ADA-C01 Question 398
Single answerEvaluate use cases for the ACCOUNT_USAGE and INFORMATION_SCHEMAA Snowflake administrator is building two monitoring workflows. The first workflow must trigger an operational alert if any warehouse begins queuing queries within the last few minutes. The second workflow must produce a monthly governance report showing all users who executed queries against the account during the previous month, even if those users have since been dropped. Which approach best satisfies both requirements?
- A
Use INFORMATION_SCHEMA table functions/views for the near-real-time warehouse monitoring workflow, and use SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE views for the monthly historical governance report.
- B
Use SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE views for both workflows because they retain more history and therefore are the recommended source for operational alerting and monthly reporting.
- C
Use INFORMATION_SCHEMA for both workflows because it is current and includes all historical records, including dropped users and long-term query history.
- D
Use ORGANIZATION_USAGE for the near-real-time warehouse monitoring workflow, and use INFORMATION_SCHEMA for the monthly historical governance report because INFORMATION_SCHEMA is optimized for retained identity history.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The key distinction is use case: INFORMATION_SCHEMA is generally preferred for low-latency, operational inspection, while SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE is preferred for historical, account-level governance and trend reporting. ACCOUNT_USAGE views are populated with latency, so they are often unsuitable for alerting on events from the last few minutes. By contrast, INFORMATION_SCHEMA table functions are commonly used for operational checks such as recent query activity or warehouse load. For historical governance reporting, ACCOUNT_USAGE offers broader retention and account-wide visibility, including views such as QUERY_HISTORY and USERS that are better aligned to monthly audit/reporting needs. Snowflake documentation distinguishes these surfaces by scope, freshness, and retention: INFORMATION_SCHEMA supports metadata and operational introspection closer to current state, while ACCOUNT_USAGE supports historical analysis through the shared SNOWFLAKE database.
- A. Correct.
Correct. INFORMATION_SCHEMA is typically the better choice for operational, near-real-time monitoring because many ACCOUNT_USAGE views have latency before records appear. For example, administrators commonly use INFORMATION_SCHEMA table functions such as WAREHOUSE_LOAD_HISTORY or QUERY_HISTORY when they need fresher telemetry for alerting. For the monthly governance report, SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE is more appropriate because it provides longer retention and is designed for account-level historical analysis. ACCOUNT_USAGE also includes historical metadata that can remain useful for reporting even after objects or principals are dropped, whereas INFORMATION_SCHEMA is generally oriented toward current metadata within a database or immediate operational inspection.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Although ACCOUNT_USAGE is strong for historical reporting, it is not the best choice for near-real-time operational alerting because many views have latency, often making them unsuitable for minute-level detection workflows. This option reflects a common misconception that longer retention automatically makes ACCOUNT_USAGE the best source for all monitoring use cases.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. INFORMATION_SCHEMA is useful for current-state and near-real-time operational visibility, but it is not the best source for broad, long-term account historical reporting. It does not provide the same account-wide historical depth and retention characteristics as ACCOUNT_USAGE, and it is not the preferred source when you need prior-month activity analysis that may involve dropped users or older records.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. ORGANIZATION_USAGE is intended for organization-level reporting across accounts and is not the primary source for minute-level warehouse alerting in a single account. The second part is also wrong because INFORMATION_SCHEMA is not the preferred source for retained historical identity/activity reporting over a prior month. This option mixes scopes and misrepresents INFORMATION_SCHEMA capabilities.