What likely causes a user from the HR department to receive an "Access is denied" error when trying to open an app?

The situation where a user from the HR department receives an "Access is denied" error when attempting to open an app can most likely be attributed to the app containing section access that does not include the user. Section access is a powerful security feature in Qlik Sense that allows for data-level security by restricting access based on user identities. If a user’s identity is not listed in the section access defined for the app, Qlik Sense will deny access to that user, resulting in the "Access is denied" error message.

This mechanism ensures that sensitive data is only accessible to authorized individuals. Therefore, it is crucial that the section access configuration is accurately set up to include the necessary users for them to interact with the app.

Other factors, such as group membership or the app's availability in a stream, while they may influence access, are secondary in this case when section access is specific and restrictively designed. If a user is not a member of the HR group, or if the app is not published in the appropriate stream, those elements could certainly affect access. Similarly, lacking a valid Qlik Sense license would prevent any app access but wouldn’t specifically generate the "Access is denied" message if the user’s restrictions were solely due to section access.