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LÛCRUMInc. Whitepaper LeadingToolsforDataDiscovery andvisualanalytics Writtenby EricDuell,PracticeLead,Analytics forthelûcrumblog,making'data'meaningful' '

Introduction In2013,thelandscapeofbusinessintelligenceBI)andanalytictoolscontinuestoexpandrapidly.The fieldhasalsogrownmorecompetitive,withsoftwaremegavendorslikemicrosoft,oracle,and MicrostrategysellingcompleteendQtoQendsolutions. Attheircore,mostofthesetoolsaredatabasesanddataplatforms,andswitchingcoretechnologies thatareembeddedinorganizationsisaherculeantask.quitesimply,itdoesn tusuallyhappen.asa practicalmatter,youroptionsdependontheplatformalreadyembeddedinyourorganization.the megavendorsexploitthissituationandpromoteconsolidationonasingle,integratedtechnologystack. Thisseemsenticing,andatfirstglance,seemstooffercompellingcostbenefits. Butinthepushtobeallthingstoallpeople,thedatadiscovery,visualanalytics,andenterprise publishingaspectsofthese completesolutions arenascentintheircapabilitiesandareoftenpoorly executed.theyoftenfailtodeliverwhenitcomestoprovidingbestqinqclassusability,portability, facilitateddatadiscovery,visualimpact,andastreamlinedworkflow.plainlyput:whenananalyticsor reportingsolutionishardtouse,peoplejustwon tuseit. Sowheredoesthatleadus?Agrowingnumberof datadiscoveryplatforms haveexploitedthis marketopening thesetoolsaredesignedtobelayeredontopofexistingdatadatabasesandare tightlyintegratedwiththeirarchitectures.theyfocusonprovidingbestqinqclassusability,portability, facilitateddatadiscovery,visualimpact,andstreamlinedworkflowfeaturesoutsideofthescopeofthe coredatabasearchitectureandtraditionalreportingservicessupportedbyit. Fororganizationsthatarecommittedtodevelopinganalyticsasabusinesscompetency,thesetools enableanalystsandbusinessuserstheendconsumersofanalytics)tomorequicklyandefficiently deliveronbusinesscasesthatdependondiscoveringnewinsights,statisticalanalysis,ongoing engagementwithprocessownersandmanagement,andenterprisedistribution. Thesesolutionsalsoseektopreserveexistinginvestmentsininfrastructure,datawarehouses,ETL,and otheroperationalsystems. ThecurrentleadersinthisareaareTableau,QlikTechQlikView,andTibcoSpotfire. Page2of10 LeadingToolsforDataDiscoveryandVisualAnalytics EricDuell,PracticeLead,LÛCRUMIncorporated

MarketOverview GartnerdefinesthebusinessintelligenceBI)and analyticsplatformmarketasa softwareplatform thatdelivers15capabilitiesacrossthree categories:integration,informationdeliveryand analysis. The2013MagicQuadrantcomparesBIvendors acrosstheirabilitytoexecuteversusthe completenessoftheirvision.thosevendorsinthe upperrightcornerarethe visionaryleaders. Figure'1.'Magic'Quadrant'for'Business'Intelligence'and'Analytics'Platforms' TheBIandanalyticsplatformmarketisbroadand coversvariouslevelsofmaturityandgartner believesthatthecapabilitiesofthevendorsspan fourdistinctphases:descriptive,diagnostic, predictiveandprescriptiveanalytics. Increasingly,Gartnerseesmoreorganizations placinganemphasisonbuildingdiagnosticanalyticsthatleveragecriticalcapabilities,suchasinteractive visualization,toenableuserstodrillmoreeasilyintothedatatodiscovernewinsights. LÛCRUMbelievesthataneasierwaytoevaluatethetoolsetsistobucketintothefollowinggroups: 1. TraditionalBIandreportingplatforms deliveritqcentric,queryqdrivenenterprisereports 2. DatadiscoveryplatformsQenabledatadiscovery,impactfulvisualizationandinteractivity,and theabilitytoquicklyshareandpublishresultsthroughouttheenterprise Thetablebelowdepictssomedistinctionsbetweenthesetwogroups: TraditionalBIand ReportingPlatforms DataDiscoveryand VisualAnalyticsPlatforms KeyBuyers IT Business MainSellers Megavendors;largeindependent Smaller,fastgrowingindependentvendors vendors Approach Topdown;ITmodeledsemantic layers);queryexistingrepositories Bottomup;businessusermappedmashup); movedataintodedicatedrepository Consumer UserInterface Reports Dashboard/gridQbased OptimizedforWindowsdesktopPC Interactivevisualizations Flexiblepresentation/overlaysandlayers PortableanddeviceQagnostic UseCase Monitoring,reporting Analysis,discovery,andsharing Source:'Gartner'Inc.'February'2013) Page3of10 LeadingToolsforDataDiscoveryandVisualAnalytics EricDuell,PracticeLead,LÛCRUMIncorporated

KeyFeatureSetComparison Astheleadersintheircategory,Tableau,QlikView,andSpotfirealldoagoodjobatdatadiscoveryand visualization.eachalsodeliverstheabilitytointegratewithdatawarehousesbuiltonthestandardtools Oracle,MicrosoftSQLServer,MySQL,etc.). Thesetoolsarespecializedandfocusedontheirareaofcompetency theyarenotdesignedto,for example,manageanorganization'smetadatainadditiontodatavisualizationanddiscovery. Typically,thedecisiontopurchaseoneovertheotherwillcomedowntothestrengthsandweaknesses ofeachtoolmatchedtobusinessneedsofaspecificsituation,includingtheseconsiderations: Easeofuse Speedtodiscovery Qualityofvisualization/interactivity/portability Costofentry Costtoincorporatefuturerequirements InmostcorporateenvironmentswithexistingenterpriseBIdatawarehousesandinfrastructures,and basedonthecriteriaabove,wefeelthattableauiscurrentlythemarketleaderandthereferencepoint forthecompetition. Toassistwithyourowncomparison,wehaveprovidedareferencetocomparethestrengthsand weaknessesofbothqlikviewandspotfirewithtableauontheseattributes: DataExplorationandVisualization ContentAuthoring AggregationandDataSizeConstraints AssociativeBehaviorandStatisticalModeling DataConnectors MobileandTouchInterfaceSupport ' *Note:'The'following'comparative'assessment'and'information'was'compiled'from'currently'available'vendor' sources'and'our'own'experience'and'is'subject'to'change'without'notice.' Page4of10 LeadingToolsforDataDiscoveryandVisualAnalytics EricDuell,PracticeLead,LÛCRUMIncorporated

of10 LeadingToolsforDataDiscoveryandVisualAnalytics EricDuell,PracticeLead,LÛCRUMIncorporated KEYFEATURESETCOMPARISON QLIKVIEW TABLEAU DataExplorationandVisualization QlikTechhasbuiltastrongreputationaroundthe informationconsumerexperienceandindemos theypresentvisual,userofriendlydashboardsthat support speedofthought interactiveanalysis. Tableauallowsenduserstoconsumeinformation inahighlyvisual,interactivemanner,muchinthe samewayasqlikview.additionally,tableauhas embeddedvisualizationbestpracticesintomany ofitsdefaultsettings,sothateffective visualizationscanbemorequicklydevelopedand deployed. ContentAuthoring QlikTechhasfocusedonmakingtheinformation consumerexperiencesimple,buttheprocessfor authoringnewcontentisstillanitspecialist activity.theauthoringexperienceisvery dialog/wizarddrivenandseparatestheactivityof dataanalysisandexplorationfromdocument design. Datamustbeloadedthroughloadscripts,and thendashboardsarebuiltbydroppingelements ontoacanvas,thenlinkinguielementstodata. InTableau,authoringnewcontentisabusiness useractivity.usersconnecttodatasources directlyloadingdatatoanextractisoptional)and candoonqtheqflycorrectionandenhancementof datathroughsimplemetadataconstructs e.g.hierarchies,groups,aliases,etc.). TableausupportsbuiltQinvisualizationshortcuts ShowMe)andintegratesdocumentdesignwith dataexploration,allowingforiterativerefinement ofviews.unlimitedundoisalsoanattractive feature. AggregationandDataSizeConstraints QlikTechpioneeredtheconceptofinQmemory dataanalysisandpositionsthespeedofthis approachasakeystrength. QlikViewassertsthatthereisnoneedtobuild dimensionalmodelsoraggregationsfor performance youcanquerydirectlyovertheraw databecauseitisheldinqmemoryandtherefore veryfast.qlikview sstrengthofinomemory analysisbecomesalimitingfactorwhendealing withlargedatasets,asitdoesneedallofthedata tobeloadedintoram. Tableaucanconnectlivetodatainitsoriginal locationandleverageexistingdataplatform investmentstoprocessqueries.thismeans Tableaucandealwithmuchlargerdatavolumes, andhasasmallerhardwarerequirement. TableaucanalsocreateTableauDataExtractsthat willprovidesignificantperformanceimprovements whenthesourcedataplatformsarenot sufficientlyresponsive.whilethisissimilarto QlikView sinqmemoryapproach,atdedoesnot needtobecompletelymemoryqresident.

of10 LeadingToolsforDataDiscoveryandVisualAnalytics EricDuell,PracticeLead,LÛCRUMIncorporated AssociativeBehaviorandStatisticalModeling Asitloadsdataintomemory,QlikView automaticallyidentifies associations between dataattributes.usingtheseassociations,users canselectdataandtheenginewillautomatically filterallotherattributesbasedonhowtheyare relatedtotheselection. Tableau sassociativebehavioroccursthrough actions.thisrequiresadditionalworkbuttableau actionsaremoreflexible,andcanusehighlighting ratherthanfiltering)toallowuserstofocuson datawhileseeingitwithinthebroadercontext. DataConnectors QlikTechhasfocusedoncreatingconnectorsthat allowthemtoloaddatafrombusiness applications therearenativeerpconnectors thatallowqlikviewtopulldatadirectlyfromsap, Salesforce,Oracle,LawsonandJDEdwards,etc. Tableauhasdevelopedoptimizeddriversthat allowdirectconnectiontoabroadrangeof databaseplatformsanddataappliances.these includeteradata,netezza,vertica,asterdata, Greenplum,Firebirdaswellasthemoretraditional databaseslikeoracle,sqlserver,db2,etc. MobileandTouchInterfaceSupport QlikViewhasmobileclientsavailableforiOS, Android,andBlackberry. WhileQlikView snativetabletappsprovidea touchinterface,theyarenotspecifically switchableon/offinqlikviewimplementations. TableauoffersanativeclientapplicationforiOS, Android,andothermobileplatformsare supportedviatheirbrowsers. TouchQorientedoptimizationsusuallythemain reasonanativeapplicationisrequested)canbe easilyenabledinthebrowserexperienceby addingasingleparametertotheworkbookurl= mobile=yes.thismakesitpossibletosupport othertouchqbasedplatformslikewindowssurface tablets,andothers,inthefuture.

of10 LeadingToolsforDataDiscoveryandVisualAnalytics EricDuell,PracticeLead,LÛCRUMIncorporated KEYFEATURESETCOMPARISON SPOTFIRE TABLEAU DataExplorationandVisualization LikeQlikTech,Spotfirehasbuiltastrong reputationaroundtheinformationconsumer experience.theyfocusonhowthesedocuments aremoreflexiblethantraditionalbi queries/reportsandhowtheyempowerendusers toexploreandaskmultiplequestionsratherthan beconstrainedtoapredefinedview. Tableau suserinterfaceisgenerallyregardedas morepolishedandmore clutterfree than Spotfire.Inmanycases,italsotakesfewerclicks toaccomplishcomparabletasksintableauvs. Spotfire.Additionally,Tableauhasembedded visualizationbestpracticesintomanyofits defaultsettings,sothateffectivevisualizationscan bemorequicklydevelopedanddeployed. ContentAuthoring Spotfire sauthoringexperienceisaimedatnono technicalusers.itusesadraganddropmetaphor forinteractivelybuildingvisualizations,andit integratesinteractiveanalysisintothedocument designworkflow. Tableau sauthoringexperienceisverysimilarto thatinspotfire,howevertableaugoesbeyond offeringaneasyotoouseinterfacebyaddingvisual bestpracticeguidance.featureslike ShowMe, automaticselectionofcharttypesbasedondata contextandintelligentcolorpalettesallhelpthe endusercreatewellqformedvisualizationsthatare meaningfulandeasytocomprehend. AggregationandDataSizeConstraints SpotfireloadsdataintoaninOmemorydatamodel foranalysis.thisprovidesfastqueryresponse timeandavoidstheneedtobuilddimensional modelsoraggregationsforperformance.this strengthofinomemoryanalysisbecomesa limitingfactorwhendealingwithlargedatasets. Tableaucan connectlive todatainitsoriginal locationandleverageexistingdataplatform investmentstoprocessqueries.thismeans Tableaucandealwithmuchlargerdatavolumes, hasasmallerhardwarerequirement. TableaucanalsocreateTableauDataExtractsthat willprovidesignificantperformanceimprovements whenthesourcedataplatformsarenot sufficientlyresponsive.whilethisissimilarto Spotfire sinqmemoryapproach,atdedoesnot needtobecompletelymemoryqresident.

of10 LeadingToolsforDataDiscoveryandVisualAnalytics EricDuell,PracticeLead,LÛCRUMIncorporated AssociativeBehaviorandStatisticalModeling Spotfireoffersdeepanalyticcapabilitiesvia statisticalmodelsthatcanbedevelopedineither S+orR.Itprovidesextensivecapabilitiesfordata miningandallowsstatisticiansandscientiststodo extremelycomplexanalysis.associationscanbe detectedusingthebuiltinfunctionsofthesetools. Tableauhasfocusedonmakingcommon statisticalanalysisfunctionse.g.trendline, regressions,anova)extremelysimplefor businessusers.tableaudoesnotcompetewith thebreadthoffunctionalitythatspotfirehasbut doesmakethefeaturesitoffersmoreaccessible. DataConnectors Tibcohavecreatedseveralguidedanalytic solutions.theseprovidecustomizeddata connections,datatemplatesandstatistical modelsthatacceleratetheapplicationofspotfire forspecificindustries.theseincludeclinical analytics,networkanalytics,operationsanalytics, etc.consequently,spotfireiswidelyusedinhighly technicalandscientificindustriessuchaslife sciences,energy,semiconductor,academic research,etc. TableauhasnotfocusedoncreatingsubjectQ specificsolutions,butratheroncreatinga universallyaccessibletoolforrapidselfoservice datadiscovery.consequently,tableauhasabroad customerprofileacrossmanyindustryverticals. MobileandTouchInterfaceSupport SpotfirehasanativemobileappforiOSonly,and othermobileplatformsaresupportedviatheir webbrowser. WhileSpotfire snativetabletappsprovideatouch interface,itisnotspecificallyswitchableon/offby changingtheweblink. TableauoffersanativeclientapplicationforiOS, andandroid,andothermobileplatformsare supportedviatheirbrowsers. TouchQorientedoptimizationsusuallythemain reasonanativeapplicationisrequested)canbe easilyenabledinthebrowserexperienceby addingasingleparametertotheworkbookurl= mobile=yes.thismakesitpossibletosupport othertouchqbasedplatformslikewindowssurface tablets,andothers,inthefuture.

Recommendation Astheleadersintheircategory,Tableau,QlikView,andSpotfirealldoagoodjobastoolsforbasicdata discoveryandvisualization. Basedonthetypicalneedsandimplementationatorganizationswithacurrentorplanned)mediumto largedatawarehouseandbiinfrastructure,wefindthattableauisthebettersolutionforthefollowing reasons: 1. QlikView srequirementsfordataloadingusingscriptsandmanuallinkingofinterfaceelements todatamakeitanonqstarterformostsituations.qlikviewwasthefirstleaderinvisual dashboarding,buttheirtoolshavebeenoutflankedwithmorerecentchallengersspotfireand Tableau. 2. WhileSpotfirehasmoresophisticatedinQtoolanalyticscapabilities,wefindthatitismore practicaltoseparatedeepanalyticsfunctionsfromthevisualizationanddatadiscoverytoolfor scalability.forexample,computationallydemandinganalysesusingrorsshouldberunatetl timetoensureconsistentresultsandtooptimizeresponseforregularusers.fororganizations thatarenotexperiencedwithdataminingandstatisticalanalysis,orarestillmaturing,spotfire s capabilitieswillgounleveraged. 3. Tableau sflexiblepayqasqyouqgomodelisattractivefororganizationsthatneedtodoa test run beforecommittingtheenterprisetoaplatform.therearenodataorhardware configuration)limitsforenterprisesthatlicenseattheperuserlevel.addingmorelicensesis simplyamatterofchangingalicensekey.spotfireplacesdatalimitsonusersusingthecloudq basedtibcosilverspotfirehostedplatform.customerswishingtomigratefromthecloudtoan enterpriseplatformwillalsorequirearedeploymentofanalyticssolutions. 4. WelikethesimplicityofTableau sdraganddropbuildingofanalyses creatingnewviewsis veryquickandeasy,andcanbeeasilychanged ifyoudon tlikewhatyouhave,justchangeit, asnoprogramming,reloading,orrescriptingisrequired. 5. Forusersaccessingrelationaldatabasesandwithoutanenterpriseserverdeployment,Tableau providesafreeofflinereader youcanpackageupananalysisandtherecipientwillhavefull functionalityoftheworkbookalthoughdatawillbestatic)withoutneedingtoownthefull desktopsoftware. 6. MobileiOS)supportforvisualizationsinTableauiswellimplementedandisagood approximationofthesameexperienceauserwouldhavewithadesktopbrowser.additionally, builtqininterfacechangestosupporttouchscreendevicesisasignificantfeaturenotsupported bytheothertools. 7. Tableau sextremelyfastrampquptimeforanalysttraining,combinedwithitslargeand enthusiasticsupportcommunity,makesiteasytolearnthebasics. Page9of10 LeadingToolsforDataDiscoveryandVisualAnalytics EricDuell,PracticeLead,LÛCRUMIncorporated

LÛCRUM,Incorporated2013 ContactUsToday: EricDuell PracticeLead eduell@lucruminc.com LÛCRUM,Inc. 100EastRiverCenterBoulevard Suite900 Covington,Kentucky41011 LÛCRUMisaninformation,intelligenceand analyticsconsultingfirmcomprisedof businessandtechnologyprofessionalsfocused onmakingdatameaningful.specializingin gettingthemostfromyourexisting technologyinvestments,oursolutions increaseprofitability,driveoperational efficiency,andmaximizedecisionqmaking capabilitiesforourclients. Visitourwebsite: www.lucruminc.com LikeusonFacebook: www.facebook.com/lucruminc FollowusonTwitter: @Lucrum_Inc ConnectonLinkedIn. Page10of 10 LeadingToolsforDataDiscoveryandVisualAnalytics EricDuell,PracticeLead,LÛCRUMIncorporated