In-Depth
TDWI Audio Report: Mashups, Data, and BI
On the Internet, a “mashup” combines applications or data from different sources --sources not originally intended to be used together -- into a single site or page. A data mashup, explains InetSoft’s Byron Igoe in this interview, is much the same -- it allows a user with no BI experience to easily combine and then manipulate disparate data from different sources.
Microsoft Excel is a wildly popular data manipulation tool for users, but it’s not always the best tool. It continues to be popular because it lets users access and manipulate data themselves. Another way to achieve that, while still maintaining IT controls over data, is through a relatively new concept that InetSoft’s Byron Igoe calls data mashups. Data mashups, according to Igoe, are a logical next step from ad hoc data queries. He explains how through a data mashup, data from different sources, including both formal data warehouses maintained by IT, and informal user data, can be linked together with a BI front end.
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