Data collection and analysis have now changed their ways in light of how modern-day industries and enterprises function. For example, some companies make use of things like this Flatfile Alternative to help them import data to their website for a more seamless customer experience, others use surveys to collect customer data and opinions to help them inform future decisions. Given how important of an asset data is when it comes to acquiring relevant information for analysis, presentation, and decision making, it is therefore vital to have good, structured data. As we use automation methods and tools to make the data inputs and decipher it, structured data is highly useable to manipulate and translate to business intelligence. As this is an important topic, it may be useful to explore it in-depth and talk about how data is being processed now.
Data manipulation
Data manipulation is all about adjusting and arranging it to become more readable and organized. In order to achieve this goal, we can use DML or otherwise data manipulation language, which is a specific programming language capable of inserting, modifying, and deleting databases. It is also worth mentioning that it is one of the fast-growing professions in the 21st century. Someone who can do the data analysis and become a pro in data manipulation does have a bright future. They will need to have in depth knowledge about data management and handling to do the work for you perfectly.
Manipulation of data is very important for all growing enterprises to make the best use of data. To use information properly for trend analysis, customer behavior analysis, productivity boost, cutting cost, etc., enterprises need to adjust data management practices. For a better explanation regarding this, we will give you some examples of the benefits of data manipulation by using data tools as below.
Consistency in formatting
Getting the data in a unified and usable format will allow the members to have an easy understanding of business intelligence. Sourcing data from different sources means that it may lack structural consistency. On working through the DML process, data can be organized consistently and ensure better transparency too.
Overview of historical data
Having quick and easy access to the data based on the previous projects will help you to make the right decisions for the current need in hand. It will help to better plan the budget allocation, deadline of the projects, required resources, and skillsets, etc.
The efficiency of DB management
Manipulation of data may also contribute to the overall efficiency of database management. Through analysis, you know which information is most relevant and which are not. We can also find that the data interfere with retaining them and significantly impact matters. Identifying and isolating these elements will be possible through DML. It is very important to note that we can see data manipulation in action daily. You can rely on remote database administration also for efficient DB management remotely. It is advisable to consult professional remote database administration services like RemoteDBA.com to avail commendable remote database monitoring and management services.
If you receive emails, get the targeted ads on your website when you browse, or see receiving calls from the telemarketers, it is all because of data manipulation. The online behavior of the consumers is converted into data owing to the data manipulation process. Relevant information can be extracted. Once we share the email address on a particular site and agree to their terms and conditions, you are likely consenting to their behavior monitoring which generates actionable data.
Data manipulation and data modification
As we covered data manipulation as above, one should also need to know about data modification even though these are two distinct terms that may sound similar and used interchangeably. However, generally speaking, data manipulation is the art of processing raw data using logical calculations to get more refined data. Data modification also means that you are changing the existing data values to newer ones. You can effectively use data modification with data manipulation to make better business decision-making. If data manipulation is used to process different data sources, data modification can effectively be used to calculate the financial goals.
Steps involved in data manipulation
There are five steps involved in the data manipulation process:
- Creation of enterprise databases, which comprise various data sources used to fine-tune and cleanse the database.
- Restructuring and rearranging the content.
- Build or import a database that you can read.
- Combine, merge, or remove any redundant information from the data.
- Conduct data analysis to produce actionable insights, which can get a better decision-making process for businesses.
Tips for data manipulation
Now, as you know how things work in data manipulation theoretically, let us look into how you can do it in real-time practice. Various databases offer data manipulation tools. Even without any tools, we can use Microsoft Excel for this purpose as an effective data manipulation tool.
- Using functions and formulas – This one unique feature of MS Excel for which you can rely on the mathematical functions and add any desired value.
- Autofill feature – Once you calibrate the values, you can run the equations across various cells without re-entering the information. To ensure efficiency, users are encouraged to rely on the autofill feature through the data manipulation process.
- Filtering- When you need to find specific data which is relevant to you, it is easy to use the filter option to isolate the data
- Duplicate removal – When you are doing the filtering, you can also notice the same information being repeated to delete all redundant files.
- Combining the columns- You can also merge or use any other means to organize your data within MS Excel to have a clear picture of it and ensure that all the relevant cells are made visible.
When it comes to enterprise data management for business decision making, it is a great way to manipulate the data to more specific and precise information, which you need. This will ensure enough transparency to check for data history and ascertain the given information’s authenticity. Having a very neatly organized data projection is a necessity nowadays, and you can also find various software, which is compatible with your business model to work with.
