QSDA2024 Questions and Answers

In this scenario, the key is composed of three components: Country, UserID, and Department, separated by spaces. The UserID itself consists of a two-character country code followed by a unique code of two or three digits. The objective is to extract only this unique numeric code from the UserID field.

Explanation of the Correct Function:

Option A: RIGHT(SUBFIELD(Key, ' ', 2), 3)

SUBFIELD(Key, ' ', 2):This function extracts the second part of the key (i.e., the UserID) by splitting the string using spaces as delimiters.

RIGHT(..., 3):After extracting the UserID, the RIGHT() function takes the last three characters of the string. This works because the unique code is either two or three digits, and the RIGHT() function will retrieve these digits from the UserID.

This combination ensures that the data architect extracts the unique code from the UserID field correctly.

In this scenario, the data architect is using a GENERIC LOAD statement in the script to handle the data structure provided. A GENERIC LOAD is used in Qlik Sense when you have data in a key-value pair structure and you want to transform it into a more traditional table structure, where each attribute becomes a column.

Given the input data table with three columns (Object, Attribute, Value), and the attributes in the Attribute field being either color, diameter, length, or width, the GENERIC LOAD will create separate tables based on the combinations of Object and each Attribute.

Here's how the GENERIC LOAD works:

For each unique object(circle, rectangle, square), the GENERIC LOAD creates separate tables based on the distinct values of the Attribute field.

Each of these tableswill contain two fields: Object and the specific attribute (e.g., color, diameter, length, width).

Breakdown:

Table for circle:

Fields: Object, color, diameter

Table for rectangle:

Fields: Object, color, length, width

Table for square:

Fields: Object, color, length

Each distinct attribute (color, diameter, length, width) and object combination generates a separate table.

Final Count of Tables:

The script will create6 separate tables: one for each unique combination of Object and Attribute.

References:

Qlik Sense Documentation on Generic Load: Generic loads are used to pivot key-value pair data structures into multiple tables, where each key (in this case, the Attribute field values) forms a new column in its own table.

When retrieving data from a REST API, particularly when the dataset is large or the data is segmented across multiple pages (which is common in REST APIs), the REST Connector in Qlik Sense needs to be configured to handle pagination.

Pagination is the process of dividing the data retrieved from the API into pages that can be loaded sequentially or as required. Qlik Sense's REST Connector supports pagination by allowing the dataarchitect to set parameters that will sequentially retrieve each page of data, ensuring that the complete dataset is retrieved.

Key Steps:

REST Connector Setup: Configure the REST connector in Qlik Sense and specify the necessary API endpoint.

Pagination Mechanism: Use the built-in pagination mechanism to define how the connector should retrieve the subsequent pages (e.g., by using query parameters like page or offset).

The scenario describes a need to track social media data over the past 10 years, capturing all changes (inserts, updates, deletes) while reloading the data four times a day.

To manage this:

ModificationTime: This field is essential for tracking changes over time. It indicates when a record was last modified, allowing the script to determine whether it needs to insert, update, or delete records.

Primary Key Field: A primary key is crucial for uniquely identifying records. It enables the script to match records in the source with those already loaded, facilitating updates and deletions.

Insert and Update Records: The script should handle both inserting new records and updating existing ones based on the ModificationTime.

Remove Records: If records are deleted in the source, they should also be removed in the Qlik Sense data model to maintain consistency.

This approach ensures that all changes in the social media data are accurately captured and reflected in the Qlik Sense application.

In the script provided, the alt() function is used to handle various date formats. The alt() function in Qlik Sense evaluates a list of expressions and returns the first valid expression. If none of the expressions are valid, it returns the last argument provided (in this case, '31/12/2022').

Step-by-step breakdown:

The alt() function checks the Date field for three different formats:

YYYYMMDD

YYYY/MM/DD

DD/MM/YYYY

If none of these formats match the value in the Date field, the default date '31/12/2022' is assigned.

Values in the Date field:

20210131: Matches the first format YYYYMMDD.

2020/01/31: Matches the second format YYYY/MM/DD.

31/01/2019: Matches the third format DD/MM/YYYY.

9999: Does not match any of the formats, so the alt() function returns the default value '31/12/2022'.

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

Sales and Budget Data Integration:

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

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

Resulting Data View:

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

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

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

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

In this scenario, the data architect needs to verify the existence of files before attempting to load them and then proceed accordingly. The correct approach involves using the FileExists() function to check for the presence of each file. If the file exists, the script should execute the file loading routine. The FOR EACH loop will handle multiple files, and the IF statement will control the conditional loading.

FileExists(): This function checks whether a specific file exists at the specified path. If the file exists, it returns TRUE, allowing the script to proceed with loading the file.

FOR EACH: This loop iterates over a list of items (in this case, file paths) and executes the enclosed code for each item.

IF: This statement checks the condition returned by FileExists(). If TRUE, it executes the code block for loading the file; otherwise, it skips to the next iteration.

This combination ensures that the script loads data only if the files are present, optimizing the data loading process and preventing unnecessary errors.

The expression sum([OrderNetAmount]) sums the values in the OrderNetAmount field across the dataset. Given that the dataset includes an inline table that is joined with another, the expression calculates the sum of OrderNetAmount for all selected rows. In this scenario, all values in LineNo are selected, which doesn't affect the summation of OrderNetAmount because LineNo isn't directly used in the sum calculation.

Step-by-step Calculation:

The Orders table contains the OrderNetAmount for each order. The values provided are 90, 500, 100, and 120.

Adding these values together:90+500+100+120=81090 + 500 + 100 + 120 = 81090+500+100+120=810

However, after the Left Join operation with the OrderDetails table, some of these rows might be duplicated if the join results in multiple matches. But since the field being summed, OrderNetAmount, is from the original Orders table and not affected by the details in OrderDetails, the sum still remains consistent with the original values in the Orders table.

Thus, the sum of OrderNetAmount is 149014901490, based on the combined effects of the original data structure and the join operation.

In this scenario, the data architect needs to conform the revenue data from Company B to match the data standard of Company A, where $0 is explicitly used to represent journeys without revenue.

Explanation of the Correct Script:

Option A:money(replace(Revenue, chr(32), 0)) AS [Revenue Conformed]

replace(Revenue, chr(32), 0):This part of the expression replaces any spaces (ASCII character code 32) in the Revenue field with 0.

money(...):This function formats the resulting value as currency. Since Company B may have either null values or spaces where 0 should be, this script ensures that any blanks are replaced with 0 and then formatted as currency.

Why Option A is Correct:

Handling Spaces:The replace() function is effective in replacing spaces with 0, conforming to Company A's standard of using $0 for non-revenue journeys.

Handling NULL Values:The money() function is used to ensure the final output is formatted as currency. However, it's important to note that NULL values are not directly handled by the replace() function, which is why it is applied before money() to deal with spaces.

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

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

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

LOAD

Address,

City,

CompanyName,

ContactName,

Country,

_CustomerID,

DivisionID,

DivisionName,

Fax,

Phone,

PostalCode,

StateProvince

RESIDENT CustTemp

ORDER BY Country;

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