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CCNA Power Bi Capabilities Questions

15 questions · Power Bi Capabilities topic · All types, answers revealed

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1
Multi-Selecteasy

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

Select 2 answers
A.Connection to a SharePoint Online list using the SharePoint connector
B.Connecting to a Power Apps canvas app as a data source
C.Using Power Automate to extract data from a website
D.Direct connection to a SQL Server database
E.Importing data from an Excel file stored on the local drive
AnswersD, E

Power BI Desktop can connect directly to SQL Server.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates confuse 'connecting to a data source' with 'using a service to extract data'—Power Automate is an orchestration tool, not a data connector within Power BI Desktop, and Power Apps is an application, not a data source.

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2
MCQmedium

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?

A.Create a calculated column for the date range filter
B.Use DirectQuery and optimize the SQL view with indexes and filters
C.Switch from DirectQuery to Import mode
D.Hide unnecessary columns in the report
AnswerB

DirectQuery with query folding pushes processing to the source, and indexes improve performance.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume Import mode is always faster for large datasets, but they overlook that DirectQuery with source-side optimization avoids transferring all data and leverages the database's native query processing power.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because a calculated column is computed in Power BI after data is loaded, which does not reduce the volume of data retrieved from the source and adds processing overhead, worsening performance. Option C is wrong because switching from DirectQuery to Import mode would load all millions of rows into the Power BI model, increasing memory usage and initial load time, and does not solve the underlying slow query execution on the SQL Server side. Option D is wrong because hiding unnecessary columns only affects report visuals, not the data retrieval or query execution; the SQL view still returns all columns and rows, so performance remains unchanged.

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3
Multi-Selectmedium

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

Select 3 answers
A.XMLA endpoints for read-write access to datasets
B.Larger data storage limits (up to 100 GB per dataset)
C.Deployment pipelines for managing content lifecycle
D.Built-in AI visuals like Q&A and Key Influencers
E.Free users can create and share reports
AnswersA, B, C

XMLA endpoints are a Premium feature.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

Microsoft often tests the misconception that all AI visuals and sharing capabilities are exclusive to Premium capacity, when in fact features like Q&A and Key Influencers are available in Pro/PPU, and free users can only consume reports in a Premium workspace but cannot create or share them.

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4
MCQmedium

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?

A.Availability = DIVIDE(SUM([RunTime]), SUM([RunTime])+SUM([DownTime])) * 100
B.Availability = DIVIDE(SUM([RunTime]), SUM([RunTime])+SUM([DownTime]))
C.Availability = AVERAGE(Table[RunTime]) / (AVERAGE(Table[RunTime])+AVERAGE(Table[DownTime])) * 100
D.Availability = SUMX(Table, [RunTime]/([RunTime]+[DownTime])) * 100
AnswerA

Correctly calculates percentage.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse aggregate-level calculations (using SUM) with row-level calculations (using SUMX or AVERAGE), and they may forget to multiply by 100 when the requirement explicitly asks for a percentage value.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option B is wrong because it omits the multiplication by 100, so the result is a decimal (e.g., 0.95) rather than a percentage (95%), which does not match the user's requirement. Option C is wrong because it uses AVERAGE instead of SUM; averaging individual row ratios yields a different result than the aggregate ratio, and the user's requirement is based on total times, not averages. Option D is wrong because SUMX iterates row-by-row, computing the ratio for each row and then summing those ratios; this is not equivalent to the aggregate ratio of total RunTime divided by total (RunTime + DownTime), and it can produce incorrect results when rows have different denominators.

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5
MCQeasy

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?

A.Share the dashboard from the Power BI service
B.Add the stakeholders to a Power BI workspace with viewer role
C.Use Publish to web (embed code) to create a public link
D.Export the report to PDF and email it
AnswerC

Allows anyone to view the report without a license.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'sharing from the service' or 'workspace access' as viable for external users without licenses, but Power BI requires licenses for those methods, whereas 'Publish to web' is the only option that completely removes the license requirement.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because sharing a dashboard from the Power BI service requires each recipient to have a Power BI Pro or Premium Per User license to view the shared content. Option B is wrong because adding stakeholders to a Power BI workspace with the viewer role still requires each user to have a Power BI Pro license (or the workspace must be backed by Premium capacity, but even then, free users need to be in the same tenant and have a free license). Option D is wrong because exporting to PDF creates a static snapshot that loses all interactivity, live data refresh, and drill-down capabilities, which defeats the purpose of sharing a live dashboard.

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6
MCQeasy

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?

A.Publish the report from Power BI Desktop and schedule a daily data refresh in Power BI service
B.Use Power BI Desktop to connect to the Excel file and publish a new report weekly
C.Use Power Query to merge data from the Excel file and create a composite model
D.Upload the Excel file to the Power BI service each week
AnswerA

Scheduled refresh automates data updates without manual intervention.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may confuse manual re-publishing (Option B) or manual upload (Option D) with the automated refresh capability, overlooking that Power BI service can schedule data refreshes from a published report without needing to re-publish the .pbix file.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option B is wrong because it requires manually re-publishing the report each week, which is inefficient and error-prone compared to automating the refresh. Option C is wrong because using Power Query to merge data and create a composite model is a data transformation technique, not a method for ensuring the dashboard reflects updated data from a changing Excel file. Option D is wrong because manually uploading the Excel file each week is labor-intensive and does not leverage Power BI's automated refresh capabilities.

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7
Matchingmedium

Match each Power Automate trigger type to its description.

Drag a concept onto its matching description — or click a concept then click the description.

Concepts
Matches

Starts based on an event (e.g., new email)

Starts manually by a user action

Starts at a specified time or interval

A type of scheduled trigger repeating regularly

Starts from a button in a Power App

Why these pairings

Triggers define how a flow starts.

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8
MCQmedium

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?

A.No relationship is defined between the tables.
B.The Sales table and Product table are from different data sources.
C.The 'ProductName' column is missing from the Product table.
D.The relationship between Sales and Product tables is not active or is misconfigured.
AnswerD

The relationship must be active and correctly set to retrieve related product names.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume any defined relationship automatically works for all visuals, but Power BI requires the relationship to be active (solid line) for implicit measures and visual filters to propagate correctly, and inactive relationships are a common source of missing data in reports.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because if no relationship were defined, Power BI would not allow any cross-filtering between tables, but the question states the Sales table exists and the issue is specifically with the product name not displaying, implying a relationship likely exists but is not functioning correctly. Option B is wrong because Power BI can combine data from different sources (e.g., SQL Server and Excel) into a single data model without issue, as long as relationships are properly defined; the source origin does not inherently prevent a column from displaying. Option C is wrong because if the ProductName column were missing from the Product table, the column would not appear in the field list at all, but the question implies the column exists (the developer expects it to display), so the problem is with the relationship, not the column's existence.

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9
MCQhard

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?

A.Line chart with date hierarchy and revenue, adding year-over-year trend line
B.Matrix visual with years as columns, quarters as rows, and a measure for YoY growth
C.Stacked bar chart with quarters on axis and revenue as values, using year as legend
D.Scatter plot with revenue on both axes and date as detail
AnswerB

Matrix allows side-by-side comparison and custom measures.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often choose a chart option (like a line chart with trend lines) thinking it visually shows growth, but the question specifically asks for displaying year-over-year growth for each quarter, which requires a tabular or matrix format to show exact percentage changes per quarter across years.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because a line chart with a date hierarchy and a year-over-year trend line does not inherently calculate or display the exact YoY growth percentage for each quarter; it only shows a trend line that may misrepresent quarterly comparisons. Option C is wrong because a stacked bar chart with quarters on the axis and year as legend shows the composition of revenue by year within each quarter, not the growth rate between years. Option D is wrong because a scatter plot with revenue on both axes and date as detail does not provide a clear comparison of quarterly revenue across years; it would plot revenue against itself, which is meaningless for YoY growth analysis.

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10
Drag & Dropmedium

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

Drag steps to the numbered slots on the right, or tap a step then tap a slot.

Steps
Order

Why this order

Connections are created when adding triggers/actions; sign-in is required before use.

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11
MCQmedium

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?

A.Move the report to a shared capacity and assign all users Pro licenses.
B.Change the report from DirectQuery to Import mode and configure scheduled refresh every 30 minutes.
C.Assign all users Premium Per User licenses to ensure they can view the report.
D.Switch the on-premises data gateway from personal mode to standard mode and add additional gateways to the cluster.
AnswerD

Standard mode gateways support multiple concurrent connections and improve performance for DirectQuery.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often focus on licensing (Free vs. Pro vs. PPU) as the solution, overlooking the critical infrastructure issue of the gateway mode and cluster configuration for DirectQuery performance.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because moving to shared capacity does not address the gateway bottleneck; Pro licenses alone do not fix the performance issue caused by personal mode gateways. Option B is wrong because changing to Import mode would require a scheduled refresh, but the report uses DirectQuery for real-time data; Import mode would break the live connection and still require a proper gateway for refresh. Option C is wrong because assigning PPU licenses to all users does not resolve the gateway performance issue; the bottleneck is the personal mode gateway, not licensing.

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12
MCQmedium

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?

A.The database server has insufficient memory
B.SPID 55 is blocked by SPID 54, causing delays
C.The SELECT query (SPID 55) is performing a table scan
D.The sleeping session (SPID 54) is using too much CPU
AnswerB

BlkBy column shows SPID 55 is blocked by SPID 54.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates see SPID 54 as 'sleeping' and assume it is idle and harmless, missing that it still holds locks that block other queries, which is the root cause of the performance issue.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because insufficient memory would typically manifest as high page life expectancy or memory pressure counters, not as a specific SPID being blocked by another; the exhibit shows no memory-related metrics. Option C is wrong because while a table scan could cause slow performance, the exhibit explicitly shows SPID 55 is 'suspended' due to being blocked (blocked_by = 54), not actively running a scan; a table scan would appear as a 'runnable' or 'running' state with high logical reads. Option D is wrong because a sleeping session (SPID 54) uses negligible CPU; the issue is that it holds locks that block other sessions, not its CPU consumption.

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13
MCQhard

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?

A.Change the gateway service account to a domain account and reconfigure the data source credentials.
B.In the Power BI Online service, go to the gateway settings and click 'Recover' to restore the encryption key.
C.Restart the on-premises data gateway service on the server.
D.Delete and recreate the data source in the gateway settings.
AnswerB

Recovering the gateway restores the encryption key.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates assume a service restart or credential reconfiguration is needed, but the specific encryption key error points to a recoverable state in the Power BI service, not a local service or data source issue.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because changing the gateway service account to a domain account does not address the lost encryption key; the error is about key encryption, not authentication context. Option C is wrong because restarting the gateway service will not restore a lost encryption key; it only reinitializes the service without recovering the key material. Option D is wrong because deleting and recreating the data source would require re-entering credentials, but the underlying issue is the gateway's inability to encrypt those credentials, which is resolved by recovering the encryption key, not by recreating the data source.

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14
Multi-Selecteasy

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?

Select 2 answers
A.Share the report directly by entering the external user's email address.
B.Export the report to PDF and share the file via a shared drive.
C.Publish the report to the web (embed code) and share the link.
D.Send the report as an email attachment to the external user.
E.Invite the external user as a guest user in Azure AD B2B and share the report.
AnswersC, E

Publish to web creates a public link.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse the 'Share' dialog's email entry (which requires Azure AD authentication) with the 'Publish to web' feature (which does not), or mistakenly think Power BI can email report files as attachments like a traditional BI tool.

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15
MCQhard

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?

A.Add the credentials to the JSON configuration and redeploy
B.Configure the data source credentials in the Power BI service under dataset settings
C.Set the data source privacy level to Organizational
D.Change the connection string to use SQL Server authentication
AnswerB

Credentials must be set in the service for scheduled refresh.

Why this answer

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.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates assume the JSON configuration can include all deployment details, but Power BI intentionally separates credentials from deployment artifacts to enforce security, so the error points to a missing manual configuration step in the service.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because the JSON configuration for a Power BI dataset refresh does not support embedding credentials; credentials are managed separately in the Power BI service for security reasons. Option C is wrong because setting the data source privacy level to Organizational controls data isolation and cross-source combining, not credential provisioning; it does not resolve a missing credentials error. Option D is wrong because changing the connection string to use SQL Server authentication would still require credentials to be configured in the Power BI service; the error is about missing credentials, not the authentication method.

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