An organization uses a two-way replica to share edits for a polygon feature class with a field office. After months of synchronizing edits, a schema…

Geodatabase replication requires that the schema of the replicated datasets be identical across all replicas for data synchronization to succeed. In this scenario, a new field (legalarea) was added to the feature class in the parent geodatabase but not in the child. When the parent attempts to synchronize, it will try to send data edits related to this new field. The child geodatabase's feature class lacks the corresponding legalarea field to receive these edits. This schema mismatch prevents the synchronization process from applying the changes, resulting in a failure and an error message.

B. The synchronization adds the missing field: Data synchronization is designed to exchange row-level edits (inserts, updates, deletes), not to automatically propagate schema-level changes like adding fields. Schema modifications require a separate, explicit workflow.

C. The synchronization succeeds: The synchronization cannot succeed because there is a fundamental schema inconsistency. The process will fail when it attempts to populate a field in the child replica that does not exist.

1. Esri ArcGIS Pro Documentation, "Geodatabase replication and schema changes." This document states, "Before synchronizing data edits, you must apply any schema changes to both the parent and child replicas. If you synchronize data edits before applying schema changes to both replicas, the synchronization will fail." This directly supports the conclusion that a schema mismatch causes an error.

2. Esri ArcGIS Pro Documentation, "Replication and geodatabase compatibility." This resource establishes the foundational requirement: "For data to be replicated, the source and destination geodatabases must have the same schema. This includes the logical name of tables and fields, field types, and so on." The scenario violates this core principle.

3. Pennsylvania State University, GEOG 868: Geodatabase Administration. Course materials for advanced GIS often cover replication. Lesson 5, "The Multiuser Geodatabase," discusses the strict requirements for maintaining schema consistency in replicated environments, noting that unmanaged schema divergence is a common source of synchronization failure. This reinforces the principle that schema must be managed deliberately.