Circular reference is nothing but the loop which is formed in a data model due to the way the tables are linked with each other, which creates one or more paths of association between two fields of a table.

When such loops are created in a data model, the result set given by the association is always ambiguous and incorrect, and thus it becomes important to remove the circular loops from the data model.

Following image shows an example of the circular reference formed in the data model:

As you can see in the preceding image, whenever there is a loop in the data model, Qlik Sense shows it as a dotted line.

By default, Qlik Sense tries to break the loop by defining one of the tables as loosely coupled table, which means that the association from that table will not work. Qlik Sense generally defines the longest table in the loop as the loosely coupled table.

You can remove the loops using the following ways:

• Removing the field: If a field, which is a part of the loop, is not required for any kind of analysis, then it is better to remove that field and break the loop, as shown in the following image:

• Renaming the field: If a field is necessary for analysis, then you can rename the relevant field as per the nature of the data it contains and remove the loop from the data model.

It is as shown in the following screenshot: