Salesforce Certified Education Cloud Consultant – Complete Winter '26 Guide

EDA: Education Data Architecture Core Objects

Education Cloud is built on EDA (Education Data Architecture), an open-source data model from Salesforce.org. Core objects: Contact (represents students, faculty, and staff), Account (educational institution, department, household), Term (academic period — semester, quarter), Course (a subject offering), Course Connection (a student's enrollment in a course for a term), Program Plan (degree plan with requirements). Affiliations connect contacts to multiple accounts (a student affiliated with their major department, a dormitory, and the institution). The consultant configures EDA to match the institution's academic structure.

Student Success Hub: Alerts, Cases, and Appointments

Student Success Hub (SSH) is the advising and student success platform in Education Cloud. Key features: Alerts flag students at risk (attendance drops, grade thresholds, hold flags). Cases manage student issues requiring follow-up. Appointments enable students to book advising sessions (integrates with calendar systems). Success Plans create personalised student action plans with milestones. Advising notes capture interaction history. The consultant configures SSH to match the institution's student success model — defining which alert triggers are enabled, how cases are routed to advisors, and what appointment types are available.

Recruiting and Admissions

Education Cloud supports the full student recruitment lifecycle. Inquiry captures prospective student interest. Application tracks the admissions application and review process. Prospect/Lead management assigns recruiter territories and tracks outreach activities. Program Interest records which academic programmes a prospect is interested in. The consultant configures the recruiting pipeline stages, application workflow (application submitted → under review → decision made → enrolled), and integration with external application management systems (Common App, Slate).

Experience Cloud for Students and Faculty

Education Cloud leverages Experience Cloud to build self-service portals for students and faculty. Student portals: course registration, financial aid status, advising appointment booking, campus services requests. Faculty portals: course rosters, grade submission, office hours management. Community engagement: peer discussion groups, club pages, alumni networks. The consultant configures the Experience Cloud site using appropriate templates, sharing settings (Sharing Sets for student record access), and Knowledge articles for self-service resolution of common questions.

Integration with SIS and LMS Systems

Educational institutions typically have existing systems of record: SIS (Student Information System — PeopleSoft, Banner, Colleague) for official academic records and LMS (Learning Management System — Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle) for course delivery. Education Cloud Salesforce serves as the engagement CRM layer — not the system of record for academic transcripts. Integration patterns: SIS sync pushes enrollment status, grades, and course connections into Salesforce. LMS integration surfaces course activity data for success coaching. The consultant designs the integration architecture — what data flows in each direction, at what frequency, and which system is the golden record for each data element.

Education Data Architecture (EDA)

EDA replaces the standard Account/Contact model with an education-specific model: Accounts as educational institutions, Contacts as students/faculty, and Affiliations linking them. Know how EDA's Household and Administrative account types differ.

Student Lifecycle Management

Understand how Admissions Connect, Student Success Hub, and Recruitment and Admissions features map to the student journey from prospect through alumni. Know which features are in Education Cloud vs. standard Salesforce.

Program Enrollment & Course Management

Know the EDA objects: Programs, Courses, Course Offerings, and Course Enrollments. Understand how students enroll in course offerings and how academic records are maintained.

Advisor & Success Hub Configuration

Know how to configure the Success Hub for advisors with student alerts, appointments, and care plans. Understand how Advisor Link enables student-initiated advising appointments.

Reporting for Education

Understand common education reporting needs: enrollment funnels, retention rates, advising caseloads, and alumni engagement. Know how to build reports using EDA-specific report types.