ADA-C01 Question 390
Single answerUse the ORGANIZATION_USAGE schema in the SNOWFLAKE shared databaseA global Snowflake administrator needs to build a monthly chargeback dashboard that compares credit consumption across multiple accounts in the same Snowflake organization. The administrator wants a single source of metadata that can be queried centrally without logging in to each individual account. Which approach should the administrator use?
- A
Query the ACCOUNT_USAGE schema in each account and UNION the results manually, because ORGANIZATION_USAGE only shows data for the current account.
- B
Query the ORGANIZATION_USAGE schema in the SNOWFLAKE shared database from the organization account to retrieve cross-account usage views.
- C
Create database replication for the SNOWFLAKE database into one account, then query INFORMATION_SCHEMA for organization-wide billing data.
- D
Use SHOW commands in each account and persist the output into tables, because the SNOWFLAKE shared database does not expose organization-level usage.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
For centralized reporting across multiple Snowflake accounts in the same organization, administrators should use the ORGANIZATION_USAGE schema in the SNOWFLAKE shared database from the organization account. This schema is intended for organization-wide observability and supports use cases such as chargeback, monitoring, and governance across accounts. By contrast, ACCOUNT_USAGE is limited to a single account, and INFORMATION_SCHEMA focuses on current database/account metadata rather than organization-wide consumption reporting. Snowflake documentation for Organization Usage and the SNOWFLAKE shared database describes these views as the correct source for consolidated organization-level usage and billing analysis.
- A. Incorrect.
Incorrect. ACCOUNT_USAGE is scoped to a single account, so querying it separately in every account and manually UNIONing results is not the intended centralized approach for organization-wide reporting. This option reflects a common misconception that ACCOUNT_USAGE can serve as a direct organization-wide source. While it could be used with custom consolidation, it does not meet the requirement for a central built-in metadata source across the organization.
- B. Correct.
Correct. The ORGANIZATION_USAGE schema in the SNOWFLAKE shared database is designed to provide organization-level views, including cross-account usage and billing-related metadata, when queried from the organization account. This is the appropriate centralized source for building dashboards such as chargeback or account comparison reporting across multiple accounts in the same organization.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Database replication is not the mechanism for exposing organization-level usage metadata from SNOWFLAKE system views. INFORMATION_SCHEMA also does not provide the same organization-level billing and usage reporting available through ORGANIZATION_USAGE. This distractor targets confusion between data replication features and metadata/usage access patterns.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. SHOW commands are session-oriented administrative commands and are not the preferred or complete source for centralized organization-wide usage analytics. The SNOWFLAKE shared database does expose organization-level usage through ORGANIZATION_USAGE, so this option is based on an incorrect assumption.