#reflectivelog #financialdata
Reflective log for DS46 Week 1 Project
Task:
We were provided with several files containing data as well as an ‘about’ file detailing the layout of information within each of the files. The task was to create a plan for a prep flow to clean and combine this data, before attempting to create the flow on Tableau Prep and presenting back to the group, as well as updating the ‘about’ sheet after changes were made.
My Approach:
As this project had to be completed within three hours it was important to plan out the tasks. Knowing that I had to present my work back at the end I decided to use a slide show that I would update as I went along with each step through the process.
First, I decided to first look at each sheet within the data set in to gain an understanding of what each sheet contained. My dataset included one main sheet with data about complaints filed for financial services products, and the rest of the sheets contained extra information which could allow for extra analysis, relating to the financial products, the agent involved in the sale and customer information.
Secondly, I asked myself who is the user for this data set likely to be and what questions might they want answered? I used this to create an aim which was to produce a single combined working table which could be used to analyse complaints by geographic location, branch, agent, and customer.
After this I started to form my data flow plan. I looked at each table to find what cleaning steps would be necessary to join the tables together. I documented as I went along in my power point slides and used screenshots to demonstrate what I intended to do.
At a couple of occasions along the way I was able to talk to other people in the office to help at sticking points. I was given assistance when trying to convert a customer number to a four-digit number (for example turning 23 into 0023, or 456 into 0456) before I could create a full customer ID to match with the main table. This was able to be achieved using calculated fields through adding four 0’s in front of the customer number and then using a RIGHT() function to select the last four digits – which was a solution I can use in the future.
After the planning stage I was able to create the workflow in Tableau Prep and produce a new table with one line for each complaint and all the other info added in.
What went well:
I was able to grasp the basic concepts of creating a plan for a data flow and produce it from the plan – creating a useable table for the customer. I was able to seek help from my colleagues when there was something I was stuck with and not get stuck on one thing for too long – this allowed me to reinforce my learning from the first week and think of better ways to do things.
What could go better:
My time management can improve – it seemed to take me longer than I had expected for each stage of the plan and by the time I had finished the main tasks I did not have much time left over to think about the presentation. I had been filling out my slide show as I went along however my presentation could have been more visually appealing through using better imagery and less text. Had I been able to put more time into planning the presentation I may not have gone over my allotted time. Next time I will try to be better at estimating how long things will take and stick to a timed plan – giving myself time at the end to think about presentation. I will also consider using a site like excalidraw to improve the visuals of my presentation.