Analytical apps overview

An analytic app takes your raw data, shapes it into the results you care about, and presents those results in a Visualisation your team works in. It is the right kind of app when you have spreadsheets or files to clean, combine, and turn into tables and charts.

The three parts of an analytic app

Every analytic app is made of three parts, each with its own panel in the app.

• The Data Pipeline is where you shape your data: bring it in, then transform it step by step.
• The Visualisation is what your teammates work in, built from the results of the pipeline: tables, charts, filters, and inputs.
• The Knowledge Base is a place for notes and context about your data. It helps you, and it gives Vera the background it needs to build a better app. Its Skills tab is where you save reusable AI questions for the app.

Build with Vera first

The easiest way to build an analytic app is to ask Vera, the AI assistant. Describe what you want in plain language, for example "import this sales file, total revenue by region, and chart it", and Vera sets up the pipeline, the Visualisation, and the knowledge base for you. No SQL or technical knowledge needed. See Build with Vera.

The rest of this section explains each part so you can review what Vera builds, or build and adjust the pieces by hand when you prefer.

The build loop

Building an analytic app by hand follows a simple loop:

1. Bring in data by adding a dataset and importing a file.
2. Transform it with steps that clean and combine your data.
3. Run the pipeline so every step processes and produces fresh results.
4. Build the Visualisation on those results with widgets like tables and charts.

You repeat this loop as your needs change: adjust a step, run again, and the Visualisation updates.

The editor, Run, and Publish

You build in the editor: open the app and click Open editor in the top right, or press E. The three panels above are its tabs. To see the app the way your teammates will, go Back to viewer with the arrow at the far left of the editor bar, or press E again.

Everything you change belongs to your private draft until you release it:

• Run processes the pipeline and refreshes the results. This is a private preview - your teammates keep seeing the last published results.
• Publish promotes the draft, so everyone sees your changes, and records the app as a version you can return to later. Publish and run does both in one step.

See Draft and publish for the full cycle, including discarding a draft and restoring an older version. Both touch data as well as configuration: discarding a draft also throws away the rows you uploaded while it was open, and restoring an older version brings that version's data back in place of what has been entered since.

Changing the app's configuration and publishing it are for members with the App builder or Admin role on the app. Anyone else who opens the editor sees the pipeline, the Knowledge Base, skills and the Visualisation read-only, with no Publish, Discard or Restore, and can still enter data in the app's tables. See Who builds and publishes.