QSDA case studies
QSDA · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Qlik Sense Data Architect certification (often abbreviated QSDA) is a vendor credential for practitioners who design and maintain the data layer of Qlik Sense applications rather than the front-end visualisations. It suits BI developers, data engineers and consultants who routinely write load scripts, model tables and keys, and decide how data is stored, refreshed and secured before it reaches a sheet. The exam is multiple choice and tests applied judgement across six broad areas: data modelling (associations, joins, synthetic keys, circular references, star and snowflake designs), load scripting and transformation (ETL patterns, incremental and resident loads), data quality and key consistency, performance tuning and QVD strategy, section access and governance, and deployment operations such as layered QVDs, reload scheduling and publishing between environments. Preparation is mostly hands-on. The QSDA case studies are 5 cases and about 4,301 words.
1Synthetic Key, Circular Reference and a Broken Match Rate
A mid-size distributor runs a Qlik Sense app on two ERP fact tables: Orders (14.2M rows, with OrderDate and PromiseDate) and Shipments (11.6M rows, with ShipDate and OrderDate). The developer built one master calendar and linked it to all four date fields.
903 words, about 5 min2Incremental Load on a 260M-Row Table with Silent Deletes
Order lines land in a SQL table of 260M rows, with roughly 1.8M rows inserted or updated per day. The nightly window is 90 minutes; a full extract QVD currently takes 68 minutes and the transform another 25, so the chain overruns most nights.
892 words, about 4 min3A Three-Hour Reload and a Forty-Second Sheet
A Qlik Sense app has grown for 18 months. It loads 4 fact tables (largest 38M rows) and 22 dimensions.
853 words, about 4 min4Region-Level Security in a 2,400-User Published App
A global manufacturer publishes one Qlik Sense app to 2,400 users across 14 sales regions. A Region field exists in the sales fact.
871 words, about 4 min5A Nightly Chain That Publishes Whatever It Finds
Three source systems feed nine Qlik Sense apps. The nightly chain is fixed-time: 01:00 extracts to QVD (L0), 02:30 transforms (L1), 03:30 app reloads, users arrive at 07:00.
782 words, about 4 min