Salesforce Platform Developer Practice Exam

What Salesforce feature allows for the combination of data from various sources for consistent reporting?

1. Data Import Wizard

2. External Objects

3. Reports

4. Dashboards

The correct answer is: External Objects

The feature that allows for the combination of data from various sources for consistent reporting is External Objects. External Objects enable Salesforce to connect and work with data that resides outside of the Salesforce platform, which is essential for organizations that need to gather and analyze information from different databases or applications. When utilizing External Objects, users can create relationships with Salesforce records and access this external data seamlessly, allowing for comprehensive reporting that incorporates data from various systems. This integration facilitates real-time access to external data without the need to import it, ensuring that the reports always reflect the most current information available from those sources. In contrast, the Data Import Wizard primarily focuses on bringing data into Salesforce from supported sources but does not provide ongoing access to external information. Reports and Dashboards within Salesforce are tools to visualize and present data, but they do not inherently allow for the integration of data from various external systems unless that data is first brought into Salesforce through methods like External Objects or data imports.