CMA Data Architecture & Management 3

Question 1

What is the 'schema-on-read' approach in data architecture?

Accepted Answer

Applying the schema when data is read or queried rather than when it is stored

Answer

Schema-on-read defers schema application until query time, allowing raw data to be stored flexibly and interpreted differently based on the access pattern — the approach common in data lakes.

Question 2

In dimensional data warehouse modeling, what is a 'fact table'?

Accepted Answer

A central table storing measurable, quantitative business events with foreign keys to dimension tables

Answer

A fact table stores measurable, quantitative events (sales, transactions, clicks) with numeric metrics and foreign keys linking to the surrounding dimension tables in a star or snowflake schema.

Question 3

What is the role of the 'transformation' stage in an ETL pipeline?

Accepted Answer

Converting, cleansing, and restructuring data to meet target system requirements

Answer

The transformation stage converts data formats, cleanses errors, applies business rules, and restructures data to conform to the target system's schema and quality requirements.

Question 4

In a polyglot persistence architecture, what guides the selection of different database technologies for different services?

Accepted Answer

Choosing the best-fit database type for each service based on its specific workload and access pattern

Answer

Polyglot persistence selects the most appropriate database technology (relational, document, graph, key-value, time-series, etc.) for each service's specific use case and data access pattern.

Question 5

What is the primary responsibility of a data steward role in enterprise data architecture?

Accepted Answer

Owning and ensuring data quality and governance compliance for a specific business domain

Answer

A data steward is a business-domain expert responsible for maintaining data quality, enforcing governance policies, resolving data issues, and managing the data lifecycle within their assigned domain.

(CMA) Certified Master Architect Practice Test

(CMA) Certified Master Architect Practice Test

CMA Data Architecture & Management 3