Salesforce-Platform-Strategy-Designer Practice Test Questions

Summary:
A newly formed team lacks established norms and shared understanding, which can lead to conflict, inefficiency, and misaligned work. The immediate need is to create a foundational set of rules and expectations that all team members consciously agree to follow. This tool should be proactive, collaborative, and focused on defining how the team will work together, not on generating ideas or assessing external risks.

Correct Option:

B. Team agreement
A team agreement (or team charter) is a foundational tool specifically designed to create alignment on how a team will operate. It is a collaboratively created document that outlines working norms, communication protocols, decision-making processes, and shared goals.

For a new team, this establishes a "social contract" that prevents misunderstandings. It directly addresses the concern that their work will suffer by creating a shared framework for collaboration, ensuring everyone is on the same page from the start.

Incorrect Options:

A. Brainstorm
Brainstorming is an ideation technique used to generate a wide variety of creative ideas for solving a problem. It does not address the core issue of team alignment, processes, or interpersonal norms.

Using brainstorming without first establishing alignment through a team agreement could actually exacerbate misalignment, as team members may have conflicting approaches to the brainstorming process itself.

C. Consequence Scanning workshop
A Consequence Scanning workshop is a strategic tool used to proactively identify the potential negative impacts and ethical risks of a product or initiative on its users and society. It is externally focused.

It is not designed for internal team alignment. The team's concern is about their own internal working dynamics, not the ethical consequences of their output for end-users.

Reference:
Trailhead: Build a Team Agreement

This official Salesforce module explains the purpose and process of creating a team agreement, highlighting its role in setting ground rules, defining success, and getting teams aligned from the very beginning.

Summary:
A Salesforce Architect's deliverables, such as a solution architecture diagram, must be grounded in a deep understanding of the user's experience and pain points. A journey mapping workshop, facilitated by a Strategy Designer, provides this crucial context. It shifts the architect's focus from a purely technical build to a user-centric solution, ensuring the resulting architecture effectively supports the intended business outcomes and user goals.

Correct Option:

A. A journey map allows for the creation of a solution architecture diagram.
A journey map visually outlines the user's end-to-end experience, highlighting their goals, actions, pain points, and emotional highs and lows. For an architect, this is invaluable input.

The identified pain points and key interactions directly inform where and how technology should be applied. The architect can then design a solution architecture that specifically targets these areas, ensuring the technical blueprint is aligned with resolving real user challenges and enabling a seamless experience.

Incorrect Options:

B. A journey map will allow the developers to start building.
A journey map is a strategic artifact, not a development specification. It describes the "what" and "why" from a user perspective, but it does not provide the detailed functional specifications, data models, or acceptance criteria that developers need to start coding.

Development requires more granular technical user stories and system design documents that are derived from, but not replaced by, the journey map.

C. A journey mapping exercise will provide all of their technical requirements.
This is an overstatement. A journey map is a fantastic source for business and user requirements, which must then be translated into technical requirements. It will not capture non-functional requirements (e.g., scalability, security), system integration details, or data migration strategies. These technical specifics require further analysis by the architect beyond the scope of the journey map.

Reference:
Trailhead: Customer Journey Mapping

This module explains how journey maps identify key moments and pain points. An architect uses these key moments to determine where to apply automation, data, and specific Salesforce features within their architecture design.

Summary:
The core problem is operational inefficiency and siloed work, leading to duplicated programs. The strategy designer needs an approach that will visually map the entire backend process, revealing exactly where and why this duplication is occurring across different teams. The solution must foster a shared, holistic view of the current state to create alignment on the problem before jumping to solutions.

Correct Option:

C. Service blueprint workshop
A service blueprint is an ideal tool for this scenario. It extends a customer journey map by adding the underlying employee actions, processes, and technologies that support each customer touchpoint.

By facilitating a cross-functional workshop to create a service blueprint, the designer can make the duplication visible to all stakeholders. It reveals how separate teams are performing similar backend tasks, creating a shared understanding of the operational breakdown and aligning everyone on the need for a consolidated, efficient process.

Incorrect Options:

A. Design sprint
A design sprint is a time-bound process for rapidly prototyping and testing solutions to a specific, well-defined problem. The current issue is that the problem (the duplication) is not yet fully understood or aligned upon across teams.

Jumping into a design sprint is premature. The group first needs to achieve alignment on the "as-is" state before they can effectively ideate and prototype a "to-be" solution.

B. Journey mapping workshop
A journey mapping workshop focuses on the customer's front-stage experience—their interactions, thoughts, and feelings. While valuable, it does not delve deeply into the internal, backstage processes of different company teams.

It would show the customer's perspective of the engagement programs but would likely not expose the internal departmental duplication that is causing the problem.

Reference:
Interaction Design Foundation: Service Blueprints

This resource clearly distinguishes service blueprints from customer journey maps, explaining that blueprints are used to visualize the connections between customer actions and the internal, behind-the-scenes processes, which is precisely what is needed to identify and align stakeholders on duplicated efforts.

Summary:
A design challenge statement is a strategic tool used to frame a problem in an open, inspirational, and human-centered way. It is not a solution, a user story, or a business objective. Its purpose is to guide ideation by focusing on the user's need and the desired outcome without presupposing the method to achieve it. The standard format begins with "How might we..." to encourage creative exploration.

Correct Option:

C. How might we save our existing customers time by preemptively serving the info they need to deflect the customer support calls.
This option correctly uses the "How Might We" (HMW) format, which is the industry standard for a design challenge statement. It is broad enough to allow for a wide range of creative solutions yet specific enough to provide a clear direction.

It focuses on the core user need ("save time") and the business goal ("deflect support calls") without specifying a solution like "unify platforms" or a specific feature like "see trending resources." This open-ended nature is the hallmark of a well-formed design challenge.

Incorrect Options:

A. As a user, I want to see trending support resources upon the first login to customer support so I can save my time.
This is a user story, not a design challenge. User stories are used in agile development to define a specific feature or requirement from a user's perspective. It presents a single solution ("trending support resources") rather than an open-ended problem to be explored.

B. Unify platforms and centralize support operations to save customers time and reduce business costs.
This is a solution statement or a business objective. It already prescribes the method ("unify platforms") to achieve the goal. A design challenge should avoid pre-defining the solution to allow the team to discover the best approach through research and ideation.

Reference:
IDEO.org: How Might We

This resource from IDEO, a leader in design thinking, defines the "How Might We" question as a format that "suggests that a solution is possible and offers the chance to answer it in a variety of ways." It is the accepted standard for framing a design challenge.

Summary:
An affinity map organizes a large number of qualitative insights into thematic groups. The next step is to evaluate these themes to identify which ones represent the most significant and valuable opportunities for design intervention. The prioritization question should focus on the potential impact and relevance of the insight itself, not on the feasibility or constraints of a solution, which are later-stage considerations.

Correct Option:

B. Why is this insight valuable?
This question directly assesses the potential impact of an insight. It forces the team to articulate the underlying human need, pain point, or desire that the insight reveals.

By asking "why is this valuable?", the team can identify which insights point to the most critical user problems or unmet needs. The most valuable insights, which represent the biggest opportunities for improvement or innovation, are the ones that should be prioritized as design opportunities.

Incorrect Options:

A. What constraints would we have to overcome?
This is a feasibility question that comes later in the process, during the solutioning phase. Introducing constraints like budget or technology too early can prematurely kill innovative ideas and stifle creative thinking before an opportunity is fully understood and valued.

C. Do we have the capability to develop this?
Similar to option A, this is a feasibility and resource question. It focuses on the team's current limitations rather than the user's needs or the potential value of the opportunity. An insight might reveal a massive, valuable opportunity even if the team currently lacks the capability, prompting them to acquire it.

Reference:
Interaction Design Foundation: Affinity Diagrams

This resource explains that after creating an affinity diagram, the next step is to discuss the clusters to find "innovative solutions" and "design goals." The question "Why is this insight valuable?" is central to determining which clusters represent the most important design goals and opportunities.

Summary:
The goal is to create a shared, human-centered vision of a new patient experience for two distinct audiences (patients and doctors). The tool must be visual, narrative-driven, and easily understood by non-technical stakeholders to facilitate alignment. It should focus on the end-to-end experience and the emotional journey, making the future state tangible and compelling, rather than being a list of features or a dry document.

Correct Option:

B. Storyboard
A storyboard uses sequential art and simple text to visually depict a story of a user's experience with a product or service. It shows the "when," "where," and "how" of key interactions.

For a healthcare app, a storyboard can illustrate the entire patient journey—from symptom tracking to doctor consultation—making the future vision concrete for both patients and doctors. This shared visual narrative builds empathy and creates a common reference point for evaluating which ideas and features are essential to that desired experience.

Incorrect Options:

A. Cross-functional survey
A survey is a tool for gathering data and opinions, not for building a shared vision. It is asynchronous and impersonal, failing to facilitate the collaborative dialogue needed to align different groups.

Surveys generate quantitative or fragmented qualitative data, which is ineffective for communicating a cohesive, empathetic story about a future patient experience.

C. Creative brief

A creative brief is an internal document used to guide a creative team. It typically outlines objectives, target audience, key messages, and deliverables.

While it provides direction, it is a textual and strategic document, not a tool designed to facilitate alignment with end-users (patients and doctors) by helping them visualize and emotionally connect with a new experience.

Reference:
Interaction Design Foundation: Storyboards

Summary:
The core issue is conflicting stakeholder demands based on personal preferences ("we had this before") and assumptions ("we need this new thing"). This creates a high risk of scope creep and paralysis. The strategy designer must redirect the focus from internal opinions to objective, external evidence. The recommendation should ground the prioritization debate in data about what will actually deliver value to the customer, which is the ultimate goal of the self-service initiative.

Correct Option:

B. Revisit customer research to inform internal prioritization.
This approach shifts the conversation from subjective stakeholder wants to objective customer needs. By revisiting research like user interviews, usability tests, or support call analytics, the team can identify the features that will most effectively solve customer pain points and achieve self-service goals.

Using customer data as the primary decision-making tool depersonalizes the conflict. It creates a shared, factual foundation for prioritization, ensuring the final feature set is driven by value to the user rather than internal politics, thereby breaking the organizational paralysis.

Incorrect Options:

A. Map features between the two systems and let stakeholders prioritize.
This method keeps the decision within the realm of stakeholder opinion and does not resolve the underlying conflict. It simply lays out the competing lists without providing a objective criterion for choosing between them.

Without a guiding principle like customer value, the prioritization meeting is likely to revert to the same debates based on personal preference and power, perpetuating the risk of paralysis.

C. Advise executive leadership to make the decision about priorities.
While this might break the deadlock, it is an anti-pattern for collaboration and buy-in. A top-down decision from leadership risks being arbitrary and may not reflect true customer needs.

It also disempowers the stakeholders, potentially leading to resentment and a lack of ownership over the project's success. The goal is to create alignment, not to impose a solution.

Reference:
Trailhead: Prioritize Your Backlog

This module emphasizes that backlogs should be prioritized based on value. For a customer-facing initiative, the primary source of value is the benefit to the customer, which is best understood through customer research and feedback.

Summary:
The core problem is that sales reps lack the tools to efficiently handle complex quoting and product configuration, which is slowing down the sales cycle. The solution requires a platform specifically designed to manage this complexity within Salesforce, not a workaround that changes their legitimate business process. The recommendation should empower the reps with a robust tool that automates and guides the creation of accurate, complex quotes.

Correct Option:

A. Implement Revenue Cloud
Revenue Cloud (Salesforce CPQ) is the purpose-built Salesforce product for streamlining complex quoting and configuration. It is designed specifically to solve this challenge.

It provides guided selling, automated pricing, and approval workflows that ensure accuracy and compliance while giving reps the flexibility to build complex product bundles. This directly addresses the reps' complaints and shortens the sales cycle by making the quoting process faster and more reliable.

Incorrect Options:

B. Create a custom sales cycle that maps exactly to their needs
This suggests extensive custom development on the standard Salesforce platform. This is a high-cost, high-maintenance solution that reinvents the wheel.

Revenue Cloud is an out-of-the-box solution that already encapsulates best practices for complex sales. Custom development is riskier, more expensive, and harder to maintain than configuring a dedicated product like Revenue Cloud.

C. Suggest to simplify the complex sales cycle to make it fit the standard setup
This is not a viable solution, as it asks the business to compromise its operational needs to fit the software. The complexity likely exists for valid commercial reasons (e.g., bundled products, specific discounting).

Forcing simplification could lead to inaccurate quotes, revenue leakage, and an inability to meet customer needs, ultimately harming the business and frustrating reps further.

Reference:
Salesforce Revenue Cloud (CPQ)

This official page explains how Revenue Cloud "simplifies your most complex quotes" and "streamlines your entire quote-to-cash process," directly addressing the pain point described. It is the strategic recommendation for a streamlined, complex sales cycle.

Summary:
The team needs to justify a significant investment by demonstrating how the new ecommerce tool will create, deliver, and capture value for the business. The tool must provide a holistic view of the strategic rationale, connecting customer value propositions to revenue streams and cost structures. This high-level business case is essential for securing executive approval and funding for a major strategic initiative.

Correct Option:

A. Business model canvas
The Business Model Canvas is a strategic tool that provides a one-page, visual overview of the entire business case for the new tool. It outlines key partners, activities, resources, value propositions, customer relationships, channels, customer segments, cost structure, and revenue streams.

By filling out the canvas, the team can clearly articulate how the personalized recommendation bot (value proposition) will attract customers (customer segments) and directly lead to increased sales and revenue (revenue streams), thereby justifying the significant implementation costs (cost structure).

Incorrect Options:

B. Criteria scorecard
A criteria scorecard is used to evaluate and compare multiple different ideas or options against a standardized set of criteria (e.g., cost, feasibility, impact). It is a prioritization and evaluation tool.

Since the team is focused on justifying a single, specific strategy (the new ecommerce tool), a scorecard is less effective than a tool that builds the comprehensive business case for that one initiative.

C. Prioritization matrix
A prioritization matrix (like an Impact/Effort matrix) is used to rank a list of potential projects or features to decide what to work on next. It helps choose between competing options.

This tool is excellent for deciding if this project should be done over others, but it does not provide the deep, holistic justification needed to secure a significant budget for a single, large project. It lacks the comprehensive business rationale of a Business Model Canvas.

Reference:
Strategyzer: The Business Model Canvas

This is the official source for the Business Model Canvas framework. It explains how the canvas is used to describe, analyze, and design business models, making it the ideal tool to justify a new revenue-generating strategy.

Summary:
After a successful brainstorm, the team is faced with a large number of ideas for multiple strategic opportunities. The goal is to transition from divergent thinking (generating ideas) to convergent thinking (narrowing down options). Dot voting is a facilitation technique used to quickly gauge the collective preference and interest of the entire group in a democratic and engaging way, ensuring the next steps focus on the most promising concepts.

Correct Option:

B. Dot voting focuses conversation on a few ideas with the most importance to the group.
Dot voting allows every workshop participant to silently and independently vote for the ideas they believe have the most merit. This process surfaces the concepts that resonate most strongly with the collective, based on their expertise and perspective.

By visually highlighting the ideas with the most votes, it provides a clear, data-driven starting point for a focused conversation. The team can then discuss why certain ideas rose to the top, ensuring that subsequent efforts are aligned around the opportunities the group deems most critical.

Incorrect Options:

A. Dot voting is the fastest way to prioritize and make decisions.
While dot voting is efficient, its primary purpose in this context is not sheer speed, nor does it constitute a final decision. It is a tool for sense-making and creating a shortlist.

The final decision on which opportunity to pursue is a strategic one that should involve more discussion and business-case analysis after the voting has identified the top contenders. Describing it as the "fastest way" oversimplifies its strategic purpose.

C. Dot voting lets everyone know what the leaders believe to be the right answers.
This contradicts the purpose of a collaborative workshop. A well-facilitated dot vote is anonymous and democratic, designed to gather unbiased input from all participants, not just the leaders.

If the goal were to simply reveal leadership's pre-formed opinions, it would undermine psychological safety and invalidate the contributions of the other stakeholders, making the entire workshop exercise pointless.

Reference:
Liberating Structures: Dot Voting

This resource from Liberating Structures, a widely respected facilitation methodology, describes dot voting as a way to "highlight the level of interest for each item" and "reveal patterns of agreement and disagreement," which directly aligns with the goal of focusing the group's conversation on the most important ideas.