Big Data is invading both corporate discourse and information systems.
Knowing how to use your data - in a word, making use of it - should be within everyone's grasp, but it's not.
So how do we how do we design the ergonomics of a solution so that it delivers on this promise? ?
Guilhem Malichier, developer at Tale of Data, explains.
Extracting, moving and transforming data to meet operational constraints is not a new need.
Solutions forETL (Extract Transform Load) solutions have long been available to meet this need, but they are aimed at sophisticated users who know how to code or, at the very least, have a technical background.
Tale of Data's solution was born of this observation, and of the desire for everyone to have direct control over their data, so that it can be used in their business. "There's nothing more complicated than making things simple," says Guilhem Malichier from the outset.
Data is the property of the whole company, not just the IT department. Users should be able to access it easily, without compromising security and confidentiality. But for this to happen, they need to be provided with tools they can use themselves, without having to follow (or even undergo) long, costly and tedious training courses.
2 features contribute to this ergonomic design: - Accessibility - Discoverability
Accessibility
This is what makes a software product suitable for use by as many people as possible.
The Tale of Data platform takes the form of a Web application, usable in a browser and therefore requiring no intervention on the workstation to install. 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 for further use. Getting to grips with the solution requires virtually no training. "There's a gentle learning curve: it only takes a day to understand how to use 80% of the functionalities," explains Guilhem Malichier. And no coding is required: most operations, including the most powerful ones, can be performed with the mouse.
Discoverability
A user with a particular need needs to be able to find the tools and functions that will help him. But it's even better if they can do so without having to wade through dozens of pages of documentation or navigate endless menus. Tale of Data pays particular attention to the search functions built into
application: in particular, you can search for transformation functions in natural language, without having to know technical jargon.
The solution also offers intelligent suggestions and default settings, to speed up and streamline the user's path to 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 correcting them. "Many of the steps that would normally require manual configuration are done automatically, to encourage the user to move forward: often all he has to do is validate the result at a glance," says Guilhem Malichier. Another unique feature of the Tale of Data solution is the "Mass Data Discovery" function. Mass Data Discovery ". As its name suggests, this search function enables business users to identify data of interest from among the sometimes enormous volume of data to which they have access. This massive scan of data, whatever it may be, wherever it may be and whatever its format, is carried out on demand, and provides an exhaustive mapping of data to facilitate its organization and use, while respecting security and confidentiality constraints.
" Features don't have to be complicated to be powerful "concludes Guilhem Malichier.