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.
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)
- Adding Usershelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Editing Usershelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- User Licenseshelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- User Fieldshelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Deactivate Usershelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Deactivation considerationshelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Freeze Usershelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Require SSOhelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Why can a new username fail as a duplicate even when no user in your org has it?
- Which user field fixes dates in the wrong format, and which fixes times that are a few hours off?
- What does a Salesforce Platform license include and exclude compared with a Salesforce license?
- What stays the same for a user after deactivation, and what changes?
- When would you freeze a user instead of deactivating, and what does freezing not do?
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
- Exam traps
- Worked scenario
The pack includes:
- All 28 lessons of the Platform Administrator guide, with reading progress
- Interactive decision walks and step-by-step sequence steppers
- Inline practice questions and one-click topic practice (11 questions for this lesson)
- An official source cited for every claim
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