CSA - Database Management and Platform Security (30% of the exam) - Section 5

Importing Data

Data sources, import sets and staging tables, transform maps with field maps and coalesce, transform scripts, scheduled imports, and reading the import log to diagnose a failed or duplicated import. Items trace a record from the source file to the target table.

Import setsTransform mapsData sources

Practice question for this objective

Free sampleDatabase Management and Platform Securityhard

A data source reads a supplier CSV file into a staging table, and the file has loaded successfully every week for a year. The supplier then adds a Cost centre column to the file. After the next load, the administrator opens the transform map to map the new column and finds no source field named Cost centre offered on the field map form, although the file itself carries the header. What explains the behaviour and corrects it?

AThe transform map holds a cached copy of the source field list, so deleting the transform map and creating a fresh one against the same staging table exposes the new column.
BThe target table must gain a matching Cost centre field first, because a staging table only generates columns for headers that already have a counterpart field on the target table.
CThe staging table takes its columns from the source header row at load time, so loading the data source again adds a Cost centre column to the staging table, which the field map can then reference. Correct
DThe staging table's column list is fixed when the table is first created, so the import set table must be deleted and rebuilt from the data source before the extra column can appear.

Recognise that an import set staging table gains its columns from the source file header at load time, so a new column requires reloading the data source. An import set table is a generated staging structure whose columns mirror the header row of the loaded source. Loading is what creates or extends those columns, so a header added to the file after the last load has no column, and therefore nothing for a field map to select, until the data source is loaded again.

Why A is wrong: Tempting because the missing field is first noticed on the transform map form, which makes the map look stale. The map reads the staging table's live column list rather than a cached one, so recreating it changes nothing until the staging table itself gains the column.

Why B is wrong: Tempting because the eventual goal is a target field and the two are usually built together. The staging table is deliberately untyped and independent of the target, so it accepts any header regardless of what exists on the target table.

Why C is correct: Correct. The import set table is generated and extended from the header row when the data source is loaded, so a header that has never been loaded has no column, and reloading the source creates it.

Why D is wrong: Tempting because it reaches the right destination and administrators often rebuild staging tables out of habit. The column list is not fixed, so a rebuild discards the run history for no reason when a further load would have added the column.

See more CSA practice questions, answers explained.

Exam traps in Database Management and Platform Security

Answers that look right on this material and are not. Each one is a distractor from a different question in the CSA bank for this domain.

It is the target table held in a draft state, and the transform map later converts its columns to their proper field types in place.
Why it is wrong: Tempting because the rows do eventually reach the target table, but the target table is a separate table with its own dictionary, and the transform writes into it rather than converting this one.
Set a run time on the data source record itself, since a data source loads its file on that schedule and then applies every transform map built on its staging table.
Why it is wrong: Tempting because the data source is where the file and its parsing are defined, so scheduling looks like it belongs there. A data source describes where the data comes from and carries no schedule of its own, so nothing would ever run.
Only one transform map can be attached to an import set table, so the second target has to be populated by a business rule on the asset table.
Why it is wrong: Tempting because one map per table is the common case, but an import set table supports several transform maps, each with its own target, so the workaround is unnecessary.

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