70-467 · Question #119
You need to recommend a SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) package design that meets the ETL requirements. What should you include in the recommendation?
The correct answer is A. Add new rows for changes to existing dimension members and enable inferred members. The SSIS ETL design should implement a Type 2 Slowly Changing Dimension strategy that inserts new rows for member changes and enables inferred members to gracefully handle late-arriving fact data.
Question
You need to recommend a SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) package design that meets the ETL requirements. What should you include in the recommendation?
Exhibit
Options
- AAdd new rows for changes to existing dimension members and enable inferred members.
- BUpdate non-key attributes in the dimension tables to use new values.
- CUpdate key attributes in the dimension tables to use new values.
- DAdd new rows for changes to existing dimension members and disable inferred members.
How the community answered
(40 responses)- A85% (34)
- B3% (1)
- C3% (1)
- D10% (4)
Why each option
The SSIS ETL design should implement a Type 2 Slowly Changing Dimension strategy that inserts new rows for member changes and enables inferred members to gracefully handle late-arriving fact data.
Adding new rows for changes implements a Type 2 SCD, which preserves full dimensional history by assigning a new surrogate key to each changed record rather than overwriting it; enabling inferred members allows the SSIS SCD component to insert placeholder dimension rows when fact records arrive referencing a member not yet loaded, preventing foreign key constraint failures and allowing the pipeline to complete successfully.
Updating non-key attributes in place describes a Type 1 SCD, which silently overwrites historical dimension values and destroys change history, violating any ETL requirement that implies tracking member changes over time.
Updating key attributes in dimension tables breaks referential integrity with existing fact table rows that hold the old surrogate key, causing orphaned fact records and is not a recognized SCD strategy.
Adding new rows while disabling inferred members causes the ETL pipeline to fail with a constraint error whenever a fact record arrives referencing a dimension member that has not yet been processed, making the design brittle.
Concept tested: SSIS Type 2 SCD design with inferred member support
Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/integration-services/data-flow/transformations/slowly-changing-dimension-transformation
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