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Challenge

1. The IT infrastructure of Alghanim where the Alteryx Sandbox Server platform was hosted was in an on-premise datacenter which was designed to be scalable and robust with multi node physical clusters including the server, storage and network components. However, most of the physical hardware was quite old and not equipped with the latest generation of physical servers.
2. Frequent hardware crashes and portal downtime kept troubling the availability of the Alteryx Sandbox Server application. Assigning a touch hand support person to power on the hardware that was down seemed quite impossible due the restrictions during covid period. Hence, Alghanim wanted to look for another viable solution.
3. Though the hardware setup at Alghanim was well equipped to meet the occasional spikes in the traffic, it was observed that over a course of 6-month time, most of the IT infra was underutilized than predicted. It was realized that spending huge amount of money on an old hardware plus software maintenance, license costs, internet bandwidth, datacenter cooling and maintenance, touch support personnel and electricity costs – were keeping the business operations challenging.
4. There was an attempt by Alghanim to select a cost-effective solution that can host Alteryx Sandbox Server application servers, web servers and archival data. This way IT infra can be re-provisioned to host sensitive data on-premise and the rest on the cloud, thereby reducing the overall physical hardware costs spent on a yearly basis.

Why AWS

1. Alghanim decided to migrate Alteryx Sandbox Server, database servers and archival data to AWS.
2. The Alteryx Sandbox Server’s AWS architecture includes Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), that provides complete control of its computing resources, updates to tables in Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) and AWS Elastic Load Balancer was used to distribute the traffic to the underlying EC2 instances based on the load.

Benefits

1. Alghanim uses AWS services to provision infrastructure and deploy the Alteryx Sandbox Server platform to other departments within it. In addition, the Alteryx Sandbox Server resources that are no longer required to be run all the time are made to auto shutdown thus saving cost. Alghanim reported a 30% cost reduction after implementation of AWS for the Alteryx Sandbox Server platform.
2. The implementation of Alteryx Sandbox Server on AWS made Alghanim confident in the security of its data, and its accreditation team is enthusiastic about the monitoring and auditing capabilities provided by AWS tools. With the implementation of IAM roles, Alghanim IT team was able to isolate systems and tightly control user accesses. These capabilities were harder to achieve within the existing infra but were available out of the box with AWS
3. By adopting AWS to host the Alteryx Sandbox Server platform, Alghanim has been able to innovate and experiment to a degree previously impossible. For example, Alghanim compared the performance and cost-effectiveness of three different cloud solutions. Without moving to the AWS, the costs associated with running an outdated on-premise hardware would have creeped up and the alternative way of upgrading the existing on-prem infrastructure to the latest hardware models and then hosting the Alteryx Sandbox Server application on top of it would have taken months.

This has changed the way we interpret information by giving us a look into past insights but also to forecast future events, allowing us to make informed decisions.

Tableau 2021.2. includes ‘ask and explain data’ for viewers, allow connected desktops, Collections, and many more valuable features. Some of the key enhancements are listed below.

Collections provides a new format to organize content across your sites on both Tableau Online and Server into manageable folders. You may group item together from different projects and workbooks and you can reuse content in multiple contexts without additional storage or resources. Collections also makes it easier to share content around a central theme. For example, you can create a “Daily Sales” collection that includes dashboards with daily sales statistics, ETL data flow, data sources, etc.

Collections helps you congregate your data. You are given the leeway to create, explore and save your content privately. Another key feature of ‘Collections” is that users can create customized collections which are by default private. However, you are given the option to share the collection with any authorized users you choose to provide access to.

1) User Management Enhancement

In earlier versions, a subscribed user, deleted by an admin, was not erased from the system entirely. They were then classified as an 'unlicensed user'.

With version 2021.2, the subscribed creator will be deleted automatically when an admin deletes a user either via the UI or the REST API, without the extra step of reassigning the subscription ownership.

2) Ask Data Enhancements

Ask Data Lenses

A new feature introduced with this update is 'Ask Data Lenses'. It allows for easy data curation with defined columns and value synonyms and also provides suggested questions to allow for more inclusive data from a variety of sources.

(The update brings a new content type that is Ask Data Lenses, making it easy to curate data with the definition of column and value synonyms and suggested questions so you can better leverage existing published data sources.)

They are created alongside published data sources Ask Data use case(s) while maintaining the underlying data source as its own entity.

These 'lenses' are comparable to ‘views’. For those of you who are adept with SQL, where you can write selected statements specifically to extract the required columns, give definitions, whilst maintaining the integrity of the data source. Similarly, once created, ‘lenses’ can be accessed by viewers, opening Ask Data to a new class of users that struggle to self-serve their needs today.

Entity Search

Entity Search shows users search results of keywords, like the Google search box. Ask Data gives you word-by-word search results, giving you instant feedback on your data and what Ask Data can do. Ask Data will automatically choose the most relevant interpretation of your search and these search results help you build that input more effectively by selecting the right fields and values in the data set. Ask data learns from your selections to choose smarter defaults for future searches.

MFA allows users to easily add an additional layer of security to their accounts.

This feature unlocks the ability for Tableau Online customers who utilize native Tableau ID authentication to enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) when their users sign into their sites. End-users can use applications like Salesforce Authenticator or Google Authenticator to perform additional verification of their identity when they log on to Tableau.

MFA makes it much harder for common threats like phishing attacks and account takeovers to succeed. MFA is one of the easiest and most effective ways customers can enhance login security and safeguard their business and data against external threats. Easily rename multiple fields in prep allows creators to transition seamlessly from web authoring to Tableau Desktop with a single click of a button. Creators will now be able to edit any workbook that they have permission to on Desktop. Prior to 2021.2, users had to manually change each header name. For example, if a user wanted to change “Customer” at the start of multiple header names, they would need to click on each field name and individually change/remove “Customer” in the field name. Not a big deal when there are less than 10 columns to update. However, for customers with data sets of 50+ columns, it is more cumbersome to have to individually change each field name. This feature allows a customer to quickly add a prefix, rename or add a suffix to multiple fields collectively. Tableau Prep is expanding its output capabilities to include Google BigQuery, enabling you to add or update data in Google BigQuery with clean, prepped data from your flow each time it is run. TABLEAU DESKTOP 2020.2 – Key Features 1) Maps: Spatial File Support The Marks Layers Control SP1 feature provides a control that allows users to toggle the visibility of layers on a map viz. The control works like a filter and the user is free to choose which layer(s) to view in order to answer their question. In addition, the user can control the interactivity of the map viz by selectively enabling or disabling selection on the layer in question. Toggle button – Our users can now use a button to show/hide any dashboard zone, floating or tiled. This function was previously limited to floating horizontal and vertical containers only. URL support for images – Users can now add images via external URLs, which also provides GIF support for images on the internet and workbooks. Loading these images will be time-efficient.

What is Social Media Listening?

Social media listening is the practice of constantly scanning social media channels for comments and feedback regarding your brand, product, and services and using that data to take appropriate action. Searching for specific terms and subjects related to a business or sector and competitor remarks is a common aspect of social listening.

Two processes were engaged in social media listening: monitoring and action. Both processes analyse online interactions and conversations and act on the results. Social media listening becomes effective only when a concrete action follows information collection.

Including social media listening in your overall social media strategy has many advantages. Major benefits are:

1. Increased Customer Engagement

One of the main advantages of social media listening is the ability to monitor social media users’ conversations about your business or brand, whether they specifically mention you in the chat. This allows you to directly answer queries or comments or write posts dealing with recurring issues or questions. When businesses try to communicate with their customers, it fosters trust, boosts engagement, and strengthens brand loyalty.

Follow-up action is a vital component of social media listening. One fantastic start approach is leveraging the information you gather to develop a social media plan that responds to frequent comments or directly engages your audience.

2. Opportunities to Observe and Monitor Trends

You can gain a broad understanding of people’s opinions about your company and its sector through social media listening, enabling you to identify emerging trends or hot topics. This is very helpful for social media purposes and your research and design department and public relations team to explore potential partnerships or new avenues for your brand, depending on your product or service.

3. Conflict Resolution

For business, crises might happen at any time. In that case, customer reactions will be crucial to resolving the issue effectively. Social media listening can assist you in keeping track of client mood and guiding your decision-making if your business experiences a customer fallout or crisis. Assessing the actual responses of your customers can help you to move forward. Proper social media listening and subsequent action based on that can directly impact the development of your business.

4. Monitoring the Competition

You can follow the discussions involving your competitor by using keywords. This can assist you in locating any weaknesses in their business strategies or products that you can later exploit. Similarly, you can use this information to strengthen your brand in areas where you believe they are stronger than you.

5. Leveraging Influencers to Promote Marketing

With social listening, you can locate influencers who are already talking about your company and influencing your customers. Similarly, if influencers disparage your company, you can connect with them and see if there are any chances to change their opinions. You can also monitor their concerns and work to improve on suggestions. It's crucial to take these creators' comments seriously because they have sizable fan bases that can impact the thoughts of millions of consumers.

6. Tracking Events

Social listening will be beneficial to better understand how participants feel before, during, and after an event. Utilise social listening to learn about your participants' experiences and identify areas where the event may be improved or continued. This is particularly useful because it enables you to deal with potential roadblocks as they arise or keep doing what's working.

List of Social Media Listening Tools

You can use various social listening tools to communicate information, raise brand awareness, provide service and support, and more. Let’s discuss a few such tools:

1. Hootsuite

Hootsuite allows you to create social media streams that keep an eye on conversations, hashtags, mentions, and keywords. Instead of signing in and out of numerous social platforms, you may monitor conversations and comments directly from your social media dashboard. By keeping an eye on the competition, networking with influencers on social media, and identifying prospective brand champions, Hootsuite lets you stay on top of developments in your sector.

2. Adview

Adview is used exclusively for social listening on Facebook and Instagram ads. It can monitor up to three Facebook Ad Accounts across unlimited pages. Using Adview, you can respond to comments on all of your Facebook and Instagram advertising from one location. Furthermore, you receive data on the ads receiving the most comments so that you may adjust your campaigns accordingly.

3. Talkwalker

Talkwalker provides powerful social listening software features that monitor blogs, forums, videos, news websites, reviews, and social networks in one dashboard. Advanced filters enable you to segregate your data so that you may concentrate on the messages and audience that are most important to you. You may also set up alerts to inform you of any mentions or keyword usage increases. With Talkwalker, it's simple to keep an eye on conversations involving your brand and analyse their mood, engagement, reach, and comments.

4. Synthesio

Synthesio monitors talks on incredibly niche subjects in carefully selected communities. You may segment your social listening data using various criteria, including language, geography, demographics, sentiment, gender, and more. A valid social reputation score is also included in the reports to see how you compare to your rivals.

5. Mentionlytics

Mentionlytics tracks mentions, keywords, and sentiment across several languages on blogs, news websites, and social media platforms. Additionally, it makes it easy to locate influencers across social media platforms and other internet sources. You can quickly monitor terms in several languages, keep track of your top influencers, and even identify the sentiment behind each mention.

6. Brand 24

Brand 24 uses automated sentimental analysis to separate positive, negative, and neutral mentions by monitoring online reviews, mentions on social media, blogs, message boards, news websites etc. It helps to find out about your online mentions, boost client happiness, and increase lead generation for your company.

Final Words

It is high time for companies to get out of their bubbles and accept the masses' opinions, remarks, compliments, complaints, and inquiries on social media. In all sense, social media listening has excellent benefits and tools that can guide you in building your market presence by paying heed to social media.

Beinex Digital Offerings

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Tableau has been one of the most popular data visualization and analytics tools among the business users in the last decade. With the new features it is even simpler to see and understand data. It is evident that Tableau is made with the intention of appealing to everyone, even those with very limited technical know-how. As always, the new version of Tableau is also packed with a punch. There are over 25 new features over the Desktop, Online, Prep and Mobile versions of the tool. Here are a few of them, that would significantly change the way you use this incredible platform. I have been using this tool since the release on 6th May 2020. After a week of using it, I am convinced that the changes are significant and extremely useful. This new version seems a lot smoother (yes, that is the feeling you get when you use it), even compared to 2020.1, which was released last quarter. I will be focussing on some of the changes in the first blog, that would give you an overview and help you get started with this. 1. Relationships As a trainer on Data Analytics for the last three years, I have experienced one struggle. It is about explaining the concepts of ‘Joins’ to business users. They find it confusing to know when to use ‘left join’ and when to use ‘full join’. (IT users and students had very limited issues since they have learned these concepts). Challenges like duplicate / repeating records in one of the tables (one to many mapping) is definitely hard to tackle unless you master the concepts and other techniques. However, in Tableau 2020.2, it uses ‘Relationships’ which is a much simpler and easier concept to understand, and Tableau does the heavy lifting if you are unsure In this version, you can create logical relationship with data, visually. Relationship creates aggregations when you build the visualizations, rather than joining them in the database. This means that you can forget worrying about having to keep the data in the same level of details and the complications that would arise if it is not. For those who are familiar with the tool, the visual difference itself is quite significant. As soon as you drag and drop the second and subsequent tables, a relationship line (‘Noodle’ is what Tableau named these lines) appears and makes it easy to define the connection. Once you add the table, a pop-up box suggests the best connection, where you can define further details (Cardinality and Referential Integrity) if needed. You can also view each of the tables independently even after defining the relationship. All you need to do, is just click on the table. You can also use the existing concepts of Union and Joins as well. Below is a simple example using Sample Superstore data. 2. Metrics Metrics is a concept that would appeal to the higher management and executives. This is an option where you can track all metrices of your interest in one place, despite of it being included in multiple Tableau workbooks. Instead of creating a ‘Master Workbook’ with all the metrics, which involved development and maintenance effort, we can now do it with a simple click. It will add the Metrics or KPIs to the main Project folder itself. In addition, you can also see the trend of that particular metric over the period when the data refreshes. In the example below, I have one Project in Tableau Online, which has got multiple dashboards catering to different business areas. I am adding two metrics: the number of male employees in the organization, and the YTD Sales. Since the data is not refreshed, the timeline will be empty. Just check out how easy it is to add the Metrics to monitor it continuously and effectively. 3. Set Controls and Set Action Updates While this might be described as a new feature, it, in fact, opens a whole new set of opportunities to interact with your visualizations. If I try to describe set Controls in Tableau 2020.2, it can be simplified as an option in which we can include or exclude elements in a set in a simple drop-down (similar to ‘Filters’). The addition or deletion or new values in a set can significantly change the way we see the data. This means that the end user can perform a variety of analysis in the front end. Check out the video below. Set actions also has got two new selection modes as well in the new version. Tableau 2020.2. Instead of only assigning the set values, Set Action can now add or remove values incrementally, by interacting with the marks. Zen Masters ‘The Flerlage Twins’ have a blog that explains all the features in details about this new set action option. You can check it out.: 4. Other Changes No Dimensions or Measures: One of the noticeable differences compared to the previous version, is the absence of sections for Dimensions and Measures. While there is separation line, it is less distracting than the previous versions. It is not only the Dimensions and Measure that got combined, but also the section for Sets. In this version, when you add a Set it will be added as another field in the table, just like a calculated field. This also makes complete sense, since the Sets already have a separate icon to denote them, and it can be clearly understood before using it for any analysis. However, there is a separate section for Parameters. Always on Search Bar: Also, the Search bar is now always visible and cannot be hidden, unlike the previous version. I prefer this option since I almost always enable the search and never hides it afterwards. The Search bar sits comfortably in the space that is created when the titles for Dimensions and Measures are removed. In addition, when you type a field name after selecting any field, it automatically goes to that field despite of whether it is Measure or a Dimension. This is similar to us typing a folder or filename to find it in a Windows Folder Explorer. No more ‘Number of Records’: Another difference is the absence of ‘Number of Records’ field. This is now replaced with a non-editable and non-removable field: ‘Tablename (Count)’. Since the data is defined by relationship and not joined, there will be multiple such fields if you use multiple data sources. Similarly, when we choose ‘View Data’, there will be multiple tabs based on the number of data sources we use. I have tried to show these in the image below. 5. Explain Data and Ask Data Improvements There are significant improvements in these features in every version and this time is no different. Even with all the AI capabilities, there would be times when we want to take control. Explain Data in the new version gives you that extra control that was missing in the earlier version. Authors can now choose which fields to be included in modelling Explain data, giving you the option to input your business logic to it. Explain data also allows you analyse more than just one outlier in the latest version. However, this option seems to be missing for relational databases. When it comes to Ask Data, you can now provide custom suggestions based on data roles. In addition, the synonyms applied for one field can be published to use across data sources. It also supports scripted data sources in the new version and has some improvements on enterprise controls. As mentioned at the beginning, there are several other features in Tableau 2020.2. It would be extremely difficult to include all those in just one post. There are other changes like Recommendations on Mobile, Manual sorting of Favourites, publishing directly from the browser without having to open the dashboard on Tableau Desktop etc. and so on. I hope you got an overview to some of the new features and want to explore more. Let us know your thoughts and how these features were beneficial to you. As mentioned at the beginning, there are several other features in Tableau 2020.2. It would be extremely difficult to include all those in just one post. There are other changes like Recommendations on Mobile, Manual sorting of Favourites, publishing directly from the browser without having to open the dashboard on Tableau Desktop etc. and so on. I hope you got an overview to some of the new features and want to explore more. Let us know your thoughts and how these features were beneficial to you.

Tableau Cloud Manager

Tableau Cloud Manager is an enhancement to Tableau Cloud that allows customers to create and manage multiple Tableau sites with centralized management of licenses and users. Tableau Cloud Manager simplifies the expansion and administration of your cloud analytics environment, helps ensure you meet governance and data residency requirements and introduces new administrative efficiencies. The highlights of Tableau Cloud Manager are: 1. Expand analytics across your organization with multiple Tableau Cloud sites Tableau Cloud Manager enables Tableau Cloud customers to create and manage multiple sites in a single deployment. Additionally, Tableau Cloud Admins can deploy these sites in the regions of their choice. This functionality is particularly beneficial for global organizations with geographically dispersed teams. By allowing for the establishment of region-specific sites, Tableau Cloud Manager enables tailored analytics experiences that cater to the unique needs and compliance requirements of every team in your organization. Your Tableau Cloud edition determines site limits: • Tableau Cloud (standard): up to 3 sites • Tableau Cloud Enterprise: up to 10 sites • Tableau+: up to 50 sites 2. Effectively manage multi-site deployments Tableau Cloud Manager acts as a layer atop your Tableau Cloud sites, offering centralized management features that help you scale your analytics operations. Customers who deploy multiple sites can manage sites and license users in one place, including granting users access to multiple sites without requiring distinct licenses for each site. 3. Enhance governance with a new Cloud Admin role Tableau Cloud Manager also introduces a new Cloud Admin role, a level above the traditional Site Admin. This allows for more flexibility in how your organization manages and governs your analytics environment based on your unique needs. A smaller organization may employ the same person as a Cloud Admin and a Site Admin. For larger organizations, your Cloud Admin could be someone in IT using higher-level administrative capabilities to implement more control and coordination across your Tableau Cloud sites.

Multiple External Identity Providers on a Site

You can now enable up to 20 identity providers on a single Tableau Cloud site. This feature allows administrators to offer secure access to external users, internal users, and partners. By using multiple identity providers, you can achieve site consolidation and simplify access for both internal and external users throughout the organization.

Table Viz Extension

Transform traditional reporting into visual analytics while addressing your users' needs. Tables are essential visualizations for analysts, allowing them to examine data as text and convey detailed information at a granular level. The Table Viz Extension, developed and maintained by Tableau, enables you to incorporate detailed tables and grid views into your dashboards for users who favor traditional reporting formats. You can load this new visualization type into your marks card, configure new columns by dragging fields onto the card, and interact with the table directly for customization.

Spatial Parameters

Tableau 2024.3 introduces the full Tableau experience for geospatial data with the support of Spatial Parameters. In addition to the standard parameter types (such as string and integer), authors can now choose a “Spatial” type. These parameters create rich, interactive dashboards that allow you to ask and answer questions about geospatial information. The Spatial type enables the parameter to capture spatial geometries—points, lines, and polygons representing locations, paths, and regions. With Spatial Parameters, end users can select individual points, which are then passed as input into calculations, facilitating dynamic behavior based on their selections. This functionality is similar to existing parameter behavior but is now extended to include spatial objects. Read more about spatial parameters: https://beinex.com/topics/spatial-parameters-enhancing-geospatial-analysis-and-adding-interactivity-to-your-maps/

Display Data Model for Published Data Sources

Gain a visual understanding of how tables within your data model are related to Published Data Sources. You can view the relationships between tables and fields in Tableau by simply clicking on the Data Source pane in a Tableau workbook. By enabling analysts to see and comprehend how tables in the data model are interconnected in Published Data Sources, they can confidently create accurate visualizations with a clear understanding of the data model's semantics.

Tableau Cloud App for Microsoft Teams

The new Tableau Cloud App for Microsoft Teams allows users to seamlessly integrate data-driven insights into their daily workflows, resulting in faster and more efficient decision-making. This integration enables real-time data sharing, making it easy for users to share their favorite Tableau dashboards and Pulse metrics without leaving Teams—in personal apps, messages, channels, and meetings. From there, they can analyze and share their insights in a message or channel. Pinned channel content is also available to explore in Teams meetings, providing a fully interactive experience. This promotes a more data-driven culture by ensuring everyone can collaborate effectively with access to the same data and analytics. Image source: https://www.tableau.com/products/new-features

How Beinex Can Assist You

Beinex, a premier Tableau partner, offers sustainable analytics solutions to organizations and enhances their internal data visualization capabilities through customized training programs. Our team of Tableau-certified consultants consists of experienced Tableau business users who are passionate about the platform and committed to delivering an exceptional experience. Connect with us to embrace transformation: https://www.beinex.com/free-tableau-software/