Course 3.7 · Curriculum 2026.1
Cost control as architecture
Cost is a design decision, not a billing surprise. One cache rule keeps a 250-record book to a handful of model calls a day.
- Estimated effort
- 3 hr
- Lessons
- 26
- 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.
- Model the cost of a feature before building it, in calls per day rather than in dollars per token.
- Design a cache key from the input hash, so a changed input invalidates cleanly.
- Apply the rule that an error is never cached as fresh.
- Expire active records on a time signal and cache finished records forever.
- Explain why time itself is a signal for an active record and not for a closed one.
- Set a budget alert on day one, before the first production call.
02Curriculum
5 modules, 26 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 · 26 lessons · 3 hr of material
Not a billing surprise. Modelled in calls per day, before a line of code exists.
- VideoCounting calls, not tokensPreview6 min
- VideoReal numbers from a running systemA full refresh across 250 records costs a dollar or two. Stating it that way is what gets a budget approved.6 min
- VideoWhere cost scales linearly and where it does not6 min
- VideoModelling a feature’s cost before you build it6 min
- ReadingThe dollar-or-two rebuild, and the ten-to-twenty-minute full pass5 min
An error is never fresh, and the input hash must match. Two clauses that keep a cache honest.
- VideoAn error is never fresh6 min
- VideoThe input hash must match6 min
- VideoWhat changes the hash, and what a client thinks changes it and does not6 min
- VideoA cache keyed wrong is worse than no cache at all6 min
- ReadingReading a cache table like a ledger5 min
Active records expire because time is a signal. Finished records never do, because nothing about them changes with the calendar.
- VideoActive records expire after seven days, because time is a signalAn open opportunity changes meaning as it ages, even with no field edits.6 min
- VideoFinished records are cached forever6 min
- VideoWhy a closed record never needs recomputing6 min
- VideoThe four clauses, and the order they are checked in6 min
- ReadingWhat happens the day someone reopens a closed record5 min
From four sentences to a working cache, and a way to prove the bill is small because the cache is doing its job.
- LabLab: implement the four-clause cache15 min
- VideoTesting a cache without waiting seven days for it to expire6 min
- VideoThe bug where everything looked cached and nothing was6 min
- ReadingA cache table’s schema, field by field5 min
- LabLab: prove the cache is the reason the bill is small22 min
A budget alert on day one, and the two metrics that predict a cost incident before it lands.
- VideoBudget alerts, and the day-one setup6 min
- ReadingCache hit rate and calls per record as leading indicators6 min
- VideoWhat a cost incident looks like before it is a cost incident6 min
- VideoSetting the alert threshold, and who it pages6 min
- ReadingA one-page cost model to hand to whoever approves the budget5 min
- QuizCheck: cost control10 min
03Before you start
What you need first
Assumed knowledge and setup
- Course 3.4.
- A Developer Edition org. The cache is built in Apex with platform cache or a custom object.
- Useful for the person approving the budget as well as the person spending it.
Courses that come first
- 3.4 · Calling a model from Apex safely8 hr · Advanced
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 3.7
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