Question 23.

What Is The Difference In The Way Microstrategy Handles Custom

Group And Consolidations? Any Advantage Of Using One Over The Other?
Answer :
Custom Groups are handled at the database end where as Consolidations are
handled at the Analytical Engine end. As a result the Consolidations are not an
overhead for the database as there is a single pass in the query. On the other hand
Custom Groups are an overhead on the database as they fire a separate SQL pass for
every Custom group element.

Tableau Interview Questions

Question 24. At Which Levels You Can Set The Vldb Properties? Which Level Has The
Highest Pecedence?
Answer :
 VLDB Properties can be set at various levels like Report, Template, Metric, Project,
Database Instance and DBMS level. Out of this Report level has the highest priority. It
overrides all other levels.

Teradata Interview Questions

Question 25. What Are The Various Ways Of Incorporating Security In Microstrategy?
Answer :
In Microstrategy security can be incorporated using a mix of any of the following
ways:
1. Putting user specific restrictions at the database end and using user specific
connection mapping. This is for column level security.
2. Applying folder and object level security to restrict access to certain set of
reports/objects
3. Applying Security filters to the user. This provides row level security.
Qlik View Tutorial
Question 26. What Are Pass-through Functions And Why They Are So Called? Give
Some Examples.
Answer :
Pass-through functions are Microstrategy way of generating database specific SQL
construct which otherwise are not possible. These are called pass-through functions
because Microstrategy does not check the actual SQL construct and dumps it as is
on the database. Example include ApplySimple, ApplyComparison, etc.

Talend Interview Questions

Question 27. Please Write A Query To Get All The Departments, And The Count Of
Employee In Those Department, Which Have More Than 50 Employees And Are Based
Out Of State New York. Following Are The Table Structures:
Answer :
Department table: Department_ID, Department_Name, State (Note: Department ID is
Unique here and more than one department can belong to one State) Employee
Table: Employee_ID, Employee_Name, Department_ID (Note: Employee ID is unique
here and more than one Employee can belong to one department, but one employee
does not belong to more than one department)
Following should be the query
SELECT dept.department_id,
Max(dept.department_name),
Count(emp.employee_id)
FROM department dept JOIN employee emp
ON dept.department_id = emp.department_id
 WHERE dept.state = “new york”
GROUP BY dept.department_id
HAVING Count(emp.employee_id) > 50
Adv Java Interview Questions
Question 28. What Is The Difference Between Absolute Filtering And Standard
Filtering?
Answer :
When we use the absolute filtering in definition of level metric whatever data we
obtain from the filter is goingto be reported as such and the the report filter will be
overridden by the absolute filter settings. The standard filtering the report filter
interacts with the metric filter in the normal way and what we obtain will be formatted
according to the report filter settings

Tableau Tutorial
Question 29. What Types Of Testing Can Be Carried Out Over The Microstrategy
Reports?
Answer :
There are many aspects of the report that can be put into testing depending upon the
type of report.
o Naming convention tests.
o Total calculations test.
o SQL query validations.
o Attribute and metric positions in report.
o Drilling options Tests.
o Prompts related verifications.
o Security filter tests.
o Formatting/export functionality tests.
o Threshold testing
IBM Cognos TM1 Interview Questions
Question 30. What Do You Mean By Trimming Of The Sql Queries?
Answer :
Trimming of the SQL refers to the clean up and optimizations that are applied to the
query at the MSTR level using VLDB settings. The main thing that is achieved by the
trimming is the removal of the unwanted cross joins and the other complex
operations
2. Question 31. How Does The Reporting Varies In The Cognos And The
Microstrategy?
Answer :
 The Cognos has the two metadata repository based database, while the
microstrategy is based on single metadata repository. The Cognos has only a web
based reporting tool, while the microstrategy can be operated as a webbased and a
desktop tool. Cognos has a cube dataset which has to be refreshed to get latest
repository values before reporting. The microstrategy has no cube dataset and we
get the latest data from the data warehouse automatically available. The Cognos
reporting can be considerably slow in performance than the microstrategy reporting.
3. Question 32. What Is Compound And Smart Metrics?
Answer :
Compound metrics are the ones that are derived by some specific expression
involving the different simple metrics. Eg, Total( profit/units Sold). Smart metrics is
when the compound metric is calculated with the help of subtotal calculations for
every element inside the compound metric. For the above example the smart metric
computation can be Total(profit)/Total(Sold).

Data modeling Interview Questions

4. Question 33. What Are Logical Views? How Are They Useful?
Answer :
The logical views help in establishing a specific view based on the combination of
facts, attributes and expressions that are based on values from multiple tables. This
can be done without the actual modification to the actual physical database or the
DBA involvement. This way the reporting can be altered at the highest level of
application and can be very quick way to alterations for reporting.

Cloud Computing Interview Questions

5. Question 34. How Can You Make The Sql Query To Be Based On A Specific Table Of
Your Choice?
Answer :
The MSTR operates in such a way that the incoming queries and data retrievals are
done from the table which has the least logical size. Thus if we prefer a specific table
to be the center of activity then we should try to reduce the logical size of that
specific table so that it becomes considerably lesser than the other tables.
6. Question 35. What Are Report Filters And View Filters?
Answer :
Report filters: report filters are the conditions that accompany the report generating
SQL statements. The report definitions have the filters as part of their definition.
View Filters: View Filters are the conditions that come into play before a specific
result is presented to the user. Thus the view filters are not part of the SQL
 statements like report definitions, rather they are the filters applied after the
execution of the SQL statements, after the data is retrieved from the data warehouse.
7. Question 36. Why Is It Required To Maintain A Parent-child Relationship Among
The Various Attributes? What Are The Various Types Of Relationships Depending
On The Number Of Participants?
Answer :
The parent-child relationship helps in establishing the hierarchical structure to the
entire logic and business model. For example, you can have the quarter to be a child
of a specific year attribute. This will help us in having a modularized approach in the
design and will help in establishing common usage semantics. The various types of
relationships can be one to one, many to one, many to many, one to many
relationships.

SQL Database Interview Questions

8. Question 37. How Is The Number Of Passes In A Sql Query Significant In
Performance Evaluation?
Answer :
The number of passes represents the number of times the SQL query has to be
parsed and different parts of the query is handled for every pass. The fewer passes
we have the more efficient the query executes and faster the reports are generated.
9. Question 38. What Are Consolidations And Custom Groups?
Answer :
The custom groups are the made up of what are called as custom group elements
and together they act as a special filter that can be implemented over a specific
template. Consolidations refer to the way in which you group or order the data in your
report. The different attributes can be gathered together without changing the
underlying metadata and ware housing structure
10. Question 39. How Can You Specify The Report Template And A Report Filter? How
Are Reports Optimized?
Answer :
The objects maps are the ones that are used to select the group of microstrategy
objects that are used to generate the report. This can serve as the template or filter.
Then optimizations to the various reports can be done by analysis of the VLDB
properties and the customizations can be monitored by the processing path taken up
by the Anlytical engine
11. Question 40. What Are Attribute Roles? How Can You Resolve The Attribute Roles?
Answer :
The attributes that are single in definition but the instances of the attribute can
behave differently according to the role they take. Example for this can be a database
 of airports around the world. The attribute of airport name is always based on the
same database table but can be seen as a destination airport or source airport. Such
roles are resolved by having aliases for the same table, one alias for destination and
one for source airports. We can also enable the automatic attribute role recognition
by configuring it properly.

OBIEE Interview Questions

12. Question 41. What Is The Command Manager Used For?
Answer :
The command manger is the one through which you can manage the applications,
user accesses, security and databases of the microstrategy. The command manager
allows us to save the text commands that can be executed as scripts. Thus it can
help in automation of the entire management process.
13. Question 42. How Is Object Manager Oriented Copy Operation Different From The
Project Merge?
Answer :
The object manager is the one that copies groups of objects with all the attributes
that are associated with it. The project merge is used for copying the entire project
along with all the objects. This is why it does not have to check for the attribute
constraints before copying. The Object manager however has to make sure of the
object attribute matches before copying the objects. The object manager cannot be
run from the command prompt directly whilst the project merge can be run directly

Qlik View Interview Questions

14. Question 43. What Are Level Metrics? Why Are They Needed?
Answer :
The level metrics are the metric calculation that are carried out over the specific
attribute but at the different levels or dimensions. For example, the number of units
sold is an attribute that we keep a count on. That metric can be calculated across
time and region. Say number of units sold in last month and the number of units sold
in specific region of the country. Here the region and time are two different levels.
Such level based metric give analytical inference as to the performance of the
organization etc.
15. Question 44. Explain The Use Of Pass-through Functions.
Answer :
The pass-through functions are the specific database oriented SQL statements and
constructs that are executed by the microstrategy without checking semantics of the
actual construct. They are called pass-through as they are not checked for
 correctness by the microstrategy as such. ApplySimple, Applycomparison are two
pass through functions that microstrategy usually applies.
16. Question 45. How Can You Impose Security Measures Into The Microstrategy.
Answer :
o Column level security established by the imposing user specific access
permissions in the database and having user specific connections.
o Entire set of objects can be secured by imposing folder and object level
security.
o Row level security is imposed by having user specific security filters for
various records.
17. Question 46. What Are The Vldb Properties? Which Level Of Vldb Configurations
Have The Highest Precedence?
Answer :
The Very Large Data Base properties is the configuration set that manages the
overall way in which the database behaves and generates reports. There are many
such settings like check for cross joins, intermediate table creation and type etc. The
VLDB properties can be set at many different level like metric level, attribute level,
Database Instance level, project level or the DBMS level. The highest precedence is
given to the report level of configurations.
18. Question 47. What Is Microstrategy Desktop?
Answer :
Microstrategy Desktop™ is a Windows client-server software application that
provides integrated monitoring, reporting, and analysis capabilities.
19. Question 48. What Does Microstrategy Desktop Allow Users To Do?
Answer :
Using Microstrategy Desktop, users can easily access and share critical corporate
information they need to make cost-cutting decisions and improve business
processes. The information found in databases can also be used to help increase
revenue and boost profits. Users can access this database and SAP data without
having to learn technical database query (SQL) or multi-dimensional expression
(MDX) syntax.
20. Question 49. What Can Users Do With The Information They Access Using
Microstrategy Desktop?
Answer :
Users can analyze the information using standard aggregations and more
sophisticated functions such as average, summation, percentage contribution,
standard deviation and net present value. Investigative reporting, using pivoting,
sorting, slicing, and drilling to more detail, can be performed with simple mouse
 clicks. Users can also format reports to their specifications and view the data as
intuitive charts and graphs to identify trends and anomalies quickly
21. Question 50. What Are The Benefits Of Using Microstrategy Desktop?
Answer :
Users can obtain critical information immediately without waiting for IT departments
to create reports. The software is easy to use and provides context sensitive help,
thus eliminating the need for extensive support and maintenance staff
22. Question 51. Are The Reports Created Using Microstrategy Desktop Available To
Other Products Such As Microstrategy Web?
Answer :
Yes. Reports created using Microstrategy Desktop are immediately available to other
Microstrategy products because of our centralized metadata architecture
23. Question 52. Can Microstrategy Desktop Access Sap Data?
Answer :
Yes. With the release of Microstrategy 8, Microstrategy Desktop incorporates a new
dynamic data access engine designed to access multi-dimensional databases
(MDDBs or OLAP Cube Databases) such as those from SAP Business Information
Warehouse (BW) databases
24. Question 53. Can Microstrategy Desktop Access Operational Data Systems?
Answer :
Yes. Microstrategy Desktop users can use a new Operational SQL Engine to include
data from any operational system using completely free-form SQL, including stored
procedures and views
25. Question 54. How Fast Is The Performance On Microstrategy Desktop?
Answer :
Microstrategy Desktop provides instant access and analysis of information. This
high performance is enabled through Intelligence Cubes™, caches, incremental
fetches and advanced analytic features.
26. Question 55. How Long Does It Take To Learn Microstrategy Desktop?
Answer :
Microstrategy Desktop preserves the look and feel of popular desktop software such
as Microsoft® Windows® Explorer and Microsoft Office. As such, users are
immediately comfortable with Microstrategy Desktop. A customized interface using
HTML can be created, simplifying navigation and report execution.
27. Question 56. Can I Make My Data And Graphs Look Professional?
Answer :
Yes. Users can format their data into appealing reports using various formatting
styles and graphs for maximum visual impact. Users can choose from more than 30
different charting options to present information in the best layout possible.
28. Question 57. Is It Possible To Display Multiple Reports, Images And Information On
The Same Page?
Answer :
Yes, users can easily combine tables, images, graphs and other information onto the
same page in a document. Visually impressive and compelling documents can be
printed out and shared with corporate executives. Business users can now rearrange
the organization of any report with simple drag and drop actions or by clicking on the
new toolbar icons to get entirely new views of the data, all from the same report and
without requiring assistance from IT.
29. Question 58. What Printing Capabilities Are Available In Microstrategy Desktop?
Answer :
Microstrategy Desktop offers advanced printing capabilities. Features include
repeating row/column headers, customizable headers and footers, and a
comprehensive page setup menu. Users can preview reports before sending it to the
printer
30. Question 59. What Subtotaling Features Does Microstrategy Desktop Contain?
Answer :
Microstrategy Desktop has more than 10 different subtotaling functions that aid
analysis of the data. Subtotals can be presented at any level in the rows, columns
and pages on the report.
31. Question 60. What Are The Minimum Requirements For Microstrategy Desktop?
Answer :
Minimum requirements are a computer with at least a 450MHZ Pentium- compatible
CPU, 256MB of RAM and 500MB of hard disk
32. Question 61. Is Microstrategy Desktop Available In Other Languages?
Answer :
Microstrategy Desktop is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Korean,
Italian, Swedish, Japanese and Portuguese.
33. Question 62. How Long Does It Take To Get Microstrategy Desktop Up And
Running?
Answer :
Microstrategy Desktop installs in minutes and automatically presents a list of
available Microstrategy Intelligence Servers. Within an hour, the installation and
setup are completed
34. Question 63. How Does Microstrategy Desktop Integrate With The Rest Of The
Microstrategy Platform?
Answer :
Microstrategy Desktop is the intuitive client-server interface used by business
analysts and application developers. Microstrategy Desktop interacts with the
 Intelligence Server to build metrics, create and format reports, and retrieve timely,
accurate information to the desktop to enhance the decision-making process
35. Question 64. What Security Is Provided With Microstrategy Desktop?
Answer :
Microstrategy Desktop provides a host of security options to ensure that data is kept
confidential and private. To facilitate easy deployment and minimal maintenance,
Microstrategy Desktop integrates with Windows NT and 2000 security and with
Novell directory. As a result, users who have logged into these systems will not need
to log on again.
36. Question 65. To What Extend Can Microstrategy Desktop Be Personalized?
Answer :
Each Microstrategy Desktop user has a security profile defined by their administrator.
This profile controls access to application functionality, specific reports or particular
data for individual users or groups of users. The Desktop interface will adapt and
display only what this user is allowed to see.
37. Question 66. Is The Microstrategy Mdx Engine Certified By Sap?
Answer :
Yes. This new Dynamic MDX Engine generates optimized MDX syntax that is fully
certified with SAP BW using SAP's high performance BAPI interfaces.
38. Question 67. Can Users Join Data Across Sap Bw Info Cubes And Query Cubes?
Answer :
Yes. Users can use Microstrategy Desktop to create reports that access SAP data
and join data across SAP BW Info Cubes and Query Cubes as well as access multiple
instances of SAP BW at once.
39. Question 68. Can Microstrategy Desktop Join Data Across Heterogeneous Data
Sources?
Answer :
Yes. Microstrategy 8 extends the Microstrategy data modeling flexibility to include
integrated views of data across heterogeneous data stores. By mapping conforming
dimensions from different sources, Microstrategy Desktop can automatically join
data from multiple different sources in the same report document. Data can come
from any source accessible by Microstrategy 8, including the data warehouse, data
marts, SAP BW, and any number of operational system databases
40. Question 69. Does Microstrategy Provide Predictive Modeling Capabilities
Commonly Available In Data Mining Tools?
Answer :
Yes. Microstrategy 8 can calculate four of the primary data mining functions
including neural network algorithms, clustering algorithms, regression algorithms,
and tree algorithms
41. Question 70. Can Microstrategy Incorporate Best-of-breed Data Mining Insight Into
Mainstream Business Reports And Analysis?
Answer :
Yes. Microstrategy 8 has extended its analytic engine with "Data Mining Services"
capability that allows reports and analysis to include predictive capabilities in every
Microstrategy report or analysis. Microstrategy 8 includes the new ability to import
data mining models directly from best-of-breed data mining products from vendors
like IBM, Teradata, SAS, and SPSS using the new PMML or predictive modeling mark-
up language standard
42. Question 71. Can Microstrategy Desktop Export Data To Other Software
Applications?
Answer :
You can export information from Microstrategy Desktop to text files, Microsoft Word,
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access and HTML files. The formatting of the tables and
data are preserved when you export to these file formats
43. Question 72. What Data Sources Does Microstrategy Desktop Support?
Answer :
You can access data in all the major databases including Oracle, IBM DB2, Informix,
NCR Teradata, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, Red Brick, Sybase and Non-
Stop SQL
44. Question 73. To Save Time, Can Many Reports Be Run At The Same Time?
Answer :
Microstrategy Desktop can execute multiple reports simultaneously. Report results
are saved in a personal History folder when ready
45. Question 74. Can Reports Be Executed In Off-peak Periods?
Answer :
Reports can be attached to time-based or event-based schedules that are defined by
the administrator. These schedules automatically trigger the report execution and
place a notification message in the History folder on completion.
46. Question 75. What Is Microstrategy Olap Services?
Answer :
Microstrategy OLAP Services is an extension to Microstrategy Intelligence Server
that allows Microstrategy Web and Desktop users to manipulate Intelligent Cubes™.
With OLAP Services end users can add or remove report objects, add derived metrics
and modify the filter -- all with speed-of-thought response time against Intelligent
Cubes. OLAP Services enables full multi-dimensional OLAP analysis within Intelligent
Cubes, while retaining users' ability to seamlessly drill through to the full breadth and
depth of the data warehouse
47. Question 76. What Are The Intelligent Cubes Used By Olap Services?
 Answer :
Intelligent Cubes are user or administrator created multi-dimensional cubes that
operate within Microstrategy Intelligence Server™. On Microstrategy's BI platform,
creating an Intelligent Cube is as easy as creating a report. Intelligent Cubes enable
Microstrategy to combine the speed and interactivity of multi-dimensional OLAP
analysis and the analytical power and depth of relational OLAP.
48. Question 77. What Specific Features And Functionality Do I Get With Olap Services?
Answer :
With OLAP Services Microstrategy Web, Desktop and Office users can:
o Create unique report views based off an Intelligent Cube. With OLAP
Services, users can create unique report views by adding or removing
attributes and metrics contained within the Intelligent Cube. This allows
speed-of-thought report creation and modification with no need to extract
data from the data warehouse.
o Create new on-the-fly metric calculations from existing metrics in an
Intelligent Cube. The new calculation is performed without submitting a
new request to the data warehouse.
o Filter their view of the data within an Intelligent Cube. The filtering will be
performed on Microstrategy Intelligence Server within the Intelligent Cube.
49. Question 78. How Are Intelligent Cubes Different From Ordinary Cubes?
Answer :
Intelligent Cubes are created automatically when a new report is run against the data
warehouse. Subsequent requests by other users can seamlessly hit this new
Intelligent Cube. The logic to match user requests with the appropriate Intelligent
Cube is automatically handled within the Microstrategy platform. Users don't have to
specify the cube to which they want to connect. Benefits of Intelligent Cubes include:
o Greater Efficiency - Intelligent Cubes are automatically generated and
shared among all users whenever a report is executed by a user or pre-
cached by the administrator or a user.
o Easy to Use - Intelligent Cubes can be designed by mainstream BI users,
using the same interface and the same operations as are used with basic
OLAP analysis.
o More Scalable Cubes - Intelligent Cubes do not need massive pre-
calculations or pre-aggregations. The mid-tier Intelligence Server can do
these calculations on-the-fly as the cubes are being used.
o Increased Manageability and Reliability - Intelligent Cubes can be configured
to expire or refresh automatically whenever underlying data or definitions
change.
 o Increased Power for End-Users - Users can seamlessly drill through to the
full depth of the data warehouse, or slice and dice with speed-of-thought
response time within the Intelligent Cube.
50. Question 79. What End User Products Leverage Olap Services?
Answer :
Microstrategy Web (Analyst and Professional versions), Microstrategy Desktop
(Analyst and Designer versions) and Microstrategy Office all leverage the
functionality enabled by OLAP Services
51. Question 80. What Does An End-user Need To Do To Take Advantage Of This?
Answer :
The usage of OLAP Services is transparent to end-users. Users do not need to know
the name and location of an Intelligent Cube, or even if it exists. OLAP Services works
with Microstrategy Intelligence Server to automatically use the appropriate Intelligent
Cube or create a new one to satisfy the end user request
52. Question 81. How Is Security Handled?
Answer :
Intelligent Cubes used by OLAP Services automatically inherit all of the security
provisions of every report object used within the Intelligent Cube, and those
provisions are dynamically applied to each user's security profile when the cube is
accessed. If a user only has privileges to use four of the five metrics contained in an
Intelligent Cube, that restriction will automatically and seamlessly apply when the
user accesses the Intelligent Cube. The user will still have access to the Intelligent
Cube for the four metrics he or she has privileges to use
53. Question 82. Can I Access Intelligent Cubes Without Olap Services?
Answer :
Yes, with the appropriate version of Microstrategy Web or Desktop, certain functions
leverage the Intelligent Cubes. These functions include: report formatting down to
cell level, column aliasing, drilling, pivoting, page-by, adding metric thresholds, adding
subtotals, ranking and sorting. Please see the Web and Desktop version comparisons
to determine exactly which Web or Desktop version includes the desired
functionality.
54. Question 83. Is Olap Services Sold As A Separate Product?
Answer :
Yes, OLAP Services is sold as a separate product that is installed with Microstrategy
Intelligence Server. It is licensed either on a per-user or per-CPU basis.
55. Question 84. What Is Microstrategy Narrowcast Server?
Answer :
Microstrategy Narrowcast Server is a software product that monitors and delivers
individualized information to users via email, web portals, and wireless devices such
 as PDAs, pagers, and phones. Through a easy-to-use web page, users specify what
information they want, when and how they want to receive it.
56. Question 85. What Are The Business Benefits Of Microstrategy Narrowcast Server?
Answer :
Microstrategy Narrowcast Server provides an easy and inexpensive way to send
corporate information to untrained employees, partners, and customers. As a result,
decision-makers have the information they need to maximize revenue generation and
streamline business processes that cut operating costs
57. Question 86. What Kinds Of Applications Can Microstrategy Narrowcast Server
Support?
Answer :
Microstrategy Narrowcast Server supports: enterprise reporting applications,
executive information portals, corporate information dissemination, sale force
automation, working capital management, supply chain management, extranet
portals, secure business to business portals, customer service applications, and
intelligent alerting applications
58. Question 87. Why Do Businesses Need To Send Information Out To Users
Proactively?
Answer :
People do not have time to search through information to identify information that
requires immediate action. An intelligent alerting system understands and constantly
monitors the information users need, and delivers information only when users need
it. Users save time and take action when required
59. Question 88. How Do Current Microstrategy Narrowcast Server Customers Use
Intelligent Alerting?
Answer :
Customers use Microstrategy Narrowcast Server to deliver inventory alerts, business
performance alerts, supply chain alerts, customer activity alerts, stock and personal
finance alerts, last minute travel alerts, data load alerts, customer account activity
alerts, and fraud alerts. New uses are constantly being developed for intelligent
alerting
60. Question 89. How Do Users Receive Only Information That They Want?
Answer :
Through an easy-to-use subscription web page, users specify what information they
want. Some personalization options include the language choices and specific
information criteria such as certain products. Using this user profile, Microstrategy
Narrowcast Server sends only the information that the user has requested.
61. Question 90. Can Users Turn Off The Information Delivery?
Answer :
 Yes, users can switch on and off their own information delivery. Administrators can
also set up some ‘non-optional’ information delivery so that everyone receives the
information. As a result, users can obtain information without having to wait for IT to
develop the reports.
62. Question 91. What Kinds Of Information Can Users Receive?
Answer :
Users can receive both tables and charts from the Microstrategy platform, and
content from current information sources such as transaction processing systems,
Enterprise Resource Planning systems, databases, XML files, and web servers
63. Question 92. What Formatting Can Be Applied To The Information That Is Sent Out
By Microstrategy Narrowcast Server?
Answer :
Information can be formatted into HTML, plain text, Microsoft® Excel, or PDF files.
The size and display of these files are adjusted to suit the email type or the wireless
device for different users.
64. Question 93. To Which Devices Can Microstrategy Narrowcast Server Deliver
Information?
Answer :
Narrowcast Server can deliver information to email, mobile phones, pagers, faxes,
PDAs, intranet and extranet web portals. Businesses can also build and plug in their
own Information Transmission Module to support their own devices.
65. Question 94. How Does The Microstrategy Narrowcast Server Support Enterprise
Wide Mission Critical Applications?
Answer :
Microstrategy Narrowcast Server's world-class clustering and fail-over ensures
support for mission-critical 24x7 systems. Rigorous in-house testing has proven that
Narrowcast Server can personalize and deliver millions of messages a day. The
system tracks fail-over down to each message.
66. Question 95. Are There Any Special Requirements Needed To Move Objects Across
Projects?
Answer :
Yes. In order to perform cross-project operations, the projects involved must
originate from the same source project. In other words, the projects can only be
related by the duplication of a single project. This ensures that the projects have a
similar set of schema and application objects, and that the object ID's in the two
projects are the same. MicroStrategy Object Manager uses the object and version
ID's across the projects to perform comparisons.MicroStrategy Object Manager
prevents the user from attempting operations across unrelated projects.
67. Question 96. How Does Microstrategy Object Manager Determine If Two Projects
Are Related?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Object Manager compares the Schema ID's of the two projects.
Duplicated projects have different Project ID's, but their Schema ID's are the same.
68. Question 97. What Is The Conflict Resolution Window?
Answer :
The Conflict Resolution window provides the user with a means to decide how to
handle object conflicts between the source project and the destination project. In
addition, the Conflict Resolution window displays the object name in the original
project, the object name in the destination project and the type of conflict. Users may
also specify a new name for the object depending on the action chosen
69. Question 98. How Does Microstrategy Object Manager Determine If Two Objects In
Different Projects Are The Same?
Answer :
To determine if two objects are the same, MicroStrategy Object Manager compares
their Object ID's. If these ID's are the same, MicroStrategy Object Manager then
compares the Version ID's. If the Version ID's are the same, the Conflict Resolution
grid lists the conflict as 'Exists Identically.' If the Version ID's are different, the
Conflict Resolution grid lists the conflict as 'Exists Differently.
70. Question 99. How Can The User Determine The Object Id Of An Object?
Answer :
To view the Object ID of an object, right-mouse click on the object and select
'Properties.' The Object ID and Version ID are listed on the 'General' tab.
71. Question 100. Why Does Microstrategy Object Manager Search For Object
Dependencies?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Object Manager makes a list of all object dependencies before
copying an object to prevent metadata inconsistency. The time required for
dependency checking varies based on a customer's metadata size and schema
complexity. For large metadata and complex schemas, gathering all the
dependencies may take a long time.
72. Question 101. Can Schema Objects Be Copied Across Projects With Microstrategy
Object Manager?
Answer :
Yes, schema objects can be copied across projects using MicroStrategy Object
Manager. MicroStrategy Object Manager moves objects seamlessly between similar
projects such as from a development project version to a production project version
where the warehouses are the same in terms of views, prefixes, and warehouse
 structure. However, subtle changes in the warehouse that relate to prefixes, views, or
table structure cannot be tracked by MicroStrategy Object Manager. For situations
where the projects' warehouse structures or setups are dissimilar, users may be
required to make further edits of the objects to ensure full integration into the
destination project. These edits may include hierarchical relationship changes or
modifications to the prefixes.
73. Question 102. How Does Microstrategy Object Manager Integrate With The
Microstrategy Product Suite Security Model?
Answer :
Security in MicroStrategy Object Manager is based on the MicroStrategy 7.x Product
Suite security model. All activities that can be performed in MicroStrategy Object
Manager are governed by privileges and access control lists. For example, if a user is
not allowed to access a certain folder in MicroStrategy Agent, they will not be able to
access the folder in MicroStrategy Object Manager.
74. Question 103. Is It Possible To Use Microstrategy Object Manager While Other
Users Are Making Changes In Microstrategy Agent?
Answer :
Using MicroStrategy Object Manager to copy/move objects around is not
recommended while other user sessions are making changes using MicroStrategy
Agent, as it could lead to metadata inconsistency. Project and schema locking
prevent multiple users sessions from manipulating the schema at the same time.
This prevents metadata inconsistency from occurring.
75. Question 104. What Are The Tracing Options Available In Microstrategy Object
Manager?
Answer :
Tracing is available under the Tools/Diagnostics menu. These tracing options apply
to every MicroStrategy product installed on the machine.To see the SQL that has
been executed against the metadata, go to the Advanced tab and turn on 'SQL
Tracing' under the DSS MDServer key.Function level tracing can be accomplished by
going to the Advanced tab and turning on 'Function Level Tracing' under the DSS
ObjectManager key.
76. Question 105. Where Are Dependent Objects Copied If They Do Not Already Exist In
The Destination Project?
Answer :
If the location exists in the destination project, the dependent object is copied to that
location. If the location does not exist in the destination project, a new folder entitled
'Dependencies' is created and the object is copied to that folder
77. Question 106. What Happens If The Owner Of An Object Does Not Exist In The
Destination Project?
 Answer :
If the owner of the source object does not exist in the destination project, the user
login for the destination project takes ownership of the object when it is copied or
replaced.
78. Question 107. Where Can Users Find More Information On Microstrategy Object
Manager?
Answer :
Further information can be found in the release notes, as well as in MicroStrategy
Object Manager's online help
79. Question 108. Does Microstrategy Web Support Clustering Via Cisco Local Router
Or Any Other Third-party Clustering Software?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Web relies on third-party web-clustering software to provide clustering
functionality. MicroStrategy Web is designed to be stateless so that each individual
MicroStrategy Web node can function without the knowledge of the existence of
other nodes. Therefore, any third-party software used to cluster web servers can be
used.
80. Question 109. What Information Is Shared By The Application Across Microstrategy
Web Nodes?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Web is designed to be as stateless as possible. Therefore, no
information is shared by the MicroStrategy Web application across cluster nodes. All
state information for running jobs is pushed to the client browser.When a report is
submitted by a MicroStrategy Web user, the user will receive a wait page in the client
browser. This wait page will poll the MicroStrategy Web Server periodically for the
status of the report. This polling is performed as new http requests. This http request
will contain all state information, including encrypted login information and
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server connection information.
81. Question 110. Is Microstrategy Web "cluster-aware"?
Answer :
The MicroStrategy Web application is designed so that each MicroStrategy Web
cluster node does not need to know that it is a member of a cluster. MicroStrategy
Web is designed to be stateless, so that each client http request can be processed
individually without having to persist information within the MicroStrategy Web
application. Therefore, third-party Web-server clustering software can be used to
cluster together multiple web servers running MicroStrategy Web.
82. Question 111. Should Microstrategy Web Be Specifically Configured To Access A
Microstrategy Intelligence Server Cluster?
Answer :
 No. When the administrator configures MicroStrategy Web to access a particular
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, the MicroStrategy Web application will
automatically detect that the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server is a member of a
cluster. Once this detection is made, MicroStrategy Web will automatically add all the
other members of the same cluster into the pool of available MicroStrategy
Intelligence Servers.
83. Question 112. What Information Is Shared By The Application Across Microstrategy
Intelligence Server Nodes?
Answer :
Report caches are shared in a cluster and Object caches on each MicroStrategy
Intelligence Server node are synchronized
84. Question 113. Is A Copy Of Each Report Cache Retained In Each Microstrategy
Intelligence Server Node?
Answer :
No. Each MicroStrategy Intelligence Server retains a lookup table with information
about the existence and location of report caches. When a cluster node creates a
report cache, information about the location of the new cache is shared with the
other cluster nodes. Each cluster node then updates its own lookup table with the
location of the new cache.
85. Question 114. If A Microstrategy Intelligence Server Node Crashes, Will Report
Caches Be Lost?
Answer :
Although report caches will not be lost, access to report caches may be affected,
depending on the way in which the report cache is configured.If a separate file server
is used as a common report cache repository for all MicroStrategy Intelligence Server
cluster nodes, then the loss of a cluster node will not affect access to the report
cache by other nodes.If the cluster is configured such that each node locally hosts
the report cache created by that node, then those report caches residing in the lost
node will naturally be inaccessible. If any report cached in that lost node is
requested, then another node within the cluster will re-run and re-cache the report.
When the cluster node is recovered and rejoined into the cluster, all report caches in
that cluster node will be made available again to the rest of the cluster.
86. Question 115. If A Microstrategy Intelligence Server Node Is Removed From A
Cluster Manually, Will Report Caches Be Lost?
Answer :
If an administrator removes a cluster node from a cluster, then all report caches that
had been created by that cluster node will be inaccessible by the rest of the cluster,
whether or not a separate file server is used as a common report cache. This
behavior is by design.
87. Question 116. How Does Microstrategy Intelligence Server 7.0 Clustering Enable
Cache Sharing?
Answer :
Each node in a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.0 cluster maintains indices of the
caches available on the different nodes. When a report is submitted, these indices
will be searched and once an existing cache is found (in any nodes), the cached
results will be retrieved directly from cache locations in either the local or remote
machine.
88. Question 117. What Methods Can Be Used To Guarantee Availability Of The
Microstrategy Intelligence Server Report Cache?
Answer :
To prevent the loss of a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster node from affecting
report cache availability, the cluster can be configured such that a separate file server
is used as a common report cache repository. In order to maintain cache availability,
this separate file server can be configured for failover with third-party clustering
software.
89. Question 118. If A Report Cache Is Created By A Microstrategy Intelligence Server
Cluster Node, Will That Report Cache Be Seen In The Cache Monitor Of Another
Cluster Node?
Answer :
No. Although the new report cache will be available for use by other cluster nodes,
the cache will not appear in the Cache Monitor of other cluster nodes. In order to see
all report caches within a cluster, the administrator will need to create a separate
data source within Desktop for each cluster node. Then, the report caches within
each node can be administered separately, using the same instance of the
MicroStrategy Desktop application.
90. Question 119. If Objects Are Created, Modified Or Deleted, Will The Change Be
Reflected Across All Microstrategy Intelligence Server Cluster Nodes?
Answer :
Yes. Object caches are synchronized across all cluster nodes. If any change affecting
the Metadata is made by one cluster node, then the cluster node broadcasts the
change to the other cluster nodes. The other cluster nodes will then update their local
object caches. NOTE: Client-side object caches will not be automatically be
refreshed. In MicroStrategy Desktop, for example, a user may have to explicitly click
on 'Refresh' to see an object change be reflected in the client application
91. Question 120. Should All Microstrategy Intelligence Server Cluster Nodes Be
Configured Identically?
Answer :
 Technically, MicroStrategy Intelligence Servers in a cluster do not have to be
configured identically. The only technical requirements are that all MicroStrategy
Intelligence Servers point to the same metadata and that all MicroStrategy
Intelligence Servers have the same projects registered and in the same state (i.e., if
Node A has Project A in a 'Loaded' state, then Node B must also have Project A in a
'Loaded' state.).However, in order to ease administration and to reduce the risk of
unbalanced load across cluster nodes, it is recommended that all nodes use the
same MicroStrategy Intelligence Server definition and that each machine shows
identical characteristics (i.e., equal RAM, hard disk space, CPU).
92. Question 121. Is It Possible For Different Nodes Of A Microstrategy Intelligence
Server Cluster To Run Against Different Metadata Repositories?
Answer :
No, all the nodes in the same cluster must run against the same metadata
93. Question 122. Is It Possible For Different Nodes Of A Microstrategy Intelligence
Server Cluster To Run With Different Configuration Settings Under The Same
Metadata Repository?
Answer :
Yes this is possible, using caution because users can configure different nodes at
different settings. For example, differences in memory allocation for the cache, time
out settings, etc can result in uneven performance across cluster nodes.
94. Question 123. What Communication Protocol Does Microstrategy Intelligence
Server Use For Intracluster Communication?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.0 and MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.0 SP1
use TCP/IP when communicating between clusters. MicroStrategy Intelligence
Server 7.1 will provide the option of using TCP/IP or UDP/IP (Universal Datagram
Protocol). In 7.2, UDP support was removed as packet loss affects cluster
synchronization
95. Question 124. If A Microstrategy Intelligence Server Cluster Node Is Rebooted, Will
The Node Rejoin The Cluster Automatically?
Answer :
Whenever a MicroStrategy Intelligence Server cluster node is stopped in any way
besides explicitly shutting down the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server service, the
node will automatically rejoin the cluster when the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server
service is restarted. So, if the node crashes, then the node will rejoin the cluster
automatically upon startup
96. Question 125. Does Microstrategy Intelligence Server Support Clustering Via
Microsoft Cluster Server Or Any Other Third-party Clustering Software?
Answer :
 Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) can be used for failover of MicroStrategy
Intelligence Server. However, MSCS and other third-party clustering software will not
provide the load-balancing and some of the failover capabilities of MicroStrategy
Intelligence Server's native clustering solution
97. Question 126. Is It Possible To Run Multiple Instances Of Microstrategy Intelligence
Server On The Same Microsoft Windows Nt Machine?
Answer :
MicroStrategy 7.0 does not support running multiple instances of MicroStrategy
Intelligence Server on the same Microsoft Windows NT machine. This is because
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server can support running multiple projects with different
prioritization and configuration settings on one server. This functionality was not
available in MicroStrategy DSS Server 5.x and thus, required running multiple
instances of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server to accomplish the same functionality
98. Question 127. What Is The Maximum Number Of Nodes That Can Be Supported In A
Microstrategy Intelligence Server 7.0 Cluster?
Answer :
There is no technical hard limit on the maximum number of cluster nodes that can be
supported by MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 7.0. However, when the number of
nodes increases, there is increasing overhead put on the system by the clustering
software. So, there will be practical limits related to the hardware configuration of the
users' system
99. Question 128. What Is Metadata?
Answer :
Metadata is repository which stores microstrategy objects definitions and
information about the data warehouse structure and content.Metadata is used by the
intelligence server to evaluate the most efficient data retrieval scenario to guarantee
optimal query performance.Explain 2-tier and 3-tier Architecture in MSTR
100. Question 129. What Does Microstrategy Intelligence Server Allow Users To Do?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server provides reporting and OLAP analysis for the whole
enterprise. All business users can obtain scorecards and dashboards, operational
reports, queries and OLAP and predictive analyses without learning any programming
or database syntax.
101. Question 130. What Are The Benefits Of Using Microstrategy Intelligence Server?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server provides one centralzed architecture for all users'
monitoring, reporting and analysis requirements. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server
also provides scalability to analyze any amount of data, support for any number of
users and a 24 X 7 operating environment, with robust security
102. Question 131. Does Microstrategy Intelligence Server Run On Windows®, Unix®,
Or Linux®?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server is certified on Windows, UNIX, and Linux operating
systems. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server has been designed to be a completely
open architecture built on industry standards and compiled to run on multiple
operating systems
103. Question 132. How Do You Ensure Simultaneous Releases Across Multiple
Operating Systems?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server is engineered to be platform-independent on a
single code base and is simply compiled appropriately for each certified operating
system. As a result, MicroStrategy can release Intelligence Server on all certified
operating systems at the same time with the same features
104. Question 133. Does Microstrategy Intelligence Server Run On 32-bit And 64-bit
Systems?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server provides an industry first -- a common code
base architecture for all supported 32- and 64-bit operating systems. This single
code base ensures that the latest functionality is always available on all these
operating systems at the same time.
105. Question 134. What Are The Advantages Of Running A Bi Server On A 64-bit
Operating System?
Answer :
A BI application can access much greater memory resources when running on a 64-
bit systems than it could on a 32-bit system. More addressable memory results in
more BI applications, more sophisticated applications, more reports, larger reports,
better performance and more users -- all with fewer servers. Organizations can
combine MicroStrategy's industry leading scalability with the advantages of 64-bit
UNIX to deploy the richest BI applications, with the highest performance and the
most users
106. Question 135. Do Users Need To Learn Any Programming Languages Or Database
Syntax To Run Business Queries?
Answer :
No, business users can run any query without learning any programming languages
or database syntax. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server automatically and
appropriately processes all business questions by accessing a report cache or
Intelligent Cube, or by generating dynamic SQL or MDX that is optimized to each data
source platform
107. Question 136. Can I Deploy A Single Bi Application In Multiple Languages?
Answer :
Yes. Every component of a BI application can be translated and presented in multiple
languages, including all MicroStrategy user interfaces, metadata objects such as the
names of reports and documents, and data within a data warehouse.
108. Question 137. Can I Access Multiple Data Sources Transparently From A Single
Data Model?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy MultiSource Option is a new and fully integrated add-on
component of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server. It allows users to seamlessly report,
analyze, and monitor data across multiple sources through a single business model
109. Question 138. What Is A Cache?
Answer :
A cache contains the properties and data of a report once a report has been run.
Caches can be stored in memory and/or on disk. When users ask for a report that is
cached, the Intelligence Server will retrieve the data from disk or memory instead of
running a query on the data source. Cache creation and usage securely leverages
other users' work, increases query performance and reduces the workload on the
data warehouse
110. Question 139. What Are Intelligent Cubes?
Answer :
Intelligent Cubes are in-memory caches stored by the Intelligence Server. While
accessing an Intelligent Cube, users can easily add or remove report objects (such as
attributes and metrics), add new metric calculations and filter their view of the data --
all in an ad hoc fashion with speed-of-thought response times. Data stored outside
an Intelligent Cube is automatically accessed using the ROLAP engine when drilling
to more details
111. Question 140. Can Microstrategy Intelligence Server Access Any Amount Of
Data?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server can scale to any amount of data by leveraging
your database's strengths. Using Very Large Database (VLDB) drivers, MicroStrategy
Intelligence Server automatically tunes its operations to leverage the unique
strengths of your database software and hardware.
112. Question 141. Can Microstrategy Intelligence Server Scale Easily And Cost
Effectively Based On My Growing Needs?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server provides out-of-the-box clustering capabilities
that allow corporations to leverage their initial investments and gradually scale as
 more users and data are added to the system, or when different styles of BI are
required
113. Question 142. Can My Users Perform On-demand Analysis Without Any
Downtime?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server provides complete fault tolerance and fail-over
support to maximize the uptime of your application
114. Question 143. Will My Users Get The Performance They Need?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server maximizes system performance at all layers
of your system. Intelligence Server:
• Leverages the unique strengths of each database software and hardware using
VLDB drivers.
• Uses four levels of report and dataset caching to optimize performance for
documents, reports, analyses and prompt lists.
• Increases analytic performance with its Intelligent Cubes. Users or administrators
can schedule creation or refreshing of Intelligent Cubes during low usage time
periods.
• Minimizes network traffic by sending users only the result sets they want to view.
115. Question 144. What Types Of Analysis Does Microstrategy Intelligence Server
Support?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server users can easily perform simple to sophisticated
analysis such as basic performance indicators, market basket, churn, retention and
decile analysis. Users can make use of a complete library of statistical,
mathematical, financial and OLAP functions. Other types of analysis include
hypothesis testing, regressions, neural networks, decision tress, clustering and bond
calculations
116. Question 145. Can I Use My Homegrown Functions Or Integrate With Existing
Third-party Statistical And Data Mining Software?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server allows enterprises to integrate their
homegrown functions as well as third-party software using an advanced plug-and-
play architecture. Predictive Models created by third-party data mining software can
also be imported using PMML (Predictive Markup Language).
117. Question 146. What Type Of Security Does Microstrategy Intelligence Server
Provide?
Answer :
 MicroStrategy Intelligence Server provides a highly robust security model at four
different layers in your system:
o User level - Login and ID authentication ensure users have authorization to
access the MicroStrategy system.
o Application level - Access control lists and user privileges ensure proper
access to MicroStrategy objects and functionality.
o Data transmission level - Encryption and dual firewall configuration ensure
safe transmission of data.
o Data level - Security filters ensure users access only the data they have
authorization to view.
118. Question 147. Can Users Access Microstrategy Intelligence Server Using Ldap,
Data Source Or Windows Authentication?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server integrates with LDAP and Windows security
systems. Users will only need to login with their LDAP or Windows login to access
MicroStrategy projects through Intelligence Server
119. Question 148. Can My Administrator Easily Maintain And Manage Microstrategy
Intelligence Server?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server's centralized architecture provides one
console from which all maintenance and administration can be performed. In
addition, a standardized data dictionary for enterprise reporting and OLAP analysis is
stored in a metadata repository and enables reusable reporting objects and business
rules.
120. Question 149. Does Microstrategy Have Windows- Or Unix-based Administration
Tools?
Answer :
MicroStrategy has both Windows- and UNIX-based administration tools. UNIX and
Linux administration is provided through a Java-based Control Center. Both the
Windows administration tools and the Java-based Control Center provide local or
remote administration and monitoring of all Intelligence Servers in the BI
implementations
121. Question 150. What Are The Supported Languages For Microstrategy Intelligence
Server?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server is available in English (US and UK), French, German,
Spanish, Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Swedish, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional),
Korean and Japanese
122. Question 151. Does Microstrategy Intelligence Server Integrate With Other
System Management Software?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server integrates with other system management
software. In fact, all inner statistics of Intelligence Server are published to
Performance Monitor and diagnostic logs. As a result, third-party system
management software such as IBM® Tivoli® or CA's Unicenter® can remotely
monitor these statistics
123. Question 152. Does Microstrategy Intelligence Server Support Scheduling?
Answer :
Yes, MicroStrategy Intelligence Server supports time-based and event-based
schedules. These schedules automatically trigger report execution and place a
notification message in the user's History folder upon completion.
124. Question 153. Why Is Microstrategy Intelligence Server Better Than Competitor's
Products?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server wins over its competitors because it solves all
issues that corporations face when implementing a query, reporting and analysis
solution. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server provides the solutions required for a
successful enterprise business intelligence system: full range of analysis, support for
any number of users, support for any amount of data, iron-clad security, world-class
reliability, easy administration and maintenance, and high performance.
125. Question 154. How Long Does It Take To Deploy Microstrategy Intelligence
Server?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server installs in minutes and automatically presents a
configuration wizard to connect to the database. Within an hour, the installation and
setup can be completed
126. Question 155. Can Intelligence Server Integrate With My Existing Data Structure?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server easily integrates with your existing data
structure with its support for the major types of schemas like Star, Snowflake, Hybrid,
Denormalized, Normalized and Aggregated Schema. MicroStrategy Intelligence
Server also integrates with SAP® BW InfoCubes and QueryCubes.
127. Question 156. How Does Intelligence Server Integrate With The Rest Of The
Microstrategy Platform?
Answer :
 MicroStrategy Intelligence Server is the analytical server that processes all requests
from all MicroStrategy end users. Intelligence Server is the central product that links
all MicroStrategy components to the data warehouse
128. Question 157. What Data Sources Does Microstrategy Intelligence Server
Support?
Answer :
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server can access data in all major databases including
Oracle®, IBM DB2®, Microsoft® SQL Server, Microsoft Access®, Microsoft Excel®,
Teradata®, Sybase®, Red Brick®, Informix®, HP NeoView, HP NonStop SQL/MP,
Netezza®, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Greenplum, Kognito, Vertica, Aster nCluster, text files,
and other ANSI-92 compatible relational databases. It can also access
multidimensional data sources such as SAP BW, Hyperion Essbase, and Microsoft
Analysis Services. Additionally, Intelligence Server can access data from EII sources
including Composite, Oracle Transparent Gateways, IBM WebSphere Information
Integrator, and MetaMatrix
129. Question 158. To Save Time, Can Many Reports Be Run At The Same Time And At
The User Level?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server can execute multiple reports simultaneously.
When report results are ready they are saved in a personal History folder
130. Question 159. Does Microstrategy Intelligence Server Support Xml?
Answer :
Yes. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server uses XML to transfer data. This enables
organizations to present information from Intelligence Server to end users through
multiple mediums including the Web, email and web services
131. Question 160. How Can I Create Statements, Report Books, Or Dashboard Books
In Microstrategy?
Answer :
Users have the ability to maintain separate documents and combine them into a
single, finalized document (report book, statement, or dashboard book). The
individual documents can be maintained by different users and they can have the
following unique qualities:
• Page groupings
• Layout
• Page Orientation
• Vertical or horizontal repeating sections
• Conditional formatting
• Pagination
• Datasets
 Enabling users to group together multiple documents into one makes it significantly
easier to develop and maintain individual pieces of the unified document
132. Question 161. What Olap Capabilities Do I Have Within A Microstrategy Report
Services Document?
Answer :
Users have the ability to drill within the document, drill anywhere, or disable drilling.
Drilling capabilities can be applied to a grid or graph, enabling users to perform an
investigative analysis directly on a dashboard, scorecard, or enterprise report. Users
can drill out of the dashboard to investigate across the data warehouse or multiple
data sources and generate new information-rich reports.Using the multi-select
feature, business users can dynamically select any group of elements and create
derived element groups on the fly. Elements can be removed or added dynamically
and users can create their own calculations between various groups or individual
items
133. Question 162. I Want Only One Version Of The Dashboard To View In Flash And
Dhtml (ajax), But I Have Flash-advanced Visualizations In The Dashboard. How Can
I Design This Dashboard For Dhtml?
Answer :
Only one design of the dashboard is required. Flash-advanced visualizations have
flash plug-ins that are maintained within the container of the advanced visualization.
Flash-advanced visualizations can be rendered in both Flash and DHTML, and the
same controls are made available to users, enabling a seamless integration between
Flash and DHTML design.
134. Question 163. How Can Users Design Dashboards Quickly And Without
Programming Experience Or Training?
Answer :
MicroStrategy offers out-of-the box templates that provide a great starting point for
dashboard designers. Each template contains a series of containers, or panel stacks,
that enable users to quickly add components to each panel stack, such as: text
boxes, shapes, reports, grids, graphs, panel stacks, HTML containers, selectors, and
widgets. Also, pre-formatted customized templates can be created to place the
design experience in the hands of end-users. These pre-formatted templates can
include the corporate logo and color layout. Users can simply drag, drop, and select
dashboard components to quickly design a dashboard in the matter of minutes.
135. Question 164. What Kind Of Optimizations You Did?
Answer :
Datamarts to create aggregate/summary tables at higher levels of a hierarchies.
Addition of Indexes to tables for faster execution of queries. Factors to decide on
aggregate tables If a large set of reports need to be viewed at a level(a level that is
higher than that of the existing Fact tables used by those reports) then it is worth
 creating aggregate tables at that level. Or if a report is huge and it is critical for the
business decisions then it is worth creating the aggregate tables for that report
136. Question 165. When Do We Need To Create A View Or A Materialized View In A
Database?
Answer :
Views are created in such scenarios where we need a "Distinct attribute lookup table"
or "Attribute form expression across multiple tables" or "Slowly Changing
Dimensions" etc
137. Question 166. What Leads To A Cross-join Or How Does A Cross-join Occur?
Answer :
Cross Joins occur when unrelated attributes(attributes that are not related to a
metric or another attribute) are placed in a report
138. Question 167. How Do We Prevent A Cross-join?
Answer :
Cross-Joins can be prevented by setting the VLDB property that does not allow to
execute a cross-join
139. Question 168. If We Need To Restrict Certain Rows From Appearing To A
User/user-group How Can We Do It?
Answer :
Security Filters
140. Question 169. If We Need To Restrict Certain Columns From Appearing To A
User/user-group How Can We Do It?
Answer :
Remove access to the metrics in ACL for the user/user-group
141. Question 170. I Have A Fact Table At All Time Levels(date, Week...year). I Have
The Similar Fact Table At Year Level. If I Create A Report With A Fact Attribute And
A Metric Based On That Fact........ How Do We Force The Mstr To Use Year Level
Fact Table Instead Of Using The All-levels Fact Table?
Answer :
The MSTR calculates the table key and based on the key value it would use the
appropriate FACT table. If it doesn't use the appropriate FACT table for some reason,
we can include the reference called FACTID within the Metric formula expression to
indicate which FACT table to be used in that particular metric.
142. Question 171. How To Reduce Multiple Passes To One In A Report?
Answer :
VLDB settings
143. Question 172. What Is A Materialized View?
Answer :
 A materialized view is a database object that contains the results of a query. They
are local copies of data located remotely, or are used to create summary tables
based on aggregations of a table's data. Materialized views, which store data based
on remote tables are also, know as snapshots. A materialized view caches the query
result as a concrete table that may be updated from the original base tables from
time to time. Materialized views were implemented first by the Oracle database. In
IBM DB2, they are called “materialized query tables”; Microsoft SQL Server has a
similar feature called “indexed view”.

In this Power BI Interview Questions blog, we will be discussing some of the most
important interview questions associated with Power BI Certification Course which will
help you stand out in your interview.

Power BI came into existence in late 2013 after Microsoft had decided to combine
multiples excel add-ons to create a completely new and independent tool. Power BI has
been the major contributing factor for Microsoft’s growth in the domain of Business
Intelligence and Data Visualization in the year 2016-17. Below image is the change in
positions of organizations in the Data Visualization domain as per Gartner:
As you can see there is a major moment of Microsoft in the year 2017 when compared
to 2016 and this is mainly due to the contribution oferal Power BI. In case you are still
not convinced about moving into the Power BI domain, the below image will give you an
idea about the current market for Power BI:
In this Power BI interview questions and answers blog, I have collected the most
frequently asked questions by interviewers. These questions are collected after
consulting with top industry experts in the field of Data analytics and visualization. If you
want to brush up with the Power BI basics, you can take a look at this Power BI
Tutorial blog. You can even get Power BI Training in Delhi or in any nearby city. Click
below to know more.

Power BI Interview Questions

So, here are the Top 50 Power BI Interview Questions and Answers which are most
likely to be asked by the interviewer. For your ease of access, I have categorized the
Power BI interview questions namely:

1. General Power BI Questions

2. DAX Interview Questions
3. Power Pivot
4. Power Query
5. Power Map
6. Additional Questions

Power BI Interview Questions and Answers in 2023 | Edureka

This Edureka Power BI Interview Questions and Answers video will help you unravel
concepts of Power BI and touch those topics that are very vital for succeeding in Power
BI Interviews.
Power BI Basic Interview Questions – General
Questions
1). What are the parts of Microsoft’s self-service business intelligence
solution?

Ans: Microsoft has two parts for Self-Service BI

Parts of Self-Service BI

Excel BI It allows users to create an interactive report by importing data from different sources and mod
Toolkit data according to report requirement.

It is the online solution that enables you to share the interactive reports and queries that you
Power BI
have created using the Excel BI Toolkit.

2). What is self-service business intelligence?

Ans: Self-Service Business Intelligence (SSBI)

 SSBI is an approach to data analytics that enables business users to filter, segment,
and, analyze their data, without the in-depth technical knowledge in statistical analysis,
business intelligence (BI).
  SSBI has made it easier for end-users to access their data and create various visuals to
get better business insights.
 Anybody who has a basic understanding of the data can create reports to build intuitive
and shareable dashboards.

3). What is Power BI?

Ans: Power BI is a cloud-based data-sharing environment. Once you have developed

reports using Power Query, Power Pivot, and Power View, you can share your insights
with your colleagues. This is where Power BI enters the equation. Power BI, which
technically is an aspect of SharePoint online, lets you load Excel workbooks into the
cloud and share them with a chosen group of co-workers. Not only that, but your
colleagues can interact with your reports to apply filters and slicers to highlight
data. They are completed by Power BI, a simple way of sharing your analysis and
insights from the Microsoft cloud.

Power BI features allow you to:

 Share presentations and queries with your colleagues.

 Update your Excel file from data sources that can be on-site or in the cloud.
 Display the output on multiple devices. This includes PCs, tablets, and HTML 5-enabled
mobile devices that use the Power BI app.
 Query your data using natural language processing (or Q&A, as it is known)

4). How would you define Power BI as an effective solution?

Ans: PowerBI is a cloud based Business Intelligence tool to analyze and visualize raw
data that can be fetched from a wide range of data sources. It consolidates business
analytics with data visualization and helps any organization to make business decisions
based on data.It is easy to work with and the data is processed in such a way that it is
easy to understand and reliable. It can be accessed from different platforms and can be
shared across on-cloud participants. Thus it is an effective solution.

5). What are the major components of Power BI?

Ans: The major components of PowerBI are as follows :

Let’s discuss each component in brief:

Power Query: It is one of the most important components of PowerBI to transform data.
Power Query helps to extract data from different data sources like Oracle, SQL,
Text/CSV files, Excel, etc. and even delete data from different sources.

Power Pivot : It is used for data modeling that uses DAX ( Data Analysis Expression)
functions for the calculations. Relationships between different tables can also be
created here and we can get values that can be shown in Pivot Tables.

Power View: The Power View is used for providing an intuitive display of the data and
retrieving the metadata for data analysis. The views are interactive in nature and slicers
and filters can be used for slicing and dicing the data.

Power BI Desktop: Power Desktop is an integration tool for Power Query, Power View,
and Power Pivot. It helps to create advanced queries, data models, reports and
dashboards and helps in developing your BI skills for data analysis.

Power BI Mobile Application: It is available for the Operating systems Android, iOS
and even Windows. The App has an interactive display of the dashboards which can be
shared as well.

Power Map: It presents geo-spatial visualization of the data in 3 Dimensional Mode.

The data can be highlighted based on the geographical location which can be continent,
state, city or even street address.
Power Q&A : It is used to provide answers to the questions asked by users. It works
with Power View and can be answered with representations by Power Q&A.

6). What are the various Power BI versions?

Ans: PowerBI has three versions currently:

Microsoft PowerBI Free/ Desktop – It is for anybody who wants to see their business
insights from the data with visualizations.

Microsoft PowerBI Pro – It is the full version of PowerBI which enables unlimited
viewing, reporting and sharing of reports which PowerBI Desktop doesn’t support.

Microsoft PowerBI Premium – The Power BI Premium licence is not a per-user

licence, it provides a dedicated unit of capacity for all users in the organisation.

7). What is Power BI Desktop?

Ans: Power BI Desktop is a free desktop application that can be installed right on your
own computer. Power BI Desktop works cohesively with the Power BI service by
providing advanced data exploration, shaping, modeling, and creating reports with
highly interactive visualizations. You can save your work to a file or publish your data
and reports right to your Power BI site to share with others.

8). What do we understand by Power BI services?

Ans: PowerBI Services is a cloud based service or SaaS (software as a service). It

helps to connect to your data, analyse, visualize and share business insights with
efficiency.

9). What data sources can Power BI connect to?

Ans: The list of data sources for Power BI is extensive, but it can be grouped into the
following:

 Files: Data can be imported from Excel (.xlsx, xlxm), Power BI Desktop files (.pbix) and
Comma Separated Value (.csv).
 Content Packs: It is a collection of related documents or files that are stored as a group.
In Power BI, there are two types of content packs, firstly those from services providers
like Google Analytics, Marketo, or Salesforce, and secondly those created and shared
by other users in your organization.
 Connectors to databases and other datasets such as Azure SQL, Database and SQL,
Server Analysis Services tabular data, etc.

 
10). What are the different connectivity modes in Power BI?

Ans: There are three different connectivity modes in PowerBI which are:

Import Mode:

In PowerBI, Import Mode is the default mode since it is most frequently used and
delivers fast performance. It can integrate the data from a data source as shown.
Imported data is stored in the disk and it is fully loaded while querying or refreshing.

Direct Query Mode

 

Direct Query Mode is another method of importing data with query to retrieve data from
a pre-existing data source. When the data volume is too large, we use DirectQuery to
avoid refreshing data as it can take a long time.

Composite Mode
This mode is an amalgamation of both Import and DirectQuery modes. This mode
supports calculated tables which DirectQuery doesn’t. It delivers the best of Import
Query and DirectQuery modes.

11). Where is the data stored in Power BI?

Ans: Primarily, PowerBI uses two repositories to store its data: Azure Blob Storage and
Azure SQL Database. Azure Blob Storage typically stores the data that is uploaded by
the users. Azure SQL Database stores all the metadata and artifacts for the system
itself.

12). What are Building Blocks in Power BI?

Ans: The following are the Building Blocks (or) key components of Power BI:

1. Visualizations: Visualization is a visual representation of data.

Example: Pie Chart, Line Graph, Side by Side Bar Charts, Graphical Presentation of the
source data on top of Geographical Map, Tree Map, etc.

2. Datasets: Dataset is a collection of data that Power BI uses to create its visualizations.
Example: Excel sheets, Oracle or SQL server tables.

3. Reports: Report is a collection of visualizations that appear together on one or more

pages.
Example: Sales by Country, State, City Report, Logistic Performance report, Profit by
Products report etc.

4. Dashboards: Dashboard is single layer presentation of multiple visualizations, i.e we

can integrate one or more visualizations into one page layer.
Example: Sales dashboard can have pie charts, geographical maps and bar charts.
 5. Tiles: Tile is a single visualization in a report or on a dashboard.
Example: Pie Chart in Dashboard or Report.

13). What is the comprehensive working system of Power BI?

Ans. Power BI’s working system mainly comprises four steps:

Data Importing: The first step is to import the data and convert it into a standard format
and store it in a staging area.
Data Cleaning: After assembling the data, it requires transformation or cleaning to
remove unimportant values.
Data Visualization: Now the data is visually represented on the Power BI desktop as
reports and dashboards using powerful visualization tools.
Save and Publish: Finally when your report is ready you can save and publish these
reports that can be shared across users via mobile apps or web.

14). What are content packs in Power BI?

Ans: Content packs for services are pre-built solutions for popular services as part of
the Power BI experience. A subscriber to a supported service, can quickly connect to
their account from Power BI to see their data through live dashboards and interactive
reports that have been pre-built for them. Microsoft has released content packs for
popular services such as Salesforce.com, Marketo, Adobe Analytics, Azure Mobile
Engagement, CircuitID, comScore Digital Analytix, Quickbooks Online, SQL Sentry and
tyGraph. 

Organizational content packs provide users, BI professionals, and system integrator the
tools to build their own content packs to share purpose-built dashboards, reports, and
datasets within their organization.

15). What are the different types of filters in Power BI Reports?

Ans: Power BI provides variety of option to filter report, data

and visualization. The following are the list of Filter types.
  Visual-level Filters: These filters work on only an individual visualization, reducing the
amount of data that the visualization can see. Moreover, visual-level filters can filter both
data and calculations.
 Page-level Filters: These filters work at the report-page level. Different pages in
the same report can have different page-level filters.
 Report-level Filters: These filters work on the entire report, filtering all pages and
visualizations included in the report.

We know that Power BI visual has an interactions feature, which makes filtering a report
a breeze. Visual interactions are useful, but they come with some limitations:

 The filter is not saved as part of the report. Whenever you open a report, you can begin
to play with visual filters but there is no way to store the filter in the saved report.
 The filter is always visible. Sometimes you want a filter for the entire report, but you do
not want any visual indication of the filter being applied.

16). What is a dashboard?

Ans: A PowerBI dashboard is a canvas which creates a story with templates and
visualizations for better understanding of the data. It is a single-page report and
contains the highlights of the data.

17). What are the available views?

Ans: The different views in PowerBI are:

Report View : It is the default view which shows the visualization of the data in reports.
You can create multiple report pages here with a wide range of templates and
visualizations.

Data View : Data view shows the transformed data in a table format with columns and
rows. It also allows you to create new calculated columns for further insights.

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Model View : Also called, Relationship View, helps to create relationships between data
models. All the models created in the data can be seen in this view and accordingly you
can compare or create diagrams based on subsets of the model.

18). What are the available formats?

Ans: Power BI is available in different formats:

Power BI desktop: You can download and install PowerBI Desktop on your personal
computer, where you can connect to the data source, transform your data, analyze and
visualize it with templates.

Power BI services: It is a cloud based service or SaaS (software as a service). You

can connect to data here as well but the modeling is limited.

Power BI mobile app: One can securely access dashboards and reports on any device
with the PowerBI app which is available for iOs, Android and even Windows.

19). What are the types of visualizations in Power BI?

Ans: In PowerBI, we can represent the data in graphs and visualizations. The
visualization can be of any type, for example:

Bar and Column Charts: It is a standard visualization for looking at a specific value
across various categories.

Area Charts( Basic and Stacked ) : It is based on the line chart and the area under the
line. It depicts the magnitude of change over time.
Card: Card shows aggregate value of a certain datapoint, can be one or more but one
per row.

Doughnut and Pie Charts: They show the relation in parts of a whole. Doughnut charts
have a hollow in the centre while pie charts don’t.

Maps: To show categorical and quantitative data with spatial locations.

Matrix: It’s a type of table with easier display that shows aggregated data

Slicers: Slicer is used to filter other visuals on the page.

There are other visuals like Combo Charts, Decomposition Tree, Funnel charts, Gauge
charts, KPIs, Line Charts, Ribbon Chart, Scatter, Q&A, Tables, Treemaps, etc.

20). What are custom visuals in Power BI?

Ans: In PowerBI you can create your own visualizations from the library of custom
visualizations. A development project has to be created then test the visual in PowerBI
service. Once the visualization is customized, it is thoroughly checked and tested before
posting. After testing, the visualization is saved in .pbiviz file format before sharing. But
you need to be a PowerBI Pro user in order to make custom visualizations.

21). Why and how would you use a custom visual file?

Ans: A custom visual file is used when none of the pre existing visuals fit the business
needs. Custom visual files are generally created by Developers which can be used in
the same way as prepackaged files.

22). What are the various type of users who can use Power BI?

Ans: PowerBI can be used by anyone for their requirements but there is a particular
group of users who are more likely to use it:

Report Consumers: They consume the reports based on a specific information they

need

Report Analyst: Report Analysts need detailed data for their analysis from the reports

Self Service Data Analyst: They are more experienced business data users. They
have an in-depth understanding of the data to work with.
Basic Data Analyst: They can build their own datasets and are experienced in
PowerBI Service

Advanced Data Analyst: They know how to write SQL Queries and have hands-on
experience on PowerBI. They have experience in Advanced PowerBI with DAX training
and data modelling.

23).What are the critical components of the Power BI toolkit?

Ans: The most important components of PowerBI are:

Power Query
Power View
Power Pivot
Power Map
Power Q&A
Power Desktop
Power Website
PowerBI Mobile App

24). What is the maximum data limit per client for the free version of
Power BI?

Ans: With a Power BI Free licence a user can use 10 GB of storage in the cloud for
hosting Power BI reports. The maximum size a Power BI report can be used in the
cloud is 1GB.

25). Where do you reshape data in Power BI?

Ans: The data can be reshaped in Data Editing of PowerBI.

26). How can you refresh data in PowerBI?

Ans: The data can be refreshed in the Gateway in PowerBI by scheduling refresh.

27). Which is a single-page canvas that uses visualizations to depict a

story?

Ans: PowerBI service dashboard is a single-page canvas that uses visualizations to

depict a story.
28). Mention some advantages of Power BI?

Ans: Few advantages of using Power BI are :

 PowerBI can input a huge quantity of data

 Information can be visualized using powerful templates and visualizations
 Users get cutting edge intelligence technologies and powerful algorithms that are
updated regularly
 User can have personalised dashboards which are easy to access and understand
 Users can perform queries on reports using DAX language

29). List out some drawbacks/limitations of using Power BI.

Ans: Some disadvantages of PowerBI are:

Complex in nature:
One major drawback of PowerBI is it is designed in a complex manner. One needs
complete knowledge of PowerBI in order to start working with PowerBI.

Large data:
PowerBI cannot handle large supply of data and might time out while processing a large
data.
PowerBI cannot process data more than 1 GB.

Limited Sharing of Data:

Reports can be shared only with users who have the same domain or have their emails
listed in the Office 365.

Limited data Source:

Power BI can connect to real time data sets but there are very limited data sources that
allow real-time connection to the PowerBI dashboards.
Power BI DAX Interview Questions 

30). What is DAX?

Ans: To do basic calculation and data analysis on data in power pivot, we use Data
Analysis Expression (DAX). It is a formula language used to compute calculated column
and calculated field.

 DAX works on column values.

 DAX can not modify or insert data.
 We can create calculated column and measures with DAX  but we can not calculate
rows using DAX.

Sample DAX formula syntax:

For the measure named Total Sales, calculate (=) the SUM of values in the
[SalesAmount] column in the Sales table.
A- Measure Name
B- = – indicate beginning of formula
C- DAX Function
D- Parenthesis for Sum Function
E- Referenced Table
F- Referenced column name

31). What are the most common DAX Functions used?

Ans: Below are some of the most commonly used DAX function: 

 SUM, MIN, MAX, AVG, COUNTROWS, DISTINCTCOUNT

 IF, AND, OR, SWITCH
 ISBLANK, ISFILTERED, ISCROSSFILTERED
 VALUES, ALL, FILTER, CALCULATE,
 UNION, INTERSECT, EXCEPT, NATURALINNERJOIN,
NATURALLEFTEROUTERJOIN,
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS, ISEMPTY,
 VAR (Variables)
 GEOMEAN, MEDIAN, DATEDIFF

32). What are the three fundamental concepts of DAX?

Ans: Three fundamental concepts of DAX are:

Syntax: Syntax is the formula which includes the functions. If a Syntax is incorrect, it will
result in an error.

Functions: Functions are arguments with specific orders to perform. It helps to calculate
any particular order as required.

Context: Context are of two types: Row Context and Filter Context. Row Context is used
when a formula has a Function that applies a filter to identify a row in a table. Filter
Context is used when one or more filters are used to get a value.

33). What are the purpose and benefits of using the DAX function?
Ans: DAX or Data Analysis Expression is a functional language which can create
calculated columns and/or measures for smarter calculations to limit the data the
dashboard has to fetch and visualize.

34). How is the FILTER function used?

Ans: The FILTER function returns a table with a filter condition applied for each of its
source table rows. The FILTER function is rarely used in isolation, it’s generally used as
a parameter to other functions such as CALCULATE. 

 FILTER is an iterator and thus can negatively impact performance over large source
tables.
 Complex filtering logic can be applied such as referencing a measure in a filter
expression.
o FILTER(MyTable,[SalesMetric] > 500)

35). What is the CALCULATE function in DAX?

Ans: The CALCULATE function measures the sum of a column from any table and can
be modified with Filters.
Syntax:
CALCULATE ( <Expression> [, <Filter> [, <Filter> [, … ] ] ] )

Expression: The expression to be evaluated.

Filter: A boolean (True/False) expression or a table expression that defines a filter.

36). What is special or unique about the CALCULATE and

CALCULATETABLE functions?

Ans: These are the only functions that allow you modify filter context of measures or
tables.

 Add to existing filter context of queries.

 Override filter context from queries.
 Remove existing filter context from queries.

Limitations:

 Filter parameters can only operate on a single column at a time.

 Filter parameters cannot reference a metric.

37). What is the common table function for grouping data?

Ans:  SUMMARIZE()

 Main groupby function in SSAS.

 Recommended practice is to specify table and group by columns but not metrics.You
can use ADDCOLUMNS function.

 SUMMARIZECOLUMNS

 New group by function for SSAS and Power BI Desktop; more efficient.
 Specify group by columns, table, and expressions.

38). What are some benefits of using Variables in DAX ?

Ans: DAX or Data Analysis Expression is a functional language which can create

calculated columns and/or measures for smarter calculations to limit the data the
dashboard has to fetch and visualise.

39). How would you create trailing X month metrics via DAX against a
non-standard calendar?

Ans:  The  solution will involve:

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Next

1. CALCULATE function to control (take over) filter context of measures.

2. ALL to remove existing filters on the date dimension.
3. FILTER to identify which rows of the date dimension to use.

Alternatively, CONTAINS may be used:

 CALCULATE(FILTER(ALL(‘DATE’),…….))

40). What are the different Excel BI add-in?

Ans: Below are the most important BI add-in to Excel:

 Power Query: It helps in finding, editing and loading external data.

 Power Pivot: Its mainly used for data modeling and analysis.

 Power View: It is used to design visual and interactively reports.

 Power Map: It helps to display insights on 3D Map.

Power BI Interview Questions – Power Pivot

41). What is Power Pivot?

Ans: Power Pivot is an add-in for Microsoft Excel 2010 that enables you to import
millions of rows of data from multiple data sources into a single Excel workbook. It lets
you create relationships between heterogeneous data, create calculated columns and
measures using formulas, build PivotTables and PivotCharts. You can then further
analyze the data so that you can make timely business decisions without requiring IT
assistance.

42). What is Power Pivot Data Model?

Ans: It is a model that is made up of data types, tables, columns, and table relations.
These data tables are typically constructed for holding data for a business entity.

43). What is xVelocity in-memory analytics engine used in Power Pivot?

Ans: The main engine behind power pivot is the xVelocity in-memory analytics engine.
It can handle large amount of data because it stores data in columnar databases, and in
memory analytics which results in faster processing of data as it loads all data to RAM
memory.

44). What are some of differences in data modeling between Power BI

Desktop and Power Pivot for Excel?
Ans: Here are some of the differences:

 Power BI Desktop supports bi-directional cross filtering relationships, security, calculated

tables, and Direct Query options.
 Power Pivot for Excel has single direction (one to many) relationships, calculated
columns only, and supports import mode only. Security roles cannot be defined in Power
Pivot for Excel.

45). Can we have more than one active relationship between two tables
in data model of power pivot?

Ans: No, we cannot have more than one active relationship between two tables.
However, can have more than one relationship between two tables but there will be only
one active relationship and many inactive relationships. The dotted lines are inactive
and the continuous line is active.

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Power BI Interview Questions – Power Query

46). What is GetData in Power BI?

With “Get Data” in PowerBI, you connect to different data sources to import data for
analysis and visualization. You can select from a range of various data sources to
import the desired data.
Eg. Text/CSV, Excel, PDF, JSON, Amazon Redshift, SQL Server database, Access
database, SAP HANA database, IBM, MySQL, Oracle database, Impala, Google
BigQuery,etc.

47). What is Power Query?

Ans: Power query is a ETL Tool used to shape, clean and transform data using intuitive
interfaces without having to use coding. It helps the user to:

 Import Data from wide range of sources from files, databases, big data, social media
data, etc.
 Join and append data from multiple data sources. 
 o Shape data as per requirement by removing and adding data.

48). What are the data destinations for Power Queries?

Ans: There are two destinations for output we get from power query:

1. Load to a table in a worksheet.

2. Load to the Excel Data Model.

49). What is query folding in Power Query?

Ans: Query folding is when steps defined in Power Query/Query Editor are translated
into SQL and executed by the source database rather than the client machine. It’s
important for processing performance and scalability, given limited resources on the
client machine.

50). What are some common Power Query/Editor Transforms?

Ans: Changing Data Types, Filtering Rows, Choosing/Removing Columns, Grouping,

Splitting a column into multiple columns, Adding new Columns ,etc.

51). Can SQL and Power Query/Query Editor be used together?

Ans: Yes, a SQL statement can be defined as the source of a Power Query/M function
for additional processing/logic. This would be a good practice to ensure that an efficient
database query is passed to the source and avoid unnecessary processing and
complexity
by the client machine and M function.

52). What are query parameters and Power BI templates?

Ans:Query parameters can be used to provide users of a local Power BI Desktop report
with a prompt, to specify the values they’re interested in.

 The parameter selection can then be used by the query and calculations.
 PBIX files can be exported as Templates (PBIT files).
 Templates contain everything in the PBIX except the data itself.

Parameters and templates can make it possible to share/email smaller template files
and limit the amount of data loaded into the local PBIX files, improving processing time
and experience.

53). Which language is used in Power Query?

Ans: A new programming language is used in power query called M-Code. It is easy to
use and similar to other languages. M-code is case-sensitive language.

54). Why do we need Power Query when Power Pivot can import data
from mostly used sources?

Ans: Power Query is a self-service ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) tool which runs as
an Excel add-in. It allows users to pull data from various sources, manipulate said data
into a form that suits their needs and load it into Excel. It is most optimum to use Power
Query over Power Pivot as it lets you not only load the data but also manipulate it as
per the users needs while loading.

55). Name some commonly used tasks in the Query Editor.

Ans: Some commonly used tasks in the Query Editor are:

Connect to Data: Get Data from various sources and Transform data.
Shape Data: Transform your data according to requirement to clean and shape it
Group Rows: You can group the values of many rows into one single value by
summarizing
Pivot Columns: Pivot columns and create a table with aggregated values
Create Custom Columns: You can use custom formulas to create new columns in your
table
Advanced Editor: You can make modifications to the data using Advanced Query Editor
with query.

Power BI Interview Questions – Power Map

56). What is Power Map?

Ans: Power Map is an Excel add-in that provides you with a powerful set of tools to help
you visualize and gain insight into large sets of data that have a geo-coded component.
It can help you produce 3D visualizations by plotting upto a million data points in the
form of column, heat, and bubble maps on top of a Bing map. If the data is time
stamped, it can also produce interactive views that display, how the data changes over
space and time.

57). What are the primary requirement for a table to be used in Power
Map?

Ans: For a data to be consumed in power map there should be location data like:

 Latitude/Longitude pair
 Street, City, Country/Region, Zip Code/Postal Code, and State/Province, which can be
geolocated by Bing
The primary requirement for the table is that it contains unique rows. It must also
contain location data, which can be in the form of a Latitude/Longitude pair, although
this is not a requirement. You can use address fields instead, such as Street, City,
Country/Region, Zip Code/Postal Code, and State/Province, which can be geolocated
by Bing.

58). What are the data sources for Power Map?

Ans: The data can either be present in Excel or could be present externally. To prepare
your data, make sure all of the data is in Excel table format, where each row represents
a unique record. Your column headings or row headings should contain text instead of
actual data so that Power Map will interpret it correctly when it plots the geographic
coordinates. Using meaningful labels also makes value and category fields available to
you when you design your tour in the Power Map Tour Editor pane.

To use a table structure that more accurately represents time and geography inside
Power Map includes all of the data in the table rows, and use descriptive text labels in
the column headings, like this:

In case you wish to load your data from an external source:

1. In Excel, click Data > the connection you want in the Get External Data group.

2. Follow the steps in the wizard that starts.
3. On the last step of the wizard, make sure Add this data to the Data Model is checked.

The more you use it, the better you’ll get at it. So, let’s get started.

Power BI Interview Questions – Additional Questions

59). Difference between Power BI and Tableau?

Ans: Both PowerBi and Tableau are business intelligence tools for generating reports
and data visualization but they do have a few significant differences.

Data Source:
PowerBI does not have as wide access to data sources as Tableau when compared.
Tableau has a wider range of access to various data sources.
Data Capacity:
Maximum of 10 GB of data can be handled in each workspace in PowerBI or else it
needs to be stored in the cloud.
While in Tableau, we can fetch billions of rows for each column as it works on columnar
based structure which stores unique values.
Machine Learning:
PowerBI has integration with Microsoft Azure which helps in analyzing the data.
Tableau has in-built Python machine learning capacities which makes it efficient to
perform ML Operations on datasets.
Performance:
PowerBI can handle a limited amount of data while Tableau can work with a huge
volume of data with ease.
Pricing:
PowerBI is cheaper compared to Tableau. Tableau needs to be paid more when third
party applications are connected.

60). What is Power View?

Ans: Power View is a data visualization technology that lets you create interactive
charts, graphs, maps, and other visuals which bring your data to life. Power View is
available in Excel, SharePoint, SQL Server, and Power BI.

The following pages provide details about different visualizations available in Power
View:

 Charts 
 Line charts 
 Pie charts 
 Maps
 Tiles 
 Cards 
 Images
 Tables
 Power View
 Multiples Visualizations 
 Bubble and scatter charts 
 Key performance indicators (KPIs) 

61). What is Power BI Designer?

Ans: It is a stand alone application where we can make Power BI reports and then
upload it to Powerbi.com, it does not require Excel. Actually, it is a combination of
Power Query, Power Pivot, and Power View.

62). Can we refresh our Power BI reports once uploaded to cloud (Share
point or Powebi.com)?

Ans: Yes we can refresh our reports through Data Management gateway(for

sharepoint), and Power BI Personal gateway(for Powerbi.com)
63). What are the different types of refreshing data for our published
reports?

Ans: There are four main types of refresh in Power BI. Package refresh, model or data
refresh, tile refresh and visual container refresh.

 Package refresh

This synchronizes your Power BI Desktop, or Excel, file between the Power BI service
and OneDrive, or SharePoint Online. However, this does not pull data from the original
data source. The dataset in Power BI will only be updated with what is in the file within
OneDrive, or SharePoint Online.

 Model/data refresh

It refers to refreshing the dataset, within the Power BI service, with data from the
original data source. This is done by either using scheduled refresh or refresh now. This
requires a gateway for on-premises data sources.

 Tile refresh

Tile refresh updates the cache for tile visuals, on the dashboard, once data changes.
This happens about every fifteen minutes. You can also force a tile refresh by selecting
the ellipsis (…) in the upper right of a dashboard and selecting Refresh dashboard
tiles.

 Visual container refresh

Refreshing the visual container updates the cached report visuals, within a report, once
the data changes.

To know more about data refresh and understand how to implement data refresh, you
can check the following link.

64). Is Power BI available on-premises?

Ans: No, Power BI is not available as a private, internal cloud service. However, with
Power BI and Power BI Desktop, you can securely connect to your own on-premises
data sources. With the On-premises Data Gateway, you can connect live to your on-
premises SQL Server Analysis Services and other data sources. You can also schedule
refresh with a centralized gateway. If a gateway is not available, you can refresh data
from on-premises data sources using the Power BI Gateway – Personal.

65). What are the data management gateway and Power BI personal
gateway?
Ans: Gateway acts a bridge between on-premises data sources and Azure cloud
services.

Personal Gateway:

 Import Only, Power BI Service Only, No central monitoring/managing.

 Can only be used by one person (personal); can’t allow others to use this gateway.

On-Premises Gateway:

 Import and Direct Query supported.

 Multiple users of the gateway for developing content.
 Central monitoring and control.

66). What is Power BI Q&A?

Ans: Power BI Q&A is a natural language tool that helps in querying your data and
getting the results you need from it. You do this by typing into a dialog box on your
Dashboard, which the engine instantaneously generates an answer similar to Power
View. Q&A interprets your questions and shows you a restated query of what it is
looking from your data. Q&A was developed by Server and Tools, Microsoft Research,
and the Bing teams to give you  a complete feeling of truly exploring your data.

67). What happens when you click the Infocus mode of a tile on the
PowerBI dashboard on the browser?

Ans: When you click the Infocus mode of a tile on the PowerBI dashboard on the
browser, the selected tile expands and takes the full space

68). How do you consolidate inquiries in Power BI?

Ans: Join Queries are used to consolidate inquiries in Power BI.

69). What are some ways that Excel experience can be leveraged with
Power BI?

Ans: Below are some of the ways through which we can leverage Power BI:

 The Power BI Publisher for Excel:

o Can be used to pin Excel items (charts, ranges, pivot tables) to Power BI
Service.
o Can be used to connect to datasets and reports stored in Power BI Service.
 Excel workbooks can be uploaded to Power BI and viewed in the browser like Excel
Services.
 Excel reports in the Power BI service can be shared via Content Packs like other
reports.
 Excel workbooks (model and tables) can be exported to service for PBI report creation.
  Excel workbook Power Pivot models can be imported to Power BI Desktop models.

70). What is a calculated column in Power BI and why would you

use them?

Ans: Calculated Columns are DAX expressions that are computed during the model’s
processing/refresh process for each row of the given column and can be used like any
other column in the model.

Calculated columns are not compressed and thus consume more memory and result in
reduced query performance. They can also reduce processing/refresh performance if
applied on large fact tables and can make a model more difficult to maintain/support
given
that the calculated column is not present in the source system.

71). How is data security implemented in Power BI ?

Ans:  Power BI can apply Row Level Security roles to models.

 A DAX expression is applied on a table filtering its rows at query time.

 Dynamic security involves the use of USERNAME functions in security role definitions.
 Typically a table is created in the model that relates users to specific dimensions and a
role.

72). What are many-to-many relationships and how can they be

addressed in Power BI ?

Ans: Many to Many relationships involve a bridge or junction table reflecting the

combinations of two dimensions (e.g. doctors and patients). Either all possible
combinations or those combinations that have occurred.

 Bi-Directional Crossfiltering relationships can be used in PBIX.

 CROSSFILTER function can be used in Power Pivot for Excel.
 DAX can be used per metric to check and optionally modify the filter context.

73). Why might you have a table in the model without any relationships
to other tables?

Ans: There are mainly 2 reasons why we would have tables without relations in our
model:

 A disconnected table might be used to present the user with parameter values to be
exposed and selected in slicers (e.g. growth assumption.)
o DAX metrics could retrieve this selection and use it with other
calculations/metrics.
  A disconnected table may also be used as a placeholder for metrics in the user
interface.
o It may not contain any rows of data and its columns could be hidden but all
metrics are visible.

74). What is the Power BI Publisher for Excel?

Ans:  You can use Power BI publisher for Excel to pin ranges, pivot tables and charts to
Power BI.

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 The user can manage the tiles – refresh them, remove them, in Excel.
 Pinned items must be removed from the dashboard in the service (removing in Excel
only deletes the connection).
 The Power BI Publisher for Excel can also be used to connect from Excel to datasets
that are hosted in the Power BI Service.
 An Excel pivot table is generated with a connection (ODC file) to the data in Azure.

The Publisher installs all necessary drivers on local machine to establish connectivity .

75). What are the differences between a Power BI Dataset, a Report, and
a Dashboard?

Ans:  Dataset: The source used to create reports and visuals/tiles.

 A data model (local to PBIX or XLSX) or model in an Analysis Services Server

 Data could be inside of model (imported) or a Direct Query connection to a source.

Report: An individual Power BI Desktop file (PBIX) containing one or more report
pages.

 Built for deep, interactive analysis experience for a given dataset (filters, formatting).
 Each Report is connected to atleast one dataset 
 Each page containing one or more visuals or tiles.
Dashboard: a collection of visuals or tiles from different reports and, optionally, a
pinned.

 Built to aggregate primary visuals and metrics from multiple datasets.

76) What are the three Edit Interactions options of a visual tile in Power
BI Desktop? 

Ans: The 3 edit interaction options are  Filter, Highlight, and None.

Filter: It completely filter a visual/tile based on the filter selection of another visual/tile.

Highlight: It highlight only the related elements on the visual/tile, gray out the non-
related items.

None: It ignore the filter selection from another tile/visual.

77). What are some of the differences in report authoring capabilities

between using a live or direct query connection such as to an Analysis
Services model, relative to working with a data model local to the Power
BI Desktop file?

Ans: With a data model local to the PBIX file (or Power Pivot workbook), the author has
full control over the queries, the modeling/relationships, the metadata and the metrics.

With a live connection to an Analysis Services database (cube) the user cannot create
new metrics, import new data, change the formatting of the metrics, etc – the user can
only use the visualization, analytics, and formatting available on the report canvas.

With a direct query model in Power BI to SQL Server, for example, the author has
access to the same features (and limitations) available to SSAS  Direct Query mode.

 Only one data source (one database on one server) may be used, certain DAX functions
are not optimized, and the user cannot use Query Editor functions that cannot be
translated into SQL statements.

78). How does SSRS integrate with Power BI?

Ans: Below are some of the way through which SSRS can be integrated with Power BI: 

 Certain SSRS Report items such as charts can be pinned to Power BI dashboards.
 Clicking the tile in Power BI dashboards will bring the user to the SSRS report.
 A subscription is created to keep the dashboard tile refreshed.
  Power BI reports will soon be able to be published to SSRS portal

I hope this set of Power BI Interview Questions and Answers will help you prepare for
your interviews. All the best!

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