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Informatica Interview Questions Part 2: Scenario-Based

Interview Questions
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In the previous blog of Top Informatica Interview Questions You Must Prepare For In 2016 (http://www.edureka.co/blog/interviewquestions/top
informaticainterviewquestions2016/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=hyperlink&utm_term=informaticainterviewquestion),wewentthroughallthe
important questions which are frequently asked in Informatica Interviews. Lets take further deep dive into the Informatica Interview question and
understandwhatarethetypicalscenariobasedquestionsthatareaskedintheInformaticaInterviews.

In the day and age of Big Data, success of any company depends on datadriven decision making and business processes. In such a scenario, data
integration is critical to the success formula of any business and mastery of an endtoend agile data integration platform such as Informatica
Powercenter9.Xissuretoputyouonthefasttracktocareergrowth.TherehasneverbeenabettertimetogetstartedonacareerinETLanddata
miningusingInformaticaPowerCenterDesigner.

If you are exploring a job opportunity around Informatica, look no further than this blog to prepare for your interview. Here is an exhaustive list of
scenariobased Informatica interview questions that will help you crack your Informatica interview. However, if you have already taken an Informatica
interview,orhavemorequestions,weencourageyoutoaddtheminthecommentstabbelow.

Get Started With Informatica

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InformaticaInterviewQuestions(ScenarioBased):
1.HowdoyouremoveDuplicaterecordsinInformatica?Andhowmanywaysaretheretodoit?

Thereareseveralwaystoremoveduplicates.

i. IfthesourceisDBMS,youcanusethepropertyinSourceQualifiertoselectthedistinctrecords.

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OryoucanalsousetheSQLOverridetoperformthesame.

ii. Youcanuse,Aggregatorandselectalltheportsaskeytogetthedistinctvalues.AfteryoupassalltherequiredportstotheAggregator,selectall
thoseports,thoseyouneedtoselectfordeduplication.Ifyouwanttofindtheduplicatesbasedontheentirecolumns,selectalltheportsas
groupbykey.

TheMappingwilllooklikethis.

iii. YoucanuseSorterandusetheSortDistinctPropertytogetthedistinctvalues.Configurethesorterinthefollowingwaytoenablethis.

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iv. Youcanuse,ExpressionandFiltertransformation,toidentifyandremoveduplicateifyourdataissorted.Ifyourdataisnotsorted,then,youmay
firstuseasortertosortthedataandthenapplythislogic:

BringthesourceintotheMappingdesigner.
Letsassumethedataisnotsorted.Weareusingasortertosortthedata.TheKeyforsortingwouldbeEmployee_ID.

ConfiguretheSorterasmentionedbelow.

Useoneexpressiontransformationtoflagtheduplicates.Wewillusethevariableportstoidentifytheduplicateentries,basedonEmployee_ID.

Useafiltertransformation,onlytopassIS_DUP=0.Asfromthepreviousexpressiontransformation,wewillhaveIS_DUP=0attachedtoonly
records,whichareunique.IfIS_DUP>0,thatmeans,thoseareduplicateentries.

Addtheportstothetarget.Theentiremappingshouldlooklikethis.

v. WhenyouchangethepropertyoftheLookuptransformationtousetheDynamicCache,anewportisaddedtothetransformation.NewLookupRow.

TheDynamicCachecanupdatethecache,asandwhenitisreadingthedata.

Ifthesourcehasduplicaterecords,youcanalsouseDynamicLookupcacheandthenroutertoselectonlythedistinctone.

2.DifferentiatebetweenSourceQualifierandFilterTransformation?

TheSourceQualifiertransformationrepresentstherowsthattheIntegrationServicereadswhenitrunsasession.TheSourceQualifiertransformation
isanactivetransformation.

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WecanusetheSourceQualifiertransformationtocompletethefollowingtasksifthesourceisarelationalone.

Joindataoriginatingfromthesamesourcedatabase.Youcanjointwoormoretableswithprimarykeyforeignkeyrelationshipsbylinking
thesourcestooneSourceQualifiertransformation.
FilterrowswhentheIntegrationServicereadssourcedata.Ifyouincludeafiltercondition,theIntegrationServiceaddsaWHEREclause
tothedefaultquery.
Specify an outer join rather than the default inner join. If you include an userdefined join, the Integration Service replaces the join
informationspecifiedbythemetadataintheSQLquery.
Specifysortedports.Ifyouspecifyanumberforsortedports,theIntegrationServiceaddsanORDERBYclausetothedefaultSQLquery.
Selectonlydistinctvaluesfromthesource.IfyouchooseSelectDistinct,theIntegrationServiceaddsaSELECTDISTINCTstatementtothe
defaultSQLquery.

So basically, we can also perform the filtering of the records, either by means of providing a SQL Override or Source Qualifier Filter Property, but,
providedthesourceisrelationalandwecanonlydoitduringthetime,whenwereadthedata.

Then,whatif,wehaveaneedtofilterthedatainmidstreamorthesourceisnotaRelationalsource.

WewillhavetousethefilterTransformation.

The Filter transformation allows rows that meet the specified filter condition to pass through. It drops rows that do not meet the condition. You can
filterdatabasedononeormoreconditions.

3.WhatarethedifferencesbetweenSourceQualifierandJoinerTransformation?

TheSourceQualifiercanjoindataoriginatingfromthesamesourcedatabase.Wecanjointwoormoretableswithprimarykeyforeignkeyrelationships
bylinkingthesourcestooneSourceQualifiertransformation.

Ifwehavearequirementtojointhemidstreamorthesourcesareheterogeneous,thenwewillhavetousetheJoinertransformationtojointhedata.

4.DifferentiatebetweenjoinerandLookupTransformation.

Belowarethedifferencesbetweenlookupandjoinertransformation:

Inlookupwecanoverridethequerybutinjoinerwecannot.
Inlookupwecanprovidedifferenttypesofoperatorslike>,<,>=,<=,!=but,injoineronly=(equalto)operatorisavailable.
Inlookupwecanrestrictthenumberofrowswhilereadingtherelationaltableusinglookupoverridebut,injoinerwecannotrestrictthenumber
ofrowswhilereading.
InjoinerwecanjointhetablesbasedonNormalJoin,MasterOuter,DetailOuterandFullOuterJoinbut,inlookupthisfacilityisnotavailable
.LookupbehaveslikeLeftOuterJoinofdatabase.

5.WhatismeantbyLookupTransformation?ExplainthetypesofLookuptransformation.

Lookuptransformationinamappingisusedtolookupdatainaflatfile,relationaltable,view,orsynonym.Wecanalsocreatealookupdefinitionfrom
asourcequalifier.

WehavethefollowingtypesofLookup.

Relationalorflatfilelookup.Toperformalookuponaflatfileorarelationaltable.
Pipelinelookup.ToperformalookuponapplicationsourcessuchasJMSorMSMQ.
Connectedorunconnectedlookup.
AconnectedLookuptransformationreceivessourcedata,performsalookup,andreturnsdatatothepipeline.
AnunconnectedLookuptransformationisnotconnectedtoasourceortarget.AtransformationinthepipelinecallstheLookup
transformationwitha:LKPexpression.TheunconnectedLookuptransformationreturnsonecolumntothecallingtransformation.
Cached or uncached lookup.We can configure the lookup transformation to Cache the lookup data or directly query the lookup source every
timethelookupisinvoked.IftheLookupsourceisFlatfile,thelookupisalwayscached.

6.Howcanyouincreasetheperformanceinjoinertransformation?

BelowarethewaysinwhichyoucanimprovetheperformanceofJoinerTransformation.

Performjoinsinadatabasewhenpossible.
Insomecases,thisisnotpossible,suchasjoiningtablesfromtwodifferentdatabasesorflatfilesystems.Toperformajoininadatabase,wecan
usethefollowingoptions:
CreateandUseapresessionstoredproceduretojointhetablesinadatabase.
UsetheSourceQualifiertransformationtoperformthejoin.

Joinsorteddatawhenpossible
ForanunsortedJoinertransformation,designatethesourcewithfewerrowsasthemastersource.
ForasortedJoinertransformation,designatethesourcewithfewerduplicatekeyvaluesasthemastersource.

7.WhatarethetypesofCachesinlookup?Explainthem.

Basedontheconfigurationsdoneatlookuptransformation/SessionPropertylevel,wecanhavefollowingtypesofLookupCaches.

Un cached lookup Here, the lookup transformation does not create the cache. For each record, it goes to the lookup Source, performs the
lookupandreturnsvalue.Sofor10Krows,itwillgotheLookupsource10Ktimestogettherelatedvalues.
CachedLookupInordertoreducethetoandfrocommunicationwiththeLookupSourceandInformaticaServer,wecanconfigurethelookup
transformation to create the cache. In this way, the entire data from the Lookup Source is cached and all lookups are performed against the
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transformation to create the cache. In this way, the entire data from the Lookup Source is cached and all lookups are performed against the
Caches.

BasedonthetypesoftheCachesconfigured,wecanhavetwotypesofcaches,StaticandDynamic.

TheIntegrationServiceperformsdifferentlybasedonthetypeoflookupcachethatisconfigured.ThefollowingtablecomparesLookuptransformations
withanuncachedlookup,astaticcache,andadynamiccache:

PersistentCache

Bydefault,theLookupcachesaredeletedpostsuccessfulcompletionoftherespectivesessionsbut,wecanconfiguretopreservethecaches,toreuseit
nexttime.

SharedCache

Wecansharethelookupcachebetweenmultipletransformations.Wecanshareanunnamedcachebetweentransformationsinthesamemapping.We
canshareanamedcachebetweentransformationsinthesameordifferentmappings.

8.HowdoyouupdatetherecordswithorwithoutusingUpdateStrategy?

We can use the session configurations to update the records. We can have several options for handling database operations such as insert, update,
delete.

Duringsessionconfiguration,youcanselectasingledatabaseoperationforallrowsusingtheTreatSourceRowsAssettingfromthePropertiestabof
thesession.

Insert:Treatallrowsasinserts.
Delete:Treatallrowsasdeletes.
Update:Treatallrowsasupdates.
DataDriven:IntegrationServicefollowsinstructionscodedintoUpdateStrategyflagrowsforinsert,delete,update,orreject.

Once determined how to treat all rows in the session, we can also set options for individual rows, which gives additional control over how each rows
behaves.WeneedtodefinetheseoptionsintheTransformationsviewonmappingtabofthesessionproperties.

Insert:Selectthisoptiontoinsertarowintoatargettable.
Delete:Selectthisoptiontodeletearowfromatable.
Update:Youhavethefollowingoptionsinthissituation:
UpdateasUpdate:Updateeachrowflaggedforupdateifitexistsinthetargettable.
UpdateasInsert:Inserteachrowflaggedforupdate.
UpdateelseInsert:Updatetherowifitexists.Otherwise,insertit.
TruncateTable:Selectthisoptiontotruncatethetargettablebeforeloadingdata.

Steps:

1. DesignthemappingjustlikeanINSERTonlymapping,withoutLookup,UpdateStrategyTransformation.

2. FirstsetTreatSourceRowsAspropertyasshowninbelowimage.

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3. Next,setthepropertiesforthetargettableasshownbelow.ChoosethepropertiesInsertandUpdateelseInsert.

TheseoptionswillmakethesessionasUpdateandInsertrecordswithoutusingUpdateStrategyinTargetTable.

Whenweneedtoupdateahugetablewithfewrecordsandlessinserts,wecanusethissolutiontoimprovethesessionperformance.

ThesolutionsforsuchsituationsisnottouseLookupTransformationandUpdateStrategytoinsertandupdaterecords.

TheLookupTransformationmaynotperformbetterasthelookuptablesizeincreasesanditalsodegradestheperformance.

9.WhyupdatestrategyanduniontransformationsareActive?Explainwithexamples.

1. TheUpdateStrategychangestherowtypes.Itcanassigntherowtypesbasedontheexpressioncreatedtoevaluatetherows.LikeIIF(ISNULL
(CUST_DIM_KEY),DD_INSERT,DD_UPDATE).Thisexpression,changestherowtypestoInsertforwhichtheCUST_DIM_KEYisNULLandto
UpdateforwhichtheCUST_DIM_KEYisnotnull.
2. TheUpdateStrategycanrejecttherows.Therebywithproperconfiguration,wecanalsofilteroutsomerows.Hence,sometimes,thenumberof
inputrows,maynotbeequaltonumberofoutputrows.

LikeIIF(IISNULL(CUST_DIM_KEY),DD_INSERT,

IIF(SRC_CUST_ID!=TGT_CUST_ID),DD_UPDATE,DD_REJECT))

HerewearecheckingifCUST_DIM_KEYisnotnullthenifSRC_CUST_IDisequaltotheTGT_CUST_ID.Iftheyareequal,thenwedonottakeany
actiononthoserowstheyaregettingrejected.

UnionTransformation

Inuniontransformation,thoughthetotalnumberofrowspassingintotheUnionisthesameasthetotalnumberofrowspassingoutofit,thepositions
oftherowsarenotpreserved,i.e.rownumber1frominputstream1mightnotberownumber1intheoutputstream.Uniondoesnotevenguarantee
thattheoutputisrepeatable.HenceitisanActiveTransformation.

10.Howdoyouloadonlynullrecordsintotarget?Explainthroughmappingflow.

Letussay,thisisoursource

Cust_id Cust_name Cust_amount Cust_Place Cust_zip

101 AD 160 KL 700098
102 BG 170 KJ 560078
NULL NULL 180 KH 780098
Thetargetstructureisalsothesamebut,wehavegottwotables,onewhichwillcontaintheNULLrecordsandonewhichwillcontainnonNULLrecords.

Wecandesignthemappingasmentionedbelow.

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SQ>EXP>RTR>TGT_NULL/TGT_NOT_NULL
EXPExpressiontransformationcreateanoutputport

O_FLAG=IIF((ISNULL(cust_id)ORISNULL(cust_name)ORISNULL(cust_amount)ORISNULL(cust_place)ORISNULL(cust_zip)),NULL,NNULL)
**Assumingyouneedtoredirectincaseanyofvalueisnull

OR

O_FLAG=IIF((ISNULL(cust_name)ANDISNULL(cust_no)ANDISNULL(cust_amount)ANDISNULL(cust_place)ANDISNULL(cust_zip)),
NULL,NNULL)
**Assumingyouneedtoredirectincaseallofvalueisnull

RTRRoutertransformationtwogroups

Group1connectedtoTGT_NULL(ExpressionO_FLAG=NULL)
Group2connectedtoTGT_NOT_NULL(ExpressionO_FLAG=NNULL)

11.Howdoyouloadalternaterecordsintodifferenttablesthroughmappingflow?

Theideaistoaddasequencenumbertotherecordsandthendividetherecordnumberby2.Ifitisdivisible,thenmoveittoonetargetandifnot
thenmoveittoothertarget.

1. Dragthesourceandconnecttoanexpressiontransformation.
2. Addthenextvalueofasequencegeneratortoexpressiontransformation.

3. Inexpressiontransformationmaketwoport,oneisoddandanothereven.
4. Writetheexpressionasbelow

5. Connectaroutertransformationtoexpression.
6. Maketwogroupinrouter.
7. Giveconditionasbelow

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8. Thensendthetwogrouptodifferenttargets.Thisistheentireflow.

12.Howdoyouloadfirstandlastrecordsintotargettable?Howmanywaysaretheretodoit?Explainthroughmappingflows.

TheideabehindthisistoaddasequencenumbertotherecordsandthentaketheTop1rankandBottom1Rankfromtherecords.

1. Draganddropportsfromsourcequalifiertotworanktransformations.

2. Createareusablesequencegeneratorhavingstartvalue1andconnectthenextvaluetobothranktransformations.

3. Setrankpropertiesasfollows.ThenewlyaddedsequenceportshouldbechosenasRankPort.NoneedtoselectanyportasGroupbyPort.Rank
1

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4. Rank2

5. Maketwoinstancesofthetarget.
Connecttheoutputporttotarget.

13. I have 100 records in source table, but I want to load 1, 5,10,15,20..100 into target table. How can I do this? Explain in
detailedmappingflow.

Thisisapplicableforanyn=2,3,4,5,6Forourexample,n=5.Wecanapplythesamelogicforanyn.

Theideabehindthisistoaddasequencenumbertotherecordsanddividethesequencenumberbyn(forthiscase,itis5).Ifcompletelydivisible,i.e.
noremainder,thensendthemtoonetargetelse,sendthemtotheotherone.

1. Connectanexpressiontransformationaftersourcequalifier.
2. Addthenextvalueportofsequencegeneratortoexpressiontransformation.

3. Inexpressioncreateanewport(validate)andwritetheexpressionasinthepicturebelow.
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3. Inexpressioncreateanewport(validate)andwritetheexpressionasinthepicturebelow.

4. Connectafiltertransformationtoexpressionandwritetheconditioninpropertyasgiveninthepicturebelow.

5. Finallyconnecttotarget.

14.Howdoyouloaduniquerecordsintoonetargettableandduplicaterecordsintoadifferenttargettable?

SourceTable:

COL1COL2COL3
a b c
x y z
a b c
r f u
a b c
v f r
v f r
TargetTable1:Tablecontainingalltheuniquerows

COL1COL2COL3
a b c
x y z
r f u
v f r
TargetTable2:Tablecontainingalltheduplicaterows

COL1COL2COL3
a b c
a b c
v f r
1. Dragthesourcetomappingandconnectittoanaggregatortransformation.

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2. Inaggregatortransformation,groupbythekeycolumnandaddanewport.Callitcount_rectocountthekeycolumn.
3. Connectaroutertotheaggregatorfromthepreviousstep.Inroutermaketwogroups:onenamedoriginalandanotherasduplicate.
Inoriginalwritecount_rec=1andinduplicatewritecount_rec>1.

Thepicturebelowdepictsthegroupnameandthefilterconditions.

Connecttwogroupstocorrespondingtargettables.

15.DifferentiatebetweenRouterandFilterTransformation?

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16.Ihavetwodifferentsourcestructuretables,butIwanttoloadintosingletargettable?HowdoIgoaboutit?Explainindetail
throughmappingflow.

Wecanusejoiner,ifwewanttojointhedatasources.Useajoinerandusethematchingcolumntojointhetables.
We can also use a Union transformation, if the tables have some common columns and we need to join the data vertically. Create one union
transformationaddthematchingportsformthetwosources,totwodifferentinputgroupsandsendtheoutputgrouptothetarget.
The basic idea here is to use, either Joiner or Union transformation, to move the data from two sources to a single target. Based on the
requirement,wemaydecide,whichoneshouldbeused.

17.Howdoyouloadmorethan1MaxSalineachDepartmentthroughInformaticaorwritesqlqueryinoracle?

SQLquery:

Youcanusethiskindofquerytofetchmorethan1Maxsalaryforeachdepartment.

SELECT*FROM(

SELECT EMPLOYEE_ID, FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, DEPARTMENT_ID, SALARY, RANK () OVER (PARTITION BY DEPARTMENT_ID ORDER BY SALARY)
SAL_RANKFROMEMPLOYEES)

WHERESAL_RANK<=2

InformaticaApproach:

WecanusetheRanktransformationtoachievethis.

UseDepartment_IDasthegroupkey.

Inthepropertiestab,selectTop,3.

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Theentiremappingshouldlooklikethis.

Thiswillgiveusthetop3employeesearningmaximumsalaryintheirrespectivedepartments.

Master Informatica with use cases

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18.Howdoyouconvertsinglerowfromsourceintothreerowsintotarget?

WecanuseNormalizertransformationforthis.IfwedonotwanttouseNormalizer,thenthereisonealternatewayforthis.

Wehaveasourcetablecontaining3columns:Col1,Col2andCol3.Thereisonly1rowinthetableasfollows:

Col1Col2Col3
a b C
Thereistargettablecontainsonly1columnCol.Designamappingsothatthetargettablecontains3rowsasfollows:

Col

a
b
c
1. Create3expressiontransformationsexp_1,exp_2andexp_3with1porteach.
2. Connectcol1fromSourceQualifiertoportinexp_1.
3. Connectcol2fromSourceQualifiertoportinexp_2.
4. Connectcol3fromsourcequalifiertoportinexp_3.
5. Make3instancesofthetarget.Connectportfromexp_1totarget_1.
6. Connectportfromexp_2totarget_2andconnectportfromexp_3totarget_3.

19.Ihavethreesamesourcestructuretables.But,Iwanttoloadintosingletargettable.HowdoIdothis?Explainindetailthrough
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19.Ihavethreesamesourcestructuretables.But,Iwanttoloadintosingletargettable.HowdoIdothis?Explainindetailthrough
mappingflow.

WewillhavetousetheUnionTransformationhere.UnionTransformationisamultipleinputgrouptransformationandithasonlyoneoutputgroup.

1. Dragallthesourcesintothemappingdesigner.

2. Addoneuniontransformationandconfigureitasfollows.GroupTab.

GroupPortsTab.

3. Connectthesourceswiththethreeinputgroupsoftheuniontransformation.

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4. Sendtheoutputtothetargetorviaaexpressiontransformationtothetarget.Theentiremappingshouldlooklikethis.

20.Howtojointhreesourcesusingjoiner?Explainthoughmappingflow.

Wecannotjoinmorethantwosourcesusingasinglejoiner.Tojointhreesources,weneedtohavetwojoinertransformations.

Letssay,wewanttojointhreetablesEmployees,DepartmentsandLocationsusingJoiner.Wewillneedtwojoiners.Joiner1willjoin,Employees
andDepartmentsandJoiner2willjoin,theoutputfromtheJoiner1andLocationstable.

Herearethesteps.

1. Bringthreesourcesintothemappingdesigner.

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2. CreatetheJoiner1tojoinEmployeesandDepartmentsusingDepartment_ID.

3. Create the next joiner, Joiner2. Take the Output from Joiner1 and ports from Locations Table and bring them to Joiner2. Join these two data
sourcesusingLocation_ID.

4. ThelaststepistosendtherequiredportsfromtheJoiner2tothetargetorviaanexpressiontransformationtothetargettable.

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21.WhatarethedifferencesbetweenOLTPandOLAP?

22.WhatarethetypesofSchemaswehaveindatawarehouseandwhatarethedifferencebetweenthem?

Therearethreedifferentdatamodelsthatexist.

1. Starschema

Here, the Sales fact table is a fact table and the surrogate keys of each dimension table are referred here through foreign keys. Example: time
key,itemkey,branchkey,locationkey.ThefacttableissurroundedbythedimensiontablessuchasBranch,Location,Timeanditem.Inthefact
tabletherearedimensionkeyssuchastime_key,item_key,branch_keyandlocation_keysandmeasuresareuntis_sold,dollarssoldandaverage
sales.Usually,facttableconsistsofmorerowscomparedtodimensionsbecauseitcontainsalltheprimarykeysofthedimensionalongwithitsown
measures.
2. Snowflakeschema

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In snowflake, the fact table is surrounded by dimension tables and the dimension tables are also normalized to form the hierarchy. So in this
example,thedimensiontablessuchaslocation,itemarenormalizedfurtherintosmallerdimensionsformingahierarchy.
3. Factconstellations

Infactconstellation,therearemanyfacttablessharingthesamedimensiontables.Thisexamplesillustratesafactconstellationinwhichthefact
tablessalesandshippingaresharingthedimensiontablestime,branch,item.

23.WhatisDimensionalTable?Explainthedifferentdimensions.

Dimension table is the one that describes business entities of an enterprise, represented as hierarchical, categorical information such as time,
departments,locations,productsetc.

Typesofdimensionsindatawarehouse

A dimension table consists of the attributes about the facts. Dimensions store the textual descriptions of the business. Without the dimensions, we
cannotmeasurethefacts.Thedifferenttypesofdimensiontablesareexplainedindetailbelow.

ConformedDimension:
Conformeddimensionsmeantheexactsamethingwitheverypossiblefacttabletowhichtheyarejoined.
Eg:Thedatedimensiontableconnectedtothesalesfactsisidenticaltothedatedimensionconnectedtotheinventoryfacts.
JunkDimension:
Ajunkdimensionisacollectionofrandomtransactionalcodesflagsand/ortextattributesthatareunrelatedtoanyparticulardimension.Thejunk
dimensionissimplyastructurethatprovidesaconvenientplacetostorethejunkattributes.
Eg: Assume that we have a gender dimension and marital status dimension. In the fact table we need to maintain two keys referring to these
dimensions.Insteadofthatcreateajunkdimensionwhichhasallthecombinationsofgenderandmaritalstatus(crossjoingenderandmarital
statustableandcreateajunktable).Nowwecanmaintainonlyonekeyinthefacttable.
DegeneratedDimension:
Adegeneratedimensionisadimensionwhichisderivedfromthefacttableanddoesnthaveitsowndimensiontable.
Eg:Atransactionalcodeinafacttable.
Roleplayingdimension:
Dimensions which are often used for multiple purposes within the same database are called roleplaying dimensions. For example, a date
dimensioncanbeusedfordateofsale,aswellasdateofdelivery,ordateofhire.

24.WhatisFactTable?ExplainthedifferentkindsofFacts.

The centralized table in the star schema is called the Fact table. A Fact table typically contains two types of columns. Columns which contains the
measurecalledfactsandcolumns,whichareforeignkeystothedimensiontables.ThePrimarykeyofthefacttableisusuallythecompositekeythatis
madeupoftheforeignkeysofthedimensiontables.

TypesofFactsinDataWarehouse

Afacttableistheonewhichconsistsofthemeasurements,metricsorfactsofbusinessprocess.Thesemeasurablefactsareusedtoknowthebusiness
valueandtoforecastthefuturebusiness.Thedifferenttypesoffactsareexplainedindetailbelow.

Additive:
Additivefactsarefactsthatcanbesummedupthroughallofthedimensionsinthefacttable.Asalesfactisagoodexampleforadditivefact.
SemiAdditive:
Semiadditivefactsarefactsthatcanbesummedupforsomeofthedimensionsinthefacttable,butnottheothers.
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Semiadditivefactsarefactsthatcanbesummedupforsomeofthedimensionsinthefacttable,butnottheothers.
Eg:Dailybalancesfactcanbesummedupthroughthecustomersdimensionbutnotthroughthetimedimension.
NonAdditive:
Nonadditivefactsarefactsthatcannotbesummedupforanyofthedimensionspresentinthefacttable.
Eg:Factswhichhavepercentages,ratioscalculated.

FactlessFactTable:

Intherealworld,itispossibletohaveafacttablethatcontainsnomeasuresorfacts.ThesetablesarecalledFactlessFacttables.
E.g: A fact table which has only product key and date key is a factless fact. There are no measures in this table. But still you can get the number
productssoldoveraperiodoftime.

Afacttablethatcontainsaggregatedfactsareoftencalledsummarytables.

25.ExplainindetailaboutSCDTYPE1throughmapping.

SCDType1Mapping

TheSCDType1methodologyoverwritesolddatawithnewdata,andthereforedoesnotneedtotrackhistoricaldata.

1. Hereisthesource.

2. WewillcomparethehistoricaldatabasedonkeycolumnCUSTOMER_ID.
3. Thisistheentiremapping:

4. Connectlookuptosource.InLookupfetchthedatafromtargettableandsendonlyCUSTOMER_IDportfromsourcetolookup.

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5. Givethelookupconditionlikethis:

6. Then,sendrestofthecolumnsfromsourcetooneroutertransformation.

7. Inroutercreatetwogroupsandgiveconditionlikethis:

8. Fornewrecordswehavetogeneratenewcustomer_id.Forthat,takeasequencegeneratorandconnectthenextcolumntoexpression.New_rec
group from router connect to target1 (Bring two instances of target to mapping, one for new rec and other for old rec). Then connect next_val
fromexpressiontocustomer_idcolumnoftarget.

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3/5/2017 InformaticaInterviewQuestions(ScenarioBased)|Edureka

9. Change_recgroupofrouterbringtooneupdatestrategyandgivetheconditionlikethis:

10. Insteadof1youcangivedd_updateinupdatestrategyandthenconnecttotarget.

26.ExplainindetailSCDTYPE2throughmapping.

SCDType2Mapping

In Type 2 Slowly Changing Dimension, if one new record is added to the existing table with a new information then, both the original and the new
recordwillbepresentedhavingnewrecordswithitsownprimarykey.

1. Toidentifyingnew_recweshouldandonenew_pmandonevesion_no.
2. Thisisthesource:

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3/5/2017 InformaticaInterviewQuestions(ScenarioBased)|Edureka

3. Thisistheentiremapping:

4. AlltheproceduresaresimilartoSCDTYPE1mapping.TheOnlydifferenceis,fromrouternew_recwillcometooneupdate_strategyandcondition
willbegivendd_insertandonenew_pmandversion_nowillbeaddedbeforesendingtotarget.
5. Old_recalsowillcometoupdate_strategyconditionwillgivedd_insertthenwillsendtotarget.

27.ExplainSCDTYPE3throughmapping.

SCDType3Mapping

InSCDType3,thereshouldbetwocolumnsaddedtoidentifyingasingleattribute.Itstoresonetimehistoricaldatawithcurrentdata.

1. Thisisthesource:

2. Thisistheentiremapping:

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3/5/2017 InformaticaInterviewQuestions(ScenarioBased)|Edureka
3. Uptoroutertransformation,alltheprocedureissameasdescribedinSCDtype1.
4. Theonlydifferenceisafterrouter,bringthenew_rectorouterandgiveconditiondd_insertsendto.
5. Createonenewprimarykeysendtotarget.Forold_recsendtoupdate_strategyandsetconditiondd_insertandsendtotarget.
6. Youcancreateoneeffective_datecolumninold_rectable

28.DifferentiatebetweenReusableTransformationandMapplet.

Any Informatica Transformation created in the Transformation Developer or a nonreusable promoted to reusable transformation from the mapping
designerwhichcanbeusedinmultiplemappingsisknownasReusableTransformation.

When we add a reusable transformation to a mapping, we actually add an instance of the transformation. Since the instance of a reusable
transformation is a pointer to that transformation, when we change the transformation in the Transformation Developer, its instances reflect these
changes.

AMappletisareusableobjectcreatedintheMappletDesignerwhichcontainsasetoftransformationsandletsusreusethetransformationlogicin
multiplemappings.

AMappletcancontainasmanytransformationsasweneed.Likeareusabletransformationwhenweuseamappletinamapping,weuseaninstanceof
themappletandanychangemadetothemappletisinheritedbyallinstancesofthemapplet.

29.WhatismeantbyTargetloadplan?

TargetLoadOrder:

Targetloadorder(or)Targetloadplanisusedtospecifytheorderinwhichtheintegrationserviceloadsthetargets.Youcanspecifyatargetloadorder
basedonthesourcequalifiertransformationsinamapping.Ifyouhavemultiplesourcequalifiertransformationsconnectedtomultipletargets,youcan
specifytheorderinwhichtheintegrationserviceloadsthedataintothetargets.

TargetLoadOrderGroup:

Atargetloadordergroupisthecollectionofsourcequalifiers,transformationsandtargetslinkedinamapping.Theintegrationservicereadsthetarget
loadordergroupconcurrentlyanditprocessesthetargetloadordergroupsequentially.Thefollowingfigureshowsthetwotargetloadordergroupsina
singlemapping.

UseofTargetLoadOrder:

Targetloadorderwillbeusefulwhenthedataofonetargetdependsonthedataofanothertarget.Forexample,theemployeestabledatadependson
the departments data because of the primarykey and foreignkey relationship. So, the departments table should be loaded first and then the
employeestable.Targetloadorderisusefulwhenyouwanttomaintainreferentialintegritywheninserting,deletingorupdatingtablesthathavethe
primarykeyandforeignkeyconstraints.

TargetLoadOrderSetting:

Youcansetthetargetloadorderorplaninthemappingdesigner.Followthebelowstepstoconfigurethetargetloadorder:

1.LogintothePowerCenterdesignerandcreateamappingthatcontainsmultipletargetloadordergroups.
2.ClickontheMappingsinthetoolbarandthenonTargetLoadPlan.Thefollowingdialogboxwillpopuplistingallthesourcequalifiertransformations
inthemappingandthetargetsthatreceivedatafromeachsourcequalifier.

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3/5/2017 InformaticaInterviewQuestions(ScenarioBased)|Edureka

3. Selectasourcequalifierfromthelist.
4. ClicktheUpandDownbuttonstomovethesourcequalifierwithintheloadorder.
5. Repeatsteps3and4forothersourcequalifiersyouwanttoreorder.
6. ClickOK.

30.WritetheUnconnectedlookupsyntaxandhowtoreturnmorethanonecolumn.

WecanonlyreturnoneportfromtheUnconnectedLookuptransformation.AstheUnconnectedlookupiscalledfromanothertransformation,wecannot
returnmultiplecolumnsusingUnconnectedLookuptransformation.

However,thereisatrick.WecanusetheSQLoverrideandconcatenatethemultiplecolumns,thoseweneedtoreturn.Whenwecanthelookupfrom
anothertransformation,weneedtoseparatethecolumnsagainusingsubstring.

Asascenario,wearetakingonesource,containingtheCustomer_idandOrder_idcolumns.

Source:

WeneedtolookuptheCustomer_mastertable,whichholdstheCustomerinformation,likeName,Phoneetc.

Thetargetshouldlooklikethis:

LetshavealookattheUnconnectedLookup.

TheSQLOverride,withconcatenatedport/column:

Entiremappingwilllooklikethis.

Wearecallingtheunconnectedlookupfromoneexpressiontransformation.

Belowisthescreenshotoftheexpressiontransformation.
https://www.edureka.co/blog/interviewquestions/informaticainterviewquestions/ 24/29
3/5/2017 InformaticaInterviewQuestions(ScenarioBased)|Edureka
Belowisthescreenshotoftheexpressiontransformation.

Afterexecutionoftheabovemapping,belowisthetarget,thatispopulated.

IamprettyconfidentthataftergoingthroughboththeseInformaticaInterviewQuestionsblog,youwillbefullypreparedtotakeInformaticaInterview
withoutanyhiccups.IfyouwishtodeepdiveintoInformaticawithusecases,Iwillrecommendyoutogothroughourwebsiteandenrolattheearliest.

View Upcoming Batches of Informatica

(http://www.edureka.co/informatica-
upcoming-batches?
utm_source=blog&utm_medium=button&utm_campaign=Upcoming-
batches-Informatica-interview-part2-
22nov16)

The Edureka course on Informatica (http://www.edureka.co/informatica?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=relatedposts&utm_campaign=informatica

interviewquestionspart222nov16)helpsyoumasterETLanddataminingusingInformaticaPowerCenterDesigner.Thecourseaimstoenhanceyour
careerpathindataminingthroughliveprojectsandinteractivetutorialsbyindustryexperts.

Gotaquestionforus?Pleasementionitinthecommentssectionandwewillgetbacktoyou.

Related Posts:

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Informatica Interview Questions for Beginners (http://www.edureka.co/blog/top-informatica-interview-questions-you-must-prepare-for-in-2016?

utm_source=blog&utm_medium=related-posts&utm_campaign=informatica-interview-questions-12may16)

Career Progression with Informatica: All You Need to Know (http://www.edureka.co/blog/career-progression-with-informatica-all-you-need-to-know?

utm_source=blog&utm_medium=related-posts&utm_campaign=informatica-interview-questions-12may16)

About edureka (253 Posts (https://www.edureka.co/blog/author/lucifer/))

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NitinTomer
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3/5/2017 InformaticaInterviewQuestions(ScenarioBased)|Edureka
NitinTomer2monthsago
Verygoodquestionswithniceexplanationsforbeginners.
1 Reply Share

EdurekaSupport Mod >NitinTomer 2monthsago

HeyNitin,thanksforthewonderfulfeedback!Youmightlikethisblogtoo:https://goo.gl/F8LzIr.Also,pleasesubscribetoourblogtostaypostedon
theupcomingInformaticaposts.Cheers!
Reply Share

NitinTomer>EdurekaSupport2monthsago
Thanksforpostingonemoreusefulblog.canyouprovidesuchblogsforTalendalso?
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EdurekaSupport Mod >NitinTomer 2monthsago

HeyNitin,hereareafewTalendblogsthatyoumightfindrelevant:https://www.edureka.co/blog....Youcanalsocheckoutour
TalendtutorialsonYouTube:

.Hopethishelps.Cheers!
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