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Review Board Artifacts & Deliverables

This guide covers the artifacts and deliverables created during the CTA Review Board preparation phase: what to build, how to build it, how to allocate time, and what separates passing artifacts from failing ones.

For presentation and Q&A strategy, see Review Board Presentation & Q&A.

Exam Format: What You Receive and What You Must Create

What You Receive on Exam Day

At the start of the Review Board session, candidates receive:

ItemFormatPurpose
Scenario documentGoogle DocsThe business scenario (typically 8-10 pages) describing the fictional company, requirements, and constraints
Slide deckGoogle SlidesBlank deck for creating your presentation slides
SpreadsheetGoogle SheetsFor requirements tracking, license calculations, data volume tables, or any tabular work
Diagramming toolLucidchart (with Salesforce Shape Library)For creating all architecture diagrams
Paper and penPhysicalFor scratch notes during reading (optional)

No templates allowed

Candidates receive a blank Lucidchart workspace with access to the official Salesforce Shape Library. Pre-built templates are not available. Every diagram must be constructed from scratch during prep time.

Historical context

Before October 2023, the exam was conducted in-person at a Salesforce office. Candidates had a laptop with PowerPoint/Word/Excel (no internet) and 8-10 flip chart pages that stick to the wall. Hand-drawn diagrams on flip charts were the norm. Since October 6, 2023, the exam is fully virtual - all artifacts must be created digitally in Lucidchart. Hand-drawn artifacts are no longer accepted.

What You Must Create

During the 180-minute preparation phase, candidates must produce artifacts that:

  1. Address all 7 scoring domains (System Architecture, Security, Data, Solution Architecture, Integration, Development Lifecycle, Communication)
  2. Tell a coherent architectural story from business context to implementation details
  3. Are readable and professional - worthy of presenting to a CXO audience via screen share
  4. Can withstand 40+ minutes of judge scrutiny during Q&A (base 40 minutes plus any unused presentation time)

Detailed Artifact Guides

How Artifacts Relate to Each Other

The 9 core artifacts are not isolated slides. They form an interconnected architecture story. Understanding dependencies helps with build order and cross-referencing during the presentation.

Left-to-right dependency graph showing how actors, system landscape, data model, role hierarchy, integration, identity, migration, governance, and risks interconnect across all nine core artifacts.
Figure 1. Dependency map across all nine core CTA artifacts. Understanding these dependencies determines build order: changing a data model decision ripples into the role hierarchy, migration sequence, and risk register, which must all be updated consistently.

Artifact Creation Order

Build artifacts in dependency order, since each one feeds information into the next. This prevents rework and keeps everything consistent.

Top-down flowchart showing the recommended build sequence for all ten artifact steps, with parallel branches from the system landscape and data model into supporting artifacts.
Figure 2. Recommended artifact creation order during the 180-minute prep phase. Building in dependency order prevents rework: the Role Hierarchy cannot be finalized until object ownership is established in the ERD, and the Risks artifact draws from every artifact that precedes it.

Sources

Compiled from the following sources:

Personal study notes for the Salesforce CTA exam. Content compiled from VJ's study notes, official Salesforce documentation, community sources, and online publicly available content, then organized and presented with AI assistance. Not affiliated with Salesforce. © 2025–2026 VJ Srivastava.