Overall user interface could use a facelift

[Jono]

Incorta seems like a powerful product overall from what I've seen and read and so please bear with me as this is just a suggestion. Could you make Incorta more intuitive? I hate to even mention your competitor, Tableau, however, it's the best example to make this point. As a data science student, I learned Tableau in just one afternoon due to it's user friendly intuitive interactive screens and a flow that goes from left to right with descriptions and features that just make sense in terminology and the building process. One example is the overall Incorta interface seems to flow backwards (Data, Schema, Business Schema, Scheduler, Content). It's like you work from right to left in Incorta. Not sure why as it seems counter intuitive. Also, importing and building schemas and formulas and manipulating data to create the dashboard are more straight forward in Tableau. I was able to go from importing and building relationships of PostgreSQL tables inside Tableau and applying formulas into a comprehensive dashboard in just hours as a brand new user in Tableau. I think if Incorta can improve its user interface in such a way, it will help attract and keep customers. Again this is just a thought but could bring Incorta to the top over all its competitors. Thanks for listening.

[JoeM]

@Jono - thank you for taking the time to submit your idea. In fact, I think there are a couple of ideas packed in here! I would like to dig a level deeper if you'll permit.  From what I understand, a few areas of improvement would be:

1. Reversing the navigation tabs to go from left to right.
2. Improve unclear terminology. Were there any particular words/menus that you found confusing?
3. Improving the formula/data manipulation experience. What experiences from building formulas/manipulating data are missing here? I know this could be a more challenging one to extrapolate upon.
   
   Thanks! 

[Jono]

Hi @JoeM ,

Yes, I would prefer to have navigation tabs from left to right; however, that said, I can get used to it. I'm just thinking for your future new customers. I've been trained by other products I suppose to expect a certain type of order and this just didn't fit what I am used to.

Regarding terminology, the main tab of "DATA" is of course helpful. I found it a little confusing differentiating between "Schema" and "Business Schema". I'm still not totally sure. I'm guessing one is more geared for configuration and the other for visual preparation towards the dashboard. "Content" didn't really strike me as where I would build the dashboard, but I can see why that word is being used. I probably would have preferred the simple term of "Dashboard".  One interesting thing is that Tableau has "Story" which actually appealed to me as that term is emphasized in our data science classes as the ultimate end goal: "to communicate the story of the data". While they use the term "dashboard", they ultimately combine their dashboards into a storytelling visual. I don't necessarily think Incorta needs to do that though.
Regarding formula, correct me if I'm wrong, it appears there is only one way to create a formula from the Edit Insight screen and that is to drag and drop the 'add formula' feature over to 'measure' or 'filter' columns. I tried clicking on 'add formula' and right clicking and looking for a menu to add it and couldn't figure it out until one of your helpful tech support informed me about drag and dropping it. Also, I'm thinking if it's possible to add a menu at the top to select and create various items as such, that would be better. I do like this product and think much can be done with it once I figure out how to get around. 

Regarding data manipulation in Tableau, it's easy to join tables quickly with a drag and drop and it figures out automatically what the primary key / foreign keys are but also allows one to edit appropriately to achieve a desired goal. Incorta has this too, but it seems a little trickier to get there. 

Those are just a few things off the top of my head. I will try and submit some more suggestions later as I navigate and learn more about this tool. 

Thank you for listening. Incorta has a lot going for it already, and the fact that you are listening to its users is incredible. Fast response time too. When I had a problem, I got an answer quickly. When I submitted this 'new idea' , you responded very quickly as well. That is wonderful customer service!

[JoeM]

@Jono  - I appreciate the clarification and thoughtfulness in your idea here. I also appreciate the nod to the response times😀.  I've shared this idea with our UX/UI designers to read through this and add it to their roadmap considerations. Any status changes will be posted here.  

As for formulas and understanding them in the interim, there are actually three tiers in which a formula can be written:
Base level - Schema level: This is effectively writing a formula on your base data architecture. Anyone with access to this schema will be able to leverage the formula.
Second level - Business Schema: I like to think of this as a 'custom view' that you can use to gather essential columns from the schema layer that you might only be interested in. You can write a formula here and use it again and again in dashboards. Additionally, you can share the specialized views and views you make with others in your department, group, etc.
Dashboard Level - This level is a level where you can write directly against a dashboard. Every time you want to re-leverage the same formula, you'll have to re-write it on a per insight basis.

If you want to write a formula for one-time use, it may be best done against an insight. If you or a group only need access to the formula and plan to reuse it on some cadence, you may want to add it to the business schema layer. If your whole business needs access to this formula, it may be best served at the schema layer. 

One mention is that, as a data scientist, you may be writing code via our notebook's functionality. If that's the case, you'll likely be writing your table with your codified formulas on the schema layer. 

[Jono]

Excellent information; thank you, Joe!