SF-Data-Arch Data Migration Practice Question
During a migration, you encounter an error stating that the record exceeds the maximum character limit for a field. What is the most robust way to handle this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose technical shortcuts like automatic ETL truncation or script-based rejection, missing the requirement to involve business stakeholders for formal impact approval before modifying data.
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
✓
Evaluate the data and request business approval for truncation or re-mapping.
Truncating data without business approval is a data integrity risk. The architect should analyze the source data to determine why it exceeds the limit and work with stakeholders to either shorten the source text, map it to a larger field, or confirm if truncation is acceptable. Simply truncating in the ETL layer may result in the loss of critical information, which can lead to compliance or business issues down the line.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Automatically truncate the text in the ETL process to fit the limit.
Why it's wrong here
Blindly truncating data can lead to information loss, which may be critical for business processes or legal compliance. Any decision to truncate must be made by the business owners after evaluating the impact of the lost data, rather than being an automatic technical fix implemented by the migration team.
- ✗
Increase the Salesforce field length to the maximum possible.
Why it's wrong here
Increasing field length is not always possible, as there are platform limits on the number of long text fields and overall database capacity. Furthermore, it does not address the underlying issue of data volume and may lead to performance issues in reports and list views, which are not designed for extremely long text.
- ✓
Evaluate the data and request business approval for truncation or re-mapping.
Why this is correct
Data integrity is paramount in any migration. The architect must investigate the source of the excess data and work with stakeholders to decide the best course of action. This ensures that the business is informed of potential data loss and approves the method used, mitigating risks and ensuring compliance with business requirements.
- ✗
Skip the records that exceed the character limit.
Why it's wrong here
Skipping records results in incomplete data, which violates the requirement for a full migration. The migration must capture all relevant data. Instead of discarding records, the architect must find a solution to map the data correctly, even if it requires re-evaluating the schema or cleaning the source content.
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.