November 2023 Summaries

The November 2023 Superset Community Newsletter, authored by Evan Rusackas, encourages readers to engage with data visualization by trying Preset, a platform designed to enhance data exploration and presentation. The newsletter invites the audience to subscribe to blog updates for a weekly digest of new posts, offering an opportunity to stay informed about the latest developments and insights in the data visualization community.

The blog examines the functionalities and benefits of two business intelligence platforms: Apache Superset and Mode Analytics. Apache Superset is highlighted for its open-source nature, ease of use, and customization, making it accessible for both technical and non-technical users. It provides a rich array of visualization options, a user-friendly interface, and supports self-service analytics, which is ideal for organizations aiming to democratize data access. On the other hand, Mode Analytics is known for its integration with R and Python notebooks, catering primarily to technical users proficient in SQL, and is designed for advanced analytics including predictive analytics. The blog also discusses the advantages of open-source tools like Superset in avoiding vendor lock-in and ensuring continued development, especially in a BI market characterized by frequent acquisitions. It concludes by suggesting that organizations consider Superset or its cloud-hosted version, Preset Cloud, for a flexible BI solution, while also addressing the benefits and challenges of self-hosting versus utilizing a managed service.

MetaMap, a global digital trust and reputation platform, transitioned from using a costly third-party business intelligence (BI) vendor to Preset's embedded dashboards to improve cost efficiency and data accessibility. Founded in 2017 in San Francisco, MetaMap provides its 400+ global customers with real-time usage and verification metrics through a customer identity platform. The switch to Preset was driven by the need for a more cost-effective solution as previous licenses were nearing renewal and becoming increasingly expensive. Preset offered a better benefit-to-cost ratio, with core functionalities such as reusable charts and datasets, a thin semantic layer that integrates with external data models, SQL-friendly usage, and diverse visualization options. This transition resulted in over 50% cost savings and facilitated more efficient data handling for both MetaMap's team and its merchants. Looking forward, MetaMap aims to implement self-service analytics for more personalized data insights, empowering sales and customer success teams to derive valuable insights directly for merchants' benefit.

Superset's platform enables users to extend its capabilities through custom data visualization plugins, and this series aims to delve into the more advanced features that enhance these plugins, making them more appealing and functional. The initial post in the series outlines the significance of extending plugins, not only for increased user satisfaction but also for better chances of integration into Superset's codebase. Advanced features discussed include metadata configuration, color palette support, dynamic controls, and best practices for plugin development. It highlights the preferred use of Apache ECharts for creating plugins intended for contribution to the Superset community, while also emphasizing that plugins can be built with any JavaScript platform. The post serves as a foundation, with future installments set to explore additional plugin features like advanced analytics, conditional coloring, and predictive analytics, aiming to guide developers in building robust, community-ready visualization tools.

Preset's recent updates introduce a variety of new features and enhancements aimed at improving user experience and analytics capabilities. Apache Superset 3.0's release in September brings new functionalities to Preset, including the ability to organize charts and dashboards using content tags, and track team activities through audit logs. Preset has expanded its charting options by adding waterfall and bubble charts, and users can now view SQL queries in the SQL Lab results panel. The platform now supports a connection to MotherDuck via SQLAlchemy and has introduced user experience improvements, such as permalinks for sharing charts and dashboards. Additional updates include enhanced pivot table capabilities, automatic updates of legacy chart types, and improved dataset creation flow for large database schemas. Preset also addresses issues with email notifications for alerts and reports and provides expanded documentation for database engine specifications. These features are available on various Preset plans, with some exclusive to the Enterprise and Professional tiers.