Subscriber and Data Management26% of the exam

Data retention, shared data extensions and relationships

Which data retention option deletes rows, all records or the whole data extension; how triggered send source data extensions are built and retained; how shared data extension folders give business units access; and how Data Designer links data extensions with matching data types, the right cardinality and the Contact Key.

Official exam objective
Given desired output requirements, set up Data Extensions in Marketing Cloud.

~7 min read · 7 practice questions ·

What the exam expects

  • Choose the data retention option (Individual Records, All records, All records and data extensions) and a period or date from what must disappear and when.
  • Build a triggered send source data extension from its template and set its retention, knowing the default and what retention never deletes.
  • Share one data extension with chosen business units through a shared data extensions folder.
  • Link data extensions in Data Designer with matching data types, the right cardinality and the Contact Key.
  • Key terms: retention policy (automatic deletion at the end of a period or on a date); Triggered Send Source template (the data extension template for triggered send sources); shared data extension folder (where a data extension is stored to share it across business units); attribute group (data extensions linked to the contact in Data Designer); cardinality (how linked records relate: one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many).

Key facts

Individual Records
Detail
Rows deleted by creation date; table kept
All records and data extensions
Detail
Rows and table deleted
Retention period
Detail
Specific date or time period
Triggered send source
Detail
Built from the Triggered Send Source template; one row per recipient per call
Triggered send retention
Detail
1 day to forever; default 6 months; subscriber data kept
Sharing
Detail
Shared data extension folders; choose business units
Lists in Enterprise 2.0
Detail
Can't be shared
Link fields
Detail
Must be the same data type
Link key
Detail
Contact Key, not email, when available
Rows per contact
Detail
Rows past the 1,000th aren't evaluated
Sources for this section (7)
  • Why does Help advise an intermediate data extension for a many-to-many relationship in a journey?
  • When does a contact's linked row stop being used for journey evaluation?
  • Why can a triggering API call fail against a triggered send source?
  • How many email triggered send definitions can one business unit create in 7 days, counting transactional send definitions?

The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.

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