You need to connect Power BI Desktop to an Azure SQL Database that stores roughly 40 million sales records and receives new transactions every minute. Business users must see figures that are no more than five minutes old when they open a report. The organization has only Power BI Pro licenses and will publish the report to a workspace that runs in shared capacity (no Premium features). The database is well-tuned and can return aggregate queries in under five seconds. Which Power BI connectivity mode should you choose so the report meets the freshness requirement without requiring Premium capacity?
Create a live connection to Azure Analysis Services.
Import all data and schedule a refresh every hour.
Import the data and configure an incremental refresh policy.
Use DirectQuery mode when creating the semantic model.
DirectQuery leaves the data in Azure SQL and sends a query to the database each time a visual is rendered, so the report always shows the latest rows without relying on dataset refresh. Import mode-whether full or with incremental refresh-would still depend on scheduled dataset refresh, and shared capacity limits this to eight refreshes per day, far short of the five-minute requirement. A live connection applies to Analysis Services models, not to an Azure SQL source. Therefore, DirectQuery is the only mode that delivers near real-time data under the stated licensing and capacity constraints.
Ask Bash
Bash is our AI bot, trained to help you pass your exam. AI Generated Content may display inaccurate information, always double-check anything important.
What is DirectQuery in Power BI?
Open an interactive chat with Bash
How does DirectQuery differ from Import mode in Power BI?
Open an interactive chat with Bash
Why can't incremental refresh be used in this scenario?
Open an interactive chat with Bash
Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst
Prepare the data
Your Score:
Report Issue
Bash, the Crucial Exams Chat Bot
AI Bot
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Pass with Confidence.
IT & Cybersecurity Package
You have hit the limits of our free tier, become a Premium Member today for unlimited access.
Military, Healthcare worker, Gov. employee or Teacher? See if you qualify for a Community Discount.
Monthly
$19.99
$19.99/mo
Billed monthly, Cancel any time.
3 Month Pass
$44.99
$14.99/mo
One time purchase of $44.99, Does not auto-renew.
MOST POPULAR
Annual Pass
$119.99
$9.99/mo
One time purchase of $119.99, Does not auto-renew.
BEST DEAL
Lifetime Pass
$189.99
One time purchase, Good for life.
What You Get
All IT & Cybersecurity Package plans include the following perks and exams .