Collaborative Analysis Platform

17 posts · Nov 2021 – Sep 2024

What this trail covers

Hex has evolved its collaborative analysis platform by introducing a new grid-backed app layout engine. This engine combines the flexibility of a drag-and-drop builder with the automagic layout of Story mode, addressing user pain points in both previous modes. The new engine allows for more intuitive app building, easier insertion of elements, and better responsiveness, bridging the gap between narrative and dashboard use cases. This post details enhancements to table display cells, including column formatting (currency, percentage, URL), conditional formatting for highlighting cells, and other familiar spreadsheet features like quick column resizing and text wrapping, improving the interactivity and visual appeal of dataframe outputs.

All Hex trails

Sep 2024Exploring one question with three workflowsThis post demonstrates Hex's multi-modal analytics workspace by showcasing three distinct workflows (SQL-first, no-code, and hybrid) to answer a single data question. It highlights how the platform allows users to seamlessly integrate SQL, Python, and no-code tools within the same notebook environment, reducing friction and accelerating data analysis and insight generation. The post emphasizes the efficiency gains from using the most appropriate modality for specific tasks within a unified workspace.
Aug 2024How Recursion’s data team accelerates drug discoveryThis post details how Recursion Pharmaceuticals' data team adopted Hex to transform their drug discovery workflow. Previously, data scientists acted as intermediaries, slowing down the process. By implementing a "scalable loop" architecture and decoupling data processing from last-mile delivery, they moved from horizontal pipelines to a more efficient, collaborative system. Hex is used for complex analysis, visualization, and delivery of multi-disciplinary data, integrating with their BioHive supercomputer (GKE, Prefect) and BigQuery. This shift allows for faster prototyping, more holistic decision-making, and democratized access to data insights, reducing reliance on expensive supercomputing for tasks like reshaping data for BI tools.
Feb 2024Modernizing Jupyter workflows with Hex + SnowflakeThis post details how Hex modernizes Jupyter workflows by offering a cloud-native, collaborative, and scalable alternative. It highlights Hex's advantages over traditional Jupyter Notebooks in ease of installation (cloud-hosted, no local setup), data access (first-class SQL support, direct Snowflake integration, Snowpark connectivity), data scale (cloud-based memory/processing, Query Mode for large datasets), version control (built-in autosaving, visual diff explorer, GitHub/GitLab integration for PR workflows), and collaboration (shared notebooks, live edits, presence indicators, conflict resolution, code reviews).
Jan 2024Focusing your data team on what matters mostThis post details strategies for focusing data teams on strategic work by improving shareability and collaboration, empowering functional teams for self-serve exploration, and establishing shared definitions of metrics. It highlights the importance of collaborative tools that facilitate feedback loops and knowledge sharing, moving beyond static artifacts. The post also emphasizes the need for a flexible data stack that supports multiple languages and enables effective knowledge production and dissemination, advocating for tools that facilitate the creation, saving, and sharing of analytical insights.
Nov 2023How to Build a Dashboard in PythonThis post details how to build a basic dashboard in Python using Matplotlib, Seaborn, and Plotly for visualization, and Flask for deployment. It covers creating bar, line, histogram, and scatter plots, and explains how to serve these plots as a web dashboard using Flask by encoding images as base64 strings. It also briefly mentions Jupyter Voila and Hex as alternative dashboard tools.
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Sep 2023Automating Reporting at AlgoliaThis post details how Algolia's data team automated their quarterly reporting process by integrating Fivetran, Redshift, dbt, and Hex. They moved from manual CSV downloads and Google Sheets to an automated pipeline where data is transformed in Redshift using dbt, then queried and visualized in Hex. The output is pushed to Google Sheets, and then into Google Slides for reporting. This reduced the reporting time from two weeks to 5-10 minutes.
Aug 2023End to end tools make the modern analytics workflow fasterThis post details the iterative nature of the analytics workflow, highlighting the inefficiencies of using multiple tools versus a single integrated tool like Hex. It emphasizes how Hex's unified environment (SQL IDE, notebook, no-code visualization, report builder) reduces context switching and streamlines the feedback loop from initial query to final stakeholder review. The core contribution is the articulation of how an end-to-end platform accelerates the modern analytics workflow by consolidating disparate steps into a single, iterative process.
May 2023Make data-driven decisions with KPI dashboardsThis post details the importance of KPI dashboards for data-driven decision-making, contrasting visual representations with text-based data. It outlines key considerations for dashboard design, including identifying relevant metrics, defining the dashboard's purpose, and understanding the target audience. The post categorizes different types of dashboards (Revenue, Sales, Marketing, Financial, Operations, HR, Customer Service, Project Management, IT) and discusses the trade-offs between building and buying reporting tools, covering spreadsheet tools, BI tools, dedicated dashboard software, and data visualization libraries. It emphasizes the benefits of visual dashboards for intuitive understanding and historical trend analysis, while also highlighting the challenges of poor dashboard design.
Oct 2022Q&A with Bluecore’s Data Team: Part 2This post details the use of Hex as a collaborative analysis platform, specifically highlighting the development of a revenue forecasting app. It discusses the team's workflow, including the use of dbt for data staging and the benefits of Hex over local Jupyter notebooks for shareability, collaboration, and scalability. The post emphasizes Hex's ability to ingest data from APIs for custom reporting and its role as a 'Swiss army knife' for data analysis. It also touches on client shareability and the importance of best-in-class tooling for team productivity.
Mar 2022Building a BuilderThis post details the design and prototyping of a new grid-backed app layout engine for Hex. It describes the user research that identified the limitations of the previous Canvas and Story modes, the hypothesis for a grid-backed solution, and the iterative prototyping process using third-party libraries and a from-scratch implementation. The contribution focuses on the technical challenges and solutions in creating a responsive and flexible layout engine that supports both narrative and dashboard app styles.
Nov 2021Building Better Display Tables - Blog | HexThis post introduces enhancements to table display cells within Hex's collaborative analysis platform. Key contributions include: - **Column Formatting:** Ability to format columns as currency, percentage, and clickable URLs directly within the table display. - **Conditional Formatting:** Functionality to apply conditional formatting to specific cells or the entire table to highlight data. - **User Experience Improvements:** Inclusion of familiar spreadsheet features like quick column resizing and text wrapping to enhance the intuitiveness of interacting with tabular data.