DEA-C02 Data Governance Practice Question
What is the primary purpose of the 'SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE' schema in a governance context?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers often confuse ACCOUNT_USAGE with INFORMATION_SCHEMA, incorrectly believing ACCOUNT_USAGE provides real-time, instantaneous metadata without any data latency.
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
✓
To provide audit-ready metadata on system and user activity.
The ACCOUNT_USAGE schema provides historical metadata about account activity, which is the backbone of governance and auditing. It allows organizations to query past actions to ensure compliance with internal security policies, track data usage, and identify potential risks. Without these views, administrators would lack the necessary visibility to satisfy external regulatory requirements like SOC2 or GDPR, which demand detailed accountability for data access.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
To store backup copies of sensitive data.
Why it's wrong here
The ACCOUNT_USAGE schema stores metadata, not raw data. It contains information about query history, access patterns, and configuration, but it is not a storage location for business data. Storing sensitive data in an audit schema would violate basic data isolation and security principles.
- ✓
To provide audit-ready metadata on system and user activity.
Why this is correct
ACCOUNT_USAGE contains views that track every query, access event, and configuration change. This data is essential for governance audits, as it provides a transparent and immutable history of what happened in the account, allowing for detailed investigation and reporting required by modern data compliance standards.
- ✗
To manage the deployment of data masking policies.
Why it's wrong here
Policies are managed using DDL commands on database objects, not by interacting with the ACCOUNT_USAGE schema. The ACCOUNT_USAGE schema is read-only and is intended for reporting and auditing purposes. Attempting to manage policies through this schema is not possible, as it does not support DDL operations.
- ✗
To increase the performance of analytical queries.
Why it's wrong here
ACCOUNT_USAGE views are designed for operational reporting and auditing, not for accelerating analytical query performance. They provide historical context, which is typically queried to support business insights or governance reviews, not to serve as a high-performance data mart for end-user analytical workloads.
About these practice questions
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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 Snowflake exam blueprint
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