Account Engagement Business Units are separate databases within a single Account Engagement instance that allow you to partition prospects, campaigns, and assets. They’re typically used at enterprise organisations.
Salesforce partners (i.e. consultancies) have access to a set of accreditations, including Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Business Units. I’ve passed this exam, and while it’s not available for everyone, I wanted to share these valuable insights with you.
The exam is based on advanced features, so the ideal candidate would have delivered multiple implementations using these features. It’s time to see how well you know Business Units.
Business Units: The Burning Question
First, I would like to share some context. For Admins or Consultants designing how their Pardot account will work in harmony with their connected Salesforce org, the burning question is: ‘Should we use Business Units?’
Account Engagement Business Units are considered an advanced feature. Salesforce, themselves, suggest that Business Units should be implemented with the guidance of a consulting partner. However, once the implementation is done, there’s still maintenance to consider, therefore, the concepts apply to anyone responsible for multiple Business Units in Account Engagement.
About the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement: Business Units Accredited Professional
Although the exam is only open to Salesforce Partners the syllabus would apply to any Pardot (Account Engagement) admin who is tasked with maintaining and improving this feature. The exam itself covers the following:
- Sync Configuration (20%)
- Considerations (17%)
- Use Cases (13%)
- Discovery and Solutioning (10%)
- Data and Object Relationships (10%)
- Administration (10%)
- Provisioning (7%)
- Licensing and Access (7%)
- Entitlements (6%)
Some Account Engagement (Pardot) features are native to the Salesforce Platform. Therefore, concepts from other certifications (Salesforce Administrator, Salesforce Advanced Administrator, Sales Cloud Consultant) will be tested also.
Personally, I suggest the Marketing Account Engagement Specialist certification to help you master some of the Account Engagement “fun”dementals.
The main themes are when to use Business Units and the considerations of using Business Units. I decided to study Business Units in full, rather than by each section (as there is overlap between sections in the exam outline).
Like with the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Reporting and Analytics exam, I attempted this exam multiple times – it’s not for the faint hearted! But when you do pass, it’s certainly an achievement.
Should You Use Business Units?
First things first – are you working with the right Pardot edition? Business Units are included with Pardot Advanced or Premium edition.
Be comfortable identifying when (and when not to use) business units. There are questions you can ask to ascertain whether business units are necessary.
Know Selective Prospect Sync and Marketing Data Sharing
You’ll need to be comfortable with how prospects and Salesforce records sync to their respective business units. There’s two options, depending on the connector used: Marketing Data Sharing (connector V2) and Selective Sync. Remember that Marketing Data Sharing is only available for accounts using a V2 connector.
Salesforce is used as the system of record; therefore, you should be comfortable with how the data is used. Ask: how is the sales team split? Is it by geography, product line, or something else? (Hint: Lead assignment rules are a huge clue for the “as is” status.)
Once you understand record data (i.e. how it should be logically segmented), you can plan business unit criteria. This will be the basis of marketing sharing rules, which enable prospects to sync to the correct business units.
Managing Business Units
The Business Unit Switcher enables you to navigate between BUs without having to login and out of individual Pardot accounts.
You should know how to switch between Business Units:
As the configuration is within both Salesforce Setup and Marketing Setup you should be at least an experienced ‘Marketing Admin’. Plus, you know where your configuration capabilities end, and where you need a Salesforce Admin (“System Administrator”) to help with correct user setup.
You should know how to:
- Check your Business Unit entitlements.
- Provision new Business Units.
- Ensure different types of users are syncing to the correct Business Unit, with the required licences.
- See which content is shared between Business Units, and which content lives in only the Business Unit it was created within.
Salesforce Connector
You should be able to set up the Salesforce Connector for each Business Unit, including how to set packaged fields to stop syncing if necessary. This decision would require a pros and cons type conversation with your client.
As there are a number of different limits with Marketing Cloud Account Engagement you should know how to monitor these and what limits apply where.
Summary
While Salesforce accreditations are not available for all, the knowledge that it tests is valuable to anyone using Account Engagement (Pardot). Especially as you have multiple considerations when implementing multiple Business Units and it’s important to know when to use them (or not)!
How did you score with these test questions? Have you proved you have the experience with these advanced features? Go on, you earned it!
Additional Resources
- Marketing Cloud Account Engagement: Business Units Accredited Professional Exam Guide – Partner Learning Camp.
- Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Specialist Exam Guide – Trailhead. (Formerly known as Pardot Specialist)
- Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Consultant Exam Guide – Trailhead. (Formerly known as Pardot Consultant)
- Marketing Cloud Business Units Implementation Guide – Salesforce Help.