Data analysis can be a time-consuming process, not just in terms of producing the reports that give you the insights you need, but because of all the work involved in gathering the raw data on which those reports are based. Data must be collected, cleaned, formatted and combined – again and again, each time you want updated versions of the reports.
Here at DataSalon, we have a whole range of ways of making this process faster and easier, freeing up staff time to concentrate on the insights themselves, rather than on producing those insights.
Automatic data collection: We’ve got everything set up to use the ScholarOne, Aries Editorial Manager, and Crossref APIs, and to collect COUNTER usage data using the SUSHI standard.
Data merging processes: Systems that will only produce monthly files, or which require separate exports for each journal title, can be a real pain from a data analysis viewpoint. We can set up automatic processes to merge these files, saving you the time-consuming job of joining them together manually.
Data cleansing tools: We have a whole toolkit for tidying up data to ensure that the insights based on it are accurate. Duplicate values? Non-standard country names? Missing location data? No problem! We analyse every data source to identify potential problems and employ the appropriate tools to fix them.
Inferred fields/tables: Reports take longer to set up if they rely on information that is aggregated or calculated from the raw data, or if certain values need to be excluded. Our approach is to create additional aggregated data tables, or fields containing calculations or exclusion flags – making the report itself much quicker to set up and run.
Ready-made reports: As soon as you log into one of our products, you’ll be able to access reports that have already been set up for you, and customized to your requirements. Our experienced technical team will discuss your use cases with you and set up charts and dashboards to meet them, each using the most appropriate data visualizations.
Easy updates: For each of our clients, we set up a regular (usually weekly) build of data, including the automatic processes outlined above. Reports in our products are automatically re-run on the latest build of data each time you open them – so you always see an updated version without any additional work on your part.
We may have all these tools ready to use, but our products aren’t simply out of the box, one size fits all solutions – they save you time while also being flexible and customizable to your particular needs. To find out more, please get in touch for a chat and a demo.
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