hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
CRISC Practice Question: A financial institution is implementing a new…
A financial institution is implementing a new risk monitoring tool that aggregates data from multiple sources. The tool is expected to provide real-time dashboards for risk committees. However, during user acceptance testing, the dashboards show inconsistent data due to time zone differences across sources. What is the best approach to resolve this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose Option A, thinking that displaying local times separately is a 'user-friendly' solution, but they fail to recognize that the core requirement is consistent, comparable data for risk committees, not individual source readability.
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
✓
Standardize all timestamps to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) during data ingestion.
Standardizing all timestamps to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) during data ingestion ensures a single, unambiguous reference point for all aggregated data. This eliminates the root cause of inconsistency—differing local time zones—at the point of data entry, allowing the real-time dashboards to display consistent, comparable metrics regardless of the source's geographic location. This approach aligns with the principle of normalizing data at the earliest stage of the data pipeline, which is a fundamental practice in risk monitoring and reporting.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Modify the dashboard to display each source's local time separately.
Why it's wrong here
Does not solve inconsistency.
- ✗
Ask each source to adjust their time zone to the corporate headquarters time zone.
Why it's wrong here
May not be possible for all sources.
- ✓
Standardize all timestamps to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) during data ingestion.
Why this is correct
Best practice for time normalization.
- ✗
Use the time zone of the majority of sources and convert others.
Why it's wrong here
Arbitrary and may cause confusion.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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