IKM Data Analysis and Business Intelligence 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of data analysis focuses on understanding what happened in the past by examining historical data?
- Predictive analysis
- Descriptive analysis (Correct answer)
- Prescriptive analysis
- Diagnostic analysis
Correct answer: Descriptive analysis
Descriptive analysis summarizes historical data to answer 'what happened,' making it the foundational type of business intelligence reporting.
Question 2: In a data warehouse, what is a 'fact table'?
- A table that stores descriptive attributes about dimensions
- A table that stores the measurable, quantitative data for analysis (Correct answer)
- A table that records data transformations applied during ETL
- A table that stores user access permissions
Correct answer: A table that stores the measurable, quantitative data for analysis
A fact table contains the numeric, measurable metrics (facts) of a business process, such as sales amounts or quantities, and is the central table in a star schema.
Question 3: What does ETL stand for in the context of data warehousing?
- Extract, Transform, Load (Correct answer)
- Evaluate, Test, Launch
- Export, Transfer, Log
- Execute, Track, Link
Correct answer: Extract, Transform, Load
ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) is the process of pulling data from source systems, cleaning and reshaping it, then loading it into a target data warehouse.
Question 4: A KPI dashboard shows sales are 15% below target. Which analytical step should be taken next to investigate further?
- Prescriptive analysis to automate a corrective action
- Descriptive analysis to create another summary report
- Diagnostic analysis to identify root causes of the shortfall (Correct answer)
- Predictive analysis to forecast next quarter's sales
Correct answer: Diagnostic analysis to identify root causes of the shortfall
Diagnostic analysis answers 'why did it happen' by drilling down into data to uncover root causes of a deviation from targets.
Question 5: What is a 'dimension table' in a star schema data model?
- A table containing numeric metrics such as revenue or quantity
- A table that stores the time-series sequence of fact records
- A table containing descriptive attributes used to filter or group facts (Correct answer)
- A table that maps foreign keys between multiple fact tables
Correct answer: A table containing descriptive attributes used to filter or group facts
Dimension tables hold descriptive, qualitative attributes (e.g., customer name, product category, region) that provide context for the numeric facts stored in the fact table.
Question 6: Which of the following best describes 'data normalization' in relational database design?
- Scaling all numeric values to a 0–1 range for statistical analysis
- Organizing data to reduce redundancy and improve data integrity (Correct answer)
- Converting unstructured text data into structured table format
- Encrypting sensitive fields to comply with data privacy regulations
Correct answer: Organizing data to reduce redundancy and improve data integrity
Normalization is the process of structuring a relational database to eliminate redundant data and ensure data dependencies make logical sense, typically following normal forms (1NF, 2NF, 3NF).
Question 7: In business intelligence, what is the purpose of OLAP (Online Analytical Processing)?
- To process individual transactional records in real time for operational systems
- To enable fast, multi-dimensional analysis of large data sets from multiple perspectives (Correct answer)
- To automate the extraction of data from external web sources via APIs
- To enforce row-level security on BI dashboards for different user roles
Correct answer: To enable fast, multi-dimensional analysis of large data sets from multiple perspectives
OLAP allows analysts to quickly query and analyze data across multiple dimensions (e.g., time, geography, product) to support complex business intelligence and decision-making tasks.
IKM Data Analysis and Business Intelligence 1
Which type of data analysis focuses on understanding what happened in the past by examining historical data?