Data Ingestion And Modeling practice questions

By modifying the JSON configuration file of the connector bundle

Why wrong: Salesforce CRM connectors are configured via the UI wizard, not JSON files.

In Setup under Object Manager

Why wrong: Object Manager is for Salesforce CRM configuration, not Data Cloud data stream configuration.

In the Data Model Object mapping canvas

Why wrong: DMO mapping occurs after the data stream has been created and data is flowing into the DSO.

AWS S3 does not support date formatting natively, so all dates must be transformed using a formula in Data Cloud after the stream is active.

Why wrong: Data Cloud supports standard ISO date formats directly from S3 without requiring post-ingestion formulas.

The Cloud Information Model restricts S3 date fields to string data types until harmonization is completed.

Why wrong: The CIM supports proper Date and DateTime data types.

Data Cloud automatically infers all S3 data types as Text upon initial ingestion, and field types must be manually adjusted in the Data Stream detail page.

Why wrong: Data Cloud attempts type inference based on sample records, but text representation in S3 often requires manual adjustment if formatting is non-standard.

Batch Data Stream scheduled every hour

Why wrong: Hourly batch is too latent for real-time clickstream needs.

Salesforce CRM Connector with changed data capture enabled

Why wrong: CRM connectors are meant for CRM objects, not web clickstream events.

Manual CSV file upload via the Data Cloud UI

Why wrong: Manual uploads are ad-hoc and not suitable for continuous clickstream data.

Check that the primary key is hashed using MD5 before sending the payload to the Data Cloud endpoint.

Why wrong: Hashing primary keys is not required by the Ingestion API.

Ensure that the primary key field is designated as nullable within the connected source object schema.

Why wrong: Primary key fields cannot be nullable.

Confirm that the primary key matches the Salesforce Organization ID.

Why wrong: The primary key must represent the unique identifier of the source record (e.g., transaction ID).

Marketing Cloud Engagement Journey Builder canvases

Why wrong: Journey Builder lives in Marketing Cloud Engagement, not Data Cloud.

Tableau dashboards and external database connectors

Why wrong: Tableau dashboards are separate integrations.

Custom Apex triggers for real-time validation

Why wrong: Data bundles do not deploy Apex triggers.

Real-time Data Action target

Why wrong: Data Actions are egress mechanisms, not ingestion mechanisms.

Streaming Ingestion via Interaction SDK

Why wrong: Interaction SDK is for web/mobile events, not relational database bulk extraction.

Manual CSV upload via Data Explorer

Why wrong: Manual uploads do not support automated nightly scheduling.

Standard DMOs do not support custom DSO fields unless wrapped in a Profile DMO extension.

Why wrong: Standard DMOs can map custom DSO fields to standard or custom attributes.

The data stream must be deleted and recreated for Identity Resolution to recognize new mapping paths.

Why wrong: Deleting data streams is never required for updating mappings.

Harmonization requires an intermediate Master Data Model object before matching can take place.

Why wrong: Harmonization maps DSOs directly to DMOs.

The Individual DMO is locked and does not accept outgoing foreign key relationships.

Why wrong: Standard DMOs accept incoming relationships from custom or other standard DMOs.

Custom DMOs cannot have relationships with standard DMOs under any circumstances.

Why wrong: Custom DMOs can be related to standard DMOs.

Standard DMO relationships can only be established using SQL queries in Calculated Insights.

Why wrong: Relationships are defined in the Data Model UI canvas.

Heroku Connect Ingestion API

Why wrong: Heroku Connect is for Heroku databases, not Marketing Cloud.

Salesforce CRM Bulk API Connector

Why wrong: Marketing Cloud Engagement is not ingested via the Salesforce CRM connector.

Amazon S3 Batch Connector

Why wrong: Amazon S3 is for file storage, not native Marketing Cloud integration.

Restart the Kafka message broker cluster via the Data Cloud setup menu.

Why wrong: Underlying message brokers are managed by Salesforce and not restartable by users.

Rebuild the Identity Resolution ruleset associated with the data stream.

Why wrong: Identity resolution is downstream of ingestion and does not fix storage ingestion errors.

Check the Apex Debug Logs in Salesforce Setup.

Why wrong: Data Cloud ingestion runs on platform infrastructure outside of standard Salesforce CRM Apex logs.

Query Editor

Why wrong: Query Editor is for running ANSI SQL queries, though it can query data, Data Explorer is the dedicated UI tool for browsing DSO/DMO records.

Identity Resolution Monitor

Why wrong: This monitor tracks match rules and identity resolution jobs.

Segment Canvas

Why wrong: Segment Canvas is used for building audiences, not inspecting raw ingest data.

They require Apex code to establish relationships between each other.

Why wrong: Relationships between DMOs are configured visually in the Data Model UI, not via Apex.

They store raw, unformatted data directly from the source system without modification.

Why wrong: Raw, unformatted data is stored in Data Source Objects (DSOs), not DMOs.

To export audience segments to external advertising platforms

Why wrong: Activation targets handle segment exports.

To unify multiple profiles into a single Unified Individual record

Why wrong: Identity Resolution handles profile unification.

To calculate real-time customer lifetime value scores

Why wrong: Calculated Insights handle metric calculations.

Data Cloud does not support record deletion; deleted records remain permanently in DSOs.

Why wrong: Deletions from supported CRM connectors are synchronized.

Deletes require an external Ingestion API call with a delete flag set to true.

Why wrong: API calls are not needed for CRM connector deletes.

Deletes must be handled manually by running a weekly SQL purge script.

Why wrong: Purges are not done via manual SQL scripts for CRM connectors.

To encrypt data at rest in cloud storage buckets

Why wrong: Encryption is handled by platform security settings.

To manage user permissions and access control across Salesforce products

Why wrong: Permissions are managed via Permission Sets and Setup.

To compile Apex code for real-time data transformations

Why wrong: CIM is a data modeling standard, not a code compiler.

Merge the data streams into a single file in Amazon S3 before ingestion.

Why wrong: Data streams are ingested independently; harmonization is handled during mapping.

Use an Apex trigger to standardize source schema names during ingestion.

Why wrong: Apex triggers are not used in Data Cloud data streams.

Create a calculated insight to rename the fields prior to mapping.

Why wrong: Calculated insights cannot rename fields before mapping.

PNG, JPEG, and PDF

Why wrong: Binary image and document files are unstructured and handled differently.

SQL dump files (.sql) only

Why wrong: SQL dumps are not a supported direct ingestion format.

XML, XLS, and DOCX

Why wrong: Spreadsheet and word processor formats are not natively ingested as batch data streams.

Flatten the JSON file into a single-level tabular CSV before uploading to cloud storage.

Why wrong: While flattening is possible, Data Cloud natively supports nested JSON structures without requiring pre-flattening.

Write an Apex class to parse the JSON array and insert records into custom DMOs.

Why wrong: Apex cannot be used to parse data streams in Data Cloud.

Nested JSON is not supported; line items must be ingested as a completely separate data stream.

Why wrong: Nested JSON is supported via schema definition.

Identity Resolution tab

Why wrong: This tab is for matching and reconciliation rules.

Activation tab

Why wrong: This tab is for publishing segments to activation targets.

Calculated Insights tab

Why wrong: This tab is for building metrics and KPIs.

Running an activation target publish job

Why wrong: Activation is for egress, not internal data flow between DSO and DMO.

Configuring an ingestion API token

Why wrong: API tokens are for ingestion, not the DSO-to-DMO mapping step.

Enabling Change Data Capture on the Data Model Object

Why wrong: CDC is not configured on DMOs.