Salesforce Business Analyst | Certification Guide

The Salesforce Business Analyst Certification is developed for Business Analysts with Salesforce experience. Candidates should have knowledge, skills, and experience on driving business improvements through the Salesforce platform, with an understanding of business needs, implementing business analysis activities, and collaborating with stakeholders.

There are 6 areas of knowledge that are covered by the Salesforce Business Analyst certification.

They are covered by the Business Analyst training, but if you are not able to attend, then you will need to ensure you know the areas listed below well.

Business Analyst Topic Weighting Chart

The following are the core topic areas of the Salesforce Business Analyst certification and what you’re expected to know:

This topic includes the following objectives:

Discover customer needs using various methods and strategies to determine customer challenges, share those insights with your customers, and identify opportunities for ways they can improve how they work. By understanding your customer, their business, and any obstacles to the project, the business analyst co-creates, alongside of your customers, successful strategies to address their needs.

Using empathic research, the business analyst must first thoroughly understand the current state of the customer’s operations and how they are using Salesforce. A detailed understanding of what is and isn’t working today is critical to the success of suggesting future state improvements.

As the business analyst performs different tasks and roles throughout the implementation, understanding what is required at which stage is important to successful implementations. From requirements gathering to creating documentation to performing project management duties to achieving a successful rollout, the business analyst needs to understand what those roles and responsibilities are at all stages of the implementation lifecycle. Additionally, the business analyst must possess the following skills: Writing, ability to ask questions to elicit needs, perform analysis of data, recommend and implement solutions.

To create a successful implementation, the business analyst must understand the implementation lifecycle, including managing various releases throughout the development phase. The business analyst should be able to use the various development models to manage deployments. 

To successfully implement solutions that meet customer’s needs, the business analyst should proactively analyze the customer’s Salesforce environments to check the health of those environments, as well as identify any constraints they must work within when suggesting improvements. The business analyst should be able to maintain and improve those environments using tools that are built into Salesforce as well as identifying tools available on the AppExchange.

The business analyst must use their knowledge of the Salesforce platform, both its capabilities and limitations, to recommend solutions that will work to meet the stakeholders’ business needs. Knowledge of the Salesforce connected ecosystem, Salesforce 360, its benefits and how it can be used throughout an organization, is critical to being able to recommend appropriate solutions to meet the needs of the various stakeholders.

This topic includes the following objectives:

Understand the various stakeholders a business analyst works with and the methods of engagement required to effectively collaborate with each. Use appropriate tools at every stage of the engagement to ensure that the information collected is accurate and complete.  Ability to draft appropriate documentation needed to write requirements, create buy-in, confirm alignment and ensure transparency throughout the engagement.

Identify stakeholders a business analyst works with and the required methods of communication when working with each. The Business Analyst must understand how to build and maintain a positive relationship with all the stakeholders to ensure a successful engagement from start to finish – from requirements gathering to diagramming those requirements and ensuring that the stakeholders understand and see the value of the recommendations the business analyst makes. A good business analyst knows how to advocate for their customers.

Ability to use a variety of tools and methods to understand and document the current and desired states. Use the appropriate method to elicit needs and impediments to achieving those needs. The business analyst needs to be able to create a safe environment where stakeholders feel understood and heard and are willing to collaborate, as elicitation is one of the most important stages of any project which sets the basis for everything that follows. The business analyst should understand and use all the tools available to ensure that elicitation is detailed, accurate, and complete.

Understand the various analysis tools used to identify the differences between the current and future states and any impediments to achieving the future state. Identify any barriers or limitations to achieving the future state, and ensure that any suggested improvements and recommendations are feasible based on barriers or limitations that cannot be overcome.

A business analyst should have a thorough understanding of Salesforce 360 and the features and benefits of the platform, clouds, tools, and applications it offers, along with the ability to effectively use the AppExchange. The business analyst uses their knowledge and experience to recommend the best approach for any project, based upon the requirements of that project.

As a business analyst, managing the project from start to finish requires managing multiple and sometimes conflicting priorities of different stakeholders, which is often a challenge.  The business analyst should have a thorough understanding of the skills, tools, and methods needed to help manage and limit delays, changing priorities, scope creep, and disagreement between stakeholders.

This topic includes the following objectives:

The business analyst should know the various mapping tools available and when each is best used to document a process to communicate the data therein with the stakeholders. Process mapping also helps the business analyst understand the process in detail, which helps the business analyst during the analysis phase.

The business analyst must create and deploy several process mapping tools to provide multiple levels of detail to a varied stakeholder audience, ensuring that all team members understand both current and future states.

The business analyst must understand the various process mapping tools to identify which should be used to convey the desired information, as different maps display information in different ways, based on the process being mapped. The business analyst should be able to state which process map is appropriate for the process to be mapped and understand that different maps may be required before analysis can begin.

Understand the governance framework within an organization. Utilize the specific roles and responsibilities identified within that framework and how that can be of benefit to the business analyst throughout the life of the project.

This topic includes the following objectives:

Document requirements clearly and concisely following the V2MOM process. Use the documented format for writing user stories when documenting requirements. Explain why stakeholder alignment is important to successful completion of any project as well as the ramifications, should alignment not be given and maintained. Use documentation to gain and maintain stakeholder alignment.

Explain the Agile framework of system development using both Scrum and Kanban workflows. The Business analyst should be able to define the Scrum and Kanban workflows and when each would benefit a project, so they can use the appropriate workflow based on the project’s circumstances.

Explain the purpose of a version control system (VCS) is and how it benefits project teams. State what project aspects are stored in a VCS. Illustrate how a VCS impacts the development lifecycle. Understand the differences between a central VCS and a distributed VCS. Explain the benefits of using a VCS in projects.

This topic includes the following objectives:

Explain the parts of a user story. Explain the differences between a persona and archetype and how they relate to user stories. Able to write appropriate user stories based on the requirements. Explain what makes a good vs poor user story. State what should not be included in a user story.

Understand and explain the differences between acceptance criteria and the definition of done and why this matters for a project. Understand what goes into creating good acceptance criteria and the ability to draft well-written acceptance criteria. State how acceptance criteria relates to user stories. Define the definition of done. Explain how the definition of done fits into the development framework.

Understand the benefit of maintaining version-controlled project documentation. State how version-controlled documentation impacts team collaboration. Explain the best place to store project documentation.

This topic includes the following objectives:

Explain the purpose of user acceptance testing (UAT). Define the people who should be involved in UAT. Explain best practices when planning for UAT. Create test plans including: drafting the scripts, assigning the appropriate users to perform the testing, and who will be approvers once the plan is executed. Understand the various decision scenarios of what should happen when UAT is complete and the business analyst's role in making those decisions.

Understand what needs to be done prior to beginning UAT). Schedule and execute the testing using stakeholder-approved test plans. Define the test parameters and ensure that testers understand their roles and responsibilities as they are executing the test plans. Plan and conduct meetings related to the UAT phase. Understand how to close the UAT phase.

Explain the decision making process required to determine whether or not to deploy new functionality based on the UAT feedback. Understand the options available when making go-live decisions.