The Top 30 Salesforce System Administrator Interview Questions and Answers

To get a job as a Salesforce System Administrator, you need to show how knowledgeable you are during the interview process. It’s important to show the interviewers that you know a lot about the Salesforce platform and can run it well.

I’ve compiled this list of 30 common Salesforce System Admin interview questions based on my experience as a Salesforce MVP and 15x certified professional, I also tapped into my network of Salesforce Admins to crowdsource additional questions,

The goal is to give you a list of possible questions so you can practice and get better at answering them.

Let’s get started!

Salesforce System Administrator Interview Questions About Data Security and Sharing

1. What are the key components of Salesforce data security and how do they work together?

   The main components are profiles, roles, sharing rules, and permission sets. Profiles control object and field-level access. Roles facilitate sharing records with certain users. Sharing rules extend sharing beyond the org chart. Permission sets grant access above profiles.

2. How are profiles and permission sets different?

   Profiles provide baseline access for all users of a particular type. Permission sets add access above profiles for specific use cases. It’s better to use permission sets over profiles to provide access incrementally without maintaining multiple profile types.

3. What considerations are important when planning role hierarchies?

   Role hierarchy sharing cascades access up and down the org chart. It’s crucial to model it thoughtfully so higher-level roles don’t get unintended widespread access. Also important is planning for exceptions like matrix management.

4. When would you use a public group versus a queue?

   Public groups are for sharing rules to grant access to arbitrary sets of users. Queues are for record ownership and team collaboration on records like cases.

5. How can you share records with users that don’t have roles above each other?

   Public groups allow sharing rules to be created for any group of users regardless of the role hierarchy. For example, share records between department heads spread throughout the org chart.

Salesforce System Administrator Interview Questions About Data Modeling

1. What are the differences between master-detail and lookup relationships?

   Master-detail relationships allow rollup summary fields, enforce referential integrity, and cascade sharing and deletion. Lookups are more flexible but don’t have those capabilities.

2. When would you choose a master-detail relationship vs. a lookup?

   Use master-detail when child records strictly depend on parents for access control and meaning. Lookups offer more flexibility such as reparenting children or flexible security.

3. How can you track child record data on a parent record without master-detail?

   Lookup rollup summary tools installed from AppExchange can aggregate calculations from child records to display on parents in lookup relationships. The calculations update in real time similar to master-detail rollups.

4. What are the differences between text, number, currency, formula, and rollup summary field types?

   Text, number, and currency store data directly entered by users. Formulas derive values using other fields and functions. Rollup summary fields aggregate values from child records in master-detail relationships.

5. What are validation rules and what are some best practices?

   Validation rules enforce data quality standards. Best practices are making clear error messages and handling failures gracefully. Turn on “don’t rerule” options to avoid infinite loops of rule failures.

Salesforce System Administrator Interview Questions About Process Automation

1. How do workflow rules differ from Process Builder and Flow?

   Workflow rules and Process Builder are legacy automation tools. Flow is more powerful and flexible. Existing workflows and processes still work but can’t be created in newer Salesforce versions.

2. What types of business logic and automation requirements can Flow handle?

   Flow automates data updates, CRM processes, approvals, email alerts, and more. Flows invoke Apex code and external services too. Screens and choices enable user interaction within flows.

3. What are some key capabilities of the Salesforce approval process?

   Approval processes allow multi-step approvals, sequential and parallel approval routing, approval reminder emails, custom actions at each step, and record locking to control edits during approval.

4. How can you test automation and integrations built in Salesforce?

   Change sets deploy automation between orgs to facilitate testing in sandboxes. Flow has testing and debugging tools. Apex tests validate code. Postman and workbench simulate API calls.

5. What options are available when automation requirements go beyond declarative tools?

   For complex logic not configurable in Flow, Apex code can be called from processes, flows, validation rules, and triggers. Visualforce pages enable custom UIs when standard pages can’t meet needs.

Salesforce System Administrator Interview Questions About Communities

1. What are some key benefits of Salesforce Community Cloud?

   Communities allow sharing Salesforce data and apps with external users like customers and partners. Community members can have tiered access and data isolation. No coding is required and it’s mobile-ready.

2. When would you enable external user licenses like Customer Community and Partner Community?

   Use them to provide access portals for users outside your company to meet business needs like self-service, content distribution, or business collaboration.

3. How can Communities improve self-service experiences for customers?

   Communities provide branded, responsive self-service portal pages. Article management and case deflection with knowledge bases reduce call volume. Customizers build innovative self-service using Community Builder.

4. What are some advantages of using Experience Builder sites versus Visualforce for communities?

   Advantages are declarative no-code edits, responsive mobile-ready pages, Lightning components for richer UIs, and automatic access to platform innovations.

5. How are guest user licenses used in Communities?

   They allow completely public access for anonymous unauthenticated users to view pages and data. Folks without user accounts access via guest user licenses. Use cases are marketing sites and limited data access.

Salesforce System Administrator Interview Questions About AppExchange

1. How do managed packages and unmanaged packages differ in how they are installed and upgraded?

   Unmanaged packages include components you fully control post-install like customizations. Managed packages have locked-down elements like published apps. Upgrades overwrite customizations for managed.

2. What are some benefits of installing AppExchange apps that are managed packages?
   Managed packages make it easy to install apps directly in production orgs with minimal testing. Vetting and automatic upgrades ensure access to latest features and security fixes.

3. What process would you follow to evaluate and install an AppExchange app?

   Research listings, documentation, reviews. Install in sandbox first, test integrations and use cases. Assess security and data access. Obtain production deployment approval. Use change sets for production install.

4. How should AppExchange apps be incorporated into a change control process?

   Follow the same process as custom development changes. Install first in full copy sandboxes to test thoroughly. Include installs in release planning and communication. Don’t make exceptions for “pre-approved” AppExchange listings.

5. How can you restrict access to an installed AppExchange app?

   Permission sets or profiles control which users get access. Some app components can be removed from profiles after install to restrict access. Custom permissions can be used to grant access by group or user as well.

Salesforce System Administrator Interview Questions About Change Management

1. What key considerations prepare you to deploy changes to production successfully?

   Comprehensive QA testing in sandbox copies of production is crucial. Validation by business users in UAT ensures alignment with requirements. Post-deployment smoke testing verifies proper functionality.

2. What change deployment tools are available besides Change Sets?

   Change sets remain a primary tool but Salesforce DX (CLI), Unlocked Packages, and Github/BitBucket toolchains enable sophisticated DevOps release automation workflows.

3. What are some best practices for Salesforce release management?

   Use release schedules for major and minor releases to group related changes. Maintain release plans documenting components and timing. Implement CPQ development processes. Use change sets or packages for environment promotion.

4. How do different types of Salesforce sandboxes compare?

   Developer sandboxes don’t copy data. Partial copy has filtered data. Full sandboxes replicate production entirely but refresh infrequently. Developer Pro has data masks and fresh frequent copies.

5. What considerations should determine the type of sandbox used for a given change?

   Refresh frequency, data volume, fidelity to production data, testing needs, and change type drive sandbox selection. Align use cases to sandbox strengths and limitations.

Summary

Preparing thoroughly for the interview questions you’re likely to encounter as a candidate for Salesforce System Administrator roles is key to your success. Hiring managers want to see that you have hands-on experience and can speak in detail about managing and optimizing Salesforce orgs.