Adobe Campaign Standard Developer Expert study plan
Adobe Campaign Standard Developer Expert · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Data model and schema design
Model a custom recipient extension with 1:N and N:N links, choosing keys, cardinalities, and storage correctly.
Define schemas that use enumerations, computed fields, default expressions, and unique constraints.
Apply naming conventions and namespaces so custom resources never collide with out-of-the-box schemas.
Validate schema definitions and resolve link, join, and key-resolution errors reported by the platform.
Document how filtering dimension and targeting dimension are derived from a schema's links.
Your checkpoint
A published schema package plus a one-page entity-relationship map for a three-resource loyalty model, with a validation log showing zero unresolved schema errors.
Data model and schema design & Workflow development and orchestration
Extend the week-1 schemas with filters, audiences, and list-based targeting usable inside workflows.
Assemble a targeting workflow using Query, Intersection, and Deduplication activities on those schemas.
Trace inbound transition populations step by step to confirm each activity receives the expected records.
Choose appropriate targeting and filtering dimensions for a re-engagement scenario and justify the choice.
Your checkpoint
An exported workflow package that queries the week-1 schema, deduplicates on email, writes to a test list, and records row counts entering and leaving every activity.
Workflow development and orchestration
Orchestrate multi-branch workflows with Split, Union, Wait, and scheduling so branches reconverge predictably.
Implement incremental processing using incremental queries and recurring scheduled execution.
Route failures deliberately with the Error activity, signals, and alert notifications so a bad run is visible.
Modularize a long campaign into sub-workflows and jump activities to keep maintainability high.
Configure an external signal that starts a branch when an upstream system completes.
Your checkpoint
A three-branch lifecycle workflow (welcome, nurture, win-back) that runs on schedule, survives a deliberately injected failure on one branch, and produces a run log with per-branch counts.
Workflow development and orchestration & Delivery configuration and personalization
Tune workflow execution through targeting mode, temporary table handling, and log verbosity settings.
Configure an email delivery template with an appropriate target mapping and typology rules applied.
Set up proof profiles and seed addresses and use them to validate rendering and targeting.
Personalize subject line and body with expression blocks and conditional content driven by recipient data.
Your checkpoint
A documented email template with two personalization variants, one typology rule enforced, and recorded proof results for three distinct test profiles, including the case where a personalization field is empty.
Delivery configuration and personalization & JavaScript, APIs, and platform scripting
Build locale-based and segment-based dynamic content blocks using the expression editor and targetData references.
Configure a second channel delivery, including external account, routing, and channel-specific options.
Write JavaScript in a workflow script activity that computes and stores a custom per-recipient variable.
Use xtk.queryDef to read and update records from script, with explicit error handling and logging.
Your checkpoint
A delivery with locale-driven dynamic content plus a script activity that enriches the target with a computed score, verified against ten manually checked records.
JavaScript, APIs, and platform scripting & Integrations, imports, and exports
Call platform APIs from script activities to create, update, and delete records, handling asynchronous responses correctly.
Configure a file import from SFTP or CSV with column mapping, deduplication, and the right update mode.
Configure a scheduled export to SFTP with a deterministic file-naming convention and reconciliation output.
Create and test an external account, confirming credentials and connectivity before use in production workflows.
Your checkpoint
An unattended import, transform, and export workflow on SFTP that writes a reconciliation file listing received, inserted, updated, and rejected record counts.
Administration, security, and access management & Performance tuning, troubleshooting, and monitoring
Assign security groups, roles, and organizational units to operators following least privilege.
Audit folder and delivery permissions for a new operator and confirm restricted visibility works as intended.
Diagnose slow workflows using execution logs, query inspection, and index analysis on the underlying tables.
Reduce delivery and query cost through pre-filtering, indexing, and smaller target populations.
Your checkpoint
An access matrix covering five operator personas plus a troubleshooting runbook for six common failure symptoms, each with root cause, diagnostic step, and fix.
Performance tuning, troubleshooting, and monitoring & Data model and schema design
Reproduce and fix three seeded performance problems: a missing index, a full-table scan, and an oversized target.
Re-time the optimized workflows and compare execution durations against the original baseline.
Re-study the weakest objectives flagged by practice quizzes across all seven domains.
Complete two timed 60-question mock exams and review every incorrect answer to root cause.
Your checkpoint
A before-and-after performance report with measured timings, plus a scored mock-exam log naming the three objectives that still need review before test day.
Milestones
Week 2: Publish a working schema-and-query chain from scratch in under 45 minutes and explain every link cardinality in it without notes.
Week 4: Sketch the full path from schema to query to delivery for one campaign from memory, and score at least 80% on a 25-question self-quiz covering domains 1 through 3.
Week 6: Run the import-to-export workflow twice unattended, confirming identical reconciliation counts and correct handling of one deliberately malformed row.
Week 8: Score at least 85% on both timed mock exams and show measurable speed-ups on all three optimized workflows.