Administration and Solutions
About 4% of the CIS-PA exam — see all 6 domains.
- Roles: pa_admin and pa_data_collector (each equivalent to admin from a security perspective), pa_power_user (creates and manages indicators, breakdowns, bucket groups, and widgets), pa_target_admin and pa_threshold_admin (global targets and thresholds), pa_contributor (enters scores in scoresheets for indicators they contribute to), pa_analyst (text analytics keywords), pa_kpi_signal_admin, and pa_viewer (needed before Quebec, still on some upgraded instances). Users with no role can view dashboards shared with them, and any role can create dashboards. Grant least privilege.
- Administration: All > Platform Analytics Administration holds indicators, sources, breakdowns, data collector jobs and job logs, properties, and diagnostics. The legacy Performance Analytics Admin Console is not available on net-new instances starting in Zurich.
- Properties: PA properties control collection behavior, element limits, retention, and colors.
- Solutions administration: install and activate solutions and their jobs. When a solution is upgraded, records with updates are installed but previously customized records are not overwritten, so review customized records against the new version.
- Maintenance: monitor job logs, manage score and snapshot retention, and govern who can create content to keep the instance performant.
Sample questions from this domain
Three of the 12 in this domain, with the reasoning. The full set is in the question bank.
What is a Performance Analytics solution (content pack) primarily intended to do?
- A. Deliver preconfigured indicator sources, leaving the widgets and dashboards to be built by hand
- B. Deliver a free Performance Analytics entitlement that removes the 180-day data collection limit
- C. Deliver a migration path that converts Core UI dashboards into Platform Analytics experience dashboards
- D. Deliver preconfigured indicators, breakdowns, widgets, and dashboards for an application area ✓
Why: A Platform Analytics Solution (content pack) ships ready-made analytics content (indicators, breakdowns, widgets, dashboards, and their configuration records) for an application. Solution Library content always includes the associated visualization and configuration content, so dashboards are not left to be built by hand. A solution does not change the subscription entitlement or remove the 180-day limit. Converting Core UI dashboards is the job of the Migration Center, not of a solution.
After installing a content pack, an administrator wants the indicators to start showing trends. What administrative step is typically required?
- A. Wait for the periodic job, which each solution installs as active and already scheduled
- B. Run the Migration Center so the solution's Core UI widgets are converted into data visualizations
- C. Reinstall each solution metadata record so the dashboard widgets match the latest version
- D. Activate/configure the indicators and run data collection (including historical collection) ✓
Why: Installed solution indicators need collection to populate trends: run the solution's historic job for existing data and then activate the periodic job, which is installed inactive and must be enabled and scheduled. Waiting would leave the dashboard empty because the periodic job is not active by default. Migration Center converts Core UI content to the Platform Analytics experience and creates no scores. Reinstalling solution metadata records refreshes definitions but does not collect any data.
Where do administrators manage Performance Analytics components such as solutions, jobs, and diagnostics in a centralized place?
- A. The Analytics Center in the Platform Analytics experience (for example its Analytics Q&A, Dashboards, and Data Visualizations components)
- B. The KPI Details page of each indicator in the Platform Analytics experience (for example its Targets and Thresholds panels)
- C. The Platform Analytics Administration application menu (for example Data Collector > Jobs and Troubleshooting > Diagnostics) ✓
- D. The Library in the Platform Analytics experience (for example its Dashboards, Data Visualizations, and Indicators lists)
Why: In Zurich, Performance Analytics components are administered from the Platform Analytics Administration application menu, for example All > Platform Analytics Administration > Data Collector > Jobs and Troubleshooting > Diagnostics; the legacy Admin Console is not available on net-new Zurich instances. The Analytics Center is a landing page for finding dashboards and KPIs. KPI Details analyzes a single indicator and does not manage solutions, jobs, or diagnostics. The Library lists dashboards, data visualizations, and indicators for viewing and opening, not for administering collection jobs or diagnostics.