Course 3.1 · Curriculum 2026.1
The three places AI can run, and how to choose
Separate a conversational agent, a model called from Apex, and a model in a pipeline. Most teams only know the middle one and pick it for the wrong problems.
- Estimated effort
- 3 hr
- Lessons
- 27
- Modules
- 5
- Material
- 3 hr
Estimated effort is the sum of the lesson and lab times in this version of the course. It is not video runtime, which is lower.
Canadian dollars. One learner, lifetime access to this course version. Tax extra.
1 lesson free to preview
This course does not issue a certificate on its own. It counts toward the paths listed below, and those do.
01What you will learn
6 capabilities, stated as things you can do
Each one is what you should be able to do at the end, not what the course covers. If an outcome is not testable, it is not an outcome.
- Name the three tiers, and place any AI request into one of them in a five-minute conversation.
- Say what each tier costs to build, to run and to change.
- Explain why a conversational agent is the wrong shape for a nightly enrichment job.
- Explain why an off-platform pipeline is the wrong shape for a user-facing answer.
- Sketch the data path for each tier, including where identity and permissions are enforced.
- Write a one-page recommendation a non-technical sponsor can approve.
02Curriculum
5 modules, 27 lessons
Every lesson shows its length and its type. A SCORM lesson looks like any other lesson, which is the point of ingesting packages rather than linking out to them.
5 modules · 27 lessons · 3 hr of material
Salesforce’s own leadership has said customers test agents in the high eighties and watch it fall to fifty or sixty percent in production. This course is about the gap, and about the three shapes an AI feature can take before you write anything.
- VideoThe accuracy that drops from the high eighties to the fiftiesA public number, not an internal one. What it says about demos versus production before you have built anything.Preview6 min
- VideoWhat that gap is actually made of5 min
- VideoThree tiers, one decision5 min
- VideoWhere identity and permissions live in each5 min
- ReadingThe vocabulary this course uses: runtime, named credential, worker5 min
A conversational agent on an external agent runtime. The session carries identity for you, which is exactly why teams reach for it even when the problem is not conversational.
- VideoTier one: the conversational agent6 min
- VideoWhat a conversational agent costs to build, run and change5 min
- VideoWhere identity is enforced: the session inherits it5 min
- ReadingWhen this tier is wrong: the nightly job nobody should chat with5 min
- LabLab: sketch the data path for a conversational agent12 min
A model called from inside the platform through a named credential. The one most teams already know, and the one they reach for when it is the wrong shape.
- VideoTier two: a model called from Apex6 min
- VideoWhat a platform call costs to build, run and change5 min
- VideoWhere identity is enforced: the caller’s own context5 min
- VideoWhy most teams reach for this tier by default5 min
- ReadingWhen this tier is wrong: the answer nobody is waiting for5 min
- LabLab: sketch the data path for a platform call12 min
A model in an off-platform worker pipeline. Nobody is waiting on this one, which is the point, and identity has to be handed in rather than inherited.
- VideoTier three: a model in a pipeline outside the platform6 min
- VideoWhat an off-platform pipeline costs to build, run and change5 min
- VideoWhere identity is enforced: handed in, never inherited5 min
- ReadingWhen this tier is wrong: the answer a customer is waiting for5 min
- LabLab: sketch the data path for an off-platform pipeline12 min
A decision path you can run in a meeting, three worked examples, and the one-page recommendation a non-technical sponsor can actually approve.
- VideoThe decision path, in five questions5 min
- VideoWorked example: a support answer a customer reads5 min
- VideoWorked example: a nightly enrichment over 250 records5 min
- VideoWorked example: a field technician asking a question by voice5 min
- LabLab: write a one-page recommendation for your own case18 min
- QuizCheck: choosing a tier12 min
03Before you start
What you need first
Assumed knowledge and setup
- No AI experience assumed. This is the entry point to the track.
- Salesforce familiarity at the level of course 1.1.
- No org required. This course is conceptual and is the shortest in the catalogue.
Courses that come first
None. This course is an entry point to its track and assumes no prior course here.
Part of these paths
- AI on SalesforceShareCo Certified AI Practitioner
- The Full StackShareCo Certified Platform Engineer
04Who teaches it
Turni Saha
AI Adoption Lead, PMP
ShareCo Academy, and AI adoption for teams that are not technical.
Project Management Professional, issued 2024
05Reviews
No learner reviews yet
This course has not been taken by enough people to publish an honest rating, and we will not print invented quotes on a page that sells verification discipline. Here is what we can evidence instead.
- Assessment
- Lesson checks onlyThis course carries lesson checks. The certificate is issued by the path assessment, not by this course.
- Curriculum version
- 2026.1You enrol into a version. Content changes do not move you mid-course, and your required-lesson count is snapshotted at enrollment.
- Refunds
- 14 daysFull refund within 14 days if you have completed under a quarter of the required lessons. Stated here rather than in a footer.
Start 3.1
Enrol as an individual, or buy seats and assign this course to your team. Progress is reported per lesson, per module and per path.
- 3 hr estimated effort, labs included
- Lifetime access to the version you enrol in
- A ShareCo certificate is not a Salesforce certification