Archer-Expert Archer Certified Administrator-Expert Questions and Answers

The Data Import tool is designed for strict adherence to application business rules. According to the Archer Administration II curriculum, required fields are mandatory for the creation of any record. If a source file contains even a single row that is missing data for a "Required" field, the validation engine will trigger an error.

Unlike the Data Feed Manager , which can be configured to "Skip" errors and continue, a standard Data Import is an "all or nothing" operation by default when it encounters critical structural failures like missing required data. The import process will stop, and no records from that file will be committed to the database. This ensures that the application does not end up with "broken" records that bypass the logic intended by the administrator. To fix this, the administrator must either populate the missing data in the source file or temporarily make the field "Not Required" in the application builder before re-attempting the import.

As detailed in the Archer Installation and Troubleshooting guide, the Archer Configuration Service is the foundational "heartbeat" of the platform. While the Job Engine (Option D) and Queuing Service (Option B) are essential for processing background tasks, the system cannot initialize or connect to the instance database without the Configuration Service.

The Configuration Service is responsible for retrieving settings from the Archer Control Panel (ACP) and providing them to the web server and other services. If this service is stopped, the Archer web interface will fail to load, and administrators will be unable to make any changes to the instance through the ACP. LDAP Synchronization (Option C) is a scheduled task and does not need to be running constantly for the platform to remain operational. Therefore, from an architectural standpoint, the Configuration Service is the mandatory prerequisite for all other platform functions.

In Archer, not every field created in an application is automatically indexed for searching. Within the Field Properties (General Tab), there is a checkbox titled "Searchable." As taught in Archer Administration II , if this option is unchecked, the field will be invisible to the Advanced Search tool.

This is often done by administrators to improve system performance or to hide technical "helper" fields (like those used in calculations or DDEs) that have no business value for end-user reporting. If a field is missing from the "Available" list in the search builder, the administrator must go back to the Application Builder, edit the field's properties, and ensure the "Searchable" checkbox is enabled. Option B (Key Field) would actually make the field more prominent, and Options C and D do not control the visibility of fields within the Advanced Search interface.

In modern Archer environments (post-version 6.x), the Archer Job Engine Service is the primary service responsible for executing asynchronous tasks, including Data Feeds. When a Data Feed is initiated, it is placed in the queue. If the status remains "Pending," it indicates that the task has been recognized by the database, but no service has "picked it up" to begin processing.

As detailed in the Archer Administration II troubleshooting modules, the Job Engine is the "worker" that handles these requests. If this service is stopped, paused, or stuck on the application server, all scheduled and manual feeds will remain in a "Pending" state indefinitely. While the Queuing Service (Option D) is involved in the initial placement of the task, the actual execution and the transition out of "Pending" into "In Progress" is the responsibility of the Job Engine. The Indexing Service (Option C) handles search keyword indexing and is unrelated to data feed execution.

In the Archer security model, record-level access is determined by the complex intersection of Access Roles , Groups , and Record Permission Fields . According to the Archer Administration II curriculum, the Investigate Access tool is the primary diagnostic utility for troubleshooting "Why can't User X see Record Y?"

Unlike standard reports, Investigate Access allows an administrator to select a specific user and a specific record (or application) and run a simulation. The tool then provides a detailed breakdown of the "Final Access" (Read, Update, Delete) and, crucially, explains how that access was derived. It will highlight if the user is being granted access via a specific Group, if a Record Permission field is restricting them, or if their Access Role lacks the necessary rights. This is more efficient than the Access Control Reports (Option C), which provide a broad overview of permissions but do not provide the record-specific context that "Investigate Access" offers for pinpoint troubleshooting.

While the standard Archer Application Builder supports a wide array of field types, the Questionnaire module uses a more specialized subset of fields within the Question Library . According to the Questionnaires and Assessment Maintenance curriculum, questions are designed to gather specific response data that can be scored.

Valid question types include Values List (for multiple choice), Date (for timestamped responses), Numeric (for quantitative data), and Text (for qualitative comments). The User/Groups List is also a valid question type, often used to identify stakeholders or owners during an assessment. However, an Attachment is not a standalone question type in the library. In Archer Questionnaires, attachments are typically handled as "supporting evidence" linked to a specific question or the record as a whole, but you cannot define a question as an "Attachment type" in the same way you define a "Values List" question.

The Archer Web Services Transporter is used for "Archer-to-Archer" data feeds. For the "Load Fields" button to work, Archer must be able to successfully authenticate and connect to the source instance's API to retrieve the report metadata.

As detailed in the Archer Administration II Data Feed module, if no fields appear, it almost always indicates a communication failure between the Feed Manager and the Web Service. The Transport Configuration section (found on the Source Connection tab) contains the critical connection details: the Base URL, the Instance Name, and the User Credentials. If the credentials are incorrect, the URL is mistyped, or the "Session Token" cannot be generated, Archer cannot "see" the source report's structure, and thus the field list will remain empty. Checking the connection settings is the primary troubleshooting step before looking at filters or target mappings.

The Advanced Workflow Job Troubleshooting tool is a runtime utility designed to manage individual "instances" of records currently enrolled in a workflow. It is used to fix records that are stuck due to errors. According to the Advanced Workflow Beyond the Basics guide, this tool is purely for operational maintenance (Cancel, Reset, Restart, or "Force" movement).

Editing the Advanced Workflow structure (changing the flowchart, adding nodes, or modifying logic) cannot be done within the Troubleshooting tool. Workflow design changes must be made in the Application Builder under the Workflow tab. Attempting to "fix" a logic error by changing the design is a development task, whereas the Troubleshooting tool is an administrative task for existing data. Furthermore, editing a workflow requires saving a new version and potentially migrating active jobs, a process entirely separate from the record-level "Reset/Cancel" functions found in the Job Troubleshooting interface.

In a Single-Server Installation (typically used for Sandbox, Development, or small-scale environments), the goal is to consolidate the entire Archer architecture onto one machine. According to the Archer Administration II setup guides, this means the Web Server (IIS), the Archer Services (Job Engine, Indexing), the Advanced Workflow (AWF) service, and the SQL Server Instance Database must all reside on that single host.

While production environments favor a distributed model (Option B) for performance and redundancy, a single-server setup requires that all roles are configured to point to "localhost" or the local server's IP. The administrator must ensure the server has sufficient CPU and RAM to handle the overlapping resource demands of the SQL database engine and the Archer web services simultaneously. Options C and D describe "Distributed" or "Hybrid" models, which contradict the definition of a single-server installation.

In Archer Advanced Workflow, "Versioning" is a core concept designed to ensure data integrity. When a record enters a workflow, it is "enrolled" in the specific version of the workflow that is active at that moment. According to the Advanced Workflow Beyond the Basics curriculum, if an administrator modifies the workflow (e.g., adding a new node or changing a path) and saves it as a new version, the existing records do not automatically move to that new version.

Instead, they remain in the original version they were enrolled in. This prevents active records from "breaking" if a node they were currently sitting on was deleted in the newer version. To move existing records to the latest logic, the administrator must manually use the Bulk Update Jobs tool found in the Advanced Workflow tab of the application. This tool validates whether the records can safely transition from the old version's current state to a corresponding state in the new version. Without this manual action, the records will continue to follow the "legacy" path until they complete the workflow.

To build a hierarchical view within a single application (like a "Manager" field in the Contacts application that points back to another record in the Contacts application), Archer utilizes Internal References . As taught in the Archer Administration II Advanced Search module, when an application references itself, you can use Directional Search logic to traverse the hierarchy.

By configuring the search to look "Upstream" or "Downstream" through the internal reference, Archer can recursively find all subordinates under a manager or all managers above an employee. This allows the system to flatten a complex organizational tree into a readable report. External References (Option B) are used between different applications, and Statistical Search (Option D) is used for mathematical aggregations (Sum, Count, Average). Only the combination of Internal References and Directional Search provides the specialized recursive logic required to map out a multi-level organizational hierarchy.

Understanding the Archer hierarchy is fundamental to system administration. As detailed in the Archer Administration II curriculum and the Archer Control Panel (ACP) guides, an Environment refers to the overall installation of the Archer software on a set of servers (Web, Services, and Database).

Within a single environment, an administrator can host multiple Instances . Each instance represents a logically isolated "tenant" with its own unique Instance Database , File Repository (for attachments), and set of users. For example, an organization might have one environment that hosts a "Production" instance, a "UAT" instance, and a "Training" instance. This architecture allows organizations to share the same server hardware and software binaries while keeping the data and configurations of different business units or development stages completely separate and secure from one another.

The manual Data Import tool has specific structural limitations compared to the more robust Data Feed Manager. As taught in Archer Administration II , Data Imports are designed to handle standard Applications and their associated Sub-Forms .

When importing into an application that contains a sub-form, the administrator can map source columns to the sub-form fields to create multiple sub-form line items for a single parent record. However, Questionnaires (Option A, B, and D) cannot be populated via the standard Data Import tool. Questionnaires utilize a unique "Target/Assessment" architecture that requires either manual launching via a Campaign or the use of the Data Feed Manager with a specialized "Questionnaire" transporter. Because the Data Import tool lacks the ability to handle the complex relationship between the Question Library, the Questionnaire Template, and the Target record, it is restricted to standard application and sub-form data ingestion.

In Advanced Workflow (AWF) , logic-based branching is handled by the Evaluate Content node. As taught in the Advanced Workflow Beyond the Basics course, this node acts as a "decision engine" within the workflow. An administrator configures one or more rules within the node that evaluate the fields of the record currently in the workflow.

Based on whether these rules evaluate to true or false, the record is routed down different paths (outbound transitions). For example, an Evaluate Content node might check the "Risk Rating" of a record; if the rating is "High," it transitions to an Executive Approval node; if it is "Low," it transitions directly to the Archive node. This is distinct from a User Action node (Option D), where the path is chosen manually by a person, or an Update Content node (Option B), which simply changes a field value without necessarily redirecting the workflow path.

According to the Archer API Guide and Administration II materials, the Archer APIs have specific formatting requirements based on their architecture. The SOAP API (Simple Object Access Protocol) is strictly bound to the XML-based SOAP protocol. It uses a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) to define the structure of its messages, and these messages must be formatted as XML . It cannot process or return JSON payloads.

In contrast, the RESTful API is more flexible; while it defaults to JSON for modern integrations, it is capable of supporting both XML and JSON depending on the "Content-Type" and "Accept" headers provided in the request. The Content API , which is a specific subset of the Archer RESTful infrastructure, also follows these multi-format capabilities. Therefore, the statement that the SOAP API can use JSON is the incorrect one. For administrators building integrations, understanding this distinction is vital, as modern web applications typically prefer JSON, but legacy Archer SOAP services will reject any request that is not valid XML.

When moving data between two applications within the same Archer environment (often called an "Archer-to-Archer" feed), the Archer Web Services Transporter is the standard and recommended method. As detailed in the Archer Administration II Data Feed module, this transporter uses Archer’s own API (Web Services) to authenticate and "read" a report from the source application.

The transporter then passes that data to the Target section of the feed for mapping. Using a Database Query Transporter (Option C) directly against the Archer back-end SQL tables is strongly discouraged and often unsupported because it bypasses the application logic and security layers. The File Transporter (Option B) would require an intermediate step of exporting data to a CSV first. The Web Services Transporter allows for a direct, secure, and API-compliant way to keep data synchronized between inter nal applications, such as feeding "Findings" from various modules into a centralized "Master Findings" application.

In a standard corporate environment where users are already logged into a Windows Domain, Windows Integrated SSO (WIA) is considered the "easiest" and most seamless method. According to the Archer installation guides, WIA utilizes the NTLM or Kerberos protocols already built into the Windows OS and Internet Information Services (IIS).

Because the web server and the user's workstation share a common trust via Active Directory, the user is authenticated automatically without needing to provide credentials or interact with a third-party identity provider (IdP). While Federated SSO (Option C), like SAML, is more robust for cloud or multi-platform environments, it requires significantly more configuration, including certificate exchanges and metadata mapping. Token Based SSO (Option B) often requires custom coding or specialized header injection. For a pure Windows-based internal environment, Windows Integrated SSO provides the most "out-of-the-box" experience for both the administrator and the end-user.

This statement is TRUE and represents the standard architecture for Federated Single Sign-On. In the context of SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language), Archer acts as the Service Provider (SP) , which is the application the user wants to access. The Identity Provider (IdP) , such as Okta, PingFederate, or Azure AD, is the system that holds the user's credentials and performs the actual authentication.

As detailed in the Archer installation and security guides, when a user attempts to log into Archer via SAML, Archer sends an authentication request to the IdP. The IdP authenticates the user and sends a "SAML Assertion" (a signed digital token) back to Archer. Archer then validates this token and allows the user access without them ever having to type their password directly into the Archer interface. This workflow is a cornerstone of modern enterprise security, allowing for centralized identity management and the enforcement of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) at the IdP level.