Thursday, August 22, 2013

Text is data too - How Cognos Insight can help organize data

While at IBM I devised a cube called "Understanding IBM Organizationally". It consisted of seven dimensions which attempted to define the company. The dimensions included:

Geography
Brands
Solutions
Platform
Value Proposition
Industry

These are all "text" data dimensions.

At the intersections of the dimensions are text data, with addition)al information included as comments.  The comments also include active links to web pages.

The cube was initially mounted with a comprehensive listing of all the acquisitions made by IBM in recent memory (the brands) with detailed information about those companies, including the cost of the acquisition and the financial data pertaining to those companies.

IBM is a global company, any specific details concerning activity in any jurisdiction was recorded based on news releases and other public sources of information.

The cube was mounted on a server so that any IBM'er in the world could contribute to the content of the cube actively, and actively view the content of the cube.



It could be argued that a web page full of links could accomplish the same thing, and I agree, this is just one other way to organize and visualize how a company could present its information.



Model Development is a "Black Art"

The development of an model/application consists of three basic components;
1. DIMENSIONS
2. CUBES
3. LINKS

The dimensions include items that are calculated from other dimension members.
Cubes consist of two our more dimensions.
Links control the flow of data from one cube to another.

The development of an multiuser application requires that one of the dimensions be used as an access list, either by name, or department, or similar group that will allow each member to contribute to the cube data.


Using Qlikview with public data

Press release from Business Wire

from the Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/news-sources/?mid=bwire.20130822.20130822005192

QlikTech Challenges Data Enthusiasts, Developers, and Designers to Use Public Data to Change the World

<p class='bwalignc'> <i>“Take Action Open Data Challenge” encourages global participants to use QlikView to create insights that inspire positive change and could win them up to $10,000</i> </p>

Thursday, August 22, 2013

QlikTech Challenges Data Enthusiasts, Developers, and Designers to Use Public Data to Change the World

08:00 EDT Thursday, August 22, 2013
RADNOR, Pa. (Business Wire) -- QlikTech, (NASDAQ: QLIK) a leader in Business Discovery – user-driven Business Intelligence (BI), today announced the Take Action Open Data Challenge, which invites participants to use QlikView to uncover unexpected insights from public data that could have an impact to positively change the world.
About the Challenge: Open, public data sources on populations, poverty, healthcare issues, education, transportation, and the environment hold a wealth of information. If leveraged effectively, this data could unlock powerful insights that could benefit the greater population. The Take Action Open Data Challenge invites QlikView customers, partners, developers, and newbies to create an app on QlikView that uncovers trends, reveals patterns, or shows how programs could be delivered more effectively. Business analytics students and those taking part in the QlikView Academic program are also invited to submit an app.
Prizes: Winners will have their apps featured on http://demo.qlikview.com and will receive one of three cash prizes.
  • 1st Place: $10,000
  • 2nd Place: $5,000
  • 3rd Place: $2,500
Important Dates:
  • October 31, 2013: App submission deadline
  • November 15, 2013: Announce five semi-finalists
  • November 15-29, 2013: Commence voting by QlikCommunity members
  • December 2, 2013: Announce top three winners
How to enter: Create an app using publicly-available data from sites like the international data catalog: http://www.datacatalogs.org/, which contains data sets curated by leading open data experts from around the world. Participants can download QlikView Personal Edition for free.
For more information on the Take Action Open Data Challenge, including rules and regulations, please visit: http://www.qlikview.com/opendatachallenge and check out the contest Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/qlikview/app_401781043256323. Read important contest updates and contribute to the discussion by following @QlikView and #OpenData on Twitter.

What is the product or service?


IT Project Management:

Developed Cognos Disclosure Management model including sample report and sample taxonomy for a product development multidisciplinary release team.

Developed IBM Cognos TM1 performance modeler and Cognos planning models and reports based on new sample financial data in cooperation with a multidisciplinary release team.

Developed model LDAP security export file based on data extraction, transformation and loading of sample data.

Developed and maintained Cognos Planning models, and Cognos Business Intelligence reports.


Application Development:

Acted as the financial samples specialist for Cognos Finance and Planning Solutions Software
Created and maintained sample application systems which help bring products to life for all users including Education, Quality control and in Sales Demonstrations.

Developed sample consolidations data for use with IBM Cognos Consolidation application.


Programming and systems analysis:

Developed MS Access and Oracle base databases accessed by the Visual Basic and developer 2000 user interfaces I helped create. Helped install online catalog search systems at Monroe Ltd.  in Monroe Michigan.


PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Application developer: IBM/Cognos, Ottawa, Ontario, Nov 2000 - Jul 2013

Programmer/Database analyst: TPG Power Group., Ottawa, Ontario,  Sept 98- Nov 00

Owner/Operator Bulletin Board Solutions  Sept 1993 - Aug 1997

What's free?

Currently OLAP tools by QLIKTECK and IBM are available for free on the Internet.

IBM

https://www.analyticszone.com/homepage/web/displayHomePage.action


About the Company
IBM is an information technology (IT) company. The company operates in five segments: Global Technology Services, Global Business Services, Software, Systems and Technology, and Global Financing. The Global Technology Services segment provides IT infrastructure services and business process services. The Global Business Services segment offers professional services and application management services. The Software segment consists primarily of middleware and operating systems software. The Systems and Technology segment provides computing power and storage solutions; and semiconductor technology products and packaging solutions. The Global Financing segment invests in financing assets, leverages with debt and manages the associated risks. IBM is headquartered in Armonk, New York.


QLIKTECH

QLIKVIEW free download


About the Company
QLIK Technologies Inc. engages in developing business intelligence solutions. The Company's flagship product, QlikView delivers enterprise-class analytics and search with the simplicity and ease of use of office productivity software. Its in-memory associative search technology makes calculations in real-time enabling business professionals to gain insight through intuitive data exploration. The QlikView product is designed to allow deployments to scale from the single user to thousands of users. The users of QlikView include sales, marketing, human resources and finance professionals; executive management and other managers; operations, support and IT staff; data analysts and statisticians. The Company has a diversified distribution model that consists of a direct sales force and a partner network that includes resellers, OEMs and systems integrators. QlikTech is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania.