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Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi...

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Brett Sheppard briefed author Cindi Howson in The Briefing Room to discuss Tableau’s data discovery tools. Visual data discovery seems to be all the rage this year with new products and high-growth companies. What’s driving this interest – the pretty pictures or the self-service? And will this new category of tools finally take business intelligence (BI) mainstream or are we simply trading spreadsheet chaos for another kind of chaos? There is still a fair amount of confusion about what is visual data discovery and what it is not, so I’ll start with a definition: Visual data discovery tools speed the time to insight through the use of visualizations, best practices in visual perception, and easy exploration. Such tools support business agility and self-service BI through a variety of innovations that may include in-memory processing and mashing of multiple data sources. Some befuddled BI teams though are shrugging their shoulders and asking, “Isn’t that what ad hoc business queries were supposed to do?” Well, yes, to a degree. Two of the biggest differences in business query tools and visual data discovery tools are the use of graphs and the degree of user autonomy. In a business query tool, a user can certainly add a bar chart to a dense page of numbers. But the chart is an after-thought. In fact, according to a TDWI survey last year, users spend two-thirds of their time analyzing data in tabular versus chart form. This may be appropriate when you need a precise number (How many widgets do we have on hand?), but not when you are trying to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies. With visual data discovery tools, the query and visualization process are one in the same. Drag a time period onto the page and up pops a trend line. Add a product category, and perhaps that trend line is now automatically converted to a trellis or small multiple chart. Research has shown that when data is represented graphically, we use less cognitive resources to make a decision and retain information better. So these graphs are more than just pretty or engaging; it’s about speeding the time to insight. The other big distinction with visual data discovery tools from business query tools is the degree of user autonomy. Business query tools generally require a metadata layer that IT will often design and build. This metadata layer provides a layer of abstraction from the physical database schema with potentially hundreds of tables. With a visual data discovery tool, business users are often working with a subset of data, either a flat file or spreadsheet, so IT is not a bottleneck. If a real-time query is involved, the visual data discovery tool may automatically model a metadata layer, giving its best guess at what’s a metric and what’s a dimension, again with little to no IT support. Somebody would have to write the SQL for the initial query and define the joins, but once extracted, the data is often loaded into an in-memory engine.
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Tuesday, August 7, 2012
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Page 1: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 2: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Twitter Tag: #briefr

Eric [email protected]

Your Host

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 3: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Twitter Tag: #briefr

Reveal the essential characteristics of enterprise software, good and bad

Provide a forum for detailed analysis of today’s innovative technologies

Give vendors a chance to explain their product to savvy analysts

Allow audience members to pose serious questions... and get answers!

Mission

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 4: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Twitter Tag: #briefr

August: Analytics

September: Integration

October: Database

November: Cloud

December: Innovators

August: Analytics

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 5: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Twitter Tag: #briefr

Analytics has always been about discovering insights that lead to better business decisions.

Organizations can be challenged by the complexity of information management as they try to leverage analytics against disparate sources.

A growing number of vendors are offering robust visualization tools to help customers quickly and easily perform analytics against data from any source, from any device.

Analytics

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 6: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Twitter Tag: #briefr

Analyst: Cindi Howson Cindi Howson is the founder of BI Scorecard, a resource for in-depth BI tool evaluations based on exclusive hands-on testing. She is the author of several BI books including Successful Business Intelligence: Secrets to Making BI a Killer App,  a TDWI faculty member, and a frequent contributor to Information Week. As a consultant, she advises clients on BI strategies and tool selections.

Prior to founding BI Scorecard, Howson was a manager at Deloitte & Touche and a BI standards leader for a Fortune 500 company.

She has an MBA from Rice University. 

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 7: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Twitter Tag: #briefr

Tableau builds software for data visualization and rapid-fire business intelligence. Their mission is to help people see and understand data.

Tableau offers a wide variety of data representation possibilites.

Its BI platform fits both power users and casual BI users.

Tableau was recently ranked by Forrester as the #1 Advanced Data Visualization vendor.

Tableau

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 8: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Twitter Tag: #briefr

Brett Sheppard is the Senior Product Marketing Manager at Tableau Software where he helps people and organizations see, understand and communicate data. Previous roles include Gartner senior analyst, financial editor at Investor Relations Corp., and product or solution marketing roles at Greenplum (acquired by EMC), HP business intelligence solutions, Nortel Networks and Symantec.

An early starter, Brett worked in product marketing at data storage startup Maynard Electronics (acquired by Symantec/Archive Corp.) and in college as a data analyst at the U.S. Department of Defense as an employee of CASDE Corp./DDL OMNI Engineering.

Brett Sheppard

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 9: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Bloor Group Briefing RoomAugust 7, 2012

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 10: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Where we started…

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Page 11: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Help peopletheir data

see and understand

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 12: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Tableau DesktopFor Anyone

• Explore and visualize data• Self-service analytics for everyone• Blazing speed against massive data

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 13: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Tableau ServerFor Organizations

• An easy business intelligence system• Web dashboards and applications• Secure information management• Enterprise scalability

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 14: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Any Data…

DATABASES AND CUBES

DATA WAREHOUSE

“BIG DATA”

FILES & SPREADSHEETS

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 15: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

OR

…As you Choose

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Page 16: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Author Once Experience for Mobile

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Page 17: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

VizQLServer

DataServer

Application Server

Fast Data Engine

SQL Connector

MDX Connector

Data MartsData Warehouse Files Cubes

Gateway / Load Balancer

Repository

Customer data

Data connectors

Main components

Gateway

Clients

Desktop Browser Mobile

Tableau Architecture

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 18: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

What Customers Say

18

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

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Demo

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 20: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Twitter Tag: #briefr

Analyst: Cindi Howson

Perceptions & Questions

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 21: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

21

Analytic Democracy: Spreading the Wealth of Insight

Cindi HowsonFounder, BI Scorecard

Contact: [email protected]: BIScorecard

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 22: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Visual Data Discovery Defined

22

Visual Data Discovery tools speed the time to insight through the use of visualizations, best practices in visual perception, and easy exploration. Such tools support business agility and self-service BI through a variety of innovations that may include in-memory processing and mashing of multiple data sources.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 23: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Business Users Are Excited About BI

23

Visual Data Discovery Drivers

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Page 24: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Business Users Are Excited About BI

23

Visual Data Discovery Drivers

Visual Appeal

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

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Business Users Are Excited About BI

23

Visual Data Discovery Drivers

Visual Appeal

Ease of Use

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 26: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Business Users Are Excited About BI

23

Visual Data Discovery Drivers

Visual Appeal

Ease of Use

Freedom from IT

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 27: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Business Users Are Excited About BI

23

Visual Data Discovery Drivers

Visual Appeal

Ease of Use

Freedom from IT

Social data

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 28: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Visual Data Discovery – Hidden Insights

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 29: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Visual Data Discovery – Hidden Insights

• What are sales by customer?

• What are sales by customer this year versus last year?

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 30: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Visual Data Discovery – Hidden Insights

• What are sales by customer?

• What are sales by customer this year versus last year?

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 31: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Visual Data Discovery – Hidden Insights

• What are sales by customer?

• What are sales by customer this year versus last year?

• What are characteristics of customers with higher sales?

• What are characteristics of customers who have churned?

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 32: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

25

Visualization vs. Visual Data Discovery

Visualization• Common charts types

– Bar, line, pie• Sometimes additional chart

types such as maps, gauge• Query, get tabular result,

then visualize• Data often from DW or

OLAP cube• Interactivity not guaranteed

Visual Data Discovery• Less common chart types

– Small multiples, waterfall, network, heat or tree map, spark line, tag cloud

• Best practices in visualization– No pies, smart use of color

• Single-step query and visualize• Highly interactive• Data mashed from DW, marts,

spreadsheets• May be “personal” analytic tool• Rapid prototyping and

deployment

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 33: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Self-Service BI Continuum

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 34: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Self-Service BI Continuum

Free-form SQL &

Ad-hoc query, broad

Explorer & navigate

Tweak a report

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 35: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Self-Service BI Continuum

Free-form SQL &

Ad-hoc query, broad

Explorer & navigate

Tweak a report

Reporting application or

visual data discovery

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 36: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Self-Service BI Continuum

Free-form SQL &

Ad-hoc query, broad

Explorer & navigate

Tweak a report

Reporting application or

visual data discovery

Casual User

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 37: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Self-Service BI Continuum

Free-form SQL &

Ad-hoc query, broad

Explorer & navigate

Tweak a report

Reporting application or

visual data discovery

Casual User

Expert

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 38: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Self-Service BI Trade-Off Continuum

IT Involvement User Autonomy

Ana

lytic

Com

plex

ity

•Size of bubble=user flexibility•Darker color =skills required to author

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 39: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Self-Service BI Trade-Off Continuum

IT Involvement User Autonomy

Ana

lytic

Com

plex

ity

Fixed Reports

•Size of bubble=user flexibility•Darker color =skills required to author

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 40: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Self-Service BI Trade-Off Continuum

IT Involvement User Autonomy

Ana

lytic

Com

plex

ity

Fixed Reports

Spreadsheets

•Size of bubble=user flexibility•Darker color =skills required to author

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 41: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Self-Service BI Trade-Off Continuum

IT Involvement User Autonomy

Ana

lytic

Com

plex

ity

Fixed Reports

Spreadsheets

Business Query

•Size of bubble=user flexibility•Darker color =skills required to author

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 42: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Self-Service BI Trade-Off Continuum

IT Involvement User Autonomy

Ana

lytic

Com

plex

ity

Fixed Reports

Spreadsheets

Business Query

Visual Discovery

•Size of bubble=user flexibility•Darker color =skills required to author

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 43: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Twitter Tag: #briefr

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 44: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Twitter Tag: #briefr

August: Analytics

September: Integration

October: Database

November: Cloud

December: Innovators

Upcoming Topics

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Page 45: Analytic Democracy -- Spreading the Wealth of Insights: Briefing Room by Eric Kavanagh, Cindi Howson, and Brett Sheppard

Twitter Tag: #briefr

Tuesday, August 7, 2012


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