SF-Data-Arch Data Governance Practice Question
Exhibit
{
"rule_id": "VAL-099",
"scope": "Lead",
"error_message": "Invalid format",
"active": "false"
}Refer to the exhibit. As a Data Architect, what is the governance concern if this 'VAL-099' rule remains inactive in production?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often focus on the immediate technical error, such as 'API failure,' rather than the long-term governance impact of 'data rot' and the resulting degradation of data quality.
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
✓
Degradation of data quality over time.
The primary concern is the uncontrolled entry of corrupt data. If a governance rule is defined but not active, the system lacks the technical enforcement to maintain quality standards. This leads to 'data rot' where the system collects invalid entries, which will eventually break downstream integrations, analytics reporting, and business processes, causing significant effort for data cleansing at a later date.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increased system storage limits.
Why it's wrong here
Invalid data format errors are usually triggered during the record save process. They do not impact the physical size of the data stored in the database. Whether the lead is 'invalid' or 'valid', it consumes approximately the same amount of storage space within the Salesforce Org's total limits.
- ✗
Inability to run system reports.
Why it's wrong here
Reports will still execute even if the data inside them is malformed or invalid. The report might return inaccurate or misleading results, but it will not fail to run because a specific validation rule is inactive. The risk here is data quality and trust, not the operational failure of the reporting engine.
- ✓
Degradation of data quality over time.
Why this is correct
When an active validation rule is turned off, the system stops checking for input errors. This allows bad data to accumulate, which degrades the quality of the dataset. Over time, this makes it harder to use that data for business intelligence, marketing campaigns, or sales forecasting, leading to untrustworthy results.
- ✗
Increased Apex trigger execution time.
Why it's wrong here
Validation rules are declarative and execute during the database save sequence before triggers. Turning them off actually reduces the total work the database needs to perform during a save. Therefore, an inactive rule will not increase trigger execution time; it will potentially decrease the overall transaction processing time slightly.
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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.