Building Your Business Travel Analytics Pipeline

04 Jun 2024 12:03 - By Gavin Smith

A Non-Technical Guide to Zoho Dataprep

Building Your Business Travel Analytics Pipeline: A Non-Technical Guide to Zoho Dataprep

Business travel data holds a treasure trove of insights, but unlocking its potential often feels like deciphering an ancient language. Fear not, travel expense warriors! Zoho Dataprep steps in to bridge the gap, empowering even non-technical users to build a data pipeline for their business travel analytics.

Imagine a streamlined system that automatically gathers your travel data, cleans it up for analysis, and delivers it ready for Zoho Analytics to work its magic. That's the power of Zoho Dataprep – a user-friendly tool that lets you build this data pipeline without needing to write a single line of code.

Here's how you, the non-data hero, can conquer the world of business travel data pipelines with Zoho Dataprep:

1. Connect the Dots: Bringing Your Travel Data Together

Zoho Dataprep connects to various data sources – a common pain point for non-technical users. Whether your travel data resides in spreadsheets, expense management software, or even internal databases, Zoho Dataprep can securely connect and import it. This eliminates the need for manual data entry, saving you time and ensuring accuracy.

2. Taming the Chaos: Cleaning Up Your Data for Analysis

Raw business travel data can be messy. Inconsistent formats, missing values, and duplicate entries can throw a spanner into your analytics efforts. Zoho Dataprep comes to the rescue with its intuitive cleaning tools. You can easily identify missing information, standardise formats (think dates and currencies), and remove duplicates. Imagine transforming a jumbled mess into a well-organized dataset – all with a few clicks and drag-and-drop actions!

3. Shaping Up Your Data: Tailoring it for Analytics

Not all data points are created equal. Zoho Dataprep empowers you to shape your data for optimal analysis in Zoho Analytics. You can create calculated fields (imagine combining travel dates for a "trip duration" metric) and split existing fields for finer granularity (separate "hotel cost" from "flight cost" within a single expense entry). This level of control allows you to tailor your data to answer specific questions about your business travel spend.

4. Automating the Flow: Scheduling Your Data Pipeline

Business travel data is constantly evolving. With Zoho Dataprep, you don't have to manually clean and prepare your data every time new information arrives. Schedule your data pipeline to run automatically at regular intervals (daily, weekly, or monthly). This ensures your analytics in Zoho Analytics are always based on the latest, freshest data, providing you with the most up-to-date insights.

5. Collaboration is Key: Sharing Your Data Pipeline

Building a data pipeline isn't a solo act. Zoho Dataprep fosters collaboration by allowing you to share your creation with colleagues. This empowers others (like finance or travel managers) to access the clean, prepared data and leverage it for their own analyses. Shared ownership fosters better decision-making across the organization.

The Non-Technical Path to Business Travel Insights

Zoho Dataprep empowers non-technical users to become data pipeline heroes. By simplifying data connection, cleaning, shaping, and automation, it removes the technical barriers that traditionally kept valuable business travel insights out of reach. With Zoho Dataprep, you can build a streamlined system that delivers clean, ready-to-analyze data to Zoho Analytics, paving the way for a more data-driven approach to managing your company's travel spend. So, embrace the power of Zoho Dataprep, and unlock the hidden treasures within your business travel data!


Gavin Smith