Partner Readiness Guide to Certification Maintenance

Partner Readiness Guide to Certification Maintenance Three times a year, Salesforce releases new system features and functionalities in Spring, Summer, and Winter. This guide will help Practice Leads and Individuals understand the credential maintenance cycle & provides information to help ensure that credentials are retained. The learning resources in this guide are continuously evolving. Check back frequently to stay informed and leverage the most recent content.

Certification Maintenance Readiness Journey Certification Maintenance keeps skills & product knowledge up to date 1 2 4 5 6 7 3 Maintenance Say Hello to Maintenance Maintenance FAQ Accredited Credential Four reasons information Certification information Professional Maintenance to love Muleso, Slack, Maintenance Credentials Myth Buster Maintenance for Individuals Tableau for Practice Leads & beyond Access to the content on Partner Community, Partner Learning Camp (PLC) and Trailhead is available to all registered partners and Salesforce employees. Access instructions

1 Say Hello to Certification Maintenance Let’s get started! What is Certification Maintenance? Where can I learn more about maintenance? 1. The certification maintenance schedule provides details Three times a year, in accordance with the Spring, Summer and regarding maintenance deadlines for the next three Winter updates, all certified professionals are required to maintain cycles. their certifications. This maintenance module is aligned with the 2. Learn more about your maintenance requirements & Salesforce product release cycles. what to expect If Individuals do not pass the required maintenance module by its 3. View the Salesforce Certification Expiration Overview to deadline, all credentials maintained by that module will expire, or in learn about maintenance expiration and retired some cases become suspended. credentials. Access to the content on Partner Community, Partner Learning Camp (PLC) and Trailhead is available to all registered partners and Salesforce employees. Access instructions

2 Maintenance Information for Individuals Helpful resources for all Trailblazers! Check Your Status Dependent Credentials Timeline Data Hygiene Verification Expiration Maintenance Schedule Don’t forget to Link your Trailhead Looking for information on what In order to maintain your and Webassessor Accounts and credential maintenance you have Maintenance modules will be Salesforce certifications, you must keep your email, geo and coming up? available with the start of the complete release-specific employer organisation up to date! Spring, Summer, or Winter release Trailhead modules. Simply enter your webassessor cycles and will be due one year This is important to ensure we are email into the ‘Check your status’ from when they become available. If you don’t complete your keeping you and your employer field to receive an email with any required maintenance by the due up to date with relevant upcoming maintenance See here to find out which date, all of the certifications information requirements. You can also view maintenance module is required maintained by that module will your certification status on your by certification. also expire. Trailblazer profile. Note: Your Trailhead and Webassessor accounts must be linked in order to see your maintenance requirements. Check your Trailblazer profile certification status for confirmation that your maintenance completion has been updated.

3 Maintenance Information for Practice Leads Helpful resources for Practice Leads Team Status Create a Plan Set a deadline Data Hygiene Encourage your employees to keep their Trailhead and ‘Maintenance Procrastination’ Webassessor Accounts up-to-date. Best practice is for Practice Leads Partners with Admin Permissions affects 5/10 people and often to initiate the conversation with can access their credentials takes up more time than the It’s important that their email, geo employees T-12weeks from the information via a CSV file actual certification maintenance and organisation, accurately maintenance due date. exported from the Partner reflect the capabilities of your Community. The best medicine? Schedule a practice. This helps employees plan their team event each cycle to get it workload & commitments & This Credentials Export Report done together and in the most Credentials tied to your complete the module well ahead contains credentials for Trailhead efficient way possible organisation have associations of deadline. as well as Salesforce and its with Partner Program Tiers and acquired companies including Don’t wait till the last minute! associated benefits Slack, Tableau, and MuleSoft. Access to the content on Partner Community, Partner Learning Camp (PLC) and Trailhead is available to all registered partners and Salesforce employees. Access instructions

4 Maintenance FAQs Mulesoft, Slack, Tableau & Trailhead Associate Muleso Slack Tableau Associate Level Certification maintenance for The Slack certification program is Tableau certification depends on moving to the Salesforce Associate-level certifications and the certification. Certification program, available Sales Representative credentials through Webassessor starting do not have any required The Tableau Desktop Specialist October 16, 2024 maintenance. MuleSoft certifications do not certification does not expire. require maintenance in 2024. These certifications will not expire Certified Slack Administrator, More information will be shared in All other Tableau certifications are once earned. Consultant & Developer require 2025. valid for 24 months and to maintenance via Trailhead in 2024. maintain the certification you Please note: Associate and Sales need to take and pass the may still show up on your reports - For information regarding the corresponding exam again. please disregard. migration and/or maintenance, More information here click here. Access to the content on Partner Community, Partner Learning Camp (PLC) and Trailhead is available to all registered partners and Salesforce employees. Access instructions

5 Accredited Professional Credentials Update for Partners Accredited Professional - Migration to Trailhead Platform The Accredited Professional (AP) credentials program is moving to the Salesforce Certification program, available through Webassessor, starting October 16, 2024. For more information - see here How do I maintain my active Accredited Professional credential? ● If you have a credential that is active as of October 16, 2024 then your certification will remain active through October 31, 2025. More information about maintenance will be shared in 2025. ● If you are curious about your maintenance status, check it at any time on your Trailblazer profile or the Credentials Verification page once the credential officially migrates.

6 Credential Maintenance Myth Buster Most common misconceptions on Creds maintenance and the true facts Most maintenance modules take less than This is true! Most modules are 10-30 mins and 30 mins to complete and I can’t fail! they’re free & open book. You can’t lose! It’s just the Admin certification, I don’t need that Incorrect. Any/all of the certifications maintained one anymore.. by the Admin cert will expire (e.g. Sales, Service) If I miss the maintenance window, I can log a No. While there are exceptions to every rule, 99% ticket and reactive my credential of the time, you will need to redo the exam I don’t need to update my Webassessor email Maintenance emails will be sent to the email and details, it’s not important.. associated with your Webassessor account Maintenance expirations only happen three No. APs, Slack, Mulesoft and/or Tableau can require times a year. maintenance at different times True. Certifications demonstrate your expertise, Certification Maintenance is important making you more valuable in the workplace

7 Four reasons to love maintenance.. 3 1 2 4 Low time Keep Skills No Study Free of Charge investment Current (Open Book) Check your upcoming maintenance requirements and schedule them in before they expire! More Trailhead Maintenance Resources can be found here

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