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PL-900 Practice Question: A company has a Power BI dashboard that displays…
A company has a Power BI dashboard that displays real-time data from Azure Stream Analytics. Which connection type should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse DirectQuery with real-time capabilities, but DirectQuery is for querying large datasets on demand, not for ingesting streaming data pushed from Azure Stream Analytics.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Push dataset
Push datasets are designed for real-time streaming scenarios where data is pushed into Power BI via APIs, such as from Azure Stream Analytics. Unlike Import or DirectQuery, Push datasets support automatic refresh of streaming data without requiring a scheduled refresh, making them ideal for real-time dashboards.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Import
Why it's wrong here
Import caches data on a scheduled refresh, so it cannot display real-time streaming output; latency equals the refresh interval. Streaming datasets pushed from Azure Stream Analytics deliver near-real-time updates. Import is correct for historical or slowly changing data, not live telemetry.
- ✗
DirectQuery
Why it's wrong here
DirectQuery issues queries against the source on each visual interaction, but Azure Stream Analytics output lands in a streaming dataset, which Power BI consumes through its push dataset API rather than a DirectQuery connection. DirectQuery suits large relational sources needing live reads without import.
- ✗
Composite model
Why it's wrong here
A composite model combines Import and DirectQuery tables within one dataset, adding latency and refresh complexity. Streaming data from Azure Stream Analytics arrives via push datasets, which bypass composite modelling entirely. Composite models suit mixing cached and live relational sources.
- ✓
Push dataset
Why this is correct
A push dataset lets an external service, such as Azure Stream Analytics, push rows into the Power BI service via the REST API, so tiles refresh as events arrive. This satisfies the real-time streaming constraint that import or DirectQuery cannot meet.
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