How to Get the Most out of This Book

This book is designed to help you gain the required knowledge and skills to pass the CTA exam using hands-on examples. It covers all seven knowledge domains that a CTA needs to master in order to pass the exam, and you will tackle a mini-hypothetical scenario for each domain. You will be developing the solution progressively, creating and then recreating solution artifacts as you discover and weigh different design decisions. This is precisely what many architects do in their daily lives. They dig deeper into details, and at every stage, they build a clearer picture of the solution and the correct elements required to make it. They revisit previous decisions and adjust or change them if needed.

You are strongly advised to practice recreating the solution, reconsidering other alternatives, and weighing the pros and cons of each. This will help you build your familiarity with the artifacts and diagrams needed to explain your solution, and you will find that you become quicker and more efficient in creating them. Moreover, the quality of your outcome will also improve.

Diagrams will be provided at every stage and will progressively evolve; you will notice that these artifacts might end up very different from what you started with. The ability to evolve your solution and flexibly change its elements while still maintaining the end-to-end solution picture is a crucial skill that a CTA must master. You will learn much of that throughout the book.

Software/hardware covered in the book	OS requirements
MS Office (or Google Slides and Google Sheets)	Windows, MacOS X, Linux (any)
A diagramming tool, such as Lucidchart, Draw.io, or Visio	Windows, MacOS X, Linux (any)
Salesforce Developer Edition	Windows, MacOS X, Linux (any)

Table 0.1: Recommended tools to use while working with the book’s hypothetical scenarios

The Salesforce Developer Edition org is recommended to try out certain functionalities. You can sign up for a free org using the following link: https://packt.link/5Jll6.

You can use any diagramming tool, free or paid, or even draw the diagrams on paper or a flipchart. To practice the virtual Salesforce CTA review board, you need to become familiar with tools such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel or Google Slides and Google Sheets (the latter is preferred).