Platform Sharing and Visibility Architect
The Salesforce Certified Platform Sharing and Visibility Architect credential is the most technically demanding of the four domain architect exams. It tests your ability to design a data access model that satisfies multiple constraints simultaneously -- who sees what, how access propagates, and what happens at scale. If you have passed the Platform Administrator exam, you already know the building blocks. This credential asks you to stack them into architectures that are correct, scalable, and testable. Expect scenario questions that require you to reason about the cumulative effect of org-wide defaults, role hierarchies, sharing rules, Apex managed sharing, and external user licenses all at once.
3-Step Path to Passing
- 1
Complete the Architect Journey: Sharing and Visibility Trailmix
Work through Salesforce's curated trailmix. It includes the official sharing architecture PDF, platform encryption module, and the Protect Your Salesforce Data trail. These are the primary study materials Salesforce points you to. - 2
Attempt Practice Exams
I recommend my own practice exams for this one. The sharing and visibility exam is notorious for multi-constraint scenario questions -- practicing with representative scenarios is the most efficient way to build the pattern recognition you need. - 3Schedule when you can consistently work through multi-constraint sharing scenarios in your head. Most candidates underestimate how much time they need to internalize the interaction rules between different mechanisms.
Core Resources
Exam Overview
Questions
65
60 scored + 5 unscored
Duration
105 min
1 hour 45 minutes
To Pass
67%
Minimum Score
Question Format
Scored
92%60questions
Unscored
8%5questions
Exam Details
Pricing
$400 registration · $200 retake
Delivery
Online proctored or at a testing center
Experience
3+ years Salesforce development and administration
Prerequisites
None (System Architect credential recommended)
Exam Topics
Each topic section shows the topic weight, learning objectives, and links to study resources.
Permissions to Standard Objects, Custom Objects, and Fields27%
Object-level CRUD permissions (profiles and permission sets), field-level security, page layout vs. FLS enforcement, View All and Modify All, permission set groups and muting, session-based permission sets, sensitive data controls (PCI, PII, HIPAA), and programmatic enforcement of CRUD and FLS in Apex.
- Given a scenario, recommend the right level of object permissions needed to provide the appropriate access to a set of users.
- Given a scenario, recommend the correct level of field permissions needed to provide the appropriate access to a set of users.
- Given a scenario, recommend the appropriate mechanism to hide data at the user interface level.
- Given a scenario, determine the appropriate access controls to protect sensitive data (for example, PCI, PII, or HIPAA).
- Given a scenario, recommend the appropriate programmatic solution to ensure security settings are enforced.
Resources
Access to Records39%
Org-wide defaults (internal and external), role hierarchy and grant access using hierarchies, criteria-based and owner-based sharing rules, public groups and queues, account/opportunity/case teams, implicit sharing on parent-child records, Apex managed sharing (share objects, row causes, recalculation), and external user sharing (Experience Cloud licenses, sharing sets, share groups, high-volume portal user limitations).
- Given a set of conditions, recommend the appropriate organization-wide defaults to restrict access to records.
- Given a set of conditions, recommend a solution that leverages the role hierarchy to support the record access requirements.
- Given a set of conditions, determine how sharing rules can be implemented to support the record access requirements.
- Given a set of conditions, determine how groups can support the record access requirements.
- Given a set of conditions, determine how teams can support the record access requirements.
- Given a set of conditions, determine the correct object relationships that support record access sharing requirements.
- Given a set of conditions, determine how programmatic sharing supports the record access requirements.
- Given a set of conditions, determine what sharing mechanism is appropriate to share records with External Users.
- Given a set of conditions, determine how record access overrides support the record access requirements.
Resources
Access to Other Data16%
Files and content (library permissions, record-level sharing), report and dashboard folder sharing, list view visibility, Chatter and feed access, and territory management (territory model states, assignment rules, manual assignments, territory sharing vs. role-based sharing).
- Given a scenario, determine the appropriate access control needed to grant access to data that is not standard or custom objects.
Resources
Implications of Security Model Choice18%
Sharing recalculation triggers and deferral, large data volume impacts on sharing performance, sharing rule limits (300 owner-based and 300 criteria-based per object), license restrictions by type (Salesforce, Platform, Customer Community, Customer Community Plus), testing the sharing model (Log in As, sharing debugger, Apex runAs), and choosing architecturally appropriate mechanisms for scalability.
- Given a scenario, determine the scalability implications of the sharing solution.
- Given a set of conditions, determine the license limitations that will impact the intended sharing solution.
- Given a set of conditions, determine how to test the sharing model.
Resources
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