Clean data is necessary before building reports in tools such as Coca-Cola Consolidated Power BI dashboards or recurring SQL-based KPI reporting. Interviewers ask this to see whether you can move from raw records to trustworthy analysis.
Explain how you would clean and validate a dataset before using it for analysis. Your answer should cover how you identify missing values, duplicates, invalid formats, inconsistent categories, and out-of-range values, and how you confirm that the cleaned data is reliable enough for reporting.
Keep your answer practical and analyst-focused. You should describe a clear process, mention common SQL checks you would run, and explain how you would document assumptions or escalate issues when the source data itself is wrong.