Most Salesforce implementations hit a wall not because of missing features — but because nobody asked the right questions before the data moved. This session gives you the mental models you need to think like a data architect: how to start with the business questions that need answering, work backward to the data model required, and understand what has to happen to your data before any tool — including Data Cloud and Agentforce — can do anything meaningful with it.

You'll leave with a clear framework for approaching data problems from the top down, a working vocabulary for entity modeling and identity, and the honest truth about why "plug and play" doesn't exist in the data world — and what to do about it.

You will take away:

• A repeatable mental model: start with questions, work backward to data

• The ability to identify entities in a dataset and ask whether they're actually what they appear to be

• An understanding of identity signals, why they're not all equal, and what "identity resolution" actually means before you ever open Data Cloud

• The confidence to push back when a client says "the data is clean" — and the vocabulary to explain why that matters

No Data Cloud experience required. Curiosity about why data projects fail required.