Month: November 2013

In order to convert data into business value, the data have to be at the forefront of software projects. And you can’t limit the data you’re using to just the straightforward stuff in RDBMS tables. Valuable data come in structured form (RDBMS tables), but they also come in unstructured (text comments from reviews, logs), and semi-structured (XML) forms. The ability to process and harness all forms of data is crucial for turning them into business value. To have lasting value, all of this must be done in a systematic manner that can be extended, tested, and maintained. Having a data pipeline to crunch the data and distribute results to the business is vital. What is a Data Pipeline? In the general sense, a data pipeline is the process of structuring, processing, and transforming data in stages regardless of what the source data form may be. Some traditional use cases for…

All Data Want To be Seen All data start from humble beginnings. But once discovered and transformed, that same seemingly inauspicious data can become an important driving force. Data can toil in obscurity only for so long. At some point, all data want to be seen. Of course, generating spreadsheets and reports – numbers occupying rows and columns – is a natural means for transforming data from a raw state to a format that can be seen and understood. Further transforming those numbers into shapes and colors, though, can make the information even easier to understand and more immediate. That’s what a data visualization, a chart or a graph, e.g., can do. Even the simplest pie chart or bar chart can convey a lot of information that not only appeals to the intellect (in the way a spreadsheet does) but also to the senses (in a way a spreadsheet doesn’t)….