SF-Data-Arch Salesforce Data Management Practice Question
A bank requires a full audit trail of all record changes for compliance. What is the most effective way to track changes to sensitive fields?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates select standard Field History Tracking, forgetting that it has strict retention limits and maximum tracked field constraints unsuitable for strict banking compliance.
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
✓
Use Field Audit Trail (Shield).
Field Audit Trail is the most reliable way to meet regulatory compliance requirements for tracking data history. Unlike standard Field History Tracking, which is limited in retention and volume, Field Audit Trail allows for long-term retention and higher storage limits. This is essential for highly regulated industries like banking, where historical data accuracy and a permanent audit trail are mandatory for legal and security compliance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable standard Field History Tracking.
Why it's wrong here
Standard Field History Tracking is limited to 18-24 months of data and a maximum of 20 fields per object. This is insufficient for long-term compliance requirements in highly regulated sectors like banking, which typically demand several years of audit history for thousands of potential records and fields.
- ✗
Create a custom 'Audit' object with triggers.
Why it's wrong here
Using triggers to create audit logs is complex, prone to failure, and hits governor limits easily. It is difficult to maintain and can negatively impact system performance. A platform-native feature like Field Audit Trail provides a more robust, scalable, and compliant solution without the overhead of custom code.
- ✓
Use Field Audit Trail (Shield).
Why this is correct
Field Audit Trail provides the deep, long-term history tracking required for compliance. It supports up to 10 years of data and allows for tracking a significantly higher number of fields than standard history tracking. It is the architecturally correct choice for meeting stringent regulatory data retention and audit requirements.
- ✗
Schedule daily exports of all records.
Why it's wrong here
Daily exports create snapshot copies, not a granular audit trail. If a record is updated and then updated again within the same 24-hour period, the intermediate state is lost. This method is ineffective for compliance auditing, which requires a detailed, chronological record of every specific change to the data.
About these practice questions
This SF-Data-Arch question is part of Courseiva's 222-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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 Salesforce exam blueprint
This SF-Data-Arch practice question is part of Courseiva's free Salesforce 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 SF-Data-Arch exam.