Applied Digitalisation · Stage test

Digitalisation Intermediate stage test

No governed timed route exists for this stage yet, so this page gives you an honest untimed stage-end check built from the published bank.

Format Untimed self-check
Questions 18
Best time to use it After the stage modules and practice

Question 1

What is the role of data pipelines in a digital operating model?

  1. Data pipelines are only used for reporting
  2. Data pipelines automate the flow of data from sources through transformations to destinations, enabling real-time insights, integration across systems, and consistent data quality
  3. They replace the need for databases
  4. Data pipelines are the same as APIs
Reveal answer

Correct answer: Data pipelines automate the flow of data from sources through transformations to destinations, enabling real-time insights, integration across systems, and consistent data quality

Question 2

What is the difference between a KPI and a vanity metric?

  1. KPIs are always larger numbers than vanity metrics
  2. A KPI directly measures progress toward a business objective and informs decisions, while a vanity metric looks impressive but does not drive meaningful action
  3. Vanity metrics are used by marketing and KPIs by finance
  4. There is no real difference between them
Reveal answer

Correct answer: A KPI directly measures progress toward a business objective and informs decisions, while a vanity metric looks impressive but does not drive meaningful action

Question 3

What is a digital twin?

  1. A backup copy of a website
  2. A virtual replica of a physical asset, process, or system that uses real-time data to simulate, predict, and optimise performance
  3. Two identical servers running in parallel
  4. A type of cloud computing architecture
Reveal answer

Correct answer: A virtual replica of a physical asset, process, or system that uses real-time data to simulate, predict, and optimise performance

Question 4

What is the difference between REST and event-driven integration?

  1. REST is faster and event-driven is slower
  2. REST uses synchronous request-response patterns where the caller waits for a reply, while event-driven integration is asynchronous with producers publishing events that consumers process independently
  3. Event-driven integration cannot use HTTP
  4. They produce identical results and are interchangeable
Reveal answer

Correct answer: REST uses synchronous request-response patterns where the caller waits for a reply, while event-driven integration is asynchronous with producers publishing events that consumers process independently

Question 5

What is an integration pattern and why do organisations need them?

  1. A visual design for user interfaces
  2. Reusable solutions to common data exchange challenges such as message queues, publish-subscribe, and API gateways that reduce complexity and prevent ad-hoc point-to-point connections
  3. A type of network cable configuration
  4. Integration patterns are only relevant for enterprise software
Reveal answer

Correct answer: Reusable solutions to common data exchange challenges such as message queues, publish-subscribe, and API gateways that reduce complexity and prevent ad-hoc point-to-point connections

Question 6

What is a capability map and how does it support digitalisation?

  1. A map showing where data centres are located
  2. A structured view of what an organisation does (not how), enabling leaders to identify gaps, overlaps, and investment priorities for digital change
  3. A technical diagram of network infrastructure
  4. A list of employee skills and certifications
Reveal answer

Correct answer: A structured view of what an organisation does (not how), enabling leaders to identify gaps, overlaps, and investment priorities for digital change

Question 7

What does TOGAF's Architecture Development Method (ADM) provide?

  1. A programming framework for building web applications
  2. A phased approach for developing enterprise architecture that iterates through business, data, application, and technology architectures with governance at each stage
  3. A database schema design tool
  4. A certification programme for software engineers
Reveal answer

Correct answer: A phased approach for developing enterprise architecture that iterates through business, data, application, and technology architectures with governance at each stage

Question 8

What is the difference between monitoring and observability?

  1. They are the same thing
  2. Monitoring checks predefined metrics against thresholds, while observability enables understanding of system behaviour from its outputs (logs, metrics, traces) to diagnose novel problems
  3. Observability is cheaper than monitoring
  4. Monitoring is for hardware and observability is for software
Reveal answer

Correct answer: Monitoring checks predefined metrics against thresholds, while observability enables understanding of system behaviour from its outputs (logs, metrics, traces) to diagnose novel problems

Question 9

What is site reliability engineering (SRE) and how does it relate to digital operations?

  1. SRE is about building websites that never go down
  2. SRE applies software engineering principles to operations, using error budgets, SLOs, and automation to balance reliability with the speed of feature delivery
  3. SRE is the same as traditional IT support
  4. SRE only applies to Google's infrastructure
Reveal answer

Correct answer: SRE applies software engineering principles to operations, using error budgets, SLOs, and automation to balance reliability with the speed of feature delivery

Question 10

What is the medallion architecture (bronze, silver, gold)?

  1. A ranking system for data engineers
  2. A data lake pattern where bronze holds raw ingested data, silver holds cleaned and validated data, and gold holds business-ready aggregated data for reporting and analytics
  3. A security classification system
  4. A method for archiving old data
Reveal answer

Correct answer: A data lake pattern where bronze holds raw ingested data, silver holds cleaned and validated data, and gold holds business-ready aggregated data for reporting and analytics

Question 11

What is an OKR and how does it differ from a KPI?

  1. OKRs and KPIs are identical
  2. Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) set ambitious goals with measurable outcomes for a time period, while KPIs track ongoing operational health. OKRs drive change, KPIs monitor stability
  3. OKRs are only used in technology companies
  4. KPIs are more ambitious than OKRs
Reveal answer

Correct answer: Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) set ambitious goals with measurable outcomes for a time period, while KPIs track ongoing operational health. OKRs drive change, KPIs monitor stability

Question 12

What is a value stream in digitalisation?

  1. A financial model for revenue forecasting
  2. The end-to-end sequence of activities that delivers a product or service to a customer, showing where value is created and where waste occurs
  3. A type of data visualisation
  4. A stream of real-time data
Reveal answer

Correct answer: The end-to-end sequence of activities that delivers a product or service to a customer, showing where value is created and where waste occurs

Question 13

What is an API gateway and what problems does it solve?

  1. A physical server that stores API documentation
  2. A single entry point that handles cross-cutting concerns like authentication, rate limiting, logging, and routing for multiple backend services
  3. A tool for designing user interfaces
  4. An API gateway is the same as a web server
Reveal answer

Correct answer: A single entry point that handles cross-cutting concerns like authentication, rate limiting, logging, and routing for multiple backend services

Question 14

What is data mesh and how does it differ from a centralised data warehouse approach?

  1. Data mesh is a networking technology
  2. Data mesh decentralises data ownership to domain teams who publish data as products, whereas a centralised warehouse collects all data into a single team-managed repository
  3. Data mesh eliminates the need for data governance
  4. A data warehouse and data mesh are the same concept
Reveal answer

Correct answer: Data mesh decentralises data ownership to domain teams who publish data as products, whereas a centralised warehouse collects all data into a single team-managed repository

Question 15

What is 'shift left' in the context of digital delivery?

  1. Moving team desks to the left side of the office
  2. Moving quality checks, security testing, and validation earlier in the delivery lifecycle so issues are caught when they are cheaper to fix
  3. A left-wing political approach to technology policy
  4. Shifting server workloads to a different data centre
Reveal answer

Correct answer: Moving quality checks, security testing, and validation earlier in the delivery lifecycle so issues are caught when they are cheaper to fix

Question 16

What does 'composable architecture' mean in digital design?

  1. Architecture that composes music
  2. Building systems from modular, interchangeable components that can be assembled, replaced, and recombined to adapt to changing business needs quickly
  3. Architecture that only uses a single programming language
  4. A method for reducing the number of servers
Reveal answer

Correct answer: Building systems from modular, interchangeable components that can be assembled, replaced, and recombined to adapt to changing business needs quickly

Question 17

What is the difference between leading and lagging indicators?

  1. Leading indicators are always more accurate
  2. Leading indicators predict future outcomes and allow proactive action, while lagging indicators measure results after the fact and confirm what has already happened
  3. Lagging indicators are used in agile and leading in waterfall
  4. There is no practical difference between them
Reveal answer

Correct answer: Leading indicators predict future outcomes and allow proactive action, while lagging indicators measure results after the fact and confirm what has already happened

Question 18

What is an error budget in SRE?

  1. The financial cost of fixing bugs
  2. The acceptable amount of downtime or errors defined by the gap between 100% and the service level objective (SLO), balancing reliability investment against feature velocity
  3. A budget for buying error-handling software
  4. The number of bugs allowed per sprint
Reveal answer

Correct answer: The acceptable amount of downtime or errors defined by the gap between 100% and the service level objective (SLO), balancing reliability investment against feature velocity

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