Posted on 09/13/18 by Jodi Reimer


bigstock-Happy-Dog-in-car-Bichon-Frise-193337749

Both QlikView and Qlik Sense are driven off the same internal engine, also known as the QIX engine, and Qlik has committed to driving down a road that includes both of these analytical vehicles. They share many of the same traits, but they do serve some different needs. It all boils down to guided and self-service analytics. The definition between guided and self-service isn’t always clear depending on who you talk to, but I’m going to give you a better look at the difference.

Depending on what your organization is looking to do, you may take the QlikView approach.

This is usually when you want to provide guided analytics, more commonly described as a pre-defined data model with specific reports designed to serve a purpose. These types of applications will usually include some type of gauges on a dashboard for KPIs and to answer the age old “How’d we do yesterday?” question. Guided analytics applications show the user specifically what they want to know without having to do much to get to the answer. They do provide some ability to create your own tables and visualizations, but these are usually reserved for advanced users. QlikView is the family sedan in the Qlik model lineup. It gets you from point A to point B with one clearly defined path.

If you think your journey is more along the lines of self-service analytics, you’ll want to go down the Qlik Sense route.

Self-service analytics is typically described as the ability to discover your own insights. This sometimes requires the know-how of putting together tables and views with the correct keys to make the right associations in the data. Now, Qlik Sense doesn’t require you to be able to do everything IT can do to provide insight, it provides the ability to allow you to do that. Qlik Sense is also good at guided analytics, but it’s not limited to that specific approach. I consider Qlik Sense to be more of a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It’s able to provide you all of the luxuries of a family SUV, but also gives you the ability to still go through the mud, snow, and sand if you desire to tackle that trail on your adventure.

Now you have a better idea of the two, but let’s throw a wrench in things.

The Qlik Analytics Platform is also another available option from Qlik. It provides the QIX engine and ability to create mashups of your data using the associative modeling capabilities you’d find in both QlikView and Qlik Sense. This has some very specific use cases, but it is a little-known product that Qlik offers. You can consider this the crate motor for whatever analytics vehicle you’re trying to build.

You’re newly educated about the different types of analytical vehicles. Now what?

I’m guessing you’re thinking that you can’t decide what you want. My next question to you is, “Do you already use QlikView?” If so, you have the ability now to use both! Of course, you get what you pay for. In order for you to have the ability to have Qlik Sense in your analytics garage, you’ll have an uptick in maintenance costs and you must be current on your maintenance to participate in this specific offering. Personally, I think this is an excellent offering from Qlik in order to show current QlikView users the capabilities in Qlik Sense at a minimal cost. You’ll get the ability to see if this is the course you should take to prepare for future analytics use cases in your organization. There are many more details to share about this if you’d like to have a conversation about it.

If you need help on your analytics journey, our data analytics team at CPS is here to help.

Since we’re not car salesmen, you can consider us your GPS (with updated maps of course). CPS can provide anything from data strategies and development to evaluations of your current analytics environment. We’ll help you get to wherever it is you want to go on your analytical journey, through whatever terrain you choose!

Contact the CPS Team.


Share on: