Get to know the difference between Self Service and Guided Analytics

There are numerous approaches to providing information for decision making. The two most common are the use of Self Service and Guided Analytics. But know that the best choice between these two approaches depends on your target audience.

Self Service Analytics

With this approach, users create their Apps and analytics objects themselves. In the case of Qlik Sense, these are displayed as the native applications, where users with a business and data analyst profile take advantage of all the data available in the app to create new analysis, visualizations and insights. 

With Self Service Analytics, the task of exploring the data and finding stories is up to the end user, which requires more time from them to make all this happen.

Therefore, the “Self Service” approach is typically used for Operational and Tactical level dashboards.

Guided Analytics

With this approach. users browse ready-made dashboards without the ability to create charts and analysis visualizations. 

In the case of Qlik Sense, when using HTML dashboards, it is possible to completely customize the “look and feel” of a BI dashboard, styling both the design of the pages and using new types of charts “out of the box”. 

With Guided Analytics, the task of building a narrative and finding stories is the responsibility of those who develop the dashboard. This opens up space for the end-user to interact and understand data on a cleaner screen that fits their business requirements.

The “Guided Analytics” approach is normally used for Strategic-level dashboards, used by Managers, Directors and the C-level suite.

Conclusion

In short, the main takeaway here is: get to know your BI users’ data analysis routine well. 

Do they often create analyses on their own, or do they prefer to receive a ready-made script? Do they have time to explore the data or do they have just a few minutes to track critical data for the business operation? 

It is only with the clarity of what users expect to find that you will find the best approach between these two options.