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Cert++

  1. Home
  3. Study Resources
  5. Education Cloud Consultant
Resource Pack
·Study Checklist

Education Cloud Consultant

4-Step Path to Passing

  1. 1
    Complete the
    Education Cloud Consultant Trailmix
  2. 2
    Look at the
    Study Checklist
    Every concept you need to know for your exam, available for free to check off as you learn.
  3. 3
    Attempt
    Practice Exams
  4. 4
    Schedule Your Exam

Core Resources

  • Cert++ Practice Exam (1 free exam per cert, then paid)

    Free practice questions with detailed explanations. $10/mo for access to all questions, features, and certifications.

    certplusplus.com

  • Focus on Force - Education Cloud Consultant (Paid)

    Practice questions and study guide for the Education Cloud Consultant exam.

    focusonforce.com

  • Daily Certle Game (3 free questions per day)

    Practice your Salesforce certification knowledge daily with a challenge inspired by Wordle. Topics might not perfectly align with your preferred exam, but there's a lot of overlap between the certs.

    certplusplus.com

  • Official Trailmix

    Salesforce's curated Trailmix for the Education Cloud Consultant credential, covering the official Trailhead study path.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Administer Education Data Architecture (EDA) Trail

    The full EDA trail: EDA Basics, Configuration and Data Import, Architecture Setup, Constituent Management, and EDA Reports.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Administer Salesforce for K-12 Educational Institutions Trail

    The complete K-12 trail covering EDA Basics, K-12 Architecture Kit Administration, and User Management in a K-12 context.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Support Students and Families with Student Success Hub Trail

    Trail covering Student Success Hub Quick Look and Holistic Student Support for K-12.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Deliver Connected Digital Experiences to Education Constituents Trail

    Constituent data strategies, digital transformation maturity model, and data storage strategy for education institutions.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Official Exam Guide

    Salesforce Help page with the official exam outline, objectives, format, and current exam details.

    help.salesforce.com

  • Education Trailblazer Community Group

    The Salesforce Education community group for consultants, admins, and developers working in the education vertical.

    trailblazers.salesforce.com

  • Cert++ Discord

    The Cert++ community discord for Salesforce professionals. Exam prep, resource sharing, study groups, and more. Free and open to all.

    discord.gg

  • Trailblazer Community

    Connect with other Salesforce learners for peer support, mentoring, and study groups.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • r/salesforce

    Salesforce subreddit for discussions, career questions, certification tips, and community support.

    reddit.com

  • SFXD Discord

    Large Salesforce community discord server with channels for admin topics, career advice, and technical help.

    discord.gg

  • Salesforce Certification Score Calculator

    Check your exam score based on section results. Estimates your total score from category percentages (community-maintained third-party tool).

    scuvanov.github.io

Exam Overview

From the official exam guide

Questions

65

60 scored5 unscored

Duration

105 min

1h 45m

To Pass

65%

Min. score

Pricing

$200 registration · $100 retake

Delivery

Online proctored or at a testing center

Experience

6+ months of Education Cloud implementation experience recommended

Prerequisites

No prerequisites required

Exam Topics

Each topic section shows the topic weight, learning objectives, and links to study resources.

Domain Expertise18%

Higher education student lifecycle (inquiry through alumni), K-12 family and educator engagement models, Education Cloud functional solution areas, recruitment and admissions, student success, advancement, and mapping institutional requirements to the correct feature area.

  • Determine the solution set that satisfies customer requirements (marketing and engagement, recruitment and admissions, student experience, and advancement and alumni relations)
  • Explain the Education Cloud solution for K-12 customers

Resources

  • Manage Advancement Operations in Education Cloud

    Alumni account management, fundraising campaigns, and gift designations in the Education Cloud Advancement module.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Install K-12 Architecture Kit into a Trailhead Playground

    Hands-on setup of K-12 Architecture Kit in a playground org, including prerequisites and installation steps.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Education Cloud Basics

    Education Cloud overview, data model, functional areas, and the holistic learner journey.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Recruitment and Admissions with Education Cloud

    Recruitment funnel, inquiry and opportunity objects, applicant portal, dynamic applications, and application reviews.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Student Success with Education Cloud

    Student success tools, success teams, case management, support programs, care plans, action plans, and the learner portal.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Student Success Hub for Higher Education

    Higher education advising workspaces, team collaboration, and streamlined student services for university staff.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Holistic Student Support with Student Success Hub for K-12

    K-12 Student Success Hub, alerts, case management, success teams, success plans, and customized reporting.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Appointments in Education Cloud: Quick Look

    Appointment scheduling for staff, learners, and prospects in Education Cloud.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Accounting Subledger for Education Cloud: Quick Look

    Consolidating accounting data within Salesforce for educational institutions using Accounting Subledger.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

Education Cloud Configuration22%

EDA installation and settings, TDTM (Table-Driven Trigger Management), academic programs, courses, terms and course offerings, K-12 Architecture Kit configuration, student ID customization, sandbox strategy, and data import for education institutions.

  • Discuss the capabilities and considerations of Education Cloud, including compatibility with other Salesforce products and features
  • Install and configure Salesforce for Education solutions

Resources

  • Manage Your Learning Catalog in Education Cloud

    Creating and configuring learning courses, programs, and learning program plans in Education Cloud.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Install Education Data Architecture (EDA) into a Trailhead Playground

    Hands-on EDA installation practice: prerequisites, installation steps, and post-install verification in a playground org.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Education Data Architecture Basics

    EDA fundamentals, account model for institutions vs. households, EDA settings overview, and entity-relationship diagram.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • EDA Configuration and Data Import

    EDA settings, TDTM automation, customization options, and data import strategies for education institutions.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Education Architecture Setup

    Department accounts, academic programs, courses, terms, course offerings, facilities, and time blocks in EDA.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • K-12 Architecture Kit Administration Basics

    K-12 Architecture Kit navigation, configuration, data model, page layouts, and K-12 reports and dashboards.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Student ID Field in Education Data Architecture: Quick Look

    Creating a custom Student ID field on the Contact object to support institutional identification requirements in EDA.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Salesforce Sandboxes: Quick Look

    Sandbox types, use cases, and testing and deploying Education Cloud configuration changes safely.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

Implementation Strategies and Best Practices18%

Phased implementation planning, requirements gathering, UAT, change management, user adoption, governance, AppExchange solution selection, open-source community resources, digital transformation planning, and deployment best practices for education implementations.

  • Facilitate a successful implementation (plan, gather requirements, design, build, test, document, deploy, and optimize)
  • Illustrate governance, change management, staffing, implementation strategies, deployment considerations, and adoption best practices including community resources for long-term solution success

Resources

  • Import and Export with Data Management Tools

    Data Import Wizard and Dataloader.io for importing, exporting, and updating Salesforce records during implementation.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Salesforce for Nonprofits Implementation Best Practices

    Phased implementation approach, governance prioritization, and data focus strategies applicable to education implementations.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Nonprofit Success Pack Health and Optimization

    Sandbox setup, managing change with sandboxes, release preparation, and contributing to the open-source community.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Best Practices for Project Management

    Requirements gathering, activity planning, risk management, and project performance monitoring for Salesforce implementations.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Salesforce Adoption Strategies

    Accelerating user adoption, building the ideal Salesforce org, deploying technology, and driving long-term adoption.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • User Adoption Metrics

    Measuring Salesforce usage and tracking business outcomes to evaluate implementation success.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Digital Transformation at Educational Institutions: Quick Look

    Digital transformation maturity model and strategic data approach for improving constituent experiences at schools.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Data Storage for Education Institutions: Quick Look

    Data backup and archive strategy for educational institutions managing large volumes of student and alumni records.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

Solution Design19%

EDA account model vs. standard Account-Contact model trade-offs, affiliation object design, managed package selection vs. declarative configuration, data quality and governance, Salesforce data modeling for higher education, and open-source solution considerations.

  • Evaluate the similarities, differences, and relationships between Salesforce for Education solutions account model considerations and standard Salesforce Account-Contact data models
  • Design an appropriate and scalable solution for education customers
  • Locate community and open-source solutions and resources
  • Decide when to use Education Cloud, other Salesforce solutions, community open source solutions, and third-party applications

Resources

  • Create Fundraising Rollups with Data Processing Engine

    Build automated rollup calculations for advancement teams using Data Processing Engine and Flow Builder. Hands-on practice designing the aggregation logic that powers alumni fundraising dashboards.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Constituent Management in EDA

    Contacts, accounts, affiliations, relationships, program enrollments, course connections, and demographic data.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Student Success Hub: Quick Look

    Overview of Student Success Hub capabilities for grades K-20, covering both K-12 and higher education use cases.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Constituent-Centric Data Strategies for Education

    Data strategy planning, mapping business processes to constituent journeys, and using data to identify institutional challenges.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Data Modeling

    Standard vs. custom objects, fields, relationships, and schema builder for understanding EDA's data model design patterns.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • EDA Reports

    Prospective student recruitment reports, at-risk student attendance reports, affiliation and relationship reports, and alumni event reports.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Data Quality

    Assessing, improving, and maintaining Salesforce data quality for education institutions with large constituent datasets.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • AppExchange Solutions

    Discovering, evaluating, and installing AppExchange solutions, including education-specific managed packages and components.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

Integration and Data Management16%

SIS (Banner, PeopleSoft, Workday Student) integration patterns, ETL vs. real-time sync, middleware vs. direct API strategies, large data volume handling for enrollment and course data, data migration planning, and identity management for student portals.

  • Evaluate integration considerations for connecting systems in an Education Cloud implementation
  • Explain data management considerations (data usage, forecasting, large data volumes, migrations in Education Cloud)

Resources

  • Improve Data Quality for a Recruiting App

    Apply validation rules, cross-object formulas, and roll-up summary fields to enforce data integrity in a recruiting app. Directly applicable to Education Cloud admissions data quality requirements.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Application Integration Patterns for Salesforce Lightning Platform

    Integration pattern taxonomy, request-reply vs. fire-and-forget, batch vs. real-time, and the layer approach to integration design.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Explore Integration Patterns and Practices

    Integration patterns, connectors for data integration, data archiving, external data access, and org performance at scale.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Platform API Basics

    Salesforce Platform APIs overview, REST API, Bulk API 2.0, and Pub/Sub API for SIS and external system integrations.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Identity Basics

    Salesforce Identity overview, users and apps, SSO protocols, and identity management for student portal deployments.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • API Lifecycle Management with Anypoint Platform

    MuleSoft application network, API lifecycle management, and integration patterns for connecting SIS and other education systems.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Large Data Volumes

    Data model design for scale, query optimization, bulk data loading, and data deletion and extraction strategies.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Scalability with Salesforce

    Understanding scalability, managing data at scale, and testing platform performance for large education implementations.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

Analytics7%

Standard Salesforce reports and dashboards vs. CRM Analytics for education KPIs, enrollment funnel and at-risk student reporting, alumni engagement and giving analytics, and when to recommend CRM Analytics over standard reporting.

  • Distinguish between reporting solutions in Education Cloud
  • Demonstrate when a data analytics solution is appropriate

Resources

  • Embed a CRM Analytics Dashboard in Lightning Experience

    Delivering CRM Analytics dashboards within Salesforce Lightning pages, home pages, and account pages.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Create Reports and Dashboards for Sales and Marketing Managers

    Hands-on practice: report folders, custom reports, filters, summaries, and dashboards applicable to education reporting.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Reports and Dashboards for Lightning Experience

    Report builder, filters, report formats, and Lightning Dashboard Builder for standard Salesforce reporting.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • CRM Analytics: Quick Look

    CRM Analytics capabilities, use cases, and how it extends beyond standard Salesforce reporting for complex analytics.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Discover CRM Analytics

    CRM Analytics fundamentals, subscriptions, watchlists, and Slack integration for scheduled analytics delivery.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • CRM Analytics Dashboard Navigation

    Dashboard navigation, personalization, and collaboration features within CRM Analytics.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Reports and Dashboards: Quick Look

    Overview of Salesforce standard reports and dashboards and when they are sufficient for education reporting needs.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

  • Explore Lightning Experience Reports and Dashboards

    Full trail covering report builder, filtering, formatting, dashboard builder, and custom report types for standard Salesforce reporting.

    trailhead.salesforce.com

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