Salesforce currently helps more than 150,000 companies and other organizations manage customer and sales processes. Even more people around the world depend on Salesforce CRM to keep their small businesses running. The Salesforce administrator is a crucial link in all of these organizations and today, we are going to cover among other things how to become a Salesforce administrator.

Who is a Salesforce Administrator?

A Salesforce administrator (or admin) is a professional within the Salesforce environment who works closely with stakeholders to define system requirements and customize the Salesforce platform to solve the organization’s unique needs. In simple terms, the Salesforce admin helps users get the most out of the Salesforce platform.

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Organizations may hire just one admin, though larger companies often have several. Whichever the case, the admin is brought in to;

• Maintain the Salesforce platform
• Keep the platform updated on new tools, and capabilities
• Make it possible for other Salesforce users within the organization to use Salesforce

Roles and Responsibilities of a Salesforce Admin

If you want to know how to become a Salesforce administrator, you must learn what the roles and responsibilities are like. Since Salesforce can be used in different ways in different organizations, the role of the admin varies from one organization to the next and one industry to another. Nevertheless, the Salesforce admin has a few common roles regardless of the organization or industry.

Overseeing user-profiles and access levels

Salesforce admins are responsible for their organization’s customer data, especially sales and marketing data. They also oversee data related to products and services, purchases, and other activities. The specific responsibilities include creating user accounts, assigning access levels, onboarding new hires, and handling off-boarding, including removing access for former employees.

Importing new leads, contacts, and data

Organizations that use Salesforce need to consistently update their databases to capture new contacts, leads, and data. This responsibility also falls to the administrator. They develop standards for importing new contacts and ensure data consistency across the platform.

Setting up and running deduplication tools

Although organizations usually take precautions to prevent data duplication, it’s impossible to completely avoid duplicates. Over time, contact data and user behavior may be duplicated by users and through webform submissions. The Salesforce admin is responsible for running deduplication tools to check the data and remove duplicates. How frequently an organization runs deduplication checks varies from one organization to the next.

Testing system updates

Salesforce updates are designed to reflect automatically. This happens on a regular basis to keep organizational processes and data in the best shape. However, the best organizations require their admins to proactively test and install updates in a sandbox to avoid any issues while also exploring new capabilities.

Other responsibilities

Besides the four above, Salesforce admins are also responsible for running database maintenance reports, creating and maintaining records archives, solving emerging issues within the Salesforce environment, and performing specialized tasks depending on the industry. For instance, Salesforce admins in the healthcare industry may be required to help with HIPAA data protection

What it takes to be a Salesforce Admin

Different people take different routes on how to become a Salesforce administrator. However, if you’re looking for the standard path, here’s what you need to know.

Prospective Salesforce admins need training and certification to become certified admins. Nearly all organizations now demand a Salesforce Administrator certificate when hiring to fill this position.

Desirable Skills

The most important skill among prospective candidates is the ability to drive user adoption and generate ROI on Salesforce implementation. Thus, you need the following skills;

• Good communication skills
• Ability to build reports, dashboards, and workflow rules
• The ability to analyze data and ensure data security
• Innovation and open-mindedness

How long does it take to become a Salesforce admin?

Starting from scratch, it takes about six weeks to get Salesforce admin certification. However, the time it takes to prepare for the examination varies from one individual to the next. For instance, those completely new to Salesforce may need at least ten hours per week for six weeks to prepare for the certification examination. But if you have some Salesforce experience, you may only need two to three weeks.

How to Become a Salesforce Administrator – Step by Step

The following 3-step guide should help you become a Salesforce administrator within just a few months months.

Choose a study plan

Candidates can take different study paths to become Salesforce administrators. However, we highly recommend our Salesforce administrator career track course now for impactful, industry-based training.

Trailhead is one of the most sophisticated learning portals in the world. It has a massive repository of resources and instructor-led training courses. For Salesforce Admin training specifically, the portal has at least 35 hours of training materials.

If you’re not a fan of Trailhead, you can opt for instructor-led courses. Some of the best options include our own’s Salesforce Administrator Career track, Administrator Essentials for New Admins (ADM 201), Administrator Essentials for New Admins and Certification (ADM 201C), and Intellipaat Salesforce Certification Training. Meanwhile, the most popular virtual courses for Salesforce admins are Certification Preparation for Administrator (CRT-101) and Salesforce Proficiency Pack for Administrators.

Use all resources available

The goal is simple – passing the Salesforce administrator examination. So, utilize every resource you can access to your advantage. From online blogs to personal courses offered by certified administrators, your job is to make sure you’re fully prepared for the exam.

Two resources that can prove incredibly resourceful are Salesforce Ben and Salesforce for Dummies. The two resources even provide practice questions to help you prepare fully.

Take the Exam

The Salesforce administrator certification examination covers 12 areas, each weighted differently. The areas with the highest weighting are standard and custom objects (15%), sales and marketing applications (15%), security and access (14%), workflow/process automation (12%), service and support applications (12%), and analytics (10%).

Other areas include data management (8%), user set up (7%), activities management and collaboration (3%), organization set up (2%), app exchange (1%), and desktop and mobile administration (1%). To pass the admin test, you need to score at least 65% within the 105-minute time limit.

What Else Do You Need to Know?

The Salesforce administrator certification examination costs $200 (including tax) while retakes (if you fail the first test) cost $100 (including tax). You can take the exam as many times as you wish.

Read to become a Salesforce Administrator? Enroll for our Salesforce Administrator Career track now

Get practical, hands-on training to help you master and manage the functionality and a wide range of important features available in Salesforce by registering for our Salesforce Admin Course.