Explanation:

Option A:
"Message Retention & Deletion set to 'Keep all messages but don't track revisions' for public channels, private channels, DMs, and allowing overrides"

Why it’s incorrect:
While this option ensures messages are retained, allowing overrides means Workspace Admins could still change retention settings for specific channels or DMs, potentially leading to unintended data loss. Additionally, not tracking revisions means edit histories won’t be preserved, which might conflict with compliance needs.

Option B:
"Message Retention & Deletion set to 'Keep everything' for public channels, private channels, DMs, and allowing overrides"

Why it’s incorrect:
Though this retains all messages and tracks revisions, allowing overrides creates a loophole where Admins could weaken retention policies for certain conversations. Since Oleg’s company requires strict compliance, override permissions should be disabled to enforce uniformity.

Option C (Correct Answer):
"Message Retention & Deletion set to 'Keep everything' for public channels, private channels, DMs, and not allowing overrides"

Why it’s correct:
⇒ "Keep everything" ensures all messages (including edits/deletions) are preserved indefinitely, meeting the company’s requirement for full history.
⇒ No overrides guarantees uniformity—no Admin or Owner can bypass the policy, eliminating risk of accidental or intentional data loss.
⇒ This aligns with strict compliance standards, where retention policies must be enforced universally.

Option D:
"Message Retention & Deletion set to 'Keep all messages but don't track revisions' for public channels, private channels, DMs, and not allowing overrides"

Why it’s incorrect:
While this prevents overrides, disabling revision tracking means edited or deleted messages won’t leave an audit trail. Many compliance policies require full edit history, making this option insufficient.

Key Considerations:
⇒ "Keep everything" preserves message content, edits, and deletions for auditing.
⇒ Disabling overrides ensures no exceptions to the retention policy.
⇒ Revision tracking is critical for compliance (e.g., proving a message was altered).

Reference:
Slack’s Retention Settings Documentation explains how "Keep everything" retains full message history, including edits.

Explanation:

When advising team members on best practices for using threads in Slack, the most effective use of threads is to keep conversations organized and focused, particularly when multiple discussions are happening in the same channel. Here’s why:

C. To make multiple discussions in the same channel easier to follow: Threads in Slack are designed to group related messages together, keeping them separate from the main channel conversation. This helps maintain clarity when multiple topics are being discussed simultaneously in a single channel. By using threads, team members can follow specific discussions without the main channel becoming cluttered or confusing, improving communication efficiency and reducing the risk of important messages getting lost.

Why not the other options?

A. To use slash commands without disturbing the rest of the channel members: Slash commands (e.g., /remind or /msg) are executed directly in the channel or in direct messages and are not specifically related to threading. Threads are about organizing message replies, not about executing commands discreetly. This option is unrelated to the primary purpose of threads.

B. To add responses such as “thank you” or “I’m looking into it” without cluttering the channel needlessly: While threads can help reduce channel clutter by keeping follow-up responses contained, this option describes a secondary benefit rather than the primary purpose. Threads are more about organizing substantive discussions than just handling brief acknowledgments. Option C better captures the core value of threading.

D. To ensure that others in a channel will be notified of new messages: Threads do not inherently ensure notifications for all channel members. By default, only participants in the thread (and those who have opted to follow it) receive notifications for new thread messages. Posting directly in the channel, not in a thread, is the way to notify all members, so this option is incorrect.

Reference:
Slack’s official documentation on using threads emphasizes their role in keeping conversations organized and focused: https://slack.com/help/articles/115000769927-Use-threads-to-organize-discussions. The Salesforce Certified Slack Administrator Exam Guide also highlights threading as a best practice for managing channel communications effectively in Enterprise Grid environments.

Advice to Team Members:
When advising team members, explain that threads should be used to keep related messages together, making it easier to follow multiple discussions in the same channel. Encourage them to reply in threads for follow-up questions or detailed discussions to avoid cluttering the main channel and to help team members stay focused on relevant topics.

Explanation:

D. Configure Google Workspace SAML-based SSO with Slack, and send out binding emails to existing users to connect their accounts with your IdP.
To implement rule-based access using Google Workspace as your IdP, you configure SAML-based Single Sign-On (SSO) between Google Workspace and Slack. This allows users to authenticate through Google Workspace, leveraging group or user assignments defined in Google Workspace to control access. After setting up SSO, existing Slack users receive binding emails to link their Slack accounts with their IdP credentials, ensuring a smooth transition.

Why the other options are less suitable:

A. Configure Google Workspace Auth to enable users to log in via their Google Workspace credentials, and send out binding emails to existing users to connect their accounts with your IdP.
While Google Workspace Auth (OAuth) allows login via Google credentials, it does not provide the granular rule-based access control that SAML SSO offers.

B. Set up Google Workspace SAML-based SSO in a new Slack workspace since your company already uses username and password to authenticate in its existing workspace.
Creating a new workspace is unnecessary and disruptive. SAML SSO can be configured on the existing workspace without starting fresh.

C. Build a custom SAML connection with Slack in order to use the Google Workspace Id, and apply rule-based access.
Slack provides native support for Google Workspace SAML SSO, so building a custom SAML connection is not required.

Reference:
Slack Help Center – Set up SAML SSO with Google Workspace
Google Workspace Admin Help – Using SAML app

Explanation:

To identify the most active message sender in Slack channels, you need a tool that tracks per-user message activity. The Members tab in the Slack analytics dashboard provides insights into each member’s engagement, including how many messages they’ve sent in public channels — making it the most efficient and accurate way to determine the contest winner.

✅ Correct Answer: C. View the Members tab in the Slack analytics dashboard.
The Members tab in Slack's analytics dashboard shows detailed usage metrics per user, including the number of messages sent in public channels over a specific time frame. This feature is built-in for Slack Workspaces on paid plans and is designed specifically for Workspace Owners/Admins to monitor engagement and activity. It provides a clean, exportable summary of message counts, helping you determine contest results without any need for third-party tools or manual message exports.

Incorrect Answer(s):

✖️ A. View the Channels tab in the Slack analytics dashboard.
The Channels tab displays aggregate data by channel, such as how many messages are posted and how active each channel is overall — not broken down by individual user. Therefore, it can’t help you determine who sent the most messages.

✖️ B. Install a custom bot in each channel to count all messages.
While theoretically possible, this is unnecessarily complex and error-prone. It requires development work, permissions setup, and potentially violates message visibility and privacy policies. Slack already provides per-user data in the analytics dashboard — making this option inefficient.

✖️ D. Export messages from your workspace to view message data offline.
This method is possible but cumbersome and inefficient. Message exports are typically meant for compliance or archival purposes. Parsing exported data to manually count user messages would require scripting and is not practical for a simple contest, especially when Slack analytics already includes this information.

Reference:
Slack Help Center: View your Slack analytics dashboard
Slack Help Center: Analytics overview

Explanation:

✅ B. Utilize bulk channel lifecycle management APIs
For an enterprise with around 1,000 channels to manage during a cleanup, Slack’s channel lifecycle management APIs (such as conversations.archive, conversations.delete, and conversations.rename) are the most efficient and scalable choice. These APIs allow you to script and automate large-scale operations, avoiding the need to perform them manually. This is especially important in Enterprise Grid environments, where consistency, accuracy, and time efficiency are critical. You can run bulk operations programmatically, apply set criteria, and maintain audit logs for compliance.

🚫 A. Use Slack's channel management tools
While Slack offers built-in channel management tools within the Admin Console, these are best suited for smaller-scale operations or one-off changes. They provide useful search and filter features, but there’s no bulk execution capability at the scale of 1,000 channels. Performing each change manually using these tools would be time-consuming and prone to human error, making them less effective for large-scale cleanup efforts.

🚫 C. Take action from each channel's settings
Editing or archiving channels individually from their channel settings is the most manual and inefficient approach, especially when working with hundreds or thousands of channels. This process is labor-intensive, slow, and increases the likelihood of missing certain channels or applying inconsistent rules. It’s better suited for occasional changes to one or two channels, not a mass cleanup operation.

🚫 D. Request that each channel owner take action
Relying on each channel owner to manually archive or delete their own channels introduces delays, inconsistency, and potential non-compliance with your cleanup policy. In a large enterprise, not all channel owners will act promptly, and some may not even be active users. Centralized control through APIs ensures that your cleanup happens according to schedule and with uniform application of your set criteria.

📚 Reference: Slack API – Conversations Methods