SF-Data-Arch Practice Test 9 — 10 Questions

Question 1

Cloud Kicks is ingesting 20 million Account records nightly from an external ERP into Salesforce using the Bulk API 2.0. The ERP also updates existing records. During testing, the data architect observes that some records are duplicated because the external system's unique identifier is not enforced in Salesforce. Which solution should the architect implement to prevent duplicates during the nightly load?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Create a unique External ID field on Account and use the upsert operation with that field as the external ID.. An External ID field with the unique attribute allows Salesforce to reliably match incoming records to existing ones during an upsert. This prevents duplicates by updating matched records and inserting only new ones. Bulk API 2.0 supports upsert with an external ID, making it the most efficient and scalable solution for nightly loads of millions of records while maintaining data integrity.

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Schedule a nightly batch Apex job that deletes duplicates after the load completes.

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Enable duplicate rules with a matching rule on the ERP identifier field and set the action to Block.

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Use a before-insert trigger to query for existing records and update them if found, otherwise insert.

Question 2

Northern Trail Outfitters uses Salesforce as its system of entry for accounts and has a legacy ERP that remains the system of record for billing. The data architect must ensure that when an account's billing address changes in Salesforce, the ERP is updated within near real time, and when the ERP changes a credit limit, Salesforce reflects it within the same window. No middleware is currently in place. Which approach should the architect recommend?

Accepted Answer

Implement a bidirectional integration using Platform Events and Change Data Capture, with an external subscriber handling ERP writes and publishing ERP changes back as Platform Events.. Near real time bidirectional synchronization between Salesforce and an ERP without middleware is best achieved with Salesforce's native eventing: Change Data Capture streams Salesforce record changes, and Platform Events can carry ERP changes back. This decouples systems, preserves throughput, and supports the required latency. Batch or synchronous dual-write approaches either miss the latency target or create fragile coupling that undermines master data consistency.

Answer

Create a duplicate of each account in the ERP as an external object and use Apex triggers to write to both systems on every account save.

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Schedule a nightly Apex batch job that exports updated accounts to CSV and the ERP imports them, with a reciprocal nightly import.

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Configure Salesforce Connect with an OData adapter so Salesforce reads ERP billing records live and the ERP reads Salesforce accounts live.

Question 3

A data architect needs to ensure that when a user updates a field on a custom object, a related record on another object is automatically updated to reflect the change. The architect wants to avoid writing code. Which declarative feature should be used?

Accepted Answer

Record-Triggered Flow with an Update Records element. Record-Triggered Flows are the declarative tool of choice for automating updates to related records. They can be configured to run before or after a record is saved, and they can update records on the same object or related objects. They support both master-detail and lookup relationships, and they do not require code. This makes them ideal for the scenario where a related record needs to be updated when a field changes.

Answer

Workflow Rule with a Field Update

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Process Builder with an Update Records action

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Apex Trigger with a future method

Question 4

Universal Containers has a custom object Order__c with 10 million records. The object has a lookup relationship to Account. A data architect needs to create a report that shows the total order amount per account for the last fiscal year. The report must be accessible to 500 users and should load in under 10 seconds. Which solution should the architect recommend?

Accepted Answer

Create a custom object to store aggregated order totals per account, populate it nightly using Batch Apex, and build a report on that object.. Pre-aggregating data into a custom object via Batch Apex provides a performant and scalable solution for reporting on large data volumes. The report then queries a small, indexed dataset, ensuring fast load times for many users. This pattern is commonly recommended for large-scale aggregations that cannot be efficiently handled by standard reports or real-time queries.

Answer

Create a report using a custom report type with a cross filter on Order__c and summarize by Account.

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Create a roll-up summary field on Account that sums Order__c amounts for the last fiscal year, and use it in a report.

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Create a Lightning Web Component that queries Order__c using SOQL with GROUP BY Account and displays the results.

Question 5

A data architect at a global manufacturer is defining the match strategy for a new MDM hub. Legal names vary widely across regions, so the architect needs a technique that will correctly link records such as 'Acme Corp.' and 'Acme Corporation Ltd.' even though the strings differ. Which matching approach best satisfies this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Probabilistic (fuzzy) matching using token-based similarity scoring with a configurable match threshold.. The requirement is about linking records whose names differ lexically but refer to the same real-world entity. Deterministic rules and identifier-only matching both fail when the input strings vary, while blocking is a performance layer rather than a matching algorithm. Probabilistic scoring with a tunable threshold is the standard MDM technique for this kind of fuzzy corporate-name reconciliation.

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Deterministic matching on the exact normalized Account Name field using a case-insensitive comparison.

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Blocking on the first three characters of the account name followed by exact comparison of the remaining characters.

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Matching on the external ERP customer number only, ignoring name fields entirely during the match.

Question 6

A Salesforce org has a custom object Log__c with 5 million records. The object has a lookup to Case. Users report that when they view a Case record, the related list of Log__c records takes a long time to load. The data architect decides to create a custom index on the Case lookup field. After the index is created, performance improves. Which statement best explains why the index improved performance?

Accepted Answer

The index allows the related list query to use an index to quickly retrieve Log__c records for the specific Case.. The related list on Case queries Log__c records filtered by the Case lookup. This filter is highly selective because it returns only records for one Case. Creating a custom index on the lookup field allows the query optimizer to use the index, avoiding a full table scan. Thus, the index directly improves the performance of the related list query.

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The index reduces the number of records that need to be queried by pre-filtering the Log__c object.

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The index enables the related list to be loaded from a cache instead of the database.

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The index sorts the Log__c records by Case, which speeds up the display order in the related list.

Question 7

A data architect is migrating 10 million Case records and their related Case Comments from a legacy system to Salesforce Service Cloud. The legacy system stores Case Comments in a separate table with a foreign key to the Case. The architect plans to use Bulk API 2.0 for the migration. What is the most critical consideration for maintaining referential integrity between Cases and Case Comments during the load?

Accepted Answer

Load Cases first, then load Case Comments with the correct ParentId referencing the Salesforce Case ID.. Referential integrity requires that parent records exist before children. Therefore, Cases must be loaded first, and their Salesforce IDs captured to populate the ParentId on Case Comments. Using an External ID on Case can facilitate mapping. Parallel loading or relying solely on External IDs without loading Cases first would fail.

Answer

Load Cases and Case Comments simultaneously using parallel processing to save time.

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Disable validation rules on Case Comments to avoid errors during the load.

Answer

Use an External ID field on Case Comments to link to the legacy Case ID without loading Cases first.

Question 8

A multinational Salesforce org must ensure that records created in the EU region are stored and processed only within EU-approved infrastructure, while global reporting aggregates anonymized metrics. Which governance control should the architect prioritize to satisfy data residency?

Accepted Answer

Deploy the EU data in a Salesforce instance hosted in the EU region and restrict cross-region data flows through integration and sharing design. Data residency requires the records to physically reside and be processed in the approved region, and only anonymized aggregates to cross borders for reporting. Hosting EU data in an EU-region instance with controlled cross-region flows achieves that. Encryption key custody, sharing rules, and authentication each improve security but do not govern the location of storage or processing.

Answer

Configure Shield Platform Encryption with a tenant secret held by the EU legal entity

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Apply record-level sharing rules that limit EU records to EU-based users

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Enable Multi-Factor Authentication for all EU users to protect access to regulated records

Question 9

A healthcare provider's Salesforce org uses a custom object 'Care_Plan__c' with a Lookup to 'Patient__c'. Compliance now requires that a Care Plan cannot exist without a Patient, that the Patient record cannot be deleted while Care Plans reference it, and that each Care Plan should inherit the Patient's sharing settings. The team also needs a roll-up summary of active Care Plans on the Patient record. Which relationship change should the architect recommend?

Accepted Answer

Convert the Lookup on Care_Plan__c to a Master-Detail relationship with Patient__c as the master.. A Master-Detail relationship is the platform feature that natively enforces a required parent, prevents deletion of referenced parents, inherits the parent's sharing model, and supports roll-up summary fields. Converting the existing Lookup satisfies all compliance and reporting needs with declarative configuration rather than custom automation.

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Create a Junction object between Patient__c and Care_Plan__c to enforce the dependency.

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Change Care_Plan__c to a hierarchical relationship on Patient__c so deletion cascades from the parent.

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Keep the Lookup and add a validation rule plus a Flow that prevents Patient deletion and writes sharing manually.

Question 10

An architect is designing a schema for a logistics org where each 'Shipment__c' record can be linked to many 'Carrier__c' records, and each Carrier can serve many Shipments. The business also needs to store the negotiated 'Rate__c' and 'Effective_Date__c' specific to each Shipment-Carrier pairing, and report on those values. Which data modeling approach should the architect use?

Accepted Answer

Create a Junction object 'Shipment_Carrier__c' with two Master-Detail relationships to Shipment__c and Carrier__c, plus Rate__c and Effective_Date__c fields.. The many-to-many requirement with attributes unique to each pairing is the textbook case for a Junction object built from two Master-Detail relationships. Placing Rate__c and Effective_Date__c on the junction keeps pairing-specific data normalized and reportable, and the master-detail links provide integrity and roll-up options.

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Create a self-referencing Lookup on Carrier__c that points to Shipment__c and use related lists for reporting.

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Create two Lookup fields on Shipment__c, one to Carrier__c and one to a Rate__c object.

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Use a single Lookup from Shipment__c to Carrier__c and store multiple carrier IDs in a long text field.