Data preparation is the process of collecting, cleaning, and consolidating data into one file or data table which can primarily be used for analysis conducted using Data Preparation tools.
Major steps for Data Preparation are:
- Data analysis– Data analysis is used for auditing data to find errors and other anomalies that needs correction.
- Creating an intuitive workflow– Formulation of a workflow consisting of a sequence of data prep operations for addressing the data errors is what is next in line after Data analysis.
- Validation– The workflow is evaluated against a representative sample of the dataset to check the degree of correctness in it.
- Transformation– The viability of the work process is tried and the change is completed, and the real information prep process happens.
- Backflow of cleaned data– Finally, steps must also be taken for the clean data to replace the original dirty data sources.
Data preparation involving of tasks such as profiling data, standardizing it and transforming it has traditionally been very manual and has been prone to errors. Luckily the latest generation of tools, typically powered by NoSQL technologies have made it easy for users to rapidly explore, understand and analyze datasets.
Here are 5 top data preparation tools that have been of huge help to the consultants at Data to Value.
- Paxata Adaptive Platform: Adaptive Platform by Paxata combines user experience that’s intuitive for analysts with machine learning and semantic analytics so that analysts can analyse data quickly and get insights faster. Designed to support and balance data integration, quality, collaboration and enrichment, Paxata focuses on usability and faster time to insights for business analysts.
- Alteryx Analytics: Alteryx is a tool that enables a user to blend data from different sources in one seamless workflow. Alteryx can handle a large set of data both structured and unstructured in different formats and sources. It also makes it easy for users to easily access the data they need and collaborate on a single workflow and solve problems more efficiently.
- Brillio Data Preparation as a Service: Brillio’s data preparation solution enables self-service BI and analytics tools to turn data into truly meaningful insights. It offers a combination of 3 Brillio Data Preparation Offerings.
- Brillio Rapid Data Prep Service:
- Brillio Insights Ready Data Prep Platform:
- Rapid Data Assets:
- Platfora: Easy to use features and visually rich platform makes Platfora a preferred choice for analysts for research. Users can explore data without any hassle and can interact with varied sets of multi-structured data. Time-saving and Efficiency of insights are two main advantages of platfora that distinguishes it from the rest of data preparation tools.
- Rapidminer Studio: Coming from a Data mining community, Rapid Miner studio is a popular open-source predictive analytics platform that provides accurate pre-processing and enables execution of a wide range of operations ranging from data preparation to model building and validation. The platform provides all of the necessary tools for a mature data mining process
