Extracting Actionable Insights

Data Analysts:

• Discuss with end users looking for insights to understand their needs and translate them into a rigorous analytical process.
• Draw data from the gold layer and apply the necessary analysis to it.
• Communicate the insights they obtain, usually via dashboards or ad-hoc reports and presentations.

With Data Scientists, they are responsible for one of the last “conduits” of the Data Pipeline – the communication of analysis results to the organization’s decision-makers. Most commonly, they bring value by reducing uncertainty around decision-making.

Their work is often driven by immediate business needs but leads to both one-off ad-hoc analyses and recurring reporting or dashboards. In a Data team, they are generally among the most deeply familiar with the domain and stakeholders they support within the organization.

Examples of questions a Data Analyst can answer:

• What was the YoY progression of the number of active users on our app last month?
• Does this change in our product (e.g., a new feature) increase user satisfaction?
• Why is our B2B revenue growth plateauing?