easyMultiple Choice
220-1201 Practice Question: A marketing department wants to access a shared…
A marketing department wants to access a shared calendar and document editing tools without installing any software on their local machines. Which cloud service model would best meet this requirement?
⚠ Common exam trap
220-1201 often tests the boundary between PaaS and SaaS — candidates must recognize that 'no software installation, ready-to-use application' is the defining characteristic of SaaS, while PaaS is for developers building apps.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Software as a Service (SaaS) delivers fully managed applications over the internet — such as Microsoft 365 for shared calendars and document editing — with no local installation required. The provider manages the infrastructure, platform, and application, and users access everything through a browser. This exactly matches the marketing department's requirement for calendar and document tools without installing software.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Why it's wrong here
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) delivers fundamental computing infrastructure, such as virtual machines, networks, and storage, over the internet. Users manage the operating systems, applications, and data, but the underlying hardware is managed by the provider. This model requires the user to install and configure any desired applications, making it unsuitable for directly accessing a pre-built shared calendar.
- ✗
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Why it's wrong here
Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides a complete development and deployment environment in the cloud, including operating systems, programming language execution environments, databases, and web servers. It abstracts away the underlying infrastructure, allowing developers to focus on writing code for custom applications. However, PaaS does not offer pre-packaged end-user applications like a shared calendar; it's for building them.
- ✓
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Why this is correct
Software as a Service (SaaS) delivers complete, ready-to-use applications directly to end-users over the internet, typically through a web browser or mobile app. The provider manages all aspects, including the infrastructure, platform, and software itself, requiring no local installation or maintenance from the user. This model perfectly aligns with the marketing department's need for immediate access to a shared calendar without managing any underlying components.
- ✗
Function as a Service (FaaS)
Why it's wrong here
Function as a Service (FaaS) is a serverless computing execution model where developers write and deploy small, single-purpose code functions that execute in response to specific events. The cloud provider dynamically manages the server resources, scaling them up or down as needed. While powerful for event-driven architectures and microservices, FaaS is not designed to provide a complete, interactive end-user application like a shared calendar.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
This 220-1201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1201 exam.