# External account hierarchies and account relationships

*Experience Cloud Consultant Study Guide · Sharing, Visibility, and Licensing · Last updated October 24, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/external-account-hierarchies-and-account-relationships*

How data moves between external accounts: external account hierarchies that share child-account data up to the highest role at each parent level (and their limits, including incompatibility with account role optimization), account relationships with data sharing rules between peer partner accounts, and when a sharing set over Contacts to Multiple Accounts fits instead.

- Certification: Salesforce Experience Cloud Consultant
- Exam section: Sharing, Visibility, and Licensing
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant

**Official exam objective:**

> Given a scenario, implement external account relationships for an Experience.

## What the exam expects

- Build an external account hierarchy so parent-account users see data owned by child-account users, and predict which parent roles receive it.
- State the hierarchy's limits: levels, account types, one active hierarchy per account, no merging, no account role optimization, and the effect on internal owners of child accounts.
- Configure an account relationship and its data sharing rule so one peer partner account shares records with another, in the right direction and scope.
- Choose between a hierarchy, account relationships and a Contacts to Multiple Accounts sharing set for a given account structure and license.

Key terms:
- **External account hierarchy**: parent and child external accounts arranged so child data is shared up to parent accounts.
- **Account relationship**: a record linking an Account From (gaining access) to an Account To (giving access).
- **Account relationship data sharing rule**: defines the object, criteria field and access level an account relationship shares.
- **Account Relationship Type**: the picklist value that ties a relationship to its rule.
- **Account role optimization (ARO)**: role setting incompatible with external account hierarchies; taught in External roles, super users and role optimization.

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Licenses | External account hierarchies need Partner or Customer Community Plus licenses | [Configure a hierarchy](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=sf.networks_external_account_hierarchies.htm&type=5) |
| Direction | Data owned by child-account users is shared with parent-account users | [Configure a hierarchy](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=sf.networks_external_account_hierarchies.htm&type=5) |
| Sharing sets | Data shared by sharing sets doesn't roll up in role hierarchies | [Configure a hierarchy](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=sf.networks_external_account_hierarchies.htm&type=5) |
| Who receives it | The highest role at each level | [Hierarchy considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.exp_cloud_setup_ext_acc_hierarchy_settings.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Depth | Five levels by default | [Hierarchy considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.exp_cloud_setup_ext_acc_hierarchy_settings.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Mixing | Partner or customer accounts, not both; one active hierarchy per account | [Hierarchy considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.exp_cloud_setup_ext_acc_hierarchy_settings.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| ARO | Incompatible with external account hierarchies | [Hierarchy considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.exp_cloud_setup_ext_acc_hierarchy_settings.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Child account owners | Can't manage the account's external users; lose access to their records | [Hierarchy considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.exp_cloud_setup_ext_acc_hierarchy_settings.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Enable Account Relationships | Digital Experiences Settings; can't be disabled | [Data sharing rules](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=platform.networks_configure_account_relationship_data_sharing_rules.htm&type=5) |
| Rule access levels | Read and Write only | [Data sharing rules](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=platform.networks_configure_account_relationship_data_sharing_rules.htm&type=5) |
| Owner Id vs Partner Account Id | Owned by Account To's partner users vs every record listing Account To | [Data sharing rules](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=platform.networks_configure_account_relationship_data_sharing_rules.htm&type=5) |
| Account To and Account From | Giving access vs gaining access; type must match the rule | [Create an account relationship](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=platform.networks_configure_account_relationship.htm&type=5) |

## Check yourself

- Why do only some roles on a parent account receive data owned by users of a child account?
- When is an external account hierarchy not an option even with Partner Community licenses?
- Which field on an account relationship names the account that gives access to its records?
- How does a Customer Community user see cases on every account related to their contact?

## Sources

- [Configure an External Account Hierarchy](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=sf.networks_external_account_hierarchies.htm&type=5)
- [External Account Hierarchies Considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.exp_cloud_setup_ext_acc_hierarchy_settings.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Create an Account Relationship](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=platform.networks_configure_account_relationship.htm&type=5)
- [Configure Account Relationship Data Sharing Rules](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=platform.networks_configure_account_relationship_data_sharing_rules.htm&type=5)
- [Create a Sharing Set for Experience Cloud Site Users](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_setting_light_users.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Give External Users Access to Manage Other Accounts](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=platform.networks_external_managed_accounts.htm&type=5)
- [External User Access Best Practices](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_access_best_practices.htm&language=en_US&type=5)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 6 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Experience Cloud Consultant pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams