Visual discovery tools have played a key role in fueling the growth of self-service business intelligence (Bl). But in order to generate insights without IT assistance, business users need to be able to access, integrate, and manipulate data from various data sources. Bl vendors are now offering lightweight data integration functionality that replaces much of the data preparation work analysts formerly did in Microsoft Excel or Access. Some of these data preparation tools stand alone, but others are embedded in visual discovery products. This paper evaluates integrated data preparation tools, identifying their key features and characteristics for organizations seeking to empower business analysts and promote self-service Bl.

Integrated Data Preparation Tools for Visual Discovery