B2C-Solution-Architect Practice Test Questions

B.   Standard Data Extension

Explanation:

A Solution Architect is tasked with integrating B2C Commerce and Marketing Cloud. The goal is to transfer detailed order and product information from the e-commerce platform into the marketing automation system. This data is crucial for creating targeted campaigns, such as abandoned cart reminders, product recommendations, and post-purchase follow-ups. The architect must select the correct data extension type in Marketing Cloud to efficiently store this relational data for effective segmentation and journey orchestration.

Correct Option:

🟢 The correct option is B. Standard Data Extension.
A Standard Data Extension is the appropriate choice for storing order and product records. This type of data extension is highly flexible and can be customized with various fields to match the schema of order and product data from B2C Commerce. Unlike other options, it is designed to hold non-subscriber-specific, relational data. You can set up multiple standard data extensions—one for orders and another for products—and link them using a common key, such as OrderID, which allows for complex queries and segmentation needed for personalized marketing journeys.

Incorrect Options:

🔴 A. Transactional Data Extension:
A transactional data extension is specifically designed for triggered send emails, such as order confirmations or shipping notifications. While it can store order details, its primary purpose is temporary storage for a single send event, not for holding a complete, persistent record of all orders and products for future use in complex marketing journeys or reporting.

🔴 C. Synchronized Data Extension:
Synchronized data extensions are used to sync data directly from a core Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, or Health Cloud instance into Marketing Cloud Connect. They are not used to sync data from B2C Commerce. Although both platforms are Salesforce products, the B2C Commerce integration uses a different connector that typically populates standard or custom data extensions, not synchronized ones.

🔴 D. Sendable Data Extension:
A sendable data extension is a generic term for any data extension that has a field designated as the subscriber key, allowing it to be used for sending emails. While the standard data extension used for orders could be made sendable by adding a subscriber key field, "Sendable Data Extension" is a capability or property, not a distinct type that is inherently suitable for all order and product data. It does not define the structure or purpose of the data itself.

References:
Salesforce Marketing Cloud Data Extensions

B.   Commerce Cloud will be the system of record for customer shopping data, including individual profile and authentication credentials.

Explanation:

A company wants to implement social login functionality to allow customers to use their existing social media accounts (Facebook, Google, Twitter) to sign in to their B2C Commerce store and other Salesforce clouds. This requires a seamless identity management solution across B2C Commerce, Experience Cloud, and Marketing Cloud. The Solution Architect must consider which platform will act as the master for customer profile and authentication data to ensure a single source of truth and a smooth user experience.

Correct Option:

The correct option is B. Commerce Cloud will be the system of record for customer shopping data, including individual profile and authentication credentials.
In a B2C scenario where the customer journey begins on the e-commerce site, B2C Commerce is the logical system of record for customer shopping data. It holds the customer's profile information, purchase history, and, most importantly, the authentication credentials created or linked via social login. A key aspect of a seamless identity solution is centralizing this data in the front-facing system where the customer directly interacts, ensuring that all other clouds—like Experience Cloud or Marketing Cloud—can reference a single, authoritative profile for a unified customer view.

Incorrect Options:

A. The Commerce Cloud to Service Cloud connector supports both person account and contact accounts out-of-the-box.
The out-of-the-box connector between Commerce Cloud and Service Cloud typically syncs data to a Contact object in Service Cloud. The use of Person Accounts requires specific configuration and is not an out-of-the-box feature. The statement is misleading as it implies direct, native support for both account types without any additional setup.

C. Full access (full) scope will request access to all accessible data that the third-party provides.
While "full" or similar scopes do exist in OAuth, the best practice for social login is to request only the necessary permissions, not "all accessible data." Requesting an overly broad scope can deter users and is a security risk. A Solution Architect should always recommend requesting the minimum required permissions (e.g., email, public profile) to build trust and improve the user experience.

D. To create the external authenticated profile in Commerce Cloud, Service Cloud will need to invoke a remote OAuth2 authentication request to Commerce Cloud.
This is incorrect. The user initiates the social login flow on the B2C Commerce storefront. B2C Commerce directly handles the OAuth2 flow with the social identity provider (e.g., Google, Facebook). Service Cloud does not need to be involved in this initial authentication process. The flow is client-side, with Commerce Cloud acting as the relying party.

References:
Salesforce B2C Commerce Identity and Authentication

A.   Custom solution using Heroku and Postgres

Explanation:

Northern Trail Outfitters (NTO) is launching a new mobile app feature that tracks and stores high-frequency, real-time data points from users' hikes. The data needs to be accessible from both the mobile app and the web store. Given the volume of data—approximately 4.8 million data points per month (10,000 users * 8 hours * 60 minutes)—the Solution Architect must choose a highly scalable and performant data storage solution that can handle this large volume of time-series data efficiently and at a reasonable cost.

Correct Option:

The correct option is A. Custom solution using Heroku and Postgres.
A custom solution on Heroku with a Postgres database is the most appropriate choice for this high-volume, high-frequency data. Heroku is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) that offers flexible scaling, while Postgres is a powerful, relational database that can handle large datasets and time-series data effectively with appropriate indexing. This combination provides the scalability, performance, and control needed to manage millions of data points per month. It also allows for custom logic to process and aggregate the data before displaying it on the web store, which is not feasible with the other options.

Incorrect Options:

B. B2C Commerce solution using Custom Objects.
B2C Commerce's Custom Objects are designed for lower-volume, non-transactional data that is directly related to storefront functionality. They are not built to handle the millions of data points generated by this tracking feature. Using B2C Commerce for this purpose would lead to severe performance degradation and would violate data usage limits, as it is not meant to be a high-volume data store.

C. Service Cloud solution using Big Objects.
While Big Objects in Service Cloud are designed for storing and managing large volumes of data, they are not intended for high-frequency, real-time data ingestion. Big Objects are primarily for historical or archival data and lack the performance needed for live tracking where data is being written and read every minute. The cost and performance profile of Big Objects are not suited for this specific use case.

D. Service Cloud solution using Platform Events.
Platform Events are a powerful feature for event-driven architecture and publishing real-time events. However, they are not a persistent data store. The events are meant to be consumed by a subscriber (e.g., a Heroku application) and processed in real-time. Platform Events would be used as a transport layer to send the data, not as the storage solution itself. The data still needs to be saved to a database, like Heroku Postgres, after being received from the event bus.

References:
Heroku for Salesforce Developers
Create Custom Business Objects
Salesforce Big Objects

C.   Case routing can be configured by configuring Service Cloud's omni-channel routine feature to route cases to support teams based on the tier level of the customer submitting the case and the availability of agents supporting each tier level.

D.   Tier levels must be calculated regularly and attributed to Contact records in Service Cloud so that the tier level can be leveraged by Service Cloud's omni-channel routing feature and synchronized back to B2C Commerce and Marketing Cloud.

Explanation:

(✅) Correct Option: C - Case routing can be configured by configuring Service Cloud's omni-channel routing feature...
Service Cloud Omni-Channel is the native, declarative tool designed specifically for this purpose. It can intelligently route work items (like Cases) to the most appropriate available support agent based on predefined rules. The customer's tier level is a standard attribute that can be used within these routing configurations to ensure cases are sent to the correct dedicated team.

(✅) Correct Option: D - Tier levels must be calculated regularly and attributed to Contact records in Service Cloud...
For Omni-Channel to route based on tier level, that data must be a field on the Contact record in Service Cloud. This requires a process to calculate the tier (based on spend data from B2C Commerce) and regularly synchronize it to the corresponding Contact. This makes the data available for routing rules and other service processes.

(❌) Incorrect Option: A - Service Cloud can be extended with customer flows and Lightning Web Components...
While technically possible, this suggests a custom-coded solution. The requirement can be met entirely through configuration using standard, powerful features like Omni-Channel routing. Building a custom "support process" is unnecessary, more complex to maintain, and ignores the best-practice tool designed for this exact use case.

(❌) Incorrect Option: B - Tier levels must be calculated and attributed to customers in Marketing Cloud...
This misplaces the system of record. Marketing Cloud is an engagement tool, not a master data management system. The calculation and storage of a transactional attribute like customer tier should occur in a system that owns the customer record (Service Cloud) or the transaction data (B2C Commerce), not in a marketing execution platform.

(➡️) Summary:
To enable tier-based case routing, the customer's tier must be stored on their Contact record in Service Cloud (D). Once the data is present, Service Cloud's out-of-the-box Omni-Channel feature must be configured to use this field in its routing rules to assign cases to the correct support queues based on agent availability and tier (C).

A.   Shield and Event Monitoring Analytics App, Pardot

Explanation:

(✔) Correct Option: A - Shield and Event Monitoring Analytics App, Pardot
Shield provides critical security and compliance features like encryption at rest and event monitoring, which is necessary for tracking data access and searches by agents/adjusters. The Event Monitoring Analytics App is the specific tool that analyzes these event log files to track search activity. Pardot (now Account Engagement) is the B2B marketing automation product needed for targeted email notifications about new policy offerings to contacts.

(✗) Incorrect Option: B - Digital Engagement, Shield with Splunk, Social Engagement Studio
Digital Engagement (for in-app messaging) and Social Engagement Studio are misaligned with the email notification requirement. While Shield is correct, using Splunk implies a complex, external integration for event analysis instead of the native Salesforce solution (Event Monitoring Analytics App). This stack does not include a dedicated marketing automation tool for email.

(✗) Incorrect Option: C - REST API Event Monitoring and Tableau CRM, Marketing Engagement Studio
Using the REST API for Event Monitoring is a manual, developer-heavy approach compared to using the pre-built Analytics App. While Tableau CRM (now CRM Analytics) is powerful, it is overkill for simply tracking searches when a purpose-built app exists. "Marketing Engagement Studio" is not a real Salesforce product name, creating confusion.

(✗) Incorrect Option: D - Salesforce Field Service, Shield Encryption at rest. Digital Engagement
Salesforce Field Service is for managing mobile workforces (e.g., scheduling dispatches), which is unrelated to the described insurance sales and claims process. While Shield is relevant, this option completely lacks a solution for the key requirement of sending marketing emails (Pardot) and for analyzing user search behavior (Event Monitoring Analytics App).

Summary:
The solution requires three key components:
1) A marketing automation tool (Pardot) for email communications.
2) A security and compliance platform (Shield) for encryption and event data capture.
3) An analytics tool (Event Monitoring Analytics App) to analyze the captured event data and track what searches agents and adjusters perform.

Reference:
Salesforce Shield
Event Monitoring Analytics App
B2B Marketing Automation

D.   Marketing Cloud with Enterprise Communication Strategy and a single Salesforce org with Connected Campus for consolidating existing departmental orgs

Explanation:

🟢 Correct Option: D - Marketing Cloud with Enterprise Communication Strategy and a single Salesforce org with Connected Campus for consolidating existing departmental orgs
This is the most cohesive and strategic solution. The Enterprise Communication Strategy provides a framework for centralized governance and brand consistency across the university's global recruitment, while allowing departmental flexibility. Connected Campus is an Education Cloud feature designed to consolidate multiple departmental units into a single org, maintaining their autonomy (e.g., separate finances, processes) under a unified IT strategy, resolving the "orgs at odds" problem.

🔴 Incorrect Option: A - Marketing Cloud with multiple business units, Marketing Cloud Connect, and multiple existing Salesforce orgs
This perpetuates the core problem of departmental silos and conflicting strategies by keeping "multiple existing Salesforce orgs." It adds complexity without solving the underlying governance and data fragmentation issues. Marketing Cloud Connect would need to integrate with multiple orgs, creating a messy and inefficient architecture.

🔴 Incorrect Option: B - Marketing Cloud with multiple business units and a single Salesforce org with Divisions for consolidating existing departmental orgs
While moving to a single org is a step forward, using Divisions is incorrect. Divisions are a Salesforce object used to segment and report on data within a single business operation, not to provide structural autonomy for independent departments with separate finances and processes. Connected Campus is the correct architectural tool for this in higher education.

🔴 Incorrect Option: C - Marketing Cloud with Enterprise Communication Strategy, Marketing Cloud Connect, and multiple existing Salesforce orgs
Similar to option A, this recommends keeping the disparate orgs, which directly conflicts with the need to resolve inter-departmental strife and create a unified strategy. The Enterprise Communication Strategy is a good component, but it cannot be effectively executed without first consolidating the underlying data and operational platform.

Summary:
The university needs to consolidate its fragmented systems into a single source of truth (a single Salesforce org using the Connected Campus data model) to manage departmental autonomy without conflict. On this foundation, an Enterprise Communication Strategy within Marketing Cloud enables unified global recruitment while allowing departments to execute their own targeted campaigns within the governed framework.

Reference:
Connected Campus Data Architecture
Marketing Cloud Business Units

A.   Salesforce Identity

Explanation:

Universal Containers is implementing B2C Commerce and Experience Cloud for their storefront and support portal. They need a single login experience to ensure seamless customer access across both platforms. The Solution Architect must recommend a primary authentication system that integrates both sites, maintains security, and provides a unified data experience. The solution should be scalable, align with Salesforce best practices, and simplify the customer’s login process across the storefront and help desk.

🔐 Correct Option:

Option A: Salesforce Identity:
Salesforce Identity provides a centralized authentication system for single sign-on (SSO) across B2C Commerce and Experience Cloud. It ensures customers use one login for both platforms, creating a seamless experience. For example, a customer logging into the storefront can access the help desk without re-authenticating. This scalable, secure solution aligns with Salesforce best practices, unifying user data and simplifying access management across multiple Salesforce clouds.

🔐 Incorrect Option:

Option B: B2C Commerce:
B2C Commerce manages storefront authentication but isn’t designed to be the primary system for cross-platform SSO. It lacks the robust identity management capabilities needed to unify logins with Experience Cloud. Using B2C Commerce as the primary system would require complex custom integrations, making it less efficient and secure compared to Salesforce Identity, which is built for seamless, centralized authentication across Salesforce platforms.

Option C: Service Cloud:
Service Cloud is designed for customer service, not centralized authentication. It doesn’t natively support SSO across B2C Commerce and Experience Cloud. Using Service Cloud for authentication would require significant custom development, leading to inefficiencies and potential security gaps. Salesforce Identity is the better choice, as it’s purpose-built for unified login experiences, ensuring seamless and secure access across both platforms.

Option D: Experience Cloud:
Experience Cloud supports user authentication for community portals but isn’t optimized as the primary system for SSO across B2C Commerce and other Salesforce clouds. It lacks the comprehensive identity management capabilities of Salesforce Identity. Relying on Experience Cloud for authentication would complicate integration with B2C Commerce, making it less seamless and scalable compared to using Salesforce Identity for a unified, secure login experience.

🔐 Reference:
Salesforce Help: “Salesforce Identity Overview”
Salesforce Commerce Cloud Help: “B2C Commerce Authentication”

A.   Customer 360 Data Manager can be used torecognize customers as humans and extend existing records related to that human across connected systems with a consistent Global Party ID.

Explanation:

A B2C Commerce merchant faces customer service issues due to fragmented customer data across multiple brands, with customers using alternate emails or shopping anonymously. The Solution Architect must explain how Customer 360 Data Manager resolves this by unifying customer profiles across B2C Commerce, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud. The solution should create a single customer view, improve service efficiency, and align with Salesforce’s capabilities for handling complex, multi-brand environments.

🧑‍💼 Correct Option:

Option A: Customer 360 Data Manager can be used to recognize customers as humans and extend existing records related to that human across connected systems with a consistent Global Party ID:
Customer 360 Data Manager unifies customer records across B2C Commerce, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud using a Global Party ID. It recognizes customers as individuals, even with alternate emails or guest purchases, linking their data across systems. For example, a customer’s purchase history and service cases are connected, improving service. This native Salesforce solution ensures a consistent, scalable customer view without requiring custom development, addressing the merchant’s fragmented data challenges.

🧑‍💼 Incorrect Option:

Option B: Customer 360 Data Manager can be used to identify multiple records within each separate system representing the same person and assigning them a consistent Global Party ID; additional custom development is then required to relate those IDs between systems:
Customer 360 Data Manager doesn’t require additional custom development to relate IDs across systems. It natively links records using the Global Party ID, unifying customer data across B2C Commerce, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud. This option incorrectly suggests extra development, which undermines the tool’s purpose of providing a seamless, out-of-the-box solution for creating a single customer view, making it less accurate for this scenario.

Option C: Customer 360 Data Manager cannot be used across multiple brands within a single merchant environment because the customer as human view cannot support different accounts under separate brands:
This is incorrect, as Customer 360 Data Manager supports multiple brands by unifying customer data across systems, regardless of brand or geography. It uses the Global Party ID to link records, enabling a single customer view even for customers with accounts under different brands. This capability directly addresses the merchant’s issue of fragmented data, making this option inaccurate and misaligned with the tool’s functionality.

Option D: When Customer 360 Data Manager is provisioned, B2C Commerce, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud will automatically use a common core Customer Profile managed by Customer 360 Data Manager:
Customer 360 Data Manager doesn’t automatically enforce a common core Customer Profile across all systems. It unifies records using a Global Party ID, but configuration is required to map and integrate data. This option overstates the automation, as implementation involves setup to ensure accurate data linking. It’s less precise than Option A, which correctly describes the tool’s role in extending records across systems.

🧑‍💼 Reference:
Salesforce Help: “Customer 360 Data Manager”
Salesforce Help: “Global Party ID Overview”

B.   Salesforce Connect

Explanation:

✅ Summary:
This scenario is about displaying ERP-processed order data inside Service Cloud without storing or duplicating it. The company wants Service reps to view orders but does not want to synchronize or copy all order data into Salesforce. The best approach is to use an integration tool that enables external data to be displayed inside Salesforce in real time.

🟢 Correct Option B:
Salesforce Connect allows Service Cloud users to view external data (like ERP orders) in real time without copying it into Salesforce. It uses external objects that act as a bridge to the ERP system. This is ideal when visibility is required but not full data storage.

🔴 Incorrect Option A:
Remote Process Invocation is used to trigger processes or send data between Salesforce and external systems, but it is not designed for displaying external data directly inside Salesforce without replication.

🔴 Incorrect Option C:
Streaming API is designed for pushing real-time notifications into Salesforce, such as data change events. It is not suited for integrating and displaying external ERP data in Service Cloud without storage.

🔴 Incorrect Option D:
Batch Data Synchronization copies data into Salesforce on a schedule. This contradicts the requirement since the company specifically does not want to duplicate order data into Service Cloud.

📖 Reference:
Salesforce Help: Salesforce Connect Overview

A.   Technical Design Specification showing the data mapping/model and systems integration

Explanation:

This question is about what type of deliverable a Solution Architect provides to help stakeholders understand the full solution. The goal is end-to-end customer support across marketing, commerce, and service. Therefore, the deliverable should show system architecture, integrations, and data flow, rather than superficial artifacts like templates or org charts.

🟢 Correct Option A:
A Technical Design Specification with data mapping and systems integration is the correct deliverable. It shows how Marketing Cloud, B2C Commerce, and Service Cloud will connect and share customer data. This helps the company understand how the solution works end-to-end.

🔴 Incorrect Option B:
A final design document for storefront and service experience focuses only on front-end experience. It does not cover integration or technical requirements, so it would not fully explain the needed solution.

🔴 Incorrect Option C:
Email templates are marketing assets, not architectural deliverables. They do not show how the systems connect and cannot explain the full scope of the solution.

🔴 Incorrect Option D:
An organization chart of the company is irrelevant to system architecture. It shows people and roles, not how marketing, commerce, and service systems work together.

📖 Reference:
Salesforce Architect: Solution Architecture