About the White Paper
Data catalogs provide valuable information about data assets, but business people want answers to questions, not just metadata. An emerging technology —the self-service analytics workbench—extends the data catalog with other self-service functionality and built-in workflows to meet this need. It supports the entire lifecycle of a business question from the moment a business user poses it until a data analyst or engineer presents a visualization of the answer.
A self-service analytics workbench integrates a variety of analytics capabilities into a single platform. These include data catalogs, data virtualization, data preparation, and data visualization. These functionalities support every step in the process a data analyst or engineer goes through to answer business questions: search and examine data, extract and join tables, format and transform data sets, and visualize and publish results. In addition, self-service workbenches provide built-in workflows that connect business users who have questions with data analysts and engineers who can answer them.
About the Author
Joe Hilleary is a writer and a data enthusiast. He believes that we are living through a pivotal moment in the evolution of data technology and is dedicated to helping organizations find the best ways to leverage their information.
With a background in both analytics and the liberal arts, he crafts clear, articulate narratives on technical topics that empower stakeholders to make informed decisions. Hilleary is a Research Analyst at Eckerson Group.