CPSA Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield CPSA facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. What is the effect of marking a step as 'optional' in a Pega case process? → The step can be skipped by the assigned operator without completing it
2. What is the primary purpose of a case type in Pega? → To represent a business process and manage its lifecycle
3. In Pega, which authentication mechanism allows users to log in using credentials from an external identity provider without re-entering passwords? → OAuth 2.0 / SAML-based SSO
4. How does Pega support application scalability? → By using reusable rules and hierarchical design
5. Which Pega feature allows developers to create automated validations that confirm a rule produces expected outputs for given inputs? → Unit Test Cases
6. What is the purpose of using a Data Transform in Pega business logic? → To transform and map data between pages
7. In Pega, what is the purpose of a 'resolution stage' in a case lifecycle? → It marks the case as complete and triggers close-out processing
8. In Pega, 'personas' defined during the application design phase map to which runtime security construct? → Access Groups
9. What Pega feature allows an application developer to preview how a UI form will render on a mobile device directly in Dev Studio? → Responsive preview mode in the section designer
10. Which Pega UI control automatically adjusts its layout based on the device screen size? → Responsive layout
11. In Pega, what does the 'Spin-off' case action do? → Creates a child case and continues the parent without waiting
12. What is the main benefit of using templates in UI design? → They help standardize and accelerate UI creation
13. A case type needs to send an automated email notification when it enters a specific stage. Where is this best configured in Pega? → As a stage entry action using a Notify shape
14. Which tool in Pega Dev Studio allows architects to view effective security rules and resolved privileges for a specific access group? → Access of Role to Objects (ARO) viewer
15. What does the 'Urgency' property represent in a Pega work item? → A numeric value (0–100) indicating how urgently a work item needs attention
16. In Pega, what is the effect of setting 'Work Queue' versus 'Work List' on an assignment routing rule? → Work Queue sends to a shared pool; Work List sends to a specific operator
17. In Pega's UI framework, what is the purpose of a 'Harness' rule? → To wrap a complete user interface view such as a form or portal page
18. Which Pega mechanism automatically updates a searchable index when case data changes, enabling fast report queries? → Declare Index
19. What is the purpose of the Performance Analyzer (PAL) tool in Pega? → To profile server-side rule execution and identify performance bottlenecks
20. What is the purpose of a section rule in Pega? → To define reusable UI layouts
21. In Pega, which best practice reduces database load when the same reference data (e.g., a list of countries) is needed repeatedly across a session? → Storing data in a thread-scope Data Page with 'Reload once per interaction'
22. Which component is used in Pega to organize multiple views in a single layout? → Harness
23. Why are data pages used in Pega? → To retrieve and cache data efficiently
24. When is it preferable to use a Data Transform instead of an Activity for data manipulation? → When setting default values, copying pages, or mapping data between objects.
25. Which Pega SLA rule interval is triggered when the work item has not been completed even after the Deadline has passed? → Passed Deadline
26. In Pega, which rule type is used to create a list report that retrieves case data from the database? → List View
27. In Pega, which of the following best describes a 'process' within a stage? → A sequence of steps that represents a business task within the stage
28. What is the recommended approach in Pega to display key performance indicators (KPIs) on a manager dashboard using live case data? → Summary Reports embedded in a Dashboard harness section
29. What is the primary purpose of the Tracer tool in Pega Platform? → To trace and debug rule execution step-by-step during runtime
30. Which Pega configuration enables a dropdown field to automatically populate its list of options from a data page? → Data page source set on the control's options list