Big Data is invading both the discourse and the information systems of companies.
Mastering your data to exploit it, in a word, using it, should be within everyone's reach, but it is not.
Therefore, how to think about the ergonomics of a solution so that it keeps this promise ?
Elements of answer of Guilhem Malichier, developer at Tale of Data.
Extracting, moving and transforming data to meet operational constraints is not a new need.
ETL (Extract Transform Load) solutions have existed for a long time to meet this need.ETL (Extract Transform Load) solutions have existed for a long time to meet this need, but they are aimed at informed users who know how to code or, at the very least, have a technical background.
The Tale of Data solution was born from this observation and the wish that everyone can directly control his data to exploit them in his business. "Nothing is more complicated than making things simple" says Guilhem Malichier.
Data is the property of the entire company, not just the IT department. Users should be able to access it easily, without compromising security and privacy. But to do that, they need to be provided with tools they can use without having to go through (or even undergo) long, expensive and tedious training.
2 characteristics contribute to this ergonomics: - Accessibility - Discoverability
Accessibility
This is what makes a software to be used by the most people possible.
The Tale of Data platform is a Web-based application that can be used in a browser and therefore requires no intervention on the workstation to be installed. As soon as their account is activated, business users can connect to their company's databases or data warehouses, explore them, and start transforming them to exploit them. Getting started with the solution requires almost no training. "The learning curve is gentle, one day is enough to understand how to use 80% of the functionalities" says Guilhem Malichier. And no code is necessary: most of the manipulations, including the most powerful ones, can be done with the mouse.
Discoverability
A user who has a particular need should be able to find the tools and functions that will help him. But it's even better if he can do it without going through dozens of pages of documentation or navigating through endless menus. Tale of Data pays particular attention to the search features built into
the application: in particular, you can search for transformation functions in natural language, without having to know technical jargon.
The solution also provides intelligent suggestions and defaults to speed and ease the user's path to the expected results. As soon as a file is opened, for example, data types are automatically detected, and any input errors are highlighted with relevant suggestions for correction. "Many steps that would usually require manual configuration are done automatically, to encourage the user to move forward: often he will only have to validate the result at a glance" says Guilhem Malichier. Another feature that makes the Tale of Data solution unique is the " Mass Data Discovery ". As its name indicates, this search function allows the business user to identify, among the sometimes enormous volume of data to which he has access, those likely to be of interest. This massive scan of the data, whatever they are, wherever they are and whatever the format, is carried out on demand and makes it possible to obtain an exhaustive cartography of the data to facilitate its organization and use, while respecting the constraints of safety and confidentiality.
" Features don't have to be complicated to be powerful "concludes Guilhem Malichier.