- A
Export data to BigQuery daily for reporting
Offloads analytical queries entirely from Spanner, preventing any impact on OLTP.
- B
Use strong reads for all queries to ensure consistency
Why wrong: Strong reads can increase contention; stale reads are better for analytics to reduce impact.
- C
Use read-only replicas in separate regions for analytical queries
Read-only replicas handle read traffic without impacting primary instance writes.
- D
Increase the number of processing units to handle both workloads
Why wrong: Scaling up may help but is not a targeted approach; analytical queries still compete with transactions.
- E
Use interleaved tables for inventory items
Why wrong: Interleaving improves join performance but does not reduce impact of large scans on transactional workload.
PCDOE Design and Plan Database Solutions Practice Question
This PCDOE practice question tests your understanding of design and plan database solutions. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is designing a Cloud Spanner database for a global inventory system. The application runs OLTP transactions on inventory levels and also needs to generate daily reports that scan the entire inventory table. Which two approaches will reduce the impact of analytical queries on transactional performance?
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
Export data to BigQuery daily for reporting
Option A is correct because exporting data to BigQuery offloads analytical workloads from Cloud Spanner entirely, preventing large scans from competing for Spanner's CPU and memory resources. BigQuery is purpose-built for analytical queries on large datasets, so daily exports ensure transactional performance remains unaffected by reporting queries.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Export data to BigQuery daily for reporting
Why this is correct
Offloads analytical queries entirely from Spanner, preventing any impact on OLTP.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use strong reads for all queries to ensure consistency
Why it's wrong here
Strong reads can increase contention; stale reads are better for analytics to reduce impact.
- ✓
Use read-only replicas in separate regions for analytical queries
Why this is correct
Read-only replicas handle read traffic without impacting primary instance writes.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Increase the number of processing units to handle both workloads
Why it's wrong here
Scaling up may help but is not a targeted approach; analytical queries still compete with transactions.
- ✗
Use interleaved tables for inventory items
Why it's wrong here
Interleaving improves join performance but does not reduce impact of large scans on transactional workload.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the misconception that simply scaling up resources (Option D) or using strong consistency (Option B) can solve workload isolation problems, when in reality architectural separation via read-only replicas or data export is required to prevent analytical queries from starving transactional operations.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cloud Spanner read-only replicas (Option C) serve stale reads with minimal impact on transactional replicas because they do not participate in writes or Paxos consensus. Under the hood, read-only replicas pull data asynchronously from the leader, so analytical queries can be directed to these replicas using a read-only transaction with a staleness bound, leaving transactional replicas free for OLTP work.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCDOE question test?
Design and Plan Database Solutions — This question tests Design and Plan Database Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Export data to BigQuery daily for reporting — Option A is correct because exporting data to BigQuery offloads analytical workloads from Cloud Spanner entirely, preventing large scans from competing for Spanner's CPU and memory resources. BigQuery is purpose-built for analytical queries on large datasets, so daily exports ensure transactional performance remains unaffected by reporting queries.
What should I do if I get this PCDOE question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
This PCDOE practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud 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 PCDOE exam.
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