Using Data Lakes, Data Visualization and Excel Dashboards for Actionable Insights

Introduction

Data lakes, data visualization and Excel dashboards are all important tools for data analysis, but they all have distinct meanings and properties. Knowing the differences between them and how to combine them can help you make informed decisions about how to utilize your data.

A data lake is a storage repository where raw or lightly-structured data from a variety of sources can be accessed and analyzed. Typically, an organization's data lake stores a vast array of data from multiple sources and contains multiple formats.

Data visualization is the process of turning large amounts of data into graphical representations, making it easier to explore, find patterns, identify trends, and make comparisons. It can also help users delve deeper into the data and gain insights that can drive informed decision making.

Excel dashboards are interactive analytics tools that allow users to quickly access data, visualize it, and analyze it to better understand their data. Typically, they provide an overview of a company's performance and can be used to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs).

Data Lakes

A data lake is a repository that holds an enormous amount of raw data in its native format, including structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. Data lakes can store data from multiple sources, allowing for analysis of integrative datasets taken from different platforms. They are complex and can contain large amounts of data from dissimilar sources.

Creating Data Lakes in Different Platforms

Data lakes can be created on different platforms, depending on the type of data that is being stored and the analytics requirements. Popular platforms that can be used to create data lakes are spreadsheets, scripts, SQL databases, NoSQL databases, Hadoop, and Apache Spark. All of these platforms demand specialized technical expertise and are important components of any data lake architecture.

Benefits of Data Lakes

Data lakes can provide extensive benefits to businesses. Here are a few of the advantages that data lakes can offer:

• Faster data access: Data lakes provide faster data access from multiple sources.
• Improved scalability: There is no need to continually scale up as more data is added.
• Increased flexibility: Data lakes allow for easy manipulation of data and facilitate quick pivots.
• More cost savings: Data lakes are cost-effective to build and maintain.
• Lower risk: By having all the data in one place, data lakes help reduce the risk of data loss or data corruption.

Data Visualization

Basics of Understanding Data Using Visuals

The ability to quickly and accurately understand data is an essential skill for anyone working with data. Data visualization is an effective way to reflect trends, relationships, and correlations relating to data more quickly and accurately than looking at raw data. Visual representations of data such as charts, graphs, and maps are useful for communicating insights and discoveries to other people.

Data visualization allows users to zoom in and out of sources of data, tunnel through large amounts of data quickly, and explore previously unseen relationships and trends. This is helpful for exploring everything from identifying potential customer segments to potential fraud.

Best Practices for Data Visualization

Though it improves the speed and accuracy of understanding data, data visualization can be confusing if the visualization is not created or presented properly. Here are some best practices for effective data visualization:

• Start with a clear goal in mind and use the data to answer questions.
• Choose appropriate visualization formats to display the data.
• Focus on representations that are easy to compare and contrast.
• Keep graphics simple and clean, focusing on essential information.
• Use data labels to make data points easy to understand.
• Make sure visuals are optimized for the intended media.

Leveraging data visualization allows users to uncover previously unseen insights and relationships in data, helping to make better decisions and improve understanding of data quickly and accurately.

Excel Dashboards

In today’s world of data science, Excel dashboards are becoming more and more popular. Dashboards provide an excellent method for taking complex data and making it easier to understand. With Excel, creating interactive and user-friendly dashboards has become a breeze. In this chapter, we will explore the advantages of using Excel dashboards, setting up an Excel dashboard, and the elements of Excel dashboards.

Advantages of Using Excel Dashboards

The main advantage of using Excel dashboards is that they are both cost effective and easy to use. They eliminate the need for costly software and powerful computers; by functioning off the core Excel application, any dashboard can be designed more quickly and efficiently. Additionally, with the flexibility of Excel, any data can be transformed into informative visuals to aid in understanding. This can help simplify complex data sets and make data more manageable. Lastly, regularly updating dashboards with new data can help ensure you always have the most up-to-date information.

Setting Up an Excel Dashboard

When setting up an Excel dashboard, it is important to establish an organized templateit with column and row separations. This will ensure it is easy to interpret the data. After this is set up, other details can be added for clarity such as adding headings and titles. The order of the dashboard is important; being sure to sort the data in a meaningful and easily understandable way is essential. When gathering data, it is important to establish a trusted source; this will help ensure accuracy and will increase the credibility of the dashboard. Once the data has been entered, the design of the dashboard can be started. Utilizing a variety of data visualization tools and elements, the dashboard can come to life.

Elements of Excel Dashboards

When designing an Excel dashboard, it is important to add the right elements. There are a myriad of data visualization templates and tools to choose from, such as line graphs, pie charts, and pivot tables. Each visualization tool serves its own purpose, so it is important to get an understanding of how they differ. Additionally, extra elements can be added such a swatches or colour codes to further accentuate the dashboard design. Layering elements such as grids and arrows can also prove helpful for increasing readability. It is also very important to consider the layout and design of your dashboard; making sure it looks aesthetically appealing can often be the difference between a good dashboard and a great one.

• Advantages of Using Excel Dashboards
• Setting Up an Excel Dashboard
• Elements of Excel Dashboards

Combining Data Lakes, Data Visualization, and Excel Dashboards

Strategies for Pulling Data from a Data Lake for Dashboard Creation

How Dashboards Help Streamline Analysis and Insight

How Excel Dashboards Help Create an Actionable Picture

Summary

Data lakes are increasingly being used in data analysis and dashboard creation for the long-term storage of raw and unstructured data. This type of data repository can be used to store massive datasets and create business dashboards with Excel. Microsoft Excel contains a set of features and functionalities that make it an ideal tool for data visualization. In this post, we have looked at how to take data raw sourced from a data lake, manipulate it so that it can be converted into an Excel dashboard using the data visualization features included in the product.

Benefits of Using Data Lakes to Create Excel Dashboards

Using data lakes to create Excel dashboards has a variety of benefits. First, data lakes make it possible to store large amounts of data in an organized fashion. This makes it easier for users to query and access the necessary data to create their Excel dashboards. Additionally, data lakes allow for the creation of multidimensional analysis which can be used to generate more insightful visuals. Finally, Excel dashboards provide a comprehensive view of the data and can be highly customized and customized in response to user needs.

All in all, using data lakes to create Excel dashboards is a powerful data analysis and visualization technique which has the potential to provide more comprehensive insights into the data. This can help organizations gain better insights and make more informed decisions.

Conclusion

Data lakes, data visualization, and Excel dashboards are integral aspects of any successful data-driven decision-making process. By integrating these components, organizations are able to use real-time data to support their strategic decision-making and gain data-driven insights. Data lakes provide a centralized repository of data which can then be accessed and analyzed using data visualization and Excel dashboards.

Additionally, data lakes are able to ingest and aggregate vast amounts of data and store them without any limitations. This allows organizations to easily access the data they need for analysis and data visualization, and use Excel dashboards to quickly visualize their data and generate insights about their customers and the industry.

Ultimately, data lakes, data visualization, and Excel dashboards are powerful tools when combined, but they need to be used in the right context and with a well-defined data strategy. When done correctly, they can provide powerful insights that can help organizations make better decisions and drive business success.