Talend is introducing Talend Data Preparation, an open source self-service tool to help business users to speed up the time-consuming process of data wrangling or spreadsheet management. Available as a desktop application with a free download, the tool is intended to help business users and analysts to explore, cleanse, enrich and combine data from different sources faster using drag-and-drop tools, smart guides, and automated processing functions.
The new tool addresses a common hurdle to widespread data use which involves getting accurate and actionable information into the hands of more business users as organizations seek to become data-driven, said Jean-Michel Franco, director of product marketing for master data management and data preparation at Talend. All too often, he said, organizations spend more time on data wrangling than on actually analyzing data.
Talend Data Preparation streamlines the flow of data throughout the organization, allowing line of business users to apply their domain expertise and work directly with the data that’s relevant to their business objectives. And, by reducing the cycles required to prepare or fix data, Talend Data Preparation allows business analysts to go far deeper in their analysis of key datasets.
The tool provides a web-based interface, and gives users intelligent assistance as they import, structure and transform data. Even without IT skills, users can get data in the form needed, while avoiding having to create complicated formulas, write code, or complete the same tasks over and over again. Key features, according to the company, include auto content discovery or identification, smart suggestions, cleansing and enrichment functions, as well as data visualizations to allow users to immediately begin their data analysis. The product also allows key “recipes” or formulas to be saved and reused, further speeding up future projects.
The open source version of the product is available immediately for download from Talend.
A commercial version of the product, which will be offered as a managed, subscription service, is planned for release in Q2 2016. This self-service version will also offer data governance and compliance functionality and controls, the ability for multi-user role-based access, high performance server-based data processing capabilities and support for hundreds of data sources and targets.
In addition, another version targeted at the needs of data scientists doing complex analytics will be available in Q3 2016, said Franco.
For more information, visit www.talend.com.