Selecting Reporting and Visualisation Software
Selecting the correct reporting software for a data warehouse is an important decision. It can have a significant impact on the effectiveness of your system. A data warehouse is a central repository that allows you to store and analyse large amounts of data from a variety of sources. The right reporting software can help you extract insights from this data and make better business decisions.
Factors to Consider
There are several factors to consider when selecting reporting software for a data warehouse:
User requirements
Understanding your business needs, what types of reports are needed and who these are going to?
How are the users going to access reports or visualisations? What analysis and stories will be added to the data? What devices will be used to access reports?
Compatibility with your data warehouse
Make sure the reporting software is compatible with your data warehouse and can access the data you need.
Ease of use
Look for reporting software that is easy to use and understand, especially if you have non-technical users who will be accessing the data. Ensure the skills in house to
Visualization capabilities
Good reporting software should allow you to create visually appealing reports and charts that help you communicate your findings effectively.
Flexibility
The right reporting software should be flexible enough to meet your changing needs as your business grows and evolves.
Cost
Understanding the cost for the organisation, for the current and future requirements. Each vendor has a different license model based on time, users and developers.
Summary
Selecting Reporting and Visualisation Software can be complex
There are many different reporting software options available, so it’s important to take the time to evaluate your needs and test out different solutions to find the one that works best for your organization.
We can help you select the best tools for you, and we always start with an evaluation of the tools you already have
Our approach to Selecting Reporting and Visualisation Software
Our recommended approach to this is to get your end users hands on with the tools, connected to some of your data or a static dataset of your data, and set the challenge of creating a single report using each of the tools
Then, give each of the above factors a weighting and score each one of out 5 including any existing software you may already have
Finally, collect the views of your report creators and listen to their feedback, there may be some existing skills bias to consider. But don’t under estimate the importance of user buy in and the value of existing skills and knowledge
We are independent of the vendors and work with a wide variety of leading tools including Power BI, Tableau, Qlik, Google Data Studio each with different strengths and weaknesses. Our independence allows us to give a balanced view
If you would to discuss how you can approach making these choices get in touch
