Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:
In Workday Prism Analytics, an Explode stage is used to transform a multi-instance field into multiple rows, creating a single-instance field for each instance. According to the official Workday Prism Analyticsstudy path documents, when an Explode stage is applied to a derived dataset containing worker benefit elections (a multi-instance field, e.g., a list of elected benefits per worker), the following occurs: the number of rows exponentially increases, and the original multi-instance field gets dropped (option D).
For example, if a worker has three benefit elections in a multi-instance field, the Explode stage will create three rows—one for each election—while the original multi-instance field (e.g., "Benefit Elections") is replaced by a single-instance field containing one election per row. The number of rows increases based on the number of instances in the multi-instance field (e.g., a dataset with 100 workers, each with 3 elections on average, would grow from 100 rows to 300 rows). The term "exponentially" in the question reflects this potential for significant row growth, though the increase is technically linear per record based on the number of instances.
The other options are incorrect:
A. The number of columns stays the same and the original multi-instance field doesn't get dropped: The original multi-instance field is dropped and replaced by a single-instance field; the column count may change slightly due to this replacement.
B. The number of columns exponentially increases and the original multi-instance field gets dropped: The Explode stage does not increase the number of columns exponentially; it primarily affects rows, with minimal impact on columns.
C. The number of rows stays the same and the original multi-instance field does not get dropped: The number of rows increases due to the explosion of multi-instance data, and the original field is dropped.
The Explode stage’s behavior of increasing rows and dropping the original multi-instance field aligns with its purpose of normalizing multi-instance data into a row-based structure.
[References:, Workday Prism Analytics Study Path Documents, Section: Data Prep and Transformation, Topic: Using the Explode Stage in Derived Datasets, Workday Prism Analytics Training Guide, Module: Data Prep and Transformation, Subtopic: Handling Multi-Instance Fields with Explode Stages, ]
