Salesforce - Priscilla Hong

Are you currently seeking a Salesforce admin job and feeling anxious about the interview process? Don't worry, we've got you covered! In this article, we have compiled a list of the 30 most frequently asked questions in Salesforce admin job interviews. By familiarizing yourself with these questions and their answers, you'll be well-prepared to ace your interview and secure the job you desire!

Table of Contents

I. Basic Understanding of the Tool and Your Salesforce Experience (10 questions)

1. What is CRM?
2. What is Salesforce?
3. What is cloud Computing?
4. What is PAAS, SAAS, IAAS?
5. Share your past experiences with Salesforce and how they've shaped your skills
6. Do you hold any Salesforce certifications or qualifications?
7. Do you know trailhead? How many points and badges do you have?
8. What’s your understanding of Admin role?
9. What’s the benefits for using Salesforce (for company, for users)?
10. Do you see any difficulties when performing the job and what makes you the best candidate for this role?

II. Understanding of Admin Knowledge Points and Practices

1. Object in Salesforce
2. Role of Profiles in Salesforce and Available Types
3. Permission Set
4. Sandbox and Types of Sandbox in Salesforce
5. Different types of object relationships in Salesforce
6. Field Dependencies in Salesforce
7. Ways to Share a Record in Salesforce
8. Audit Trail
9. Data Access Levels in Salesforce
10. Freezing or Deleting a User in Salesforce
11. Roll-Up Summary Field
12. Significance of Different Field Types in Salesforce
13. Validation Rules in Salesforce
14. Salesforce Flow
15. Object-specific Actions vs. Global Actions in Salesforce
16. Report Type in Salesforce
17. Different Types of Reports in Salesforce
18. Static vs. Dynamic Dashboards in Salesforce
19. Import Wizard vs. Data Loader
20. Apex

Contents

Question 2: What is Salesforce?

Answer: Salesforce is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform that helps businesses manage their sales, marketing, customer service, and other customer-related activities. It is one of the leading CRM solutions in the market and offers a wide range of tools and features to streamline and automate various business processes. Some key features of Salesforce include: Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud

Question 3: What is Cloud Computing?Answer: Cloud computing is a way to access information and applications online instead of having to build, manage, and maintain them on your own hard drives or servers. It’s fast, efficient, and secure.

Simply put, cloud computing is a way of accessing services on the internet instead of on your computer. You can use the cloud to access applications, data, and development tools from virtually anywhere. Whether you’re working on your phone from a crowded train in Chicago or on your laptop at a hotel in Hong Kong, you can access the same information because it all lives online.

Question 4: What are PAAS, SAAS, and IAAS?

Answer: IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) – Here, cloud service providers largely focus on infrastructure services like hosting, servers, storage services, etc.

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) – SaaS is a software delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and hosted centrally.

PaaS (Platform-as-a-Services) – This is a category of cloud computing services that provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage apps.

Question 5: Share your past experiences with Salesforce and how they've shaped your skills

Answer: I used to be an admin in a company XXX; I learned Salesforce myself and though I haven’t worked as an admin in a company before but I practiced several admin jobs in the Salesforce playground…

Question 6: Do you hold any Salesforce certifications or qualifications? 

Answer: Yes, I have xx certifications. 

Question 7: Do you know Trailhead? How many points and badges do you have?

Answer: Yes, on Trailhead I have XX super badges … 

Question 8: What’s your understanding of the Admin role?

Answer:  The Admin role in Salesforce involves managing and maintaining the Salesforce platform to ensure its smooth operation. This includes tasks such as configuring and customizing Salesforce to meet the organization's specific needs, managing user access and permissions, creating and maintaining data records, setting up workflows and automation, generating reports and dashboards, and providing user support and training. The Admin plays a crucial role in optimizing the Salesforce system to enhance productivity and drive business success.

Question 9: What are the benefits of using Salesforce (for the company, for users)?

Answer: Salesforce offers numerous benefits for both companies and users. For companies, Salesforce provides a centralized platform to manage customer relationships, streamline sales processes, and improve marketing efforts. It enables businesses to track and analyze customer data, gain insights into customer behavior, and make data-driven decisions. Salesforce also offers scalability and flexibility, allowing companies to adapt and grow as their needs evolve. For users, Salesforce offers a user-friendly interface, easy access to information, and tools to collaborate and communicate effectively. It enhances productivity, enables remote work, and provides a seamless customer experience.

Question 10: Do you see any difficulties when performing the job and what makes you the best candidate for this role?

Answer: Performing the Admin role in Salesforce may come with certain challenges. Some potential difficulties include managing complex data structures, handling user requests and support tickets, staying updated with new Salesforce features and updates, and troubleshooting technical issues. However, with my experience and expertise in Salesforce administration, I am confident in my ability to overcome these challenges. I have a strong understanding of Salesforce best practices, a solid grasp of the platform's capabilities, and a problem-solving mindset. I am also a quick learner and adapt well to changes. My combination of technical skills, attention to detail, and dedication to delivering exceptional results makes me the best candidate for this role.

 

Question 4: What is Sandbox and the Type of Sandbox in Salesforce?

A Salesforce sandbox is an isolated copy of your organization’s production environment that is used for development and testing purposes. Your production environment has your live data and active users logging in. A Salesforce sandbox will always include a copy of your production organization’s metadata

Types of Sandbox in Salesforce

• There are 4 types of Salesforce sandbox environments:
• Developer Sandbox
• Developer Pro Sandbox
• Partial Copy
• Full Sandbox

Question 5: What are the different types of object relationships in Salesforce?

There are several types of object relationships in Salesforce:

• Master-Detail Relationship (1:n): This type of relationship establishes a parent-child relationship between objects. The master object controls the behavior of the dependent child object. It is a 1:n relationship, meaning there can be only one parent but many children. The master field cannot be empty, and if a master record is deleted, the corresponding dependent object records are also deleted in a cascade delete. Dependent fields inherit the owner, sharing, and security settings from the master object. Master-detail relationships can be defined between two custom objects or between a custom object and a standard object, as long as the standard object is the master in the relationship.
• Lookup Relationship (1:n): Lookup relationships are used to create a link between two objects without a dependency on the parent object. Similar to a Master-Detail relationship, it is a form of parent-child relationship where there is one parent and many children (1:n relationship). Deleting a record does not result in the automatic deletion of child records, and child fields do not inherit the owner, sharing, or security settings of the parent.
• Junction Relationship (Many-To-Many): This type of relationship is used when there is a need to create two Master-Detail relationships. It involves linking three custom objects, where two objects act as master objects and the third object is dependent on both master objects. In simpler terms, the third object becomes a child object for both master objects, creating a many-to-many relationship.
• Self-Relationship: A Self-Relationship is a lookup relationship to the same object. It allows users to create relationships between instances of the same object. For example, the "Merchandise" object can have a self-relationship to establish connections between different merchandise records.

Question 6: What are Field Dependencies in Salesforce, and how are they used?

Field dependencies in Salesforce are used to control the visibility of picklist values on one object based on the selection made on another object. In this relationship, the object that controls the visibility of other objects is referred to as the controlling object, while the object that is affected by the control is called the dependent object.

By setting up field dependencies, administrators can create a dynamic relationship between fields, ensuring that the available picklist values on a dependent field are determined by the selection made on the controlling field.

Question 7: How many ways can we share a record in Salesforce?

Answer: There are several methods available to share records in Salesforce:

• Role Hierarchy: By setting up a role hierarchy, users higher up in the hierarchy have access to read records and inherit the permissions of users below them. To set up a role hierarchy, go to Setup, find "Manage Users," navigate to Roles, click on "Set Up Roles," and then click on "Add Role" to create roles.
• Organization-Wide Defaults (OWD): OWD (Organization-Wide Defaults) allows you to define baseline settings for record permissions within your organization. OWD settings can be set to Public Read Only, Private, Public Read, or Write. To configure OWD settings, go to Setup, find "Security Controls," click on "Sharing Settings," and then click on "Edit."
• Manual Sharing: Manual sharing allows you to share a single record or file with individual users or groups of users. The manual sharing button is available on the detail page of the record and is visible when the OWD setting is set to private.
• Criteria-Based Sharing Rules: Criteria-based sharing rules allow you to share records based on specific conditions or criteria. To set up criteria-based sharing rules, go to Setup, navigate to "Security Controls," click on "Sharing Settings," select the object, provide a name, define the conditions, and click on "Save."
• Apex Sharing: Each object in Salesforce has a corresponding sharing object (e.g., AccountShare for the Account object). Using Apex, you can programmatically create records in the sharing object to share records.

Question 8: What is an Audit Trail?

Answer: The Audit Trail in Salesforce is a valuable feature that allows administrators to track and monitor changes made within the organization. It provides a comprehensive record of modifications made by administrators, including yourself, in the Salesforce platform. This feature is particularly useful for organizations with multiple administrators, as it helps in maintaining transparency and accountability.

The Audit Trail displays information about the twenty most recent changes made in your organization. It captures details such as the date and time of the change, the user who made the change, and the specific modifications that were performed. This information can be accessed and reviewed to understand the history and evolution of data and settings within the organization.

By utilizing the Audit Trail, administrators can easily identify and investigate any unauthorized or unintended changes, ensuring data integrity and security. It also facilitates compliance with regulatory requirements and internal governance policies by providing a reliable audit trail of system activities.

To access the Audit Trail in Salesforce, navigate to the Setup menu and search for "Audit Trail." From there, you can view and analyze the recorded changes to gain insights into the organization's administrative activities.

Question 9: Detail the various data access levels in Salesforce and their implications.

 

Question 10: How to freeze or delete a user in Salesforce, and why might you do this?

Answer: To freeze or delete a user in Salesforce, you can follow these steps:

1) Freezing a User:

Freezing a user temporarily suspends their access to Salesforce while retaining their user record and associated data.

To freeze a user, go to the user's detail page and click on the "Freeze" button.

Freezing a user is typically done in scenarios such as when an employee goes on leave, is terminated, or when their access needs to be temporarily restricted.

2) Deleting a User:

Deleting a user permanently removes their user record and associated data from Salesforce.

To delete a user, go to the user's detail page and click on the "Delete" button.

Deleting a user is typically done when an employee leaves the organization permanently or when their user record is no longer needed.

3) Why might you freeze or delete a user in Salesforce?

• Security: Freezing or deleting a user helps maintain the security of your Salesforce org. It ensures that only authorized individuals have access to sensitive data and functionality.
• Employee Transitions: Freezing or deleting a user is necessary when an employee leaves the organization, goes on leave, or changes roles within the company.
• Compliance: Freezing or deleting a user can be part of compliance procedures to ensure that access to sensitive information is promptly revoked when no longer required.
• License Management: Freezing or deleting a user helps manage user licenses effectively by freeing up licenses for new users or reassigning them to existing users.

Question 11: What is the purpose of a Roll-Up Summary field?

Answer: A Roll-Up Summary field is a feature available on the master side of a master-detail relationship in Salesforce. It allows administrators to automatically calculate and aggregate data from related detail records, such as counting them or summing a numeric value. This real-time aggregation capability is one of the primary advantages of using a master-detail relationship in Salesforce.

Question 12: What is the significance of different field types in Salesforce?

Answer: Field types in Salesforce define the expected format and type of data that users can enter into a field. Examples of field types include text, number, date, currency, and more. Choosing the appropriate field type is crucial because it impacts your ability to effectively report on and analyze the data. For instance, storing numbers in a text field may make calculations and analysis more challenging. Therefore, selecting the right field type ensures data accuracy and facilitates efficient data manipulation and reporting in Salesforce.

Question 13: What is the purpose of Validation Rules in Salesforce?

Answer: Validation Rules in Salesforce enable you to implement specific business logic to ensure the integrity of your organization's data. They allow you to define conditions that must be met for data to be considered valid and prevent the creation or modification of records that violate these conditions.

For instance, let's say you want to enforce a rule that an Opportunity cannot be marked as "Closed Won" if the associated account does not have a billing address. In this case, you can create a validation rule that checks for the presence of a billing address and prevents the update of the Opportunity record if the condition is not met. When a user attempts to update the record in violation of the rule, Salesforce will display an error message explaining the necessary action to rectify the issue.

By using validation rules, you can ensure that data entered into Salesforce meets your organization's specific requirements and business logic. They act as a safeguard, preventing the creation or modification of records that do not adhere to the defined criteria. This helps maintain data integrity and accuracy within your Salesforce org.

Question 14: What is Salesforce Flow?

Answer: Salesforce Flow is a powerful automation tool that allows users to perform a wide range of tasks within Salesforce without the need for coding. It enables administrators to create and automate complex business processes using a visual interface, making it accessible to users with no programming knowledge.

With Salesforce Flow, you can accomplish tasks such as sending emails, posting on Chatter, and sending custom notifications, all through a point-and-click approach. It provides a user-friendly way to automate processes and streamline workflows.

Flows can be triggered by events such as record insertion, update, or deletion, and can be executed both before and after these events occur. This flexibility allows for precise control over when and how the flow is triggered.

For Salesforce administrators, Flows are an invaluable tool as they empower them to handle complex business requirements without relying on a developer. By leveraging Flows, administrators can automate processes, improve efficiency, and enhance the user experience within their Salesforce org.

Question 15: What are the distinctions between Object-specific actions and global actions in Salesforce?

Answer: Object-specific actions and global actions in Salesforce have the following differences:

a) Creation and Updating of Records:

Both types of actions can create records, but only object-specific actions have the capability to update existing records.

b) Relationship with Other Records:

Object-specific actions create records that are automatically associated with the current record. This means that the created record has a direct relationship with the record from which the action was initiated.

On the other hand, a record created by a global action has no inherent relationship with other records. It is created independently and does not have any direct association with the record that triggered the action.

Question 16: What is a Report Type in Salesforce?

Answer: A Report Type in Salesforce is essentially a template that is built based on the objects and relationships between objects and fields. Every report in Salesforce can only be created based on a specific report type.

Question 17: What are the different types of reports available in Salesforce?

Answer: Salesforce offers four types of reports:

1) Matrix Report:

• Groups are recorded by rows and columns to display data by two separate dimensions that aren't related, such as date and product.
• Example: Summarizing opportunities by account horizontally and by month vertically.

2) Summary Report:

• Provides a listing of data with groupings and subtotals.
• Used when subtotals are needed based on the value of a particular field or when creating a hierarchically grouped report.
• Example: Listing all opportunities for a team, subtotaled by owner and sales stage.

3)Tabular Report:

• Provides details of a company in a tabular format.
• Used when a simple list or an item list with a grand total is required.
• Example: Listing all accounts, opportunities, contacts, etc.

4) Joined Report:

• Created by combining any combination of reports, such as a matrix report and summary report or matrix reports and tabular reports.
• Example: Displaying opportunity, case, and activity data for accounts.

 

Question 18: What is the distinction between static and dynamic dashboards in Salesforce?

Answer:

1. Static Dashboards:
2. These are the default dashboards visible to all users in Salesforce.
3. They display organizational-wide data to a set of users.
4. Static dashboards can be scheduled to automatically refresh their data.
5. Dynamic Dashboards:
6. Dynamic dashboards show data tailored specifically for a particular user.
7. They display a single user's specific data, such as the number of closed sales or converted leads.
8. Dynamic dashboards cannot be scheduled as they display real-time generated data when opened.

 

Question 19: What are the differences between Import Wizard and Data Loader?

Answer:

 

Question 20: What is Apex?

Answer: Apex is the programming language used to write code in Salesforce. Although it is primarily used by developers, it is essential for administrators to understand that code written in Apex can enhance and extend the functionality of their Salesforce organization, allowing for a wide range of customizations and automation capabilities.

Hope you enjoy reading it! And hope this article serves as a valuable resource for anyone looking to strengthen their Salesforce Admin skills and prepare for job interviews, ensuring you are well-equipped with the knowledge to excel in your admin role.