Gianfranco's Second 🧠

    BI And Data Visualization Tools

    Created: 2023-06-15 16:45
    #note

    QlikView

    QlikView focuses on the user as the receiver of data. It allows users to explore and discover your data in a workflow similar to the way developers work when processing data.

    • It allows for complex data analysis, interpretation, and sharing.
    • QlikView allows self-discovery and self-servicing with lower maintenance and better data security. 
    • It uses in-memory technology which makes comprehension and visualization of data quicker.
    • More computationally expensive to use as it requires a larger RAM space 
    • Real-time data analysis is sometimes impossible with QlikView. 
    • QlikView lacks the more recent drag-and-drop technology, and that makes it slower to work with 
    • QlikView requires a lot of extra features which must be purchased at extra cost. This makes the cost of using QlikView higher than Tableau.
    • It has a less friendly user interface with a muddier dashboard.
    • Users experience extra difficulties in developing applications, embedding or integrating with other software, and even scaling.
    • QlikView has poor and unsatisfactory online and customer support.

    Tableau

    Tableau provides facility to connect to a variety of data sources with many systematic types, such as data systems organized in file formats (CSV, JSON, XML, MS Excel, etc.), relational and nonrelational data systems (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, MongoDB, etc.), cloud systems (AWS, Oracle Cloud, Google BigQuery, Microsoft Azure).

    • Tableau is easy to use and has a clean and neat user interface. 
    • It has unique and profound visualization capabilities. It delivers high, robust, reliable, and fast performance. 
    • It supports multiple connections to multiple data sources while still fronting an interactive and informative dashboard. 
    • Tableau has it all; Desktop, Mobile, and Online versions are rated one of the most mobile-friendly BI tools. 
    • The overall cost of getting a license and using Tableau is not as expensive when looking at a QlikView (but still expensive)
    • The solutions provided by Tableau might not be the most comprehensive. 
    • It has slower in-memory processing and calculations. 
    • Using Tableau might require someone in your organization to have a good knowledge of the SQL language.

    Grafana

    Grafana is an open-source operational dashboard.

    • Overkill for creating simple visualizations
    • A lot of data sources and chart types are available.
    • Doesn’t offer as many visual customization options as some other tools
    • Not the best option for creating visualization images
    • Not able to embed dashboards in websites, though possible for individual panels
    • Open source
    • A lot of plugins are available -> like the json one
    • Free to download, there are also paid version (like the cloud-based one)

    Google

    Google Charts is an easy tool to visualize data with simple charts.
    It is free but very limited.

    Looker Studio (ex Data Studio) satisfies basic BI needs while Looker is designed to offer a centralized source of truth for enterprises with advanced data models & machine learning capabilities built-in.

    Looker (not Looker Studio) isn’t suited for everyone due to its price tag and technical requirements in SQL knowledge.

    Both SQL and no-SQL data types are supported by Looker studio and Looker.

    Looker Studio pros and cons:

    • can be connected to a great variety of data sources (especially google ones)
    • customized reports
    • drag and drop (but something laggy)
    • free, but less options
    • reports easy to share
    • does not scale as much as other platforms
    • customer support is not the best
    • real-time data is not supported in a good way

    References

    1. Medium