Data Analysts - About You

Data analysis transforms data, extracting meaningful information which facilitates effective conclusions. Data analysis is an important decision support activity which includes the work of gathering (data), manipulating (data), analyzing (information) and providing decision-makers with the right information (reports) to make timely, informed decisions.

Individuals involved in data analysis or decision support work are most familiar with (1) the available data, (2) the important questions that need answering and (3) the challenges faced in executing this work. These people may or may not have a job title of "data analyst" but this decision support work forms an important part of their role.

Organizations may have many data analysts performing similar functions, but focused on answering different questions for management. Decision support work is typically needed by operations, manufacturing, production, sales, marketing, distribution, procurement, finance and others.

In general, data analysis involves the use of three tools (1) database(s) for organizing, storing and retrieving data (2) spreadsheet(s) for data collection, consolidation, manipulation, analysis and report preparation and (3) e-mail for data collection and/or results/report distribution. Data analysis is cyclical in nature and may be repeated daily, weekly, monthly, etc. depending on the nature of the questions being answered.

Great data analysis provides timely knowledge and insight into what is going on. The longer it takes to perform the data analysis, the greater the potential risk to the organization. You can't provide decision-makers with the results too quickly!

The Spreadsheet

The spreadsheet's use is pervasive in government, industry and education. The spreadsheet is unmatched when it comes to time-to-solution, flexibility, productivity, and user acceptance. It is widely used for planning, reporting, consolidation and most importantly data analysis. More recently it has established itself as the interface-of-choice for business intelligence solutions.

With all of their positive attributes, the use of spreadsheets introduces a number of challenges. In terms of multi-user access and centralized data management, spreadsheets leave much to be desired. The ease with which spreadsheets are duplicated, changed and distributed by e-mail creates serious problems and typically results in spreadsheet chaos with redundant, segmented and out-of-date information. In terms of effective data analysis, the spreadsheet constrains the analyst into a two-dimensional world of rows and columns. This results in repeated manual data manipulation using functionality such as sorts, filters and pivot tables.

Our Approach

At GRID Dynamics we believe that with the addition of two Excel-ready technologies and training, data analysts and spreadsheet power users can dramatically expand their analytical and reporting capabilities, using Excel. The foundation of our approach is simple... "teach and empower others."

What we will teach you is a fundamentally different way of addressing your data analysis and reporting challenges. What were once considered complex concepts reserved for "experts", have been redefined and can now be leveraged by you, in the familiar Excel environment.

The following four concepts form the strategic basis of our approach...

1. Embrace the pervasive familiarity and capabilities of the spreadsheet:

• Continue to leverage the spreadsheet (MS Excel) environment as the focal point of your data analysis and reporting activities.  While spreadsheets have challenges, do not dismiss them. Instead, focus on leveraging Excel's strengths, and addressing its limitations.
• Utilize your own spreadsheet strengths and skills to solve you own problems with minimal reliance on others.

2. Transform your existing data into a powerful Excel-ready OLAP format, enabling next-generation data analysis and dynamic reporting:

• Transform your data from Relational to Dimensional
• De-couple your data from your spreadsheet, establishing a "single truth"
• Free your analysis from the two-dimensional constraints of the spreadsheet and dramatically expand Excel's analytical capabilities
• Prepare your data to proactively answer yet-to-be-asked questions

3. Leverage Excel-ready web technologies for data collection:

• Eliminate your use of email to supply and gather data using spreadsheet attachments
• Reduced data duplication and segmentation
• Improve data quality and integrity 
• Reduce the manual effort required to collect and consolidated data
• Get better control over who can see and edit your data

4. Leverage Excel-ready web technologies to prepare and publish results:

• Reduce your use of e-mail to distribute static offline reports (attachments)
• Provide dynamic online reports that answer questions, including those which haven't been asked yet

Our Services

We supply and support technologies developed by Jedox GmbH of Freiberg, Germany. We teach the concepts of Excel-ready OLAP and Rapid-Web-Report-Development to Excel data analysts and power users. We provide supporting consulting services to assist in the design and implementation of innovative solutions based on these technologies.

For more information contact GRID Dynamics at (403) 241-5775.