Study guide
Study guide for chapter 16 of the Integration Architect course. Read the seven modules first, and try Checkpoint 2’s challenge at the top of module 7; this page helps you check what stuck.
About this study guide. It’s built only from this course’s own content and the published Salesforce exam guide’s list of objectives. It is never based on real exam questions, and it doesn’t claim to know what’s on the exam. If you’ve taken the exam, please don’t send me questions from it: the certification agreement forbids sharing them, and memorizing answers is the wrong way to become an architect anyway.
This chapter closes Part 2: choosing the mechanism, weighing the trade-offs, and defending the design. It carries DES-3, the trade-offs, limitations and constraints of a proposed solution. Expect two answers that would both work; the details in the scenario decide which is better, and you should be able to say why the other is second.
For the Exam
Section titled “For the Exam”Tick them off as you go. Each one links to where it’s taught.
Pattern first, then mechanism (DES-3)
- I separate the pattern (what kind of conversation) from the mechanism (what carries it). (Two Words in One Breath)
- I know every pattern has several mechanisms, and the same mechanism can carry more than one pattern. (Each Pattern, and What Carries It)
- I choose among the mechanisms using what the pattern doesn’t know: who runs it, the numbers, what’s already there, what it costs. (One Arrow, Three Ways to Build It)
Salesforce’s decision guide (DES-3)
- I know Salesforce’s main recommendations: avoid copying data that doesn’t need to be in Salesforce (consider Salesforce Connect); use the integration platform you already have; an API Only integration user with External Client Apps; no new investment in outbound messaging; Salesforce to Salesforce at end of life. (What It Says Up Front)
- I know Flow, Data Loader, the Data Import Wizard and the CLI aren’t a base for an integration strategy on their own. (Primary Tools, and Supporting Ones)
- I read a guide’s legend, footnotes and date, and check it against the product’s own pages. (Five Habits for Reading It Well)
The forces (DES-3)
- I can name the forces that choose a mechanism: coupling, consistency, scale, latency, security, team skills, running cost. (Seven Forces)
- When two forces pull against each other, I go back to the requirement to see how far each may go. (Forces Pull Against Each Other)
Trade-offs (DES-3)
- I can sort a solution’s parts: optimal, sub-optimal on purpose, and short-term functional. (A Balanced Solution)
- I know what goes bad in a year is usually volume, and test at real volume. (What Goes Bad in a Year)
- I present both options fairly, then my recommendation, and say the requirement, the solution and the reason together. (Present Both, Then Say What You Think, The Trade-off Card)
Combining mechanisms, and licensing them (DES-3)
- I know when to virtualize: large volumes people look at but don’t report on or automate, and hybrids where the searchable part is copied and the rest viewed through Salesforce Connect. (A Hybrid)
- I know Salesforce Connect is a paid add-on, licensed per org: 5 cross-org connections or 1 of any other kind per licence. (Do the Licence Math)
- I know cross-org callouts count against the API limits of the org being read. (Do the Licence Math)
- I know the limits that shape a hybrid, including the OData 2.0 and 4.0 ID-mapping limits removed for 4.01. (The Limits That Shape a Hybrid)
Write the design down (DES-3)
- For each integration I can state the pattern, the mechanism and why, how it authenticates, how errors are handled and retried, and who is notified. (One Record, Two Halves)
Checkpoint 2 (DES-3)
- I can give every arrow on a landscape its mechanism, identity, failure plan and running cost. (Every Arrow, Its Mechanism)
- I add up event deliveries and API calls for the whole org, and know platform events and change events share one delivery allocation, while deliveries to flows and triggers aren’t counted. (The Meter)
- I check the design again at year three. (Three Years Out)
Beyond the Exam
Section titled “Beyond the Exam”The exam is the floor, not the ceiling. These are the habits from this chapter that an architect needs, whether or not a question ever asks about them.
- Pattern first, then mechanism, in words that name no product.
- Refer to the guide; don’t hand it the decision.
- Go back to the requirement when forces pull against each other.
- Choose between imperfect options, and say which part is sub-optimal on purpose.
- “In my professional opinion…” after both options, fairly.
- Count connections, licences and whose allocation pays, on today’s table.
- One record per arrow, kept current the day the design changes.
- Do the sum for the whole org, today and at year three.
Words to Know
Section titled “Words to Know”| Term | In one line |
|---|---|
| Pattern | What kind of conversation two systems have |
| Mechanism | What carries the pattern |
| Decision guide | Salesforce Architects’ guidance on which tool to use |
| Forces | What’s true about an integration that pushes the choice |
| Balanced solution | Optimal parts, sub-optimal on purpose, none short-term functional |
| Trade-off card | Both options, the forces, the time test, the choice, one breath |
| Hybrid | Copy what people search and act on; look at the rest |
| Salesforce Connect licence | Per org: 5 cross-org connections or 1 of another kind |
| Design record | One record per arrow: the data contract and the integration lines |
| Delivery allocation | Event deliveries to outside subscribers in 24 hours, shared by platform and change events |
Check Yourself
Section titled “Check Yourself”Short scenarios in the style of the course. Decide your answer before you open it.
1. "We'll use platform events." Is that a design?
It’s a mechanism. Name the pattern first (Salesforce tells and moves on), then choose among the mechanisms that carry it, with reasons. Reread Two Words in One Breath.
2. A design rests on a nightly Data Loader script on someone's laptop. What does Salesforce's guide say?
Data Loader isn’t a recommended base for a data integration strategy. It may still have a place, but a design that rests on it needs a reason you can defend. Reread Primary Tools, and Supporting Ones.
3. Truck positions could be sent one call per reading or one call a minute. Alerts must go out within five minutes. Which?
One call a minute: a position a minute old is well inside five minutes, and one call per reading would spend 200,000 calls a day for nothing the business asked for. Reread Forces Pull Against Each Other.
4. A stakeholder asks why you didn't choose the other option. How do you answer?
Present both options’ technical approach, pros and cons fairly, then your recommendation, and the requirement, solution and reason in one breath. Reread Present Both, Then Say What You Think.
5. Hundreds of millions of order lines live in another system, and people need to find orders in Salesforce. Copy everything?
No. A hybrid: copy the order headers people search and act on, and show the details through Salesforce Connect when someone opens an order. Reread A Hybrid.
6. Five orgs each read the other four through the cross-org adapter. How many Salesforce Connect licences?
Five: each org reads four others, and a licence includes five cross-org connections, but every org that reads needs its own. And each read spends API calls in the org being read. Reread Do the Licence Math.
7. An integration's record says "Mechanism: REST". What's missing?
Why that mechanism; how it signs in, with which credential held where; the failure plan out and in; the owner; the running cost; and the date it was checked. Reread One Record, Two Halves.
8. 26,400 change events and 3,300 platform events a day go to one outside subscriber, in an Enterprise Edition org. Is that within the allocation?
No: 29,700 against 25,000, because both kinds share one delivery allocation. Plan an add-on, or send fewer: filter, fan out, or move some news to a batch. Reread The Meter.
Explore
Section titled “Explore”- Salesforce Certified Platform Integration Architect Exam Guide (opens in a new tab), Salesforce Help (checked 2026-11-01): the official list of objectives and their weights. Always check the current version before you book the exam.
- Salesforce Architects, Data Integration with Salesforce (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-07): Salesforce’s own decision guide.