Deep dive into Qlik Cloud And learn more about Data Governance
- by Michiel Hofsteenge
"Qlik Cloud saved my organization!" Of course, that is one of the best compliments you can get as an organization from a customer. Why this customer is so enthusiastic, I like to explain in my 7-part blog about the possibilities and content of Qlik Cloud. My name is Michiel Hofsteenge, Tech Lead Data Analytics at Cmotions and Qlik Cloud fanatic.
Most people have heard of data governance. It's a wonderful buzzword that can be used to cover all sorts of things. Without realizing it, you're probably already working on an awful lot of elements that are covered there. Perhaps you are adapting processes to improve the quality of input, reviewing the security of your environment or determining who has access to which data. Basically, it is not difficult, as long as you have given it serious thought. And fortunately, Qlik is there to take some elements off your hands. In this blog, I discuss the security of your data with Qlik Cloud, data lineage and a few more things that fall under data governance.
DAMA wheel
When it comes to data governance, the DAMA wheel sums this up perfectly. It is highlighted in DAMA-DMBOK (arguably the bible when it comes to data management), among others. In fact, most elements are touched on in Qlik as well. Of course, Qlik is a Business Intelligence Tool. After all, you can use it to visualize data. But in addition, you can also 'misuse' Qlik as a data warehouse, you are engaged in data modeling, your data is stored etc. etc. Below is an outline of the DAMA Wheel as described in the aforementioned book.
Cloud
Before it all gets too theoretical, in this blog I want to talk mainly about the practical implementation you can find in Qlik Cloud. Fortunately, these days you encounter less the skeptical people when it comes to Cloud. Before, the discussion was mainly whether the data is secure. Basically, cloud is being allowed to use someone else's computer.
In the now, the conversations are mostly about scalability, manageability and the opportunities it offers. But that doesn't take away from the fact that security is still very important. Fortunately, Qlik employs an army of people to make sure your data is secure. When I read through the technical overview, it's full of certifications and other things they put in place just to make sure it's all secure. Because let's face it, if they were suffering from data breaches on a regular basis, they could shut down their business.
Active Directory
The first thing I would advise anyone working or going to work with Qlik Cloud, link your Active Directory (still that thing where you manage all the permissions for your organization). Linking your Active Directory will allow employees to access Qlik who work in your organization. It is also possible to have employees create a Qlik account. The downside to this is that passwords don't expire, MFA is not mandatorily set up, and management is put in two different places.
Shared responsibility
Personally, I am a big proponent of giving company employees access to most of your organization's data. That way, you create shared responsibility for the company's results. By setting up rights in the right way, you prevent employees from getting lost in the environment or eventually accessing data that should not be visible to them. Think of HR data, for example. Not everyone is interested in when someone was last sick. In fact, it's none of most people's business.
Lineage and Impact analysis
Landing data in the cloud, as written in the previous blog, can be done in a variety of ways. Managing that data is then another story. There are two ways to properly track where your data is coming from and where it is being used. In Qlik, these functionalities are called Lineage and Impact analysis. Whereas with lineage you can check where your data comes from, in impact analysis you can see where all this data is used.
By extension, I like to use the "Details" option on a graph. This again allows the end user to see the lineage of the data, from that particular graph.
We can also tag the relevant data. For the observant reader, you can file this away under managing your metadata. What kind of data does this file actually contain? This way you can easily find data that you have given certain tags to. I want to see if I can create a dashboard on this metadata. Then it is quickly clear which type of data you have in which place.
In addition, Qlik has measurements on data and apps by default. This way you can see how often an item has been viewed. This measurement is done on the last 28 days. This way you are never looking at outdated data.
Data literacy
Unfortunately, I still notice at many companies that employees are not sufficiently assisted in their data journey. After all, you can't expect everyone to just understand what is meant. That's why data literacy is incredibly important to include in a data strategy. Data literacy is about how good people are at understanding data, about the ability to read, write and communicate about data.
The other day I had a very nice discussion with a client in which he indicated that his staff is not smart enough to understand data. Since I vehemently disagree with this, I challenged him. I am convinced that anyone can understand data, as long as you explain it. After several days of coaching, explaining and taking them through the process of developing dashboards, the employees, who were not smart enough, now have Qlik open every day. They create analyses and take them to work meetings.
Glossary
Qlik can also help explain what someone is looking at. A new feature recently released is the Glossary. As a fanatic, I naturally got incredibly excited about this feature. It allows the user to look up the meaning of a calculation or other value. By providing text and explanation of what someone sees in the dashboard, one can also interpret it more easily.
Qlik Automations, Stay Tuned!
All in all, quite a story again. Because data governance is so extensive, I've limited myself to the most new things that are being made available. Have questions about how we can address your issue? Feel free to send me a message on LinkedIn.
In a few weeks, we will move on to one of the most fun new parts in Qlik Cloud. Creating automations. Stay Tuned!
p.s. Did you know that version control also comes, by default and completely free of charge? Didn't! Now you do!
