Business Intelligence Path · Mission 5 of 31Starter

The dashboard numbers don't add up

Investigate all 10 planted data quality issues across the BI schema

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The Brief

Victoria ChenCEOslack-dm

Something is very wrong with the numbers the board deck pulled last week. Revenue totals don't match between reports. Product counts look off. One region is showing up that shouldn't exist. I need a full data quality audit before we present anything externally. Find every issue you can — I've been told there are at least 10 problems buried in this database. Document what you find.

You'll practice

Data quality auditInvestigation

Tables & columns available

dim_employeesdim10 columns
ColumnTypeKey
employee_idINTPK
first_nameTEXT
last_nameTEXT
emailTEXT
departmentTEXT
titleTEXT
hire_dateTEXT
salaryINT
manager_idINT
is_activeINT
dim_productsdim5 columns
ColumnTypeKey
product_idINTPK
product_nameTEXT
categoryTEXT
unit_priceREAL
launch_dateTEXT
dim_regionsdim4 columns
ColumnTypeKey
region_idINTPK
region_nameTEXT
countryTEXT
timezoneTEXT
fact_salesfact8 columns
ColumnTypeKey
sale_idINTPK
employee_idINTFK → dim_employees
product_idINTFK → dim_products
region_idINTFK → dim_regions
sale_dateTEXT
quantityINT
revenueREAL
discountREAL
fact_targetsfact6 columns
ColumnTypeKey
target_idINTPK
employee_idINTFK → dim_employees
quarterINT
yearINT
target_amountREAL
actual_amountREAL

Hints (3)

Each hint you reveal reduces the XP you can earn. Try the query first.

Hint 1

Before aggregating fact_sales, audit dim_products — if the same product name appears on two rows, every downstream JOIN double-counts it. Think about how you'd spot a name that repeats.

Hint 2

Look for the ghost region: SELECT r.region_name, COUNT(s.sale_id) FROM dim_regions r LEFT JOIN fact_sales s ON r.region_id = s.region_id GROUP BY r.region_name

Hint 3

Investigate hire dates: SELECT employee_id, hire_date FROM dim_employees WHERE hire_date > '2026-01-01' OR hire_date LIKE '%/%'