ACA Data Modeling & Integration 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which source types can a record type use in Appian?
- Only a database table
- Database, process, Salesforce, or web service (Correct answer)
- Only Excel files uploaded as documents
- Only CDTs and constants
Correct answer: Database, process, Salesforce, or web service
Record types can be backed by databases, processes, Salesforce, or web services via integrations.
Question 2: An analyst notices a CDT contains a nested list of addresses. What is a common recommendation for relational data modeling?
- Save addresses as a JSON document in a folder
- Store all addresses as one comma-separated text field
- Duplicate address fields as Address1 through Address50
- Store addresses in a separate table related by a foreign key (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Store addresses in a separate table related by a foreign key
Normalizing one-to-many data into its own table keeps the model flexible and queryable.
Question 3: What does a!toJson() do?
- Sends an HTTP request to an endpoint
- Converts an Appian value into a JSON string (Correct answer)
- Writes JSON into a database table
- Parses a JSON string into a dictionary
Correct answer: Converts an Appian value into a JSON string
a!toJson() serializes Appian values into JSON text, often for integration request bodies.
Question 4: A Web API needs to return a custom status code and body to the calling system. Which function builds that response?
- a!queryEntity()
- a!httpResponse() (Correct answer)
- a!fromJson()
- a!startProcess()
Correct answer: a!httpResponse()
a!httpResponse() sets the status code, headers, and body returned by a Web API.
Question 5: Which approach best supports data security so that users only see Case records for their region?
- Use a constant listing the region names
- Hide the grid column for other regions
- Create a separate application per region
- Configure record-level security on the record type (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Configure record-level security on the record type
Record-level security rules filter which records each user or group can see.
Question 6: An integration must call an API that requires a different API key per environment (dev, test, prod). What is the best practice?
- Store the credentials in the connected system and configure them per environment via import customization (Correct answer)
- Hard-code the production key in every integration
- Ask users to type the key into a form
- Store the key in a text constant visible to all users
Correct answer: Store the credentials in the connected system and configure them per environment via import customization
Connected systems keep credentials secure and import customization files set environment-specific values.
Question 7: Why might an analyst recommend a synced record type with a sync filter?
- To sync only the subset of rows that the application needs (Correct answer)
- To encrypt the rows during sync
- To prevent any relationships from being created
- To bypass record-level security
Correct answer: To sync only the subset of rows that the application needs
Source filters limit synced rows, keeping the cache within limits and relevant.
