Configuration and Setup15% of the exam

User setup, licenses, freezing and deactivation

How to create and maintain users: globally unique usernames, personal locale and time zone settings, choosing user and feature licenses, why users are deactivated rather than deleted, what freezing and deactivating actually change, and how single sign-on and login-as fit in.

Official exam objective
Given a scenario, demonstrate the proper setup and maintenance of users (user name is unique, locales, working hours, how to distribute licenses, types of licenses, not deleting a user, implications of making inactive, override, assigning feature licenses, management of users with various login methods).

~8 min read · 11 practice questions

What the exam expects

  • Create a user with a globally unique username, the right user license and profile, and correct personal settings (locale, time zone, language, start and end of day).
  • Choose the most cost-appropriate user license, and add feature licenses such as Marketing User when a capability is gated per user.
  • Explain why users are deactivated rather than deleted, and exactly what deactivation does and does not change.
  • Choose between freezing and deactivating when access must stop immediately but deactivation is blocked or premature.
  • Recover license capacity for new hires, and manage users with different login methods (single sign-on versus username and password).
  • Reproduce a user's problem by logging in as that user.

Key facts

Username uniqueness
Detail
Unique across all orgs, including trial and sandbox orgs
Username format
Detail
Email format; need not be a working mailbox
Duplicate Username error
Detail
Name is in use in a production, trial or sandbox org; change it on that record
Platform Login license
Detail
Same access as Salesforce Platform, login-based pricing
Salesforce Platform license
Detail
Accounts, contacts, reports and custom apps; no leads, opportunities, campaigns, forecasts
Marketing User
Detail
Feature license checkbox needed to create and edit campaigns
Delete a user
Detail
Not possible; deactivate instead
Deactivated user's records
Detail
Still owned by the inactive user until transferred
Deactivated user's groups
Detail
Still listed as a member of public groups
Deactivation and licenses
Detail
Inactive users don't count against available licenses
Freeze and licenses
Detail
Freezing doesn't release the license
Deactivation blocked
Detail
Default owners, custom hierarchy fields, email alert recipients
Is Single Sign-On Enabled
Detail
User permission that subjects a user to SSO-only settings
Federation ID
Detail
User field used to match a user for federated SSO
Sources for this section (8)
  • Why might a user be unable to log in right after you change their username?
  • How many characters can a user's Alias hold?
  • What happens to files owned by a user you deactivate?
  • What happens to a deactivated user's Chatter Following and Followers lists?
  • When should you delete a user's manual account shares with the Bulk API before deactivating them?

The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.

Keep reading with the Platform Administrator pack

  • Core concepts
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  • Worked scenario

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  • All 28 lessons of the Platform Administrator guide, with reading progress
  • Interactive decision walks and step-by-step sequence steppers
  • Practice exams purchase adds inline bank questions and topic practice (11 questions for this lesson)
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