Salesforce Certified Identity and Access Management Practice

What does "Organization-Wide Defaults" facilitate in Salesforce?

1. Global settings for community users

2. Control over data visibility across the organization

3. Determining password recovery methods

4. Configuring report sharing settings

The correct answer is: Control over data visibility across the organization

"Organization-Wide Defaults" (OWD) in Salesforce primarily facilitates control over data visibility across the organization. OWD settings determine the default level of access that all users have to records that they do not own. By setting OWD, an administrator can define whether records are publicly accessible, read-only, or private, thus establishing the baseline for data visibility. This capability is crucial for maintaining data security and ensuring that sensitive information is only accessible to those who absolutely need it. For instance, if you set OWD to private for certain objects, only the record owner and users above them in the role hierarchy can view those records, while other users cannot see them at all. This foundational setting is pivotal in building upon more granular sharing rules and permissions that can be added later, enabling an organization to effectively manage its data visibility policies based on business needs.