Design an Ad Impression Reconciliation and Aggregation Service
Last updated: August 14, 2026
Quick Overview
Design a microservice for reconciling and aggregating ad impression data from a database, ensuring accuracy and summarization of the information.
Microsoft
August 14, 20261
0
25 solved
Design a microservice for reconciling and aggregating ad impression data from a database, ensuring accuracy and summarization of the information.
This question is typically asked during the technical screen round for software engineering positions at Microsoft, particularly for roles that involve data management and microservices. The interviewer is evaluating the candidate's ability to design scalable and reliable systems, as well as their understanding of data integrity and aggregation processes. A strong answer will demonstrate a clear understanding of the requirements and the ability to articulate a structured solution.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Identify key requirements for the reconciliation and aggregation service.
- Outline a high-level architecture for the microservice.
- Discuss the data flow and how to handle discrepancies in the database.
- Explain trade-offs in design choices and potential scaling strategies.
- Consider security and performance implications of the service.
Key Topics to Cover
How to Approach This
- Start by clarifying functional and non-functional requirements with the interviewer.
- Estimate the scale: QPS, storage, bandwidth. This drives your design decisions.
- Draw a high-level architecture first, then deep dive into 1-2 critical components.
- Discuss trade-offs explicitly (e.g., consistency vs availability, SQL vs NoSQL).
- Address failure scenarios, monitoring, and how the system handles 10x traffic spikes.
Possible Follow-up Questions
- How would you handle data discrepancies in real-time?
- What technologies would you use to implement this service?
- Can you explain how you would ensure the service is scalable?
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Practice System Design ProblemsSample Answer
Requirements
To design the ad impression reconciliation and aggregation service, we first need to identify the key requirements:
- Data Accuracy: Ensure that the impression data is accurate and reconciled wit...
High-Level Design
The high-level architecture of the microservice can be broken down into several components:
- Data Ingestion Layer: This component will pull data from the existing database and handle incoming imp...
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