DP-900 Describe core data concepts Practice Question

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✗

  Operational data

  Why it's wrong here

  Operational data refers to data that supports real-time business functions such as order processing, shipment tracking, or inventory updates, and it is classified by its role in daily operations rather than its structural format. While shipping waybills are certainly operational in nature, the question asks about the data's intrinsic format as stored in JSON, not how it is used. Therefore, this option misidentifies the classification axis—format versus purpose—and is incorrect.

  When this WOULD be correct

  A question asks: 'Which type of data is generated from daily business transactions, such as sales orders or shipping records?' Operational data would be the correct answer because it describes data used for routine business activities.

• ✓

  Semi-structured data

  Why this is correct

  JSON documents consist of key-value pairs, nested objects, and arrays, but each waybill may have a different set of fields—some optional, some nested. This self-describing format provides inherent organization through keys and hierarchical structure, yet it does not enforce a rigid, predefined schema. That combination of organizational properties without a fixed tabular schema is the defining characteristic of semi-structured data, which is why this is the correct classification.

• ✗

  Unstructured data

  Why it's wrong here

  Unstructured data has no predefined internal structure or machine-readable organization, such as raw image files, audio recordings, and free-form text bodies. JSON, by contrast, explicitly structures data using named keys and values that a parser can traverse programmatically, giving it clear syntactic organization. Because the waybills carry inherent structural metadata, calling them unstructured ignores the very nature of the JSON format and is therefore incorrect.

  When this WOULD be correct

  A question describing data such as images, videos, audio files, or free-form text documents with no inherent structure or schema. For example: 'A company stores customer support chat logs as plain text files with no formatting. Which data category?'

• ✗

  Structured data

  Why it's wrong here

  Structured data is tightly organized into rows and columns within a relational schema or a fixed field layout, where every record is required to have the same columns and data types. JSON waybills can omit fields, include nested objects, and vary in shape across documents, which violates the strict schema-on-write requirement of structured data. Even if some waybills share common keys, the overall flexibility inherent in JSON prevents it from being considered structured.

  When this WOULD be correct

  A question describing data stored in a relational database table with predefined columns (e.g., customer ID, name, address) where every row has the same columns and data types would make structured data the correct answer.

Option-by-option analysis

Why each answer is right or wrong

Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The DP-900 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.

Analysis generated from the official DP-900blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”

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