Question 1
A retail dashboard needs the fastest interactive queries over a daily refreshed copy of SQL sales data rather than live source changes. Which mode should the analyst prefer?
Explanation
Correct Answer
Choose Import storage and schedule refresh for the cached semantic model. Import uses in-memory VertiPaq data for fast interaction, but requires refresh for new rows.
Incorrect Answers
Hybrid partitions combine cached older data and source-query access to recent data. The boundary it addresses is “query newly arrived fact rows in real time”, while this case concerns “SQL sales data rather than live source changes”.
DirectQuery retrieves results from the source on report queries and inherits source latency. This solves “database without copying fact rows into the model”; the stated issue is “SQL sales data rather than live source changes”.
Direct Lake accesses Delta-backed data through semantic-model caching without the usual Import refresh pipeline. Its application is “analyst wants near-current data without conventional imported-copy refresh”, not the need “SQL sales data rather than live source changes”.