Course Information

Data analysis and analytics. Uncover insights and transform your organisation.

In this introductory training course, you will learn the basics of how to analyse data, create charts and tell stories.TIBCO Spotfire® is is an analytical platform for generating business insights to help you and your organisation make better and smarter decisions.

This course introduces key TIBCO Spotfire® features and provides a practical guide that will help you to understand the process of performing data analyses and creating data visualisation in Spotfire.

You'll learn how to explore, present and analyse data in a professional way. We will go step-by-step through connecting your data, creating visualisations, best practice techniques and how to publish the dashboards that you create.

Our facilitator will guide you in developing your skills to analyse data using Spotfire charts and data functions, so that you will have the confidence to immediately apply this learning in your own workplace. This is achieved through hands-on exercises, making sure you leave with the practical skills to use Spotfire with confidence.

This course begins with TIBCO Spotfire® basics. You will begin by installing the software, exploring the interface, connecting to a data file and using some of the basic functionality. This includes connecting TIBCO Spotfire® to a variety of datasets; analysing, blending, joining, and calculating data. Following these steps, you will create visualisations including charts, plots, and maps.

Aims

By the time you complete this course, you'll be on the way to becoming a proficient TIBCO Spotfire® analyst.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• install and configure TIBCO Spotfire®
• connect to data using TIBCO Spotfire®
• combine data from different databases
• use Spotfire in data exploration and analysis
• create visualisations for large datasets
• create, share, and publish dashboards
• describe the components and main functionality of TIBCO Spotfire®
• manipulate data (including sorting, filtering, slicing and pivoting data, creating calculated fields)
• build dashboards and visualisations.

Content

Installing and connecting to data in Spotfire

• Download and set-up the current trial version
• Connect to a data source in Spotfire

Features/functionalities in Spotfire

• Creating and working with data tables in Spotfire
• The expected f format for a data table
• Adding new rows & columns to a data table
• Data table properties (calculated columns, binned columns, hierarchies, formatting, sorting)
• Types of filters in Spotfire
• Introduction to data functions in Spotfire
• How does TIBCO Spotfire® compare to other software?

Foundations of statistical data analysis

• The nature of descriptive and inferential statistics
• Ways of processing data
• Parametric statistical analysis
• Hypothesis testing with test statistics

Data manipulation in Spotfire

• Data preparation
• What is data drill-down?
• Data transformation through pivots and unpivots

Foundations of data visualisations

• Design elements for data visualisations
• Angle: What view of your data is most relevant?
• Framing: What data to show? What data to leave out?
• Focus: Is there anything you intend to emphasise?
• Different chart types
• Categorical, Hierarchical, Relational, Temporal, Spatial
• Points, lines, shapes, forms
• Colours, textures, patterns

Types of visualisations in Spotfire

• Visualising categorical information using bar charts
• Dividing a visualisation across a trellis grid
• Visualising trends using line charts
• Visualising proportions using pie charts
• Visualising relationships using scatter plots
• Visualising hierarchical relationships using tree maps

Creating a dashboard page in Spotfire

• Building a dashboard

Statistical functions in Spotfire

• Summarising statistical measures using summary tables
• Visualising statistical measures (eg, using box and whisker plots)

Publishing in Spotfire

• How to save a Spotfire file
• How to export data
• How to export and publish visualisations

Intended audience

This course is designed for the beginner Spotfire user. It will help you understand and use the basic techniques within Spotfire for analysing data and creating visualisations.

This is a slower-paced class for users who need time to grasp the fundamental concepts relating to use of Spotfire.

Participants include:

• anyone wishing to learn the basics of TIBCO Spotfire®
• managers considering using TIBCO Spotfire® within their organisation
• Business Analysts.

Prerequisites

You will a need a basic level of Excel expertise to comfortably participate in this course. Please refer to Microsoft Excel Course: Level 1 and make sure you can complete at least 80% of the learning outcomes.

Delivery style

Face-to-face, presenter taught workshop using your own device.

Materials

You will be provided with online training materials including a mixture of step-by-step instructions and exercises. These materials will serve as a useful reference when working with Spotfire in the future.

Before the course

You will need your own device with TIBCO Spotfire® installed. A 30-day free trial can be downloaded from TIBCO.

Please ensure your device is fully charged as access to power is limited. The University does not carry any responsibility for your lost, stolen, or damaged devices whilst on the University premises.