Methods for negotiating parameters for maintaining, at an analytical database, a replica of a transactional table, stored at a transactional database, are disclosed. By establishing parameters of said maintenance prior to commencing, the transactional database and the analytical database may remain only loosely coupled after completing the negotiation. The parameters of the negotiation may be stored in a location that is accessible to both the transactional database and the analytical database, such that the results of the negotiation may be accessed during the process of maintaining the replica. The negotiation may include a procedure to provide portions of a change-data-capture log, associated to the transactional table, to the analytical database via a transport mechanism such that the replica may be updated, in addition to a list of agreed upon data definition language commands that may be used in the portions of the change-data-capture log.