Qlik QSDA2024 Qlik Sense Data Architect Certification Exam – 2024 Exam Practice Test

In the scenario, two tables (OrderDetails and Customers) are being loaded into the Qlik Sense data model, and these tables are related via the fields CustomerID and CustomerKey. The goal is to ensure that the relationship between these two tables is correctly established in Qlik Sense without creating synthetic keys or data inconsistencies.

Option A:Renaming CustomerKey to CustomerID in the OrderDetails table ensures that the fields will have the same name across both tables, which is necessary to create the relationship. However, renaming is done using AS, which might create an issue if the fields in the original data source have a different meaning.

Option B and C:These options use AUTONUMBER to convert the CustomerKey and CustomerID to unique numeric values. However, using AUTONUMBER for both fields without ensuring they are aligned correctly might lead to incorrect associations since AUTONUMBER generates unique values based on the order of data loading, and these might not match across tables.

Option D:This approach loads the tables with their original field names and then uses the RENAME FIELD statement to align the field names (CustomerKey to CustomerID). This ensures that the key fields are correctly aligned across both tables, maintaining their relationship without introducing synthetic keys or mismatches.

In the scenario described, the Dynamic Dimension data tracks changes in department assignments for salespeople over time. To correctly link the transaction data with the salesperson data and ensure that sales are associated with the correct department based on the date, an IntervalMatch function should be used.

IntervalMatchis designed to match discrete data (like transaction dates) with a range of dates. In this case, each salesperson's department assignment is valid over a period of time, and the IntervalMatch function can be used to link the transaction data with the correct department for each salesperson based on the transaction date.

Option A (Merge):This option is incorrect as it refers to combining data sets, which doesn't address the need to handle the dynamic, date-based department assignments.

Option B (IntervalMatch):This is the correct choice because it allows you to match each transaction with the correct department assignment based on the ChangeDate in the Dynamic Dimension data.

Option C (Partial Reload):This refers to reloading only part of the data, which is not relevant to linking tables based on date ranges.

Option D (Semantic):This option is not applicable as it refers to a broader approach to data modeling and interpretation rather than specifically linking data based on time intervals.

Thus,IntervalMatchis the correct method for linking the transaction data with the dynamic salesperson dimension, ensuring that each transaction is associated with the correct department based on the historical assignment data.

In this scenario, the data architect is loading two tables, Orders and Shipments, into Qlik Sense, and a synthetic key is being generated due to the presence of shared fields (OrderID and LineNo) between these tables.

Understanding the Issue:

Synthetic Keys: Qlik Sense automatically creates synthetic keys when two or more tables share multiple fields with the same names. While synthetic keys aren't necessarily problematic, they can sometimes lead to incorrect or unexpected data associations and should be resolved when possible to maintain clarity and control over the data model.

The tables Orders and Shipments share the fields OrderID and LineNo. In this context, these fields together uniquely identify each record, so they are both necessary for accurate data linkage.

Correct Resolution Approach:

Option C: Create a composite key using OrderID and LineNois the best approach.

Here's why:

Composite Key Creation:

By creating a composite key that combines OrderID and LineNo (e.g., OrderID & '-' & LineNo), you ensure that each line in the orders and shipments tables is uniquely identified. This composite key will accurately link the related records from the Orders and Shipments tables.

Avoiding Synthetic Keys:

By manually creating this composite key, you eliminate the need for Qlik Sense to generate a synthetic key, thereby simplifying the data model and ensuring that data associations are clear and controlled.

Retaining Both Fields:

This approach allows you to keep both OrderID and LineNo as separate fields in your tables if needed for other analyses or reporting purposes, while using the composite key for linking the tables.

References:

Qlik Sense Data Modeling Best Practices: When dealing with multiple fields that are used together to uniquely identify records, it is recommended to create composite keys rather than relying on Qlik Sense's synthetic keys for clarity and better control.

To meet the requirements of displaying the current year's total sales in a way that responds to user selections, the correct approach involves using both SET and LET statements to define the necessary variables in the data load editor.

Explanation of Option C:

SET vCurrentYear = Year(Today());

The SET statement is used here to assign the current year to the variable vCurrentYear. The SET statement treats the variable as a text string without evaluation. This is appropriate for a variable that will be used as part of an expression, ensuring the correct year is dynamically set based on the current date.

LET vCurrentYTDSales = '=SUM({$<Year={'$(vCurrentYear)'}>} [Sales Amount])';

The LET statement is used here to assign an evaluated expression to the variable vCurrentYTDSales. This expression calculates the Year-to-Date (YTD) sales for the current year by filtering the Year field to match vCurrentYear. The LET statement ensures that the expression inside the variable is evaluated, meaning that when vCurrentYTDSales is called in a chart or KPI, it dynamically calculates the YTD sales based on the current year and any user selections.

Key Points:

Dynamic Year Calculation: Year(Today()) dynamically calculates the current year every time the script runs.

Responsive to Selections: The set analysis syntax {$} ensures that the sales totals respond to user selections while still focusing on the current year's data.

Appropriate Use of SET and LET: The combination of SET for storing the year and LET for storing the evaluated sum expression ensures that the variables are used effectively in the application.

When dealing with a database that is continuously updated with new records, updates, and deletions, an efficient data load strategy is necessary to minimize the load time and keep the Qlik Sense data model up-to-date.

Explanation of Steps:

Load the existing data from the QVD:

This step retrieves the already loaded and processed data from a previous session. It acts as a base to which new or updated records will be added.

Load new and updated data from the database. Concatenate with the table loaded from the QVD:

The next step is to load only the new and updated records from the database. This minimizes the amount of data being loaded and focuses on just the changes.

The new and updated records are then concatenated with the existing data from the QVD, creating a combined dataset that includes all relevant information.

Create a separate table for the deleted rows and use a WHERE NOT EXISTS to remove these records:

A separate table is created to handle deletions. The WHERE NOT EXISTS clause is used to identify and remove records from the combined dataset that have been deleted in the source database.

The given Excel spreadsheet has a Region field where the region value is only specified for the first record within each region. The data architect needs to fill in the missing region values for subsequent rows.

Previous() Function: The Previous() function in Qlik Sense returns the value of the expression from the previous row. In this case, it can be used to fill down the Region values so that each row contains the correct region information.

Implementation: The script can be designed to check if the current row’s Region value is missing (null). If it is missing, the script can assign the value from the previous row using the Previous() function.

LOAD

If(IsNull(Region), Previous(Region), Region) AS Region,

This logic fills in the missing Region values with the value from the preceding row, which effectively resolves the issue shown in the spreadsheet.

In this scenario, the data architect wants to transform the input dataset, which is in a key-value pair structure, into a table where each attribute becomes a column with its corresponding value under the relevant key.

Understanding the Requirement:

Theinputdata consists of three fields: Key, Attribute, and Value.

The desiredoutputstructure has the Key as a primary identifier, and the Attributes (like Color, Diameter, Height, etc.) are spread across the columns, with corresponding values filled in each row.

Best Method to Achieve this Transformation:

The appropriate method to convert key-value pairs into a structured table where each unique attribute becomes a separate column is theGeneric Loadfunction in Qlik Sense.

Why Generic?

Generic Loadis specifically designed for situations where data is stored in a key-value format (like the one provided) and needs to be converted into a more traditional tabular format, with attributes as columns.

It creates a separate table for each combination of Key and Attribute, effectively "pivoting" the attribute values into columns in the output table.

How it Works:

When applying a GENERIC LOAD to the input dataset, Qlik Sense will generate multiple tables, one for each Attribute. However, in the final data model, Qlik Sense automatically joins these tables by the Key field, effectively producing the desired output structure.

References:

Qlik Sense Documentation on Generic Load: The documentation outlines how to use the Generic Load to handle key-value pairs and pivot them into a more traditional table format.

In the scenario where the data model is built with a composite key (keyYearMonthCustNo) to resolve synthetic keys, the following outcomes occur:

Sales and Budget Data Integration:

The composite key ensures that each combination of Year, Month, and Customer is uniquely represented in the combined Sales and Budget data.

During data selection (e.g., when a specific month is selected), Qlik Sense will show all the customer names that have either Sales or Budget data associated with that month.

Resulting Data View:

For the selected month, customers with sales records will display their Sales data. However, if the corresponding Budget data is missing, the Budget column will contain null values.

Similarly, if a customer has a Budget but no Sales data for the selected month, the Sales column will show null values.

Validation Outcome:When the data architect selects a month, they will see the following:

Customer Names and Sales recordsfor the selected month, where the Sales column will have values and the Budget column may contain null or non-null values depending on the data availability.

In this scenario, the company needs to analyze daily sales data from different countries and also measure customer satisfaction of products as reported on a social media website. This suggests that the data is likely coming from different sources, including possibly an API or a web service (social media website).

TheQlik REST Connectoris the appropriate tool for this job. It allows you to connect to RESTful web services and retrieve data directly into Qlik Sense. This is especially useful for integrating data from various online sources, such as social media platforms, which typically expose data via REST APIs. The REST Connector enables the extraction of large datasets from these sources, which is necessary given the requirement to produce 30 reports with an average of 20,000 rows each.

Microsoft SQL Serveris not suitable for fetching data from web services or social media platforms.

Qlik GeoAnalyticsis used for mapping and geographical data visualization, not for connecting to RESTful services.

Mailbox IMAPis for connecting to email servers and is not applicable to the data extraction needs described here.

Thus,Qlik REST Connectoris the correct answer for this scenario.

In the provided scenario, the sales territories were realigned during the year, and it is necessary to track performance based on the date of the sale and the salesperson’s assignment during that period. The IntervalMatch function is the best approach to create a time-based relationship between the sales transactions and the sales territory assignments.

IntervalMatch: This function is used to match discrete values (e.g., transaction dates) with intervals (e.g., start and end dates for sales territory assignments). By matching the transaction dates with the intervals in the HR table, you can accurately determine which territory and manager were in effect at the time of each sale.

Using IntervalMatch, you can generate point-in-time data that accurately reflects the dynamic nature of sales territory assignments, allowing both sales reps and regional managers to track performance over time.

In this scenario, the data architect needs to load Table_A from an Excel file and ensure that the data is sorted by Field_2. The key here is to correctly load and sort the data in the script.

Understanding the Options:

Option A:

First, it loads the data into a temporary table (Temp) from the Excel file.

Then, it loads the data from the temporary table (Temp) into Table_A, using the ORDER BY Field_2 ASC clause to sort the data by Field_2.

Finally, it drops the temporary table (Temp), leaving the sorted data in Table_A.

Option B:

Directly loads the data from the Excel file into Table_A and applies the ORDER BY Field_2 ASC clause in the same step.

However, the ORDER BY clause in a direct load from an external source like Excel might not work as expected because Qlik Sense does not support ORDER BY when loading directly from a file.

Option C:

Similar to Option A but uses the NoConcatenate keyword to prevent concatenation, which is unnecessary since Temp and Table_A have different names.

While this script works, the NoConcatenate keyword is redundant in this context.

Option D:

The ORDER BY Field_2 ASC is placed before the LOAD statement, which is not a correct usage in Qlik Sense script syntax.

Correct Script Choice:

Option Ais the correct script because it correctly sorts the data after loading it into a temporary table and then loads the sorted data into Table_A. This method ensures that the data is sorted by Field_2 and avoids any issues related to sorting during the initial data load.

References:

Qlik Sense Scripting Best Practices: When sorting data in Qlik Sense, the correct approach is to use a RESIDENT LOAD with an ORDER BY clause after loading the data into a temporary table.

In this scenario, the Section Access security table controls user access to data within the Qlik Sense app. The user in question, ABC\PPP, has a specific entry in the security table that determines their access rights to the LEVEL field.

Understanding Section Access:

Section Accessis used to enforce security by restricting access to certain data based on the user's credentials.

In the security table provided, the USER role for ABC\PPP is set to have access to all data (* in the LINK field), but the OMIT field is set to LEVEL. The OMIT field in Section Access specifies fields that should be omitted from the user's view.

Outcome:

Since the OMIT field for user ABC\PPP is set to LEVEL, this user will not have access to the LEVEL field in the Qlik Sense application.

Option D: The table is displayed without the LEVEL columnis the correct outcome.

Explanation: When user ABC\PPP opens the app, the LEVEL field is omitted from their view. Any table or visualization that uses the LEVEL field will have that field excluded from display. The rest of the data and columns in the table will be visible, but the LEVEL column will not be shown.

References:

Qlik Sense Security and Section Access Documentation: The OMIT functionality in Section Access is specifically designed to remove fields from the user's access, ensuring that sensitive or unnecessary data is not exposed.

The scenario describes an app that is experiencing long load times due to the need to pull all records, both new and historical, from three large databases. This situation puts a strain on both the Qlik environment and the source databases. Given that all data is required for analysis, a full reload each time can be inefficient and resource-intensive.

Implementingincremental loadis a widely recommended approach in such cases. Incremental loading allows you to load only new or changed data since the last reload, rather than reloading all the data every time. This significantly reduces the time and resources required for reloading, as only a subset of the data needs to be processed during each reload. QVD (QlikView Data) files are typically used to store the historical data, while only the new or updated records are fetched from the source databases.

This approach would help:

Reduce the load on the source databases.

Shorten the data reload window.

Maintain historical data efficiently while ensuring that all new data is captured.

When loading data from a QVD file into a Qlik Sense application, if you need to sort the data by a specific field (in this case, the Country field), the Order By clause can be used. However, the Order By clause cannot be directly applied during the initial load from the QVD. Instead, the data should first be loaded into a temporary table and then sorted in a subsequent resident load.

Initial Load from QVD:The data is first loaded into a temporary table (CustTemp) without any sorting.

Resident Load with Order By:After the initial load, you perform a Resident Load from the CustTemp table and apply the Order By clause to sort the data by the Country field in ascending order.

LOAD

Address,

City,

CompanyName,

ContactName,

Country,

_CustomerID,

DivisionID,

DivisionName,

Fax,

Phone,

PostalCode,

StateProvince

RESIDENT CustTemp

ORDER BY Country;

This method ensures that the data is sorted correctly without violating Qlik Sense's loading rules.

The issue described relates to the incorrect display of month and year values on the x-axis of a chart. The source data has dates in the M/D/YYYY format, and a calculated field named Month-Year was created using this date format.

To correct the issue:

The correct approach is to use the MonthStart() function, which returns the first date of the month for the provided date. This ensures consistency in month-year representation.

The Date() function is then used to format the result of MonthStart() to the desired format of MMM-YYYY (e.g., Feb-2018).

Explanation of the Correct Expression:

MonthStart([Common Date]): This ensures that all dates within a month are treated as the first day of that month, which is critical for accurate monthly aggregation.

Date(..., 'MMM-YYYY'): This formats the result to show just the month and year in the correct format.

Using this expression ensures that the x-axis correctly displays the month-year values.