CRM Analytics and Einstein Discovery Consultant Exam Guide

The Short Answer

The Salesforce Certified CRM Analytics and Einstein Discovery Consultant exam (formerly Tableau CRM and Einstein Discovery Consultant) has 60 scored multiple-choice questions plus up to 5 unscored, a 90-minute time limit, a 65% passing score, a US$200 registration fee (US$100 to retake) and no prerequisite. Its questions align to the Spring '24 release (checked in November 2026 against the official exam guide).

It tests whether you can deliver a CRM Analytics implementation end to end: enable and license it, bring data in with data sync and recipes, lock rows down with sharing inheritance and security predicates, build fast, interactive dashboards, and build, deploy and monitor Einstein Discovery models. The biggest section is Data Layer at 23%.

Exam Details at a Glance

Source: the exam guide for every row except maintenance, which comes from the Trailhead Certification Release Maintenance Schedule. Both checked in November 2026. The guide's own maintenance paragraph still reads "the [Exam Name] certification maintenance badge", a template placeholder, so use the schedule for the badge name and dates.

A 65% score works out to 39 of the 60 scored questions. You have about 1.4 minutes for each of up to 65 items, a tighter pace than the 105 minutes many other 60-question consultant exams allow. For fees and retake rules across every Salesforce exam, see Salesforce certification cost and retake fees.

Who the Exam Is For

The exam guide describes someone with broad knowledge of the platform: dataset management, permissions and security, "advanced Salesforce Analytics Query Language (SAQL) coding," and JSON for dashboards on desktop and mobile. It suggests at least 1 year of hands-on experience across three areas it calls front end (visualizations, queries, bindings, template apps, Dashboard Inspector, mobile layouts), administrative (provisioning, deployment, governance, security predicates, app permissions, embedding) and back end (data ingestion, dataflows and recipes, data sync, Discovery data prep, model evaluation and deployment).

The Trailhead credential page frames the holder as someone who designs and implements on CRM Analytics and Einstein Discovery "in a customer-facing or internal architect role."

The guide is just as useful for what it leaves out. You are not expected to know Apex, an SDK, how to use the API, data serialization formats, Salesforce Data Pipelines, Salesforce Data 360, data backup, hierarchical and territorial security predicates, custom geoJSON maps or data scaffolding. Note the API line: the Admin/Configuration section still asks what the CRM Analytics API can do, so know its capabilities without memorizing calls.

The Six Exam Sections and What They Test

Weights are from the exam guide; question counts are our rounding of each weight against 60 scored questions. Dashboard design and implementation together are 32%, the largest block, but the data and security sections (39% combined) are where scenario questions get tricky.

Admin/Configuration (17%)

Enabling CRM Analytics with the right permission sets and licenses, designing around data sync, dataflow and recipe limits, knowing what the CRM Analytics API can do, and migrating assets between environments. Expect scenarios where a user can't see an app after CRM Analytics is turned on: enabling the feature isn't the same as giving users a permission set.

Data Layer (23%)

Data Manager, data sync, dataflows and recipes, refresh scheduling, transformations, extended metadata (XMD) and converting dataflows to recipes. Salesforce's recipes-versus-dataflows article is worth reading closely: recipes are the recommended tool, with data preview, more join types, aggregation and built-in machine learning (Predict Missing Values, Detect Sentiment), while dataflows still offer JSON editing and the end-of-life date for dataflows "hasn't been set yet." The same page warns that a recipe reading synced (SFDC_Local) data uses whatever the last sync captured, so schedule the sync to finish before the recipe runs. XMD is how you change labels, values and colors for every dashboard on a dataset; the XMD article says the file must use XMD 2.0 syntax and stay under 5 MB.

Security (16%)

Users, groups and profiles; row-level security with sharing inheritance and security predicates; and app sharing. Read the sharing inheritance limits until you can recite them:

• Sharing inheritance works only from Account, Case, Contact, Lead and Opportunity, and only when every record has fewer than 400 sharing descriptors.
• It covers a user with View All Data or with access granted by fewer than 3,000 sharing descriptors. Everyone else falls to the backup security predicate, so always set one; without it, uncovered users see no rows.
• It isn't available to Experience Cloud site users, who need security predicates instead.
• A dataset inherits sharing from one object only, however many objects feed it.
• Sharing inheritance costs performance. When performance is the top requirement, the article recommends security predicates.

The security predicate article adds two classic traps: once a dataset exists, change its security on the dataset's edit page, because edits in the dataflow or recipe don't touch it; and with no row-level security at all, anyone with access to the dataset sees every record.

Analytics Dashboard Design (13%)

Scoping and prioritizing dashboard requirements, applying CRM Analytics best practices and UX principles, and choosing and configuring a standard templated app. Questions here usually describe a business audience and ask which layout, chart or template app fits. Know when a Salesforce-provided template app gets you most of the way faster than a custom build.

Analytics Dashboard Implementation (19%)

Query types, widget parameters, selection and results interactions, compare-table windowing and time series, embedding in Lightning pages, Dashboard Inspector and dashboard versioning. The interactions guide draws the key line: a selection interaction updates a query from what the user selects in another widget, while a results interaction updates a query from another query's results, such as using a top-five products query to filter a second query. It also recommends faceting first, which works only between queries on the same dataset.

The compare table's window functions (sliding window, percentage of group, rank within group, period over period, change from previous, running total) generate SAQL you can then edit. For performance, the Dashboard Inspector runs only in view mode, not while editing, and reports on the current page and layout, so run it on each layout. The performance best practices suggest six or fewer queries per page, global filters over selection-based ones, and derived fields precomputed in the recipe.

Einstein Discovery (12%)

Building a model with one of three prediction types (numeric, binary, multiclass), reading model results, improving the data, putting predictions on Lightning record pages and reading the Model Card. Know the deployment flow from Deploy Models: pick a prediction definition, connect a Salesforce object, map variables, add segmentation filters, and select at least one actionable variable if you want suggested improvements. For record pages, the Einstein Predictions component lists only deployed models that match the page's object. After deployment, Model Manager is where you watch live data alerts for missing or out-of-bounds values that signal declining accuracy. Salesforce Help now says "stories are now models," so expect both words in older material.

How It Differs From Tableau and Data 360

CRM Analytics carried the Tableau CRM name for a while, so searches mix it up with the Tableau exams. They test different products. The Tableau Consultant exam covers Tableau Desktop, Prep, Server and Cloud. This exam covers CRM Analytics inside Salesforce: datasets built by data sync and recipes, security that inherits Salesforce sharing, SAQL and dashboard JSON, and Einstein Discovery predictions on Salesforce records. And the guide explicitly excludes Salesforce Data 360, so don't spend study time on data streams or identity resolution for this one.

A Six-to-Eight-Week Study Plan

1. Score yourself on the outline. Rate each objective 1 to 3. Our guide to using the exam outline to plan your study shows how to turn a 23% section into study hours.
2. Take a baseline. Try the 18 free CRM Analytics practice questions to see the scenario style and find your weakest section.
3. Work the official trailmix. The guide recommends the trailmix Prepare for Your Salesforce CRM Analytics and Einstein Discovery Consultant Credential and the trails Explore with CRM Analytics, Build and Administer CRM Analytics, CRM Analytics Apps Basics, Accelerate CRM Analytics with Apps and Gain Insight and Improve Outcomes with Einstein Discovery. Trailhead Academy courses ANC201 and ANC301 are optional.
4. Build one pipeline in a Developer Edition org. Sync Opportunity and Account, join them in a recipe, add a calculated field, then secure the dataset with sharing inheritance from Opportunity plus a backup predicate. Change the security on the dataset afterward and notice where you have to do it.
5. Build one dashboard and break it. Add a selection interaction, a results interaction and a compare table with a running total, then open Dashboard Inspector and fix the slowest query.
6. Build and deploy one model. Create a binary model (won or lost), review its metrics, mark an actionable variable, deploy it and add the Einstein Predictions component to the Opportunity record page.
7. Practice under time. Book the exam when you're steadily above 65% at about 1.4 minutes per question. Our guide to answering Salesforce scenario questions helps with the long ones.

CRM Analytics Practice on Certifyforce

Certifyforce has a practice bank written to this exam's six-section outline and checked against Salesforce Help and the exam guide. It isn't affiliated with Salesforce, and it contains no recalled exam questions or brain dumps.

• 18 free practice questions spread across the sections in proportion to their weight, each with the answer, why the other options are wrong and the page it was checked against. No account needed.
• The CRM Analytics and Einstein Discovery Consultant practice exam: a bank of 300 reviewed questions, with 60-question timed exams on a 90-minute clock in the official section mix, section practice, and an explanation and source for every answer.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many questions are on the CRM Analytics and Einstein Discovery Consultant exam?

60 scored multiple-choice questions plus up to 5 unscored ones, in 90 minutes, with a 65% passing score, per the exam guide.

How much does the exam cost?

US$200 (JPY 30,000) plus applicable taxes, and a retake costs US$100 (JPY 15,000).

Is this the same as the Tableau CRM and Einstein Discovery Consultant exam?

Yes. Tableau CRM and Einstein Discovery Consultant is the former name of the same credential. It is a different exam from the Tableau Consultant certification.

Which section should I study most?

Data Layer, at 23%, is about 14 questions. Add Security (16%), and data and row-level security make up almost 40% of the exam.

Do I need to know Apex or Data 360?

No. The guide lists Apex, SDKs, using the API and Salesforce Data 360 among the things a candidate is not expected to know. You do need SAQL and dashboard JSON.

How do I keep the certification?

Complete the Tableau CRM & Einstein Discovery Consultant maintenance badge on Trailhead once a year. The current badge was available April 23, 2026 and is due April 16, 2027, per the maintenance schedule.