roles, roles-and-subordinates, and other groups used to simplify sharing rules and manual sharing.
- What is the difference between owner-based and criteria-based sharing rules?
- Owner-based shares records owned by certain users/roles; criteria-based shares records whose field values meet defined criteria.
- What is login IP range vs. trusted IP range?
- Login IP range (on the profile) restricts where users can log in; trusted IP range (network access) lets users skip identity verification.
- What are login hours?
- Profile settings that restrict the days and times users can log in to Salesforce.
- What is multi-factor authentication (MFA)?
- A required extra verification step (e.g., an authenticator app) beyond username and password; mandatory for Salesforce logins.
- What is a permission set license?
- A license that enables certain features for a user via a permission set, separate from the user's base license.
- What is the difference between a user license and a profile?
- A user license (e.g., Salesforce, Platform) defines the baseline features available; the profile then configures what within those the user can access.
- What happens to a deactivated user's records?
- Records remain owned by the deactivated user; the user cannot log in. You can transfer records or leave ownership in place. Users are deactivated, not deleted.
- Can you delete a user in Salesforce?
- No. Users cannot be deleted; they are deactivated. This preserves data integrity and audit history. A deactivated user frees its license.
- What is delegated administration?
- A way to grant limited admin tasks (e.g., managing certain users or custom objects) to non-admin users without giving full admin rights.
- What is the company information page used for?
- Viewing org-wide settings such as default locale, currency, licenses available/used, and the org ID.
- What is the difference between organization-wide defaults and profiles?
- OWD controls record-level access (which records you can see); profiles/permission sets control object- and field-level access (what you can do).
- What is 'Grant Access Using Hierarchies'?
- An OWD option that lets managers up the role hierarchy access subordinates' records; can be disabled for custom objects.
- What is a session setting?
- Org/profile settings for session security, such as timeout length, lock sessions to IP, and high-assurance requirements.
- What controls which apps a user can access?
- Connected app and app-visibility settings on the profile or via permission sets; users select apps from the App Launcher.
- What is the App Launcher?
- The waffle-grid menu where users find and open Lightning apps and items available to them.
- What is a Lightning app?
- A branded collection of items (tabs, utilities) tailored to a user group; configured in the App Manager.
- What is the difference between a standard and custom profile?
- Standard profiles ship with Salesforce and have limited editability; custom profiles are cloned from standard ones and fully configurable.
- What is a standard object?
- An object provided by Salesforce out of the box, such as Account, Contact, Lead, Opportunity, and Case.
- What is a custom object?
- An object you create to store data unique to your business; its API name ends in __c.
- What is a lookup relationship?
- A loosely coupled link between two objects; the child can exist without the parent, and deleting the parent does not delete children by default.
- What is a master-detail relationship?
- A tightly coupled relationship where the detail record inherits the master's sharing and ownership, and is deleted (cascade) when the master is deleted.
- Master-detail vs. lookup: ownership and sharing?
- Master-detail children have no owner and inherit the parent's sharing; lookup children have their own owner and sharing.
- How many master-detail relationships can an object have?
- Up to two, which makes it a junction object for a many-to-many relationship.
- What is a junction object?
- A custom object with two master-detail relationships used to create a many-to-many relationship between two objects.
- What is a roll-up summary field?
- A field on a master record that aggregates (COUNT, SUM, MIN, MAX) values from related detail records; requires a master-detail relationship.
- What is a formula field?
- A read-only field that calculates its value from other fields using a formula; it is computed at runtime and not stored.
- What is a cross-object formula?
- A formula that references fields on a related (parent) object using the relationship name, e.g., Account.Industry.
- What is field dependency (dependent picklist)?
- A controlling field whose value filters the available values in a dependent picklist field.
- What is field history tracking?
- A feature that logs changes to selected fields (old/new value, user, date) in the related history list; up to 20 fields per object.
- What is a page layout?
- Controls the arrangement of fields, buttons, related lists, and sections on a record in both Classic and Lightning detail views.
- What is a Lightning record page?
- A customizable page in the Lightning App Builder that arranges components (including the record detail) around a record; assignable by app, record type, and profile.
- Page layout vs. Lightning record page?
- The page layout controls fields/related lists/buttons; the Lightning record page controls the overall component arrangement and assigns the layout to the detail component.
- What is the Lightning App Builder?
- A point-and-click tool to build and customize Lightning pages (app, home, and record pages) by dragging standard, custom, and AppExchange components.
- What is dynamic forms?
- A Lightning App Builder feature that places individual fields and field sections directly on the record page for visibility/required rules, instead of a single page-layout component.
- What is a dynamic action?
- An action shown on a Lightning record page only when filter conditions (e.g., record field values, user permissions) are met.
- What are component visibility filters?
- Rules in the Lightning App Builder that show or hide a component based on field values, device, or user attributes.
- What is a custom field?
- A field you add to a standard or custom object to capture additional data; its API name ends in __c.
- What field types can be made unique or external ID?
- Text, Number, Email, and Auto Number can be unique or external IDs; external IDs are used to match records on import/upserts.
- What is an external ID?
- A custom field flagged to identify records from an external system, enabling upsert matching and faster reporting lookups.
- What is an auto-number field?
- A read-only field that assigns a unique, sequential number to each new record using a display format you define.
- Can you change a field type after creation?
- Sometimes, but with restrictions and possible data loss; some conversions (e.g., to/from certain types) are not allowed.
- What is a record-type business process?
- A sales, lead, support, or solution process that defines the picklist values (e.g., stages or statuses) available for a record type.
- What is a compact layout?
- Controls which key fields appear in the highlights panel at the top of a record and in mobile cards.
- What is a related list?
- A list on a record showing related child records (e.g., Contacts on an Account); configured on the page layout.
- What is a custom tab?
- A tab that surfaces a custom object, Visualforce page, web page, or Lightning component in the navigation.
- What is the schema builder?
- A visual tool to view and create objects, fields, and relationships in the data model via drag-and-drop.
- What is a custom setting vs. custom metadata type?
- Both store app configuration; custom metadata types are deployable with changesets/packages and queryable in code, making them preferred for config.
- What is the Data Import Wizard?
- An in-app tool to import up to 50,000 records for standard objects (accounts, contacts, leads, solutions, campaign members) and custom objects.
- What is Data Loader?
- A client application (or command line) for importing, updating, upserting, deleting, and exporting large data volumes (up to 5 million records).
- Data Import Wizard vs. Data Loader: which for 100,000 records?
- Data Loader. The Data Import Wizard caps at 50,000 records and fewer objects; Data Loader handles up to 5 million and all objects.
- What is upsert?
- A combined insert-and-update operation that uses an external ID or record ID to update matching records and create the rest.
- Which operations can the Data Import Wizard do?
- Insert (add), update, and upsert. It cannot delete records; use Data Loader or mass delete for that.
- What is a tabular report?
- A simple, flat list of records (like a spreadsheet) with no grouping or subtotals; good for exporting and list views.
- What is a summary report?
- A report with rows grouped by one or more fields, allowing subtotals and charts.
- What is a matrix report?
- A report grouped by both rows and columns, used to compare related totals (a two-dimensional grid).
- What is a joined report?
- A report with multiple blocks that can use different report types, showing related but distinct data side by side.
- What is a bucket field?
- A field that categorizes report records into groups you define, without creating a custom formula field.
- What is a cross filter?
- A report filter based on the presence or absence of related records (e.g., Accounts WITH or WITHOUT Opportunities).
- What is custom filter logic?
- Report filter logic that lets you combine filters with AND/OR and parentheses, instead of the default all-AND behavior.
- What is a summary formula in a report?
- A formula that calculates values at the group or grand-total level using summary data; up to five per report.
- What is a row-level formula?
- A formula that calculates a value for each row in a report using that row's field values; one per report.
- What is a report folder?
- A container that organizes reports and controls who can access them via folder sharing (view, edit, manage).
- What controls which records a user sees in a report?
- The user's sharing access plus the report's filters and scope; users only see records they have access to.
- What is a dashboard running user?
- The user whose security determines the data shown; in a standard dashboard everyone sees the running user's data unless it's a dynamic dashboard.
- What is a dynamic dashboard?
- A dashboard that displays data according to each viewer's own access ("as logged-in user"), so each person sees their own data.
- How many components can a dashboard have, and what feeds each?
- Each dashboard component is driven by a single source report; a dashboard can include many components.
- What chart type best shows progress toward a goal?
- A gauge chart, which displays a single value against a range with a target.
- What is a metric component on a dashboard?
- A component that displays a single summarized value (e.g., total pipeline) often used as a KPI tile.
- What is a scheduled report (subscribe)?
- A setting that runs a report automatically and emails the results on a recurring schedule, or notifies when conditions are met.
- What is a reporting snapshot?
- A feature that runs a source report on a schedule and writes the results to a custom object so you can report on data over time (trends).
- What does field-level security do to report columns?
- If a field is hidden by FLS, the user cannot add it as a report column or see its values.
- What is mass transfer of records?
- A Setup tool to reassign ownership of many records (e.g., leads, accounts) from one user to another at once.
- What is mass delete?
- A Setup tool to delete many records of selected object types at once, sending them to the Recycle Bin.
- How long are deleted records kept in the Recycle Bin?
- 15 days, after which they are permanently removed; admins can restore within that window.
- What is a duplicate rule?
- A rule that defines what action to take (block or alert) when a user tries to save a record that matches a duplicate, based on a matching rule.
- What is a matching rule?
- A rule that defines how Salesforce compares records to identify duplicates; used by duplicate rules.
- What is a data category / data export?
- Data Export (Setup) generates backup CSV files of your data weekly or monthly via the scheduled export service.
- What is Salesforce data backup best practice?
- Use scheduled Data Export, Data Loader exports, or a backup product; Salesforce recommends regular backups since data is not infinitely recoverable.
- What is Flow Builder?
- The declarative tool for building flows: screen flows, record-triggered flows, scheduled flows, and autolaunched flows.
- What is a record-triggered flow?
- A flow that runs automatically when a record is created, updated, or deleted; the modern replacement for Workflow Rules and Process Builder.
- What is a screen flow?
- A flow that displays screens to guide a user through a process, collecting input and acting on records; can be embedded on pages or launched as an action.
- What is a scheduled flow?
- An autolaunched flow that runs at a set time and frequency on a batch of records.
- Before-save vs. after-save record-triggered flow?
- Before-save flows update the triggering record fast and without DML (great for field updates); after-save flows can create/update other records and send emails.
- Why migrate Workflow Rules and Process Builder to Flow?
- Salesforce is retiring Workflow Rules and Process Builder; Flow is the single, more powerful automation tool going forward.
- What is an approval process?
- A multi-step automation that routes a record to one or more approvers, with actions on submission, approval, rejection, and recall.
- What are the action types in an approval process?
- Initial submission, final approval, final rejection, and recall actions; each can include field updates, email alerts, tasks, and outbound messages.
- What is an email alert?
- An automation action that sends an email using a template to specified recipients; usable in flows and approval processes.
- What is a field update (action)?
- An action that sets a field to a specific value; in Flow this is an Update Records element, formerly a Workflow/Process field update.
- What is an outbound message?
- An automation action that sends a SOAP message with field data to an external endpoint, used for integrations.
- What automation can update a field on the same record without code, fastest?
- A before-save record-triggered flow, which updates the triggering record without an extra DML operation.
- What is the order of execution relevance for flows?
- Before-save flows run early (before validation completes in many cases); after-save flows run later; understanding order prevents conflicts with validation rules and other automation.
- What is a fault path in a flow?
- A connector that defines what happens if an element errors, allowing graceful error handling and user-friendly messages.
- What is a flow trigger explorer?
- A tool to see and order all flows that run on an object's create/update so you can manage their execution order.
- What is a subflow?
- A flow called by another flow, enabling reusable, modular automation.
- What is a flow resource variable?
- A container that stores data (a value, record, or collection) for use within a flow.
- What is a Get Records element?
- A flow element that queries records matching criteria and stores them for later use in the flow.
- What is a Decision element?
- A flow element that branches the flow path based on conditions (like an if/then).
- What is a Loop element?
- A flow element that iterates over a collection of records to process each one.
- What is an entry condition on a record-triggered flow?
- Criteria that must be met for the flow to run, improving performance by skipping irrelevant records.
- Can a validation rule and a flow conflict?
- Yes; if a before-save flow sets a value that a validation rule rejects, the save fails. Sequence and test automation together.
- What declarative tool replaced Workflow Rules?
- Flow (record-triggered flows). Workflow Rules are being retired and should be migrated to Flow.
- What is the Migrate to Flow tool?
- A Setup tool that converts existing Workflow Rules (and Process Builder processes) into flows.
- What is a platform event in automation?
- A message that flows or code can publish/subscribe to for event-driven integration; flows can be triggered by platform events.
- What is a Lead?
- A prospect or unqualified sales contact stored separately from Accounts/Contacts until it is qualified and converted.
- What happens during lead conversion?
- The lead becomes an Account, Contact, and (optionally) an Opportunity; field mapping moves lead data to the new records.
- What is lead assignment rule?
- A rule that automatically assigns incoming leads to users or queues based on criteria.
- What is an Opportunity?
- A potential revenue deal tracked through stages in a sales process toward Closed Won or Closed Lost.
- What is an opportunity stage?
- A step in the sales process (e.g., Prospecting, Negotiation, Closed Won) tied to a probability and forecast category.
- What is a sales process?
- The set of opportunity stages available to a record type, defined as a business process.
- What is a price book?
- A list of products with their prices; the standard price book holds standard prices, and custom price books hold segment-specific prices.
- What is a product and a price book entry?
- A product is something you sell; a price book entry is that product's price within a specific price book.
- What is an opportunity line item?
- A product added to an opportunity with quantity and price, drawn from a price book entry.
- What is a campaign?
- A marketing initiative (email, event, webinar) you track in Salesforce, with members and ROI metrics.
- What is a campaign member?
- A lead or contact associated with a campaign, with a status such as Sent, Responded, or Registered.
- What is campaign influence?
- A model that attributes opportunity revenue to the campaigns that touched the deal, for marketing ROI.
- What is a web-to-lead form?
- A Salesforce-generated HTML form that captures website visitor info and creates Lead records automatically.
- What is lead scoring / Einstein lead scoring?
- An Einstein feature that ranks leads by likelihood to convert based on historical patterns.
- What is Collaborative Forecasting?
- A tool that projects sales based on opportunity amounts and forecast categories, rolled up through the role hierarchy.
- What is a forecast category?
- A grouping (Pipeline, Best Case, Commit, Closed, Omitted) tied to opportunity stages, used in forecasting.
- What is a sales path (Path)?
- A guidance feature showing the stages of a process with key fields and guidance for success at each step.
- What is opportunity team and account team?
- Groups of users who collaborate on a deal or account, each with a role and record access level.
- What is a quote in Salesforce?
- A record representing a proposed price for products on an opportunity; can generate a PDF and sync back to the opportunity.
- What is a contact role on an opportunity?
- A field that records each contact's part in the deal (e.g., Decision Maker, Influencer).
- What is the difference between a lead and a contact?
- A lead is an unqualified prospect not linked to an account; a contact is a person associated with an account after qualification.
- What is duplicate management for leads/contacts?
- Matching and duplicate rules that alert or block users when creating leads or contacts that match existing records.
- What is a Case?
- A record of a customer question, issue, or request tracked to resolution by the service team.
- What is a case assignment rule?
- A rule that automatically assigns incoming cases to users or queues based on criteria such as origin or type.
- What is a case escalation rule?
- A rule that escalates cases (e.g., reassigns or notifies) when they remain open beyond defined time criteria.
- What is a queue?
- A holding area that owns records (cases, leads, custom objects) until a team member takes ownership.
- What is an auto-response rule?
- A rule that sends an automatic email to the contact when a case or web/email lead is created, based on criteria.
- What is Web-to-Case?
- A feature that captures cases from a website form and creates Case records automatically.
- What is Email-to-Case?
- A feature that converts inbound customer emails into cases and logs the email thread on the case.
- What is an entitlement?
- A record defining the support a customer is eligible for (e.g., phone support), used to enforce service levels on cases.
- What is a milestone in entitlement management?
- A required, time-dependent step in a support process (e.g., first response within 1 hour) tracked on cases.
- What is an entitlement process?
- A timeline of milestones a case must meet, applied via an entitlement to enforce SLAs.
- What is Salesforce Knowledge?
- A knowledge base of articles agents and customers use to resolve cases; articles can be attached to cases.
- What is the Service Console?
- A Lightning app optimized for agents with a tabbed, split-view workspace to handle many cases efficiently.
- What is Omni-Channel?
- A feature that routes work (cases, chats, leads) to the most available, qualified agents based on capacity and skills.
- What is a case team?
- A group of users who work together on a case, each with a defined role and access level.
- What is case feed?
- A Lightning case layout that shows activity, emails, and updates in a chronological feed for faster handling.
- What is a support process?
- A business process that defines the case status values available to a case record type.
- What is a service channel?
- A configuration that lets Omni-Channel route a specific type of work item (case, chat, custom object) to agents.
- What is Experience Cloud (Communities) for support?
- A self-service portal where customers find knowledge articles, log cases, and engage, reducing agent load.
- What is Live Agent / Chat?
- A real-time chat channel that lets agents support customers on the website and route conversations via Omni-Channel.
- What is a case escalation action?
- Notifications, reassignment, or field updates triggered when escalation criteria are met.
- What is an Activity (Task/Event)?
- A Task is a to-do with a due date; an Event is a calendared appointment with a start/end. Both track work against records.
- What is Activity Timeline?
- A chronological view on a record showing past and upcoming tasks, events, calls, and emails.
- What is Chatter?
- Salesforce's enterprise social collaboration tool for posts, comments, @mentions, groups, and following records and people.
- What is a Chatter group?
- A space for a team to collaborate; can be public, private, or unlisted, and can be linked to records.
- What is a Salesforce email template?
- A reusable email (text, HTML, Visualforce, or Lightning) that can merge record fields, used in flows, approvals, and manual emails.
- What is Email-to-Salesforce / Einstein Activity Capture?
- Tools that log emails and events to related records; Einstein Activity Capture syncs email and calendar automatically.
- What is a quick action?
- A button that lets users create records, update fields, or log activity quickly from a record, list, or global header.
- What is a global action vs. object-specific action?
- Global actions appear in the header/anywhere and aren't tied to one object; object-specific actions appear on a specific object's records.
- What is a list view?
- A saved, filtered view of records for an object that users can sort, search, and act on in bulk.
- What is the Salesforce mobile app?
- The mobile experience that surfaces Lightning pages, list views, and actions; admins configure the mobile navigation.
- What is a notification (custom notification)?
- A targeted in-app or mobile push message you can send from a flow or process to specific users.
- What is a folder for templates/reports/dashboards?
- A container that organizes assets and controls sharing access (view/edit/manage) to them.
- What is a macro?
- A set of instructions that automates repetitive tasks on records (commonly cases) with one click in the console.
- What is a list email?
- A feature to send a single email to a list of contacts/leads (e.g., from a list view or campaign), tracked individually.
- What is a mass quick action / mass action?
- An action applied to multiple selected records at once from a list view, such as mass update.
- What is a Path with guidance for success?
- Coaching text and key fields shown at each step of a process Path to help users move records forward.
- What is Salesforce Inbox?
- Email productivity features that bring Salesforce data and actions into Gmail/Outlook.
- What is a calendar in Salesforce?
- A view of events and, optionally, object records with date fields, helping users plan activities.
- What is Agentforce?
- Salesforce's platform for building and deploying AI agents that autonomously take actions and answer questions using your trusted Salesforce data.
- What is an agent (in Agentforce)?
- An AI assistant configured with topics and actions that can reason over data and perform tasks for users or customers.
- What is Agent Builder?
- The tool used to create and configure Agentforce agents, defining their topics, instructions, and actions.
- What is a topic in Agentforce?
- A grouping of related jobs an agent can handle; it contains instructions and the actions the agent can take for that subject.
- What is an action in Agentforce?
- A task an agent can perform (e.g., query records, run a flow, draft an email); actions are attached to topics.
- What is the role of an action attached to a topic?
- It gives the agent a specific capability it can invoke when handling that topic, such as retrieving or updating Salesforce data.
- What grounds an Agentforce agent's responses?
- Trusted company data in Salesforce (records, knowledge) via the Data Cloud and the platform, so answers reflect real data.
- What is the Einstein Trust Layer?
- A security architecture that protects data used with generative AI (e.g., data masking, zero retention, toxicity checks) for safe AI in Salesforce.
- What is Data Cloud's role with Agentforce?
- It unifies and grounds data from many sources so agents and AI features can act on a complete, trusted customer view.
- How does an admin control what an agent can do?
- By defining its topics and actions and applying permissions; the agent can only use the actions and data it is granted.
- What is the difference between a standard and custom agent?
- Standard agents ship with prebuilt topics/actions; custom agents are configured in Agent Builder for specific business needs.
- What is Prompt Builder?
- A tool to create reusable, grounded generative-AI prompt templates that pull in Salesforce data for consistent AI output.
- What is Einstein Copilot / Agentforce assistant?
- A conversational AI assistant within Salesforce that helps users complete tasks using natural language and grounded data.
- Why is grounding important for AI agents?
- Grounding ties responses to real, trusted Salesforce data, reducing hallucinations and keeping answers accurate and relevant.
- What permissions does Agentforce require?
- Users need the appropriate Agentforce/Einstein permission sets and feature licenses, assigned by the admin.
- What testing tool exists for agents?
- Agentforce provides testing tools (e.g., the Agent testing center) to evaluate an agent's responses before deployment.
- What is a business hours setting?
- Defines the operating hours of support teams, used by case escalation rules and entitlement milestones to measure elapsed time.
- What is a holiday in business hours?
- A date range when business hours don't count toward escalation/milestone timers (e.g., company closures).
- What is the fiscal year setting?
- Defines standard or custom fiscal periods for reporting and forecasting; custom fiscal years allow non-standard period structures.
- What is the difference between freezing and deactivating a user?
- Freezing immediately blocks login while you reassign records/licenses; deactivating frees the license. Freeze is a fast, reversible stop.
- What is a queue vs. a public group?
- A queue can own records and route work to its members; a public group is only a collection of users used for sharing — it cannot own records.
- What is identity confirmation / device activation?
- A security step that verifies a user's identity (email/SMS code) when logging in from an unrecognized device or IP.
- What is a connected app?
- A framework that lets an external application integrate with Salesforce using APIs and OAuth, with admin-controlled access policies.
- What controls tab visibility for a user?
- Tab settings (Default On, Default Off, Tab Hidden) on the profile or via permission sets.
- What is a custom permission?
- A setting that lets you check, in code or formulas, whether a user should access a specific custom feature; granted via profiles/permission sets.
- What is the difference between a role and a profile, in one line?
- Profile = what you can DO (object/field/system access); Role = which RECORDS you can see (record-level via hierarchy).
- What is enhanced profile user interface?
- An alternate, organized UI for viewing and editing all the settings within a profile in one place.
- What is a login flow?
- A custom screen flow that runs during the login process to enforce additional steps (e.g., accept terms, MFA setup).
- What is a hierarchical relationship?
- A special lookup available only on the User object, used to link a user to another user (e.g., manager).
- Can you convert a lookup to a master-detail relationship?
- Yes, if all existing child records have a value in the lookup field (no blanks); otherwise you must populate it first.
- What is a required field at the layout vs. field level?
- Field-level 'required' enforces it everywhere (including API); page-layout 'required' enforces it only on that layout's UI.
- What is a global picklist (value set)?
- A reusable set of picklist values shared across multiple picklist fields, ensuring consistency.
- What is a default field value?
- A value (literal or formula) automatically populated in a field when a new record is created.
- What is a custom button or link?
- A button/link on a layout that performs an action, runs a URL, or launches code; many are replaced by quick actions and flows in Lightning.
- What is field-level help?
- Hover text you define on a field to explain its purpose to users.
- What objects can have activities enabled?
- Standard objects like Account, Contact, Opportunity, Lead, Case, and custom objects where you allow activities, so tasks/events can relate to them.
- What is the difference between Edit and Read in field-level security?
- Read lets the user see the field; Edit lets them change it. No access hides the field entirely.
- What happens to data when you delete a custom field?
- The field and its data are moved to a deleted-fields area for ~15 days where they can be restored, then permanently erased.
- Which import tool can schedule recurring imports?
- Data Loader (via command-line interface). The Data Import Wizard cannot schedule imports.
- What is the difference between insert and update in a data load?
- Insert creates new records; update changes existing records matched by record ID. Upsert does both via an external ID or ID.
- What is a chart on a report?
- A visual (bar, line, donut, etc.) added directly to a summary or matrix report; can be embedded on a page layout.
- What is a dashboard filter?
- A control that lets viewers filter all eligible dashboard components by a field value without editing the source reports.
- What is conditional highlighting on a report?
- Color rules on summary/matrix report values that flag thresholds (e.g., red/yellow/green) for quick scanning.
- How many records can a report display/export?
- Reports display up to 2,000 rows on screen but can export far more; very large result sets may need other tools.
- What is a historical trending report?
- A report on snapshots of data over time for select objects, showing how field values changed (separate from reporting snapshots).
- What is the role of the 'with/without related records' choice in report types?
- It controls whether the report includes parent records that lack children ("with or without") or only parents that have children ("with").
- Why might two users see different data in the same report?
- Their record access differs (sharing, role hierarchy, ownership) and field-level security; the report respects each user's permissions.
- What is the difference between an autolaunched flow and a screen flow?
- An autolaunched flow runs in the background with no UI; a screen flow displays interactive screens to a user.
- What invokes an autolaunched flow?
- Another flow, a process, Apex, a quick action, a platform event, or a record-trigger — it has no user screens.
- What is the best tool to validate data on save?
- A validation rule for declarative enforcement; before-save flows can also set/adjust values, but validation rules block invalid saves with a message.
- What is an assignment in a flow?
- An element that sets or changes the value of variables (or fields stored in variables) during a flow.
- What is a flow's run-as context?
- Flows can run in system context (ignoring some permissions) or user context, affecting what records/fields they can access.
- What is the recommended replacement for an email alert action?
- An email element/action within a record-triggered or scheduled flow, using an email template.
- Why use entry criteria instead of a Decision element at the start?
- Entry criteria prevent the flow from running at all on non-matching records, which is more efficient than starting then exiting.
- What is the standard price book?
- The master list of all products with their default standard prices; every product needs a standard price before custom prices.
- What is lead status?
- A picklist tracking a lead's progress (e.g., Open, Working, Qualified); converted leads move to accounts/contacts/opportunities.
- What does opportunity probability come from?
- It defaults from the opportunity stage but can be edited; it feeds expected revenue and forecasting.
- What is a sales path used to highlight?
- Key fields and guidance for each stage, helping reps know what to do to advance the deal.
- What is an account hierarchy?
- A parent-child structure of accounts (e.g., headquarters and subsidiaries) using the Parent Account field.
- What is the campaign hierarchy?
- A parent-child structure of campaigns that rolls up statistics (members, responses) to the parent.
- What is a case status?
- A picklist tracking case progress (e.g., New, Working, Escalated, Closed), defined per support process.
- What is the difference between an assignment rule and an escalation rule?
- Assignment routes a new case to the right owner/queue; escalation acts on aging open cases that breach time criteria.
- What does Email-to-Case 'On-Demand' vs 'standard' mean?
- On-Demand Email-to-Case uses Salesforce's email service with no agent install; standard requires an email agent behind your firewall for high volume.
- What is a case comment vs. case feed post?
- Both add notes; case feed posts appear in the chronological feed, while comments are a simpler related list (Classic-oriented).
- What is the role of a queue in case management?
- It holds unassigned cases so any qualified agent can take ownership, often paired with assignment rules and Omni-Channel.
- What is the AppExchange?
- Salesforce's marketplace for installing managed packages (apps, components, flows) that extend the platform.
- What is a managed vs. unmanaged package?
- A managed package is upgradable and its components are locked by the publisher; an unmanaged package is an editable template you own after install.
- What is the difference between a task and an event?
- A task is a to-do with a due date and status; an event is a calendar appointment with a start and end time.
- What is a public calendar / resource calendar?
- Shared calendars for team events or bookable resources (e.g., conference rooms).
- What is a Chatter feed tracking?
- Settings that determine which record field changes post automatically to the record's Chatter feed.
- What is the admin's first step to enable Agentforce?
- Turn on Agentforce/Einstein in Setup and assign the required permission sets and licenses to users.
- How do you troubleshoot an agent that can't access a record?
- Check the agent user's permissions, the action's data access, and sharing — the agent is constrained by the same security model.
- What is a prompt template?
- A reusable, grounded instruction (built in Prompt Builder) that generates AI content using merge fields from Salesforce data.
- Why must agents use grounded, trusted data?
- To keep AI responses accurate to the business and compliant; grounding reduces hallucinations and respects data security.
- Where do you apply an AI agent to a business scenario?
- Define a topic for the use case, attach the right actions, set permissions, then test and deploy the agent to the relevant channel.
