Business Intelligence: MAKING DATA AGILE USING INTEGRATED TOOLS TO VISUALIZE ZEMA DATA

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1 Business Intelligence: MAKING DATA AGILE USING INTEGRATED TOOLS TO VISUALIZE ZEMA DATA ARTICLE NOVEMBER 2017

2 ZEMA gives insight into the business intelligence information businesses need, anywhere, and at any time, to drive smarter business decisions. ZEMA, Data Analytics and Visual Analytics Data analytics is the science of analyzing data from across an enterprise, mining it for insight, and presenting it in a way that allows for better business decisions. ZEMA goes a step further by showing this data visually and adding context. Stakeholders can immediately understand trends, thresholds, current status, and many other other areas, transforming numbers and metrics into true business intelligence. Great visualization and powerful data analysis work together to let businesses get the comprehensive, deep insight they need to understand exactly how things are performing. Starting With the Data Just as the starting point for a great piece of art is the canvas, easel, and pigments, so the foundation of great business intelligence is the data, repositories, and business processes. ZEMA brings together these areas in perfect harmony, drilling into the details and presenting contextual information in an easy to understand way. The ZEMA platform integrates perfectly with existing databases, Business Intelligence Article 2017

3 repositories, querying systems, enterprise software, and more to gather, consolidate, and cleanse every piece of data. It then rationalizes this data into usable information, sorts it according to user needs, and presents it visually, creating dashboards that demand action. 3 ZEMA is designed to mine any source of information, in any format, from any location. ZEMA is platform agnostic it can work with the most modern cloud infrastructure, traditional data centers, bespoke applications, or legacy systems. Customizing Data Visualization ZEMA has a number of powerful data visualization and dashboard tools built into its industry-leading features set. Sometimes though, stakeholders may want to use their own tools to visualize the data and information ZEMA collects. In those cases, ZEMA is pleased to offer several options for analyzing and sharing data with other applications. ZEMA provides this through six main integrations: 1. ZEMA R (Inline R) 2. ZEMA Tableau Connector 3. ZEMA Spotfire Connector 4. ZEMA OData Services 5. ZEMA Data Direct Excel Add-in (DDX) 6. ZEMA MATLAB API The rest of this white paper will focus on the first four integrations.

4 4 Integrating Data through ZEMA R (ZEMA Inline R) ZEMA s built-in R integration allows users to analyze and present data using the powerful mathematical software environment, R. R is designed for easy querying, analysis, and presentation of datasets, focusing on statistical computing and graphics. Another advantage of R is the huge number of free modules and packages available for advanced statistical analysis and modelling. These additions substantially extend its functionality and give great insight into the data ZEMA collects. ZEMA supports R through a ZEMA formula. Any R command can easily be executed in ZEMA s market analyzer using this functionality. Depending on the use case, users can either convert R_PROC commands into a customized function, or use the commands as individual Market Analyzer Formula series and queries. Using R through Packaged Functions One advantage of packaged functions is that a user can use the same R functionality across multiple locations, use cases, and environments. It can also be added to a common profile and shared with other users. R functions can even be prepackaged and added to an R server for wider distribution and usage. R is designed for easy querying, analysis, and presentation of datasets, focusing on statistical computing and graphics. Business Intelligence Article 2017

5 Using R through an Inline Formula If a user just wants to use R for their own work, in a limited capacity or use cases, the inline formula function is a simple way to achieve this. They can get the same functionality as packaged functions, but without the need to create and upload an R package to the server. The inline formula function allows any user to run R queries, analysis, and formulas on the fly, similar to how a developer would write and execute program code line by line. Inline formulas can also be written into a package and uploaded for others to use. 5 In the diagram on left, the function holt_winters(zema_data, date, levels, periods) is created and uploaded as part of a package in R. The function is shown below. holt_winters<-function(zema_data, date, levels, period){ # gets number of available contacts in zema data no_of_contracts<- length(zema_data[1:match(nan,zema_data)-1]) data<-zema_data[1:no_of_contracts] # trims zema_data to available contracts mth <- as.numeric(format(date, %m )) # gets first contract month yr <- as.numeric(format(date, %Y )) # gets first contract year natgasfc <- ts(data, start=c(yr, mth), frequency=12) # builds forward curve time series matcols<- 2*length(levels)+1 # no of resulting matrix columns hwforecast<-holtwinters(natgasfc) # holtwinter forecast result<-forecast.holtwinters(hwforecast, h=period, level=levels) # forecasting result datamat<-matrix(rep(data,matcols),ncol=matcols) # zema data spread as prefix to forecast data fcmat<-matrix(c(result$lower, as.numeric(result$mean), result$upper), ncol= matcols) # forecast matrix matrix(as.numeric(rbind(datamat, fcmat)),ncol=matcols)# final result with new mat & finalmat }

6 6 Integrating Data through ZEMA Tableau Connector Tableau is one of the most powerful data visualization engines available. It can produce truly impressive data visualizations when it is fed with high-quality data. ZEMA s built in Tableau Connector uses the Tableau Web Data Connector API to connect Tableau with ZEMA SOAP web services. Tableau can then access, query, and manipulate ZEMA data and display it through its presentation functionality The ZEMA Tableau Connector provides users with an intuitive interface for retrieving and managing multiple data types and sets in a single form. These data forms include raw data, analytics, data sheets, and curves. Once these data forms are retrieved, they can be joined together to create impressive dashboards and reports. All data forms and information are retrieved without compromising data quality or authentication, making it easy to query and report on qualified information. A user can retrieve multiple ZEMA data forms with a single connection and use built-in Tableau data management to effortlessly join, query, and display information in any way they see fit. Figure 2: Gas Prices and City Temperatures mapped in a GIS chart in Tableau Business Intelligence Article 2017

7 Figure 1: ZEMA Tableau Connector Architecture 7 Integrating Data through ZEMA Spotfire Connector TIBCO Spotfire is another powerful visual analytics engine. It s a great business intelligence product and uses high-quality data to display information in an easily accessible, digestible way. The ZEMA Spotfire Connector works similarly to the Tableau Connector to collect, manage, analyze, and display data through Spotfire. Although the Spotfire Connector allows only a single data entity at a time, a ZEMA user can use multiple entities by using the Add Data Tables functionality in the Spotfire desktop application. Users can also extract multiple curves through a curve search function and property filtering similar to ZEMA s Data Direct Excel Add-In.

8 8 Figure 3: Gas Prices and City Temperatures mapped in a GIS chart in TIBCO Spotfire Integrating Data through ZEMA OData API Alongside R, Tableau, and Spotfire, there are many other dashboard, reporting, analysis, and presentation applications. However, when dedicated connectors for these applications do not exist, ZEMA has the solution. ZEMA provides all key data to other applications via its Open Data Protocol, or OData API. OData is an open standard for exchanging data Business Intelligence Article 2017

9 between applications involved in collecting, analyzing, querying, producing, manipulating, consuming, analyzing, or displaying information. ZEMA divides the types of applications into OData Producers and OData Consumers. OData Producers will provide data in an OData specification-compliant format to allow for integration with the API. OData Consumers can then access and use that information in their applications via the API. More information on OData requirements and specifications can be found at odata.org. 9 The ZEMA OData API can be used by an OData consuming application to retrieve ZEMA data including profiles, reports, curves, data sheets, analysis, and much more. Details of what can be retrieved will depend on the retrieving application and hot it integrates with the OData API. Figure 2: Gas Prices and City Temperatures mapped in a GIS chart in Tableau Differences between the Dedicated Connectors and OData API There are some distinctions between dedicated connectors like Spotfire or Tableau and the OData API. Dedicated connectors are

10 10 simpler and easier to use because they have already been designed with the relevant apps in mind. Despite this, OData still provides a useful way for applications to access ZEMA data that is much easier than manually importing and exporting information. Business Intelligence Article 2017

11 Conclusion 11 ZE PowerGroup and ZEMA are working hard to democratize the process for sharing and taking advantage of data, information, and business intelligence. This means giving the best user experience to our customers and providing multiple ways to access, query, analyze, display, and act on crucial business data. The world of data analytics never stands still, and ZEMA will continue to explore new ways to integrate their platform with the needs of consumers. In the meantime, the combination of Inline R, Tableau Connector, Spotfire Connector, OData Services, the Data Direct Excel Add-in (DDX) and the MATLAB API provides plenty of options for customers to make the most of their valuable data. For more information on how ZEMA can empower your business and help you to make smarter decisions, please get in touch.

12 12 The Global Leader in Enterprise Data Management Vancouver Calgary Toronto Houston Raleigh London Singapore No. Two Road, Richmond, BC V7C 4R9 Canada Toll Free: Business Intelligence Article 2017