The 3 degrees of Data Access for data scientists and users

To get the most out of your data strategy in an enterprise, it is necessary to cluster the different user types that might arise in an enterprise. All of them are users of data but with different needs and demands on it. In my opinion, they range from different expertise levels. Basically, I see three different user types for data access within a company

Data access on 3 different levels

Basically, the different user types differentiate from their level of how they use data and from the number of users. Let’s first start with the lower part of the pyramid – Business Users

Business Users

The first layer are the business users. This are basically users that need data for their daily decisions, but are rather consumers of the data. These people look at different reports to make decisions on their business topics. They could either be Marketing, Sales or Technology – depending on the company itself. Basically, these users would use pre-defined reports, but in the long run would rather go for customized reports. One great thing for that is self-service BI. Basically, theses users are experienced in interpreting data for their business goals and asking questions on their data. This could be about re-viewing the performance of a campaign, weekly or monthly sales reports, … They create huge load on the underlying systems without understanding the implementation and complexity underneath it – and they don’t have to. From time to time, they start digging deeper into their data and thus become power users – our next level

Power Users

Power Users often emerge from Business Users. This is typically a person that is close with the business and understands the needs and processes around it. However, they also have a great technical understanding (or gained this understanding during the process of becoming power users). They have some level of SQL know-how or know the basics of other scripting tools. They often work with the business users (even in the same department) on solving business questions. Also, they work close with Data Engineers on accessing data sources and integrating new data sources. Also, they go for self-service analytics tools to have a basic level of data science done. However, they aren’t data scientists but might get into this direction if they invest significant time into it. This now brings us to the next level – the data scientists

Data access for Data Scientists

This is the top level of our pyramid. People working as data scientists aren’t in the majority – business users and power users are much more. However, they work on more challenging topics then the previous two. Also, they work close with power users and business users. They might still be in the same department, but not necessarily. Also, they work with advanced tools such as R and Python and fine-tune the models the power users built with self-service analytics tools or translate the business questions raised from the business users into algorithms.

Often, those 3 develop in different directions – however, it is necessary that all of them work together – as a team – in order to make projects with data a success. With Data access, it is necessary to also incorporate role based access controls.

This post is part of the “Big Data for Business” tutorial. In this tutorial, I explain various aspects of handling data right within a company.