White Paper

BUSINESS ANALYTICS
AND THE DATA
COMPLEXITY MATRIX

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 Data Complexity Matrix

What is Complex Data?

Large
BIG COMPLEX

Data environments are growing exponentially. IDC

reports that compound annual growth in data through
Data Size

2020 will be almost 50% per year. Not only is there

more data, but there are more data sources. According
to Ventana Research, 70% of organizations need to
integrate more than 6 disparate data sources. At the
Small

same time, the value of unlocking that data and using it SIMPLE DIVERSIFIED
to make business decisions is also increasing. For the
business user, understanding this complex data and
unlocking its potential is the key to staying ahead of the
competition. For IT organizations, complex data can be
the bane of many programs, causing all kinds of trouble Few Many
in data management and hindering system performance.

What exactly makes data complex? In the context of # of Sources (Tables)

business analytics, there are two key drivers of data
complexity:

The size of the data

Simple Data
(is it millions of rows, 100’s of millions, or billion+)?
Simple data consists of smaller data sets that come from
The number of disparate data sources a limited number of sources. This data is simple because
(or data tables). it does not need data model optimization or significant
massaging in order to prepare it for analysis. Small data
These elements drive complexity because the bigger the
sets can be queried directly without the intermediate step
data, the more effort (cost) needed to query and store
of creating indexes or aggregations. With only one or two
it. The more data sources (data tables) the more effort
data sources, properly modeling the data relationships is
(cost) that is needed to prepare the data for analysis.
straight forward, lending itself to drag and drop modeling
The data complexity matrix describes data from both of
tools. Simple Data also affords one the option of directly
these standpoints. Your data may be Simple, Diversified,
querying a live database, rather than an intermediate
Big, or Complex. When considering a Business Analytics
data analytics store. The characteristics of Simple Data,
program, different approaches are better suited for each
make it ideal for self-service data visualization tools.
data state.

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 the Business Analytics solution, such as a data warehouse
for analytic queries (e.g., Vertica), or a specialized data
warehouse appliance (e.g., Netezza). Other options
include running business analytics on Big Data using
in memory solutions. However, these solutions have
There are some challenges, though, when considering an inherent limitations in both size of data and number
a Business Analytics solution for Simple data. Will your of concurrent users. Additionally as size of data grows
data always be small? Will it grow over time with usage other challenges arise. Either the system costs increase
or will it expand to encompass additional data elements significantly because of the memory required to store
or data sources? If the size of your data or the number the complete data set or one has to give up on data
of data sources (tables) grow, how will your Business granularity to fit the data set in memory.
Analytics solution scale?
Creating a proper Business Analytics solution for Big
These challenges are magnified in the context of a real Data, presents some additional challenges. Third party
time connection to a transactional database. With a data warehouse and/or appliance tools create another
large number of users, executing sophisticated queries, step in the Business Analytics process. Introducing
performance impact can be significant. Poor performance another moving part has both direct costs for the
is still the #1 inhibitor to user adoption for business specific solution and also indirect costs in the overhead
analytics. Not only does such a connection put the to configure, maintain, and support both the new tool
business analytics solution at risk for poor performance, and its integration with other pieces of the Business
but it can hinder performance of the core transactional Analytics puzzle. Even with these additional tools in
system as well. Managing these performance issues place, the Business Analytics solution is still likely to
ultimately impacts an IT organization, and what was require data preparation and aggregation. With each
“simple” becomes less so.

Big Data
In the context of our Data Complexity Matrix, Big data
consists of larger data sets (100’s of millions of rows +)
that come from a limited number of data sources (tables).
This data needs special preparation because of its
size. You may need DBAs to work their magic, creating
indexes, aggregation tables, clusters, etc. in order to
query this data with reasonable performance.

For Big data, this manual data preparation step requires

investment of time and resources from an IT team before
any analytic output can be generated. In addition the size
of the data may require some specialized tools as part of

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such aggregation, business users lose data granularity
and risk missing insights derived from that granularity
(a traditional OLAP problem). In addition, data
aggregation limits the agility of the business analyst,
forcing iterative cycles with IT, each time the analysts
wants to change the queries or data sets under review.

Diversified Data
Diversified data consists of smaller data sets that are
derived from multiple data sources (tables). Diversified
data requires special attention in the ETL step of the
Complex Data
process, in order to ensure correct relational structure In the context of our Data Complexity Matrix, Complex
between the various data tables. As the number of data consists of larger data sets that come from multiple,
data sources (and data tables) grows this ETL process disparate data sources. Complex data sets require special
becomes more and more complicated, requiring attention in both the ETL process and in managing the
the skills of a DBA to remodel data, creating new size of the data. Complex data combines the challenges
schemas or many different views of the data. Another of both Big and Diversified data. It takes a long time
consideration is the frequency with which new data to prepare because of both the modeling challenges
sources will be introduced. In order to keep analysis and the challenges in indexing and aggregation.
agile and current, the Business Analytics solution may Specialized skills and resources are needed throughout
need to absorb new data sources, forcing iterative the Business Analytics process, turning any project into
reviews of the data model and the ETL. For Diversified a cross department, lengthy effort. This manpower cost
data, this ETL step requires investment of time and is amplified each time a change in the data prep or ETL
resources from an IT team before any analytic output is necessary in order to investigate new analytic paths.
can be generated. The ETL process can become so Often additional third party tools are required as well (as
cumbersome that it may necessitate the purchase and detailed above).
use of a specialized ETL tool for automating this part of
the data preparation (e.g. Informatica). As a result Complex data often comes with a very high
total cost of ownership. License fees for the Business
Creating a proper Business Analytics solution for Analytics tool are typically just the tip of the iceberg.
Diversified data, presents some additional challenges. License fees for additional data warehouse and data
Third party data preparation tools create another step prep tools are additional hard costs in such cases. There
in the Business Analytics process. Introducing another are also additional costs created by the overhead and
moving part has both direct costs for the specific specialized skills needed to integrate and maintain
solution and also indirect costs in the overhead to multiple tools from different vendors that may or may not
configure, maintain, and support both the new tool work effectively together. With all of these challenges,
and its integration with other pieces of the Business agility for the business analyst is diminished and time to
Analytics puzzle. insight is longer.

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 steps in the business analytics process. It eliminates the
need for aggregating, compacting, and indexing data
and eliminates the patchwork of multiple tools that are
typically needed to analyze Complex data.

Choosing a Business
Analytics Solution
Each quadrant in the Data Complexity Matrix has its
own unique aspects and challenges. When evaluating
different business analytics solutions, one must consider
the quadrant you reside in today and the one you will
reside in tomorrow.

Sisense In-ChipTM technology solves problems for

Simplifying Business Big Data with its unparalleled data processing speed.
Eliminating the need for massaging data and eliminating
Analytics for Complex the need for additional data warehouse tools.

Data Sisense Single StackTM technology solves problems

for Diversified Data by unifying the business analytics
Sisense technology was built specifically to simplify process into a single software solution eliminating much
Business Analytics for Complex data, optimizing speed of the ETL process and greatly simplifying what is left.
to handle larger data sets and unifying the Business
The combination of In-ChipTM and Single StackTM
Analytics process, thereby eliminating many steps in
provides the 1-2 punch that solves both of the problems
data preparation and easing the burden of Business
associated with Complex Data. Faster processing of
Analytics for IT organizations. In-ChipTM technology
larger data sets and unlimited mashing of multiple data
is optimized for processing speed by leveraging
sources (tables).
modern CPU technology. Sisense can process 100’s of
millions of rows using low cost, commodity hardware. Sisense simplifies business analytics by reducing reliance
Single StackTM technology fuses all the elements of a on scarce, specialized IT skills and empowering individual
Business Analytics solution, from data preparation to business users. Business analysts can go from nothing
data management, analytics and visualization, into a to a fully functional business analytics program using
single, efficient software solution. As a result of these production data in 90 minutes, delivering the fastest
two technology innovations, Sisense eliminates multiple time to insight in the market.

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datasets, from start to finish in 90 minutes.

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