Salesforce Certified Data Architect Practice Test Questions, Exam Dumps

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Certified Data Architect Salesforce Practice Test Questions and Exam Dumps

Question No 1:

Universal Containers (UC) is replacing a home grown CRM solution with Salesforce. UC has decided to migrate operational (open and active) records to Salesforce, while keeping historical records in legacy system. UC would like historical records to be available in Salesforce on an as needed basis.

Which solution should a data architect recommend to meet business requirement?

A. Leverage real-time integration to pull records into Salesforce.
B. Build a swivel chair solution to go into the legacy system and display records.
C. Leverage mashup to display historical records in Salesforce.
D. Bring all data in Salesforce, and delete it after a year.

Correct answer: C

Explanation:

The most suitable solution is C. Leverage mashup to display historical records in Salesforce. A mashup allows you to combine data from different sources and display it seamlessly within Salesforce, without needing to bring all historical data into the Salesforce platform. In this case, the historical records will remain in the legacy system but can be accessed and displayed within Salesforce on an as-needed basis, meeting UC’s requirement of keeping the historical data accessible while not migrating all of it into Salesforce.

Let’s explore why the other options are less optimal:

A. Leverage real-time integration to pull records into Salesforce: While real-time integration allows for continuous data synchronization, pulling all historical records into Salesforce might not be necessary or cost-effective, especially if the historical records are not required for day-to-day business operations. This approach also risks overloading Salesforce with unnecessary data.
B. Build a swivel chair solution to go into the legacy system and display records: A swivel chair solution would require users to manually switch between Salesforce and the legacy system to view historical records. This method can lead to inefficiencies and a poor user experience, as it doesn't offer a seamless solution for accessing historical data.
D. Bring all data in Salesforce, and delete it after a year: This approach would require UC to store all historical records in Salesforce, consuming unnecessary storage resources, and it could introduce issues with data management and governance. Deleting data after a year would also raise compliance and regulatory concerns for retaining historical records.

In conclusion, C is the best option as it provides a streamlined and efficient way to display historical records in Salesforce without bringing them all into the platform.

Question No 2:

Universal Containers has 30 million case records. The Case object has 80 fields. Agents are reporting performance issues and time-outs while running case reports in the Salesforce org.

Which solution should a data architect recommend to improve reporting performance?

A. Contact Salesforce support to enable skinny table for cases.
B. Build reports using custom Lightning components.
C. Create a custom object to store aggregate data and run reports.
D. Move data off of the platform and run reporting outside Salesforce, and give access to reports.

Answer: A

Explanation:

When dealing with large volumes of data in Salesforce, performance issues can arise when running reports on objects with many records and fields, like the Case object with 30 million records and 80 fields in this scenario. Here’s why each option is evaluated:

Option A: Contact Salesforce support to enable skinny table for cases.

A skinny table is a special table in Salesforce designed to enhance query performance for objects that have a large number of fields. Skinny tables provide a way to optimize performance by including only the most frequently used fields and excluding less-used fields, which reduces the amount of data being queried and improves performance. This solution is most appropriate for improving the performance of large datasets with many fields, as in the case of the 30 million case records with 80 fields. Salesforce support can enable skinny tables to help reduce timeouts and improve the efficiency of running reports on these large datasets.

Option B: Build reports using custom Lightning components.

While building reports with custom Lightning components is a valid solution for creating custom interfaces or more tailored reporting, this approach does not directly address the underlying performance issues related to large volumes of data. Custom components may still run into performance issues when handling large datasets, as the problem lies in how Salesforce processes the data itself. This approach may not provide the required optimization for handling the volume of data efficiently.

Option C: Create a custom object to store aggregate data and run reports.

Creating a custom object to store aggregate data is a feasible option for improving report performance, as it reduces the need for querying large datasets in real-time. By pre-aggregating the data, you can minimize the amount of processing done during report generation. However, this would require ongoing maintenance to keep the aggregated data up to date and may involve complex automation (like batch processes) to keep the data synchronized. While this option improves performance, it is not as efficient as using skinny tables for large datasets like the Case object.

Option D: Move data off of the platform and run reporting outside Salesforce, and give access to reports.

Moving data outside of Salesforce for reporting might improve performance by offloading the reporting to an external system designed for big data analysis. However, this solution is typically not recommended due to the complexity and potential issues around data synchronization and security. Salesforce is built to handle large data sets, and it's generally better to work within the platform using optimized features like skinny tables rather than moving data outside. Additionally, this approach could increase the complexity of managing and accessing the reports and data.

The best solution for improving report performance in Salesforce, given the large number of records and fields, is to enable skinny tables. This feature optimizes query performance by limiting the amount of data being processed and reducing timeouts. Therefore, the correct answer is Option A: Contact Salesforce support to enable skinny table for cases.

Question No 3:

A custom pricing engine for a Salesforce customer has to be decided by factors with the following hierarchy:

State in which the customer is located
City in which the customer is located if available
Zip code in which the customer is located if available
Changes to this information should have minimum code change

What should a data architect recommend to maintain this information for the custom pricing engine that is to be built in Salesforce?

A. Configure the pricing criteria in price books.
B. Maintain required pricing criteria in custom metadata types.
C. Assign the pricing criteria within custom pricing engine.
D. Create a custom object to maintain the pricing criteria.

Answer: B

Explanation:

When building a custom pricing engine in Salesforce, it’s essential to ensure that pricing criteria are easily maintainable, scalable, and flexible, especially when the criteria need to be based on hierarchical factors like State, City, and Zip code. The correct approach would allow for easy updates without requiring extensive code changes.

Custom Metadata Types:

Custom metadata types are the most appropriate option when you need to store configuration data that can be easily modified without impacting code. This is ideal for a pricing engine because it allows you to store pricing rules at various hierarchical levels (e.g., state, city, zip code) and make changes without altering code.

You can configure custom metadata types to store state, city, and zip code-based pricing information, and Salesforce provides a way to update this data without needing to deploy code changes or modify existing logic. This ensures the flexibility of maintaining the pricing engine as the customer base or requirements evolve.

Additionally, metadata types can be packaged and deployed across different Salesforce environments (e.g., sandbox to production), making them suitable for organizations that use multiple environments.

Price Books (Option A):

Price books in Salesforce are typically used for storing standard pricing for products in the context of opportunities and quotes. While price books might seem relevant to storing pricing data, they do not provide the hierarchical, flexible structure needed for managing pricing based on location-specific criteria (State, City, Zip code).

Price books are not designed to handle dynamic, hierarchical pricing criteria based on customer-specific location attributes as required here.

Custom Pricing Engine (Option C):

While the custom pricing engine can be used to calculate and assign prices dynamically, storing the criteria within the engine itself would lead to harder-to-maintain code. Every time there is a change in pricing criteria (e.g., new cities or zip codes), code changes would be required, which contradicts the requirement of minimizing code changes.

Storing criteria outside of the engine (e.g., in metadata types or custom objects) will decouple the engine’s logic from the data, ensuring greater flexibility and easier updates.

Custom Object (Option D):

Creating a custom object to maintain pricing criteria is another valid option. However, while this approach can store the data, it would require additional effort to create and manage relationships between this custom object and the pricing engine.

Custom metadata types, on the other hand, are more suitable for configuration purposes like this, as they are easier to manage and deploy, and they don’t require the overhead of handling custom object records in the same way.

In conclusion, Custom metadata types (Option B) offer the best balance of flexibility, maintainability, and ease of use for managing the hierarchical pricing criteria based on State, City, and Zip code while minimizing the need for code changes.

Correct answer: B

Question No 4:

A customer is operating in a highly regulated industry and is planning to implement Salesforce. The customer information maintained in Salesforce includes the following:

Personally Identifiable information (PII)
IP restrictions on profiles organized by geographic location
Financial records that need to be private and accessible only by the assigned sales associate
Enterprise Security has mandated access to be restricted to users within a specific geography with detailed monitoring of user activity. Additionally, users should not be allowed to export information from Salesforce.

Which three Salesforce Shield capabilities should a data architect recommend? (Choose three.)

A. Event monitoring to monitor all user activity.
B. Encrypt sensitive customer information maintained in Salesforce.
C. Prevent sales users access to customer PII information.
D. Restrict access to Salesforce from users outside specific geography.
E. Transaction Security policies to prevent export of Salesforce data.

Answer: A, B, E

Explanation:

Salesforce Shield provides a suite of security and compliance tools that can help organizations address the needs of highly regulated industries. In this scenario, the customer needs to ensure that their sensitive information (like PII and financial records) is properly protected, that access is restricted based on geography, and that user activities are monitored. The following Salesforce Shield capabilities should be recommended to address these requirements:

A. Event monitoring to monitor all user activity:
Event Monitoring is a part of Salesforce Shield that allows administrators to track detailed user activity within Salesforce. This is important for ensuring compliance with Enterprise Security’s mandate to monitor user activity. With Event Monitoring, the organization can track login history, data access, and any changes made to sensitive information, ensuring that all user activity is logged and can be reviewed for security and regulatory compliance.
B. Encrypt sensitive customer information maintained in Salesforce:
Salesforce Shield provides encryption capabilities through Platform Encryption. This is crucial for protecting sensitive customer data like PII and financial records. Encryption ensures that this information is stored in a secure, unreadable format, which can only be decrypted by authorized users with the appropriate permissions. This meets the requirement of safeguarding sensitive information from unauthorized access and maintaining compliance with privacy regulations.
E. Transaction Security policies to prevent export of Salesforce data:
Transaction Security allows the enforcement of security policies that can block specific actions in real-time based on defined criteria. For example, a policy could be set to prevent users from exporting data from Salesforce, which is important in this case to meet the requirement of restricting data export. This capability ensures that sensitive data cannot be improperly shared or downloaded, further securing the environment.

Why the other options are less suitable:

C. Prevent sales users access to customer PII information:
While restricting access to PII is important, Salesforce Shield doesn’t directly provide an explicit option for preventing access to PII for specific users based on their role or permission set. However, this can be achieved through Salesforce's native security features such as profile permissions, role hierarchy, and field-level security, which are outside the scope of Shield’s capabilities.
D. Restrict access to Salesforce from users outside specific geography:
Although Salesforce allows IP restrictions through login IP ranges and network-based restrictions, this feature is not part of Salesforce Shield. Instead, this would be managed via Salesforce's native security settings in the Login Access Policies and Network Access settings, rather than using Shield-specific features.

Thus, the best solution for the customer would involve using A (Event Monitoring) to track user activity, B (Platform Encryption) to secure sensitive information, and E (Transaction Security) to enforce rules around data export restrictions.

Question No 5:

A customer is operating in a highly regulated industry and is planning to implement Salesforce. The customer information maintained in Salesforce includes the following:

Personally Identifiable information (PII)
IP restrictions on profiles organized by geographic location
Financial records that need to be private and accessible only by the assigned sales associate
Enterprise Security has mandated access to be restricted to users within a specific geography with detailed monitoring of user activity. Additionally, users should not be allowed to export information from Salesforce.

Which three Salesforce Shield capabilities should a data architect recommend? (Choose three.)

Answer: A, B, E

Explanation:

Given the requirements for the customer, several Salesforce Shield capabilities would be essential to meet their security and compliance mandates:

A. Event monitoring to monitor all user activity:
This is an essential capability for maintaining compliance in a highly regulated industry. Event monitoring allows detailed logging and tracking of user activity within Salesforce. It provides visibility into actions such as login attempts, data access, and data modifications, allowing for continuous monitoring of how sensitive data (like PII and financial records) is being accessed and by whom. This aligns with the need for detailed monitoring of user activity and is an important aspect of meeting Enterprise Security’s requirements.

B. Encrypt sensitive customer information maintained in Salesforce:
Encryption is critical for protecting sensitive data like Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and financial records. Salesforce provides shield encryption to ensure that customer data is encrypted both at rest and in transit. By encrypting sensitive information, the data is protected from unauthorized access, thus helping meet the compliance and privacy requirements for the customer.

C. Prevent sales users access to customer PII information:
Although controlling access to sensitive information such as PII is important, it can be achieved through standard Salesforce functionality (like permission sets or field-level security) rather than Salesforce Shield. Therefore, this option is not necessarily a direct feature of Shield but could be implemented within Salesforce access control mechanisms.

D. Restrict access to Salesforce from users outside specific geography:
This is best handled through IP range restrictions in Salesforce, not directly through Salesforce Shield. While Shield can help with monitoring and encrypting data, restricting access by geography is a broader access control requirement that can be implemented using Salesforce's built-in security features like IP restrictions or login policies.

E. Transaction Security policies to prevent export of Salesforce data:
Transaction Security policies are designed to enforce real-time security checks on user actions, such as preventing users from exporting Salesforce data. This aligns directly with the customer's requirement to prevent the export of information from Salesforce. These policies can be set up to block actions like downloading data or exporting records, which helps ensure compliance with security mandates regarding data leakage.

Thus, the recommended Salesforce Shield capabilities are Event Monitoring (A), Encrypting sensitive customer information (B), and Transaction Security (E), which together help address the security and compliance requirements specified by the customer.

Question No 6:

Universal Containers has a Sales Cloud implementation for a sales team and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) as a customer master. Sales teams are complaining about duplicate account records and data quality issues with account data.

Which two solutions should a data architect recommend to resolve the complaints? (Choose two.)

A. Build a nightly batch job to de-dupe data, and merge account records.
B. Integrate Salesforce with ERP, and make ERP as system of truth.
C. Build a nightly sync job from ERP to Salesforce.
D. Implement a de-dupe solution and establish account ownership in Salesforce.

Correct answer: B and D

Explanation:

Addressing data duplication and improving data quality in Salesforce can be complex, but there are a few key solutions that a data architect can recommend to resolve these issues effectively. The main focus here is ensuring that the account data is accurate, consistent, and maintained in a way that supports the needs of the sales team.

A. Build a nightly batch job to de-dupe data, and merge account records is not the most optimal solution. While running a batch job to de-dupe data may seem like a way to address duplicates, this method does not prevent future duplicates from occurring. Additionally, merging account records through batch jobs can be error-prone and time-consuming, especially if the logic is not sufficiently accurate in identifying and resolving duplicates. This method lacks real-time validation and does not address the root cause of the problem.

B. Integrate Salesforce with ERP, and make ERP as system of truth is a highly effective solution. By integrating Salesforce with the ERP system, which serves as the customer master, Salesforce will always have accurate and up-to-date account data. This approach eliminates the possibility of discrepancies and duplication between the two systems. Making the ERP system the "system of truth" ensures that any updates to account data originate from a single, reliable source. This approach directly addresses the root cause of data quality issues and helps ensure consistency across systems.

C. Build a nightly sync job from ERP to Salesforce is a partial solution, but it is not as effective as integrating Salesforce with the ERP system in real time. A nightly sync job only updates Salesforce once a day, which can lead to outdated data in Salesforce for a large part of the day. Additionally, this approach does not solve the problem of duplicate accounts or real-time data consistency.

D. Implement a de-dupe solution and establish account ownership in Salesforce is a very relevant and effective solution. A de-duplication solution will prevent new duplicate records from being created in Salesforce, while establishing account ownership ensures that the right individuals are responsible for maintaining data accuracy. This approach will help to eliminate duplicate records as they are created and also improve accountability for managing account data.

In conclusion, the best approaches to resolving the complaints about duplicates and data quality are to integrate Salesforce with the ERP system (making the ERP the system of truth) and to implement a de-dupe solution in Salesforce. These solutions address the problem in a way that ensures long-term data accuracy and consistency.

Question No 7:

Universal Containers (UC) has adopted Salesforce as its primary sales automation tool. UC has 100,000 customers with a growth rate of 10% a year. UC uses an on-premise web-based billing and invoice system that generates over 1 million invoices a year supporting a monthly billing cycle.
The UC sales team needs to be able to pull up a customer record and view their account status, invoice history, and open opportunities without navigating outside of Salesforce.

What should a data architect use to provide the sales team with the required functionality?

A. Create a visual force tab with the billing system encapsulated within an iframe.
B. Create a custom object and migrate the last 12 months of invoice data into Salesforce so it can be displayed on the Account layout.
C. Write an Apex callout and populate a related list to display on the account record.
D. Create a mashup page that will present the billing system records within Salesforce.

Explanation:

To provide the sales team with the ability to view customer account status, invoice history, and open opportunities without leaving Salesforce, it's essential to integrate Salesforce with the on-premise billing and invoice system efficiently. Here’s the breakdown of the options:

A (Create a Visualforce tab with the billing system encapsulated within an iframe) is not ideal because an iframe typically presents external web content inside Salesforce but does not provide an integrated or smooth experience for the sales team. An iframe might also present security issues, especially if the external billing system is not configured to allow embedding.
B (Create a custom object and migrate the last 12 months of invoice data into Salesforce so it can be displayed on the Account layout) could work for a limited data set, but storing 1 million invoices annually within Salesforce would not scale well, and migrating the data could be cumbersome. It also creates data duplication, and Salesforce may have storage and performance limitations with such large datasets, especially as UC grows.
C (Write an Apex callout and populate a related list to display on the account record) is the most efficient and scalable solution. Using an Apex callout, Salesforce can query the on-premise billing system in real time and pull in relevant invoice history. The related list can display this data on the Account record without requiring data duplication or migration. This approach ensures that the sales team always has up-to-date information and doesn’t need to navigate outside of Salesforce. The use of a callout also allows seamless integration with external systems without significant performance or data integrity concerns.
D (Create a mashup page that will present the billing system records within Salesforce) is similar to using an iframe but involves more complex integration methods like mashups or web services. While it may be useful in some scenarios, this method is generally less integrated than a direct callout and may be more difficult to maintain.

Therefore, the best approach is C – writing an Apex callout and populating a related list to display on the account record, as it allows real-time integration without unnecessary data duplication and ensures scalability as the business grows.

Question No 8:

Universal Containers (UC) is in the process of migrating legacy inventory data from an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system into Sales Cloud with the following requirements:

Legacy inventory data will be stored in a custom child object called Inventory__c.
Inventory data should be related to the standard Account object.
The Inventory__c object should inherit the same sharing rules as the Account object.
Anytime an Account record is deleted in Salesforce, the related Inventory__c record(s) should be deleted as well.

What type of relationship field should a data architect recommend in this scenario?

A. Lookup relationship field on Inventory__c, related to Account
B. Indirect lookup relationship field on Account, related to Inventory__c
C. Master-detail relationship field on Inventory__c, related to Account
D. Master-detail relationship field on Account, related to Inventory__c

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

In this scenario, the key requirements to focus on are:

The Inventory__c object should inherit the same sharing rules as the Account object.
Related Inventory__c records should be deleted when an Account is deleted.

Let’s break down the different options based on these requirements:

C. Master-detail relationship field on Inventory__c, related to Account: This is the correct answer because a master-detail relationship provides the ability for the Inventory__c records to inherit the same sharing rules as the Account records. In a master-detail relationship, the child record (Inventory__c) is tightly linked to the parent record (Account). This means:

The child (Inventory__c) inherits the parent’s (Account’s) sharing rules and visibility.

If an Account record is deleted, all related Inventory__c records will be automatically deleted as well due to the cascading delete behavior of the master-detail relationship.

A. Lookup relationship field on Inventory__c, related to Account: A lookup relationship would not meet all the requirements. While the lookup relationship can link the Inventory__c object to the Account, it does not automatically inherit the sharing rules of the Account object, nor does it support cascading deletes. Therefore, this option does not meet the requirement to delete related Inventory__c records when the Account is deleted.

B. Indirect lookup relationship field on Account, related to Inventory__c: The indirect lookup relationship is used for connecting Salesforce records to external data (for example, external objects). It does not apply in this case, as the Inventory__c object is a custom object in Salesforce, not an external object. Thus, this relationship type is not relevant for this scenario.

D. Master-detail relationship field on Account, related to Inventory__c: While the master-detail relationship would ensure cascading deletes, Salesforce does not allow a master-detail relationship where the parent (Account) is the master and the child (Inventory__c) is the detail. The master-detail relationship must be defined from the child object (Inventory__c) to the parent object (Account), so this option is not possible.

In conclusion, the master-detail relationship from Inventory__c to Account (option C) is the correct choice because it ensures that:

The Inventory__c records inherit the same sharing rules as Account.
Related Inventory__c records are automatically deleted when the associated Account record is deleted.

Question No 9:

Northern Trail Outfitters has implemented Salesforce for its sales associates nationwide. Senior management is concerned that the executive dashboards are not reliable for their real-time decision-making. On analysis, the team found the following issues with data entered in Salesforce:

Information in certain records is incomplete.
Incorrect entry in certain fields causes records to be excluded in report filters.
Duplicate entries cause incorrect counts.

Which three steps should a data architect recommend to address the issues? (Choose three.)

A. Explore third-party data providers to enrich and augment information entered in Salesforce.
B. Build a sales data warehouse with purpose-built data marts for dashboards and senior management reporting.
C. Design and implement data-quality dashboard to monitor and act on records that are incomplete or incorrect.
D. Periodically export data to cleanse data and import them back into Salesforce for executive reports.
E. Leverage Salesforce features, such as validation rules, to avoid incomplete and incorrect records.

Correct answer: C, E, A

Explanation:

The situation described highlights several data integrity issues that affect the reliability of the executive dashboards in Salesforce. To resolve these, it's important to address the core causes of incomplete, incorrect, and duplicate data entries. Let’s review the options:

A. Explore third-party data providers to enrich and augment information entered in Salesforce: This is a valid recommendation. By using third-party data providers, Northern Trail Outfitters can augment the records in Salesforce with additional, validated, or enriched data, which can reduce the issues related to incomplete records. This ensures that sales associates and executives have access to more complete and accurate information, enhancing the reliability of the data used for decision-making.
B. Build a sales data warehouse with purpose-built data marts for dashboards and senior management reporting: While this is a potential solution for reporting at a high level, it does not directly address the issues with data quality in Salesforce itself. A data warehouse may be helpful for aggregation and historical reporting, but it doesn't solve real-time data integrity problems within Salesforce. Additionally, creating a separate data warehouse could introduce more complexity and data latency.
C. Design and implement data-quality dashboard to monitor and act on records that are incomplete or incorrect: This is an excellent recommendation. Implementing a data-quality dashboard within Salesforce would provide visibility into data quality issues in real time. The dashboard could highlight records that are incomplete or incorrect, enabling timely corrections before data enters reports or dashboards used by senior management. This proactive approach ensures that the data remains high-quality and reliable for decision-making.
D. Periodically export data to cleanse data and import them back into Salesforce for executive reports: This approach is not ideal. Periodically exporting and cleansing data introduces delays and complexity into the process. This method is reactive and could cause inconsistency in the data available for real-time decision-making. It also requires manual intervention, which is not scalable.
E. Leverage Salesforce features, such as validation rules, to avoid incomplete and incorrect records: This is a critical recommendation. Salesforce provides built-in features like validation rules that can prevent incorrect or incomplete data from being saved. These rules can enforce data integrity at the point of entry, ensuring that only valid and complete records are entered into the system. This would help eliminate the issues of incomplete records and incorrect entries that are affecting the reports.

In conclusion, the best steps to take are C, E, and A, as they directly address data quality issues within Salesforce, streamline the process, and improve the reliability of executive dashboards for real-time decision-making.

Question No 10:

Northern Trail Outfitters (NTO) has been using Salesforce for Sales and Service for 10 years. For the past two years, the marketing group has noticed a rise from 0% to 35% in returned mail when sending mail using the contact information stored in Salesforce.

Which solution should the data architect use to reduce the amount of returned mail?

A. Email all customers and ask them to verify their information and to call NTO if their address is incorrect.
B. Delete contacts when the mail is returned to save postal costs for NTO.
C. Have the sales team call all existing customers and ask to verify the contact details.
D. Use a third-party data source to update the contact information in Salesforce.

Correct answer: D

Explanation:

When dealing with returned mail, especially when the return rate has significantly increased from 0% to 35%, it’s crucial to focus on ways to ensure the accuracy of the contact data. Here’s an analysis of each option:

A. Email all customers and ask them to verify their information and to call NTO if their address is incorrect.
While this approach may seem like a way to engage customers, it relies on customers being proactive in responding to the email. It assumes that customers will take the time to verify their contact information. This solution is also reactive and may not be effective in the long term, especially as it places the burden on customers to correct the information.
B. Delete contacts when the mail is returned to save postal costs for NTO.
Deleting contacts after returned mail can lead to the loss of valuable data and customer relationships. Simply removing contacts without verifying or updating their information could be detrimental to business, as it may be based on inaccurate or temporary issues (e.g., a postal error, an address change). This is not a good practice in data management.
C. Have the sales team call all existing customers and ask to verify the contact details.
This is a highly resource-intensive and time-consuming solution. It involves manually contacting every customer, which may not be practical, especially with a large customer base. While it could ensure accuracy, the scale and effort required would be significant, leading to inefficiencies.
D. Use a third-party data source to update the contact information in Salesforce.
The most efficient and effective solution is to integrate a third-party data source that specializes in address validation and updates. These services can automatically check and update customer contact information in Salesforce. By leveraging data providers that regularly update and validate contact information (such as USPS address verification or other global data services), NTO can significantly reduce returned mail and maintain up-to-date contact records. This solution is proactive, scalable, and automated, offering long-term benefits.

Therefore, the best solution to reduce the amount of returned mail is to D (use a third-party data source to update the contact information in Salesforce). This method ensures accurate contact data, which will minimize returned mail without requiring manual intervention or customer reliance.