Salesforce Certified Associate Practice Exam

Which setting determines the baseline level of access for all users in the organization?

1. Profile settings

2. Field-level security

3. Org-wide defaults

4. Page layout assignments

The correct answer is: Org-wide defaults

The choice of setting that determines the baseline level of access for all users in the organization is org-wide defaults. This setting defines the default level of access for all records across the organization, establishing a fundamental permission boundary before other access controls, such as roles, profiles, and sharing rules, are applied. Org-wide defaults allow administrators to specify the default visibility for various objects, indicating whether records should be private, shared, or available to all users. This framework ensures that there is a consistent access level established for all users without additional adjustments. It plays a crucial role in the overall security model of Salesforce by setting initial access constraints that can be further refined through more specific settings. In contrast, profile settings manage user permissions and dictate what actions users can perform on the records they have access to. Field-level security refers to the visibility and editability of specific fields within an object based on user profiles. Page layout assignments manage the layout and presentation of fields and related lists in the user interface, which does not affect overall access to records. Each of these settings functions within the larger context of the baseline access defined by org-wide defaults.