PL-900 Demonstrate the capabilities of Power BI — 20 Questions

Question 1

A sales manager wants to create a dashboard that shows sales by region and product category. The data is stored in an Excel file that is updated weekly. What is the most efficient way to ensure the dashboard reflects the latest data?

Accepted Answer

Publish the report from Power BI Desktop and schedule a daily data refresh in Power BI service. Option A is correct because it separates the report creation (in Power BI Desktop) from the data refresh schedule (in the Power BI service). By publishing the report once and configuring a daily scheduled refresh, the dashboard automatically reflects the latest data from the Excel file without manual intervention, which is the most efficient approach for weekly updates.

Answer

Use Power BI Desktop to connect to the Excel file and publish a new report weekly

Answer

Use Power Query to merge data from the Excel file and create a composite model

Answer

Upload the Excel file to the Power BI service each week

Question 2

A company uses Power BI to monitor manufacturing efficiency. The dataset includes a column 'RunTime' (in minutes) and 'DownTime' (in minutes). A user wants to calculate 'Availability' as (RunTime / (RunTime + DownTime)) * 100. Which DAX measure should be used?

Accepted Answer

Availability = DIVIDE(SUM([RunTime]), SUM([RunTime])+SUM([DownTime])) * 100. Option A is correct because it uses the DIVIDE function to safely handle division by zero, and multiplies by 100 to express the result as a percentage. The formula sums RunTime and DownTime across all rows, then computes Availability = (Total RunTime / (Total RunTime + Total DownTime)) * 100, which matches the user's requirement exactly.

Answer

Availability = DIVIDE(SUM([RunTime]), SUM([RunTime])+SUM([DownTime]))

Answer

Availability = AVERAGE(Table[RunTime]) / (AVERAGE(Table[RunTime])+AVERAGE(Table[DownTime])) * 100

Answer

Availability = SUMX(Table, [RunTime]/([RunTime]+[DownTime])) * 100

Question 3

A financial analyst creates a Power BI report to compare quarterly revenue across years. The data has a 'Date' column and a 'Revenue' column. The analyst wants to display year-over-year growth for each quarter. Which visual and configuration would best achieve this?

Accepted Answer

Matrix visual with years as columns, quarters as rows, and a measure for YoY growth. Option B is correct because a Matrix visual allows you to place years as columns and quarters as rows, then define a DAX measure for year-over-year (YoY) growth (e.g., (Current Year Revenue - Previous Year Revenue) / Previous Year Revenue). This directly compares each quarter’s revenue across years in a structured, tabular format, which is the most effective way to display YoY growth for each quarter.

Answer

Line chart with date hierarchy and revenue, adding year-over-year trend line

Answer

Stacked bar chart with quarters on axis and revenue as values, using year as legend

Answer

Scatter plot with revenue on both axes and date as detail

Question 4

A marketing team wants to share a Power BI dashboard with external stakeholders who do not have Power BI licenses. Which sharing method should the team use?

Accepted Answer

Use Publish to web (embed code) to create a public link. Option C is correct because 'Publish to web' generates an embed code that creates a publicly accessible link to the Power BI dashboard, which can be viewed by anyone without requiring a Power BI license or authentication. This is the only method listed that allows external stakeholders without licenses to access the dashboard directly in a browser.

Answer

Share the dashboard from the Power BI service

Answer

Add the stakeholders to a Power BI workspace with viewer role

Answer

Export the report to PDF and email it

Question 5

A data analyst notices that a Power BI report takes a long time to load when filtering by a specific date range. The data source is a SQL Server view that contains millions of rows. What is the most effective way to improve performance?

Accepted Answer

Use DirectQuery and optimize the SQL view with indexes and filters. Option B is correct because the performance bottleneck is at the data source level—millions of rows in a SQL Server view. Using DirectQuery with optimized indexes and filters pushes query execution back to SQL Server, allowing it to leverage database-level performance features like index seeks and query plan caching. This reduces the amount of data transferred and processed in Power BI, directly addressing the root cause of slow filtering.

Answer

Create a calculated column for the date range filter

Answer

Switch from DirectQuery to Import mode

Answer

Hide unnecessary columns in the report

Question 6

Which TWO of the following are valid ways to connect to data in Power BI Desktop?

Accepted Answer

Direct connection to a SQL Server database. Option D is correct because Power BI Desktop includes a native SQL Server connector that allows direct query or import mode connections to on-premises or cloud SQL Server databases. This enables real-time or scheduled data retrieval using T-SQL queries, supporting both Windows and SQL Server authentication.

Answer

Connection to a SharePoint Online list using the SharePoint connector

Answer

Connecting to a Power Apps canvas app as a data source

Answer

Using Power Automate to extract data from a website

Question 7

Which THREE of the following are features available in Power BI Premium per capacity? (Select three.)

Accepted Answer

XMLA endpoints for read-write access to datasets. Option A is correct because Power BI Premium per capacity exposes XMLA endpoints that support both read and write operations on datasets. This allows tools like SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and third-party applications to manage, update, and refresh datasets programmatically using the XML for Analysis (XMLA) protocol, which is essential for enterprise-level dataset management and integration with custom solutions.

Answer

Built-in AI visuals like Q&A and Key Influencers

Answer

Free users can create and share reports

Question 8

Refer to the exhibit. The JSON represents a Power BI dataset refresh configuration. After deployment, the refresh fails with an error indicating that the data source credentials are missing. Which step must be taken to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Configure the data source credentials in the Power BI service under dataset settings. The error indicates that the data source credentials are missing in the Power BI service, not in the JSON configuration. The JSON only defines the refresh schedule and dataset parameters; credentials must be configured separately in the Power BI service under dataset settings because they are sensitive and not stored in deployment artifacts. Option B is correct because you must manually enter or update the credentials in the Power BI service to authenticate against the data source.

Answer

Add the credentials to the JSON configuration and redeploy

Answer

Set the data source privacy level to Organizational

Answer

Change the connection string to use SQL Server authentication

Question 9

Refer to the exhibit. A Power BI report connecting to the SalesDB database is slow. The exhibit shows a SQL Server activity snapshot. What is the most likely cause of the performance issue?

Accepted Answer

SPID 55 is blocked by SPID 54, causing delays. The exhibit shows SPID 55 (a SELECT query) in a 'suspended' state with a non-zero 'blocked_by' column value of 54, indicating it is waiting for a lock held by SPID 54. SPID 54 is in a 'sleeping' state but still holds locks, which blocks SPID 55 from proceeding. This blocking chain directly causes the report's slow performance, as the Power BI query cannot complete until the blocking session releases its locks.

Answer

The database server has insufficient memory

Answer

The SELECT query (SPID 55) is performing a table scan

Answer

The sleeping session (SPID 54) is using too much CPU

Question 10

You are a data analyst at a manufacturing company that uses Microsoft 365 and Power BI. The company has a Power BI tenant with Free, Pro, and Premium Per User (PPU) licenses. Your team has created a Power BI report that visualizes production line efficiency from a SQL Server database on-premises. The report is published to a workspace assigned to a PPU capacity. You need to ensure that all 50 users in the production department can view the report on their mobile devices, with data refreshing every 30 minutes. The users have a mix of Free and Pro licenses. The report uses DirectQuery mode to the on-premises SQL Server. You have configured an on-premises data gateway in personal mode. Users report that the report is slow and sometimes fails to load. What should you do to improve performance and reliability while meeting the refresh requirement?

Accepted Answer

Switch the on-premises data gateway from personal mode to standard mode and add additional gateways to the cluster.. Option D is correct because the report uses DirectQuery mode, which requires a standard (on-premises data gateway) mode to handle concurrent queries efficiently. Personal mode is limited to a single user and cannot scale to support 50 users, causing slow performance and failures. Adding additional gateways to a standard mode cluster distributes the query load, improving reliability and performance while maintaining the 30-minute refresh requirement via DirectQuery.

Answer

Move the report to a shared capacity and assign all users Pro licenses.

Answer

Change the report from DirectQuery to Import mode and configure scheduled refresh every 30 minutes.

Answer

Assign all users Premium Per User licenses to ensure they can view the report.

Question 11

Refer to the exhibit. A Power BI developer imported the JSON data into a Power BI data model. When creating a report, they notice that the 'Sales' table does not display the product name. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The relationship between Sales and Product tables is not active or is misconfigured.. Option D is correct because the most likely cause is that the relationship between the Sales and Product tables is either inactive or misconfigured. In Power BI, even when a relationship exists, if it is set to inactive (e.g., using a bidirectional filter or a different cardinality), the report will not automatically propagate the ProductName from the Product table to the Sales table. This prevents the product name from displaying in the report, even though the data is present in the model.

Answer

No relationship is defined between the tables.

Answer

The Sales table and Product table are from different data sources.

Answer

The 'ProductName' column is missing from the Product table.

Question 12

Which TWO actions are supported by Power BI to share a report with external users who do not have an Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) account in the tenant?

Accepted Answer

Publish the report to the web (embed code) and share the link.. Option C is correct because Power BI's 'Publish to web' feature generates an embed code that creates a publicly accessible URL, allowing anyone with the link to view the report without requiring an Azure AD account. This bypasses tenant-level authentication entirely, making it suitable for sharing with external users who lack Azure AD credentials in the organization's tenant.

Answer

Share the report directly by entering the external user's email address.

Answer

Export the report to PDF and share the file via a shared drive.

Answer

Send the report as an email attachment to the external user.

Question 13

You are a Power BI administrator for a retail company. The sales team uses a Power BI report that connects to an on-premises SQL Server database via an on-premises data gateway. Recently, several users reported that the report is showing stale data. The report is configured to refresh daily at 8:00 AM. Upon investigation, you find that the scheduled refresh failed last night at 8:00 AM with an error: 'The data source credentials could not be encrypted using the gateway's encryption key.' The gateway is installed on a server that was rebooted for maintenance at 7:30 AM. The gateway service account is a local service account. The data source credentials were configured using a SQL Server authentication login. What should you do to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

In the Power BI Online service, go to the gateway settings and click 'Recover' to restore the encryption key.. The error 'The data source credentials could not be encrypted using the gateway's encryption key' indicates that the gateway's encryption key was lost or corrupted, which commonly occurs after a server reboot if the key is stored in memory or a volatile location. In the Power BI Online service, the 'Recover' option under gateway settings restores the encryption key from a backup stored in the cloud, allowing the gateway to re-encrypt credentials without reconfiguring the data source. This is the direct fix for the reported error and does not require changing the service account or recreating the data source.

Answer

Change the gateway service account to a domain account and reconfigure the data source credentials.

Answer

Restart the on-premises data gateway service on the server.

Answer

Delete and recreate the data source in the gateway settings.

Question 14

Drag and drop the steps to create a connection between Power Automate and a third-party service like Office 365 in the correct order.

Question 15

Match each Power Automate trigger type to its description.