# Data readiness checks for business requirements

*Tableau Consultant Study Guide · Evaluate Current State · Last updated November 3, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/tableau-consultant/evaluate-current-state/data-readiness-checks-for-business-requirements*

Decide whether a customer's existing data can answer the business question: grain that cannot be recovered, measures a related table cannot split, unmatched rows and nulls, multi-fact models without a shared date table, snapshot freshness, report-style Excel files and location fields Tableau cannot geocode.

- Certification: Salesforce Tableau Consultant
- Exam section: Evaluate Current State
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/tableau-consultant

**Official exam objective:**

> Evaluate whether existing data supports business needs.

## What the exam expects

- Judge whether the grain of the delivered data can answer the requirement, and ask for more detail when it cannot.
- Explain replicated measures, deduplicated totals and inflated joined totals, and tell a modeling fault from a data gap.
- Diagnose missing dimension members and unexpected Null members in a related data source.
- Recognize when a multi-fact model lacks a shared table, such as a date table, for the requirement.
- Treat freshness as a fitness criterion: an extract is a snapshot until it is refreshed.
- Make report-style Excel files and location fields usable, or name the source fix.

Key terms:
- **Grain:** the level of detail of one row of a table.
- **Replication:** Tableau repeating a measure across a dimension that cannot split it.
- **Unmatched value:** a row in one related table with no matching row in the other.
- **Base table / shared table:** a multi-fact tree's root, and a table belonging to more than one tree.
- **Custom geocoding:** importing latitude and longitude for locations Tableau does not recognize.

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Preferred grain | As granular as possible, such as daily rather than monthly averages | [Data tips](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/data_tips.htm) |
| Measure that can't be split | Replicated across the dimension | [Relationships analysis](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/datasource_multitable_analysis_overview.htm) |
| Dimension-only view of related tables | Uses inner joins | [Relationships analysis](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/datasource_multitable_analysis_overview.htm) |
| Show Empty Rows/Columns side effect | Densifies Date and Numeric Bin fields | [Relationships analysis](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/datasource_multitable_analysis_overview.htm) |
| Unrelated fields in a multi-fact viz | Dimensions cross joined; measures table scoped and repeated | [Multi-fact models](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/datasource_mfr_multiple_base_tables.htm) |
| Extract | A compressed snapshot of data | [Use extracts](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/perf_extracts.htm) |
| Blank rows, missing headers | Must be fixed in the Excel data | [Data tips](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/data_tips.htm) |
| Data Interpreter | Does not change the underlying data | [Data Interpreter](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/data_interpreter.htm) |
| Custom geocoding file | .csv with Latitude and Longitude columns | [Custom geocoding](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/custom_geocoding.htm) |

## Check yourself

- Why can Show Empty Rows be an unwanted fix for missing members?
- When does an unexpected Null member point to a modeling fault rather than to the data?
- What does Data Interpreter change in the original spreadsheet?

## Sources

- [Tips for Working with Your Data](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/data_tips.htm)
- [How Analysis Works for Data Sources that Use Relationships](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/datasource_multitable_analysis_overview.htm)
- [About Multi-fact Relationship Data Models](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/datasource_mfr_multiple_base_tables.htm)
- [When to Use a Multi-fact Relationship Model](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/datasource_mfr_when_to_use.htm)
- [Test Your Data and Use Extracts](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/perf_extracts.htm)
- [Refresh Extracts](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/extracting_refresh.htm)
- [Clean Data from Excel, CSV, PDF, and Google Sheets with Data Interpreter](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/data_interpreter.htm)
- [Location Data that Tableau Supports for Building Map Views](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/maps_data.htm)
- [Geocode Locations Tableau Does Not Recognize and Plot Them on a Map](https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/custom_geocoding.htm)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 10 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Tableau Consultant pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams