Programmatic Conditional Formatting | Dataford Interview Questions

Can you explain how conditional formatting can be applied programmatically to highlight critical variances in a dataset?

For this SQL implementation, return each target metric with its actual value, variance, percentage variance, and a status label based on the configured threshold. Include missing targets or actuals and handle zero targets explicitly.

Output

One row per metric and reporting period, including unmatched records from either table
Columns: metric_name, period, target_value, actual_value, critical_threshold_pct, variance_value, variance_pct, and formatting_status
Sort by metric_name, then period

Schema

metric_targets

Column	Type	Description
target_idPK	INT	Unique target record identifier
metric_name	VARCHAR(100)	Metric being monitored
period	DATE	Reporting period
target_value	NUMERIC(12,2)	Expected metric value
critical_threshold_pct	NUMERIC(6,4)	Critical variance threshold as a decimal fraction

metric_actuals

Column	Type	Description
actual_idPK	INT	Unique actual record identifier
metric_name	VARCHAR(100)	Observed metric name
period	DATE	Observed reporting period
actual_value	NUMERIC(12,2)	Observed metric value

Your question is Programmatic Conditional Formatting. Start with the requirements and the two tables in the Question tab.

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Problem