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Qlik Sense: New features with the February release

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Qlik Sense February 2019The February version of the data visualization software Qlik Sense has arrived! With the new release Qlik reacts to the wishes of many users with new features.

After the big success of the Dashboard Bundle provided in the November version, Qlik now adds a new Visualization Bundle. The comprehensive package includes seven more visualization types that were previously only available as Qlik Extensions via the open source community. For upcoming releases, Qlik has announced a continuation of its enhancement package strategy. In addition, users can look forward to an improved user interface – also in the mobile area – as well as new advanced authoring features.

New Visualization Bundle

With the new visualization package, Qlik Sense February 2019 again offers several new diagram types, which greatly expand the possibilities of data visualization:

  1. Funnel chart – to display the progression of a measure over different stages.
  2. Sankey chart – shows measures as a flow and how they are divided into categories (single- or multi-level).
  3. Radar chart – shows a measure distributed over a polar chart with two category dimensions (one for the axes and one for areas).
  4. Heat Map – represents a matrix of color values with two dimensions and a measure.
  5. Multi KPI Object – equips standard KPI objects with more customization options.
  6. Word Cloud – highlights the most common occurrences in text dimensions.
  7. Network chart – shows a diagram with dimensions for nodes, parents and measures.
Visualization Bundle in Qlik Sense February 2019
New visualization types in Qlik Sense February 2019 (Source: Qlik)

Improved user interface

Qlik Sense February 2019 has also been optimized in terms of user experience. For example, the navigation within apps has been simplified by using the “Single Page Application Flow” to switch between data preparation, analysis and data storytelling with just one single click, without having to open new tabs or browser windows.

Advanced authoring features

With the February version, the advanced authoring features will also be further expanded. For example, the new “Share Button” allows the sharing of insights and explicit selections / filters via a direct link. The expression editor has also been equipped with a new dollar sign expansion functionality to evaluate calculation results and thus reduce the risk of syntax errors.

More mobility with Qlik Sense

The version Qlik Sense February 2019 was also improved in terms of mobility. The Qlik Sense Mobile App is now also available for Android devices. The iOS version now also supports mashups. Furthermore, the functions in the EMM (Enterprise Mobile Management) area have been expanded by the support of the fast-growing EMM platform Microsoft Intune. The new Zimperium integration will provide more mobile security in the future.

You can also find a summary of “What’s New” for Qlik Sense February 2019 on YouTube:

Qlik Sense February 2019 - What's New

Business Intelligence, General

Comprehensive analyses through multiple data sources

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IQlik Multiple Data Sourcesn many companies, clean data are the base of important business processes. Analyzed data is essential – especially for new insights or as a decision-making aid. Because these data don’t come from a single internal source any longer, the possibility of integrating external data sources should always be considered at choosing data analysis software.

The storage of company data has gone through a major change in the recent years. In particular, the cloud movement into many companies means that information is no longer stored at a central location, but is obtained from multiple sources. Companies often base decisions on efficiency and go for various cloud models.

But the increased storage options pose a particular challenge to analytics tools, as all relevant data from the various sources must be put together without much effort. The best way to do this is to move away from data silos. Instead, the analysis software should extend across all data sources without having to migrate the data required for evaluation to a central location via various infrastructure barriers.

The various information formats are also important. It should be possible to include external social media data from the cloud in the analyses also as classics like Excel. Open APIs or other connectors can be helpful, as they allow the various sources, whether on-premise or cloud, to be linked to each other without any problems.

The user-friendliness of the software should also not be underrated. The combination of data should be flexible, scalable and simple in order to prevent user mistakes in data analysis and to be able to provide the required data as quickly as possible.

Business Intelligence, General

Qlik Sense September 2018 – What’s New

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Qlik Sense September 2018It’s time again – Qlik has released a new version of its data visualization solution Qlik Sense. Since the last release in June, a lot has happened.

After the positive feedback regarding the Insight Advisor, which supports the user with analysis and diagram suggestions since June, Qlik remains focused on its Cognitive Engine and Augmented Intelligence for Qlik Sense September 2018. In addition, the new release delivers some “QlikView like” features and more. General highlights of Qlik Sense September 2018 include:

Enhanced Advanced Authoring Features

The Qlik Sense September Release offers some additional functionalities in the area of Advanced Authoring. This simplifies the creation of sophisticated data layouts while accelerating application development due to its high user-friendliness. The improvements of the Expression Editor (e.g. restructured function categorizations and improved search functions) and the visualization control (e.g. conditional show/hide in pivot tables and customizable master measures) are helpful. In addition, you can now open apps by using a default bookmark with a predefined selection state.

New Mapping Features

In addition, the new Qlik Sense version offers enhanced mapping capabilities. For example, the release has a new map layer that depends on the density of the mapped points. The new “Density Map Layer” is a multicolor gradient background where the color intensity varies depending on the weight and closeness of the points.

Improved backend workflow, stability and performance

Qlik Sense September 2018 also removes several previous limitations of the Qlik Management Console (QMC) and allows, for example, to move multiple apps between different streams. In addition, the open source front-end framework has been updated to version 1.6.9 to ensure better performance and stability.

Enhanced connectivity

With the new release, Qlik has further expanded its connectivity options with Microsoft Azure DB and Jira connectors. The necessary security within the integrated connector to Presto is also provided by an extension of LDAP authentication. Large enterprise environments benefit from AirWatch EMM security for mobile access to Qlik Sense Enterprise.

An overview of the listed and other new features of Qlik Sense September 2018 is also available on YouTube:

Qlik Sense September 2018 - What's New

Business Intelligence, General

Qlik Sense June 2018 – What’s New

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Qlik Sense June 2018BI vendor Qlik continues to pursue its proven release cycle, launching Qlik Sense June 2018, the latest version of its data visualization software.

In addition to a new Insight Advisor and enhanced hub publishing capabilities, the new release includes visualization enhancements and five new connectors. Feature Highlights in Qlik Sense June 2018 include:

Generate insights with the new Insight Advisor
Qlik Sense June 2018 has been extended with a new Insight Advisor. The Advisor uses Qlik’s Cognitive Engine to suggest charts to users based on insights from existing and new data. The user can then use them to augment existing visualizations.

Advanced features for app publishing from the hub
The new Qlik Sense version provides enhanced capabilities to manage apps through the hub. For example, apps that have already been published can be duplicated, modified, and then re-published in the same stream as the original app. Published apps can now be found in a dedicated section.

Filtering data from files
With Qlik Sense June 2018 you can create filtering conditions for the field contents in files. These are automatically applied to the script when data is loaded into the Data Manager.

New possibilities for visualizations
The release also offers some new features to create and edit visualizations. For example, the property panel now offers a number of alternative charts to complement the original chart suggestions. At the same place it is possible to switch dimensions and measures by simply drag and drop. In addition, Qlik Sense June 2018 provides the ability to show and hide specific columns in a straight table. The mini graph used for scrolling can be deactivated for line, bar and combo charts.

Qlik Sense June 2018 offers even more new features. In addition to five new Qlik connectors (PrestoDB, Apache Drill, Apache Phoenix, Apache Spark, and MongoDB), the release features enhanced accessibility, new line layers in map charts and enhanced capabilities for the Expression Editor and App sheets. An overview of the listed and many other interesting new features of Qlik Sense June 2018 is also available in the following video:

Qlik Sense June 2018 Video

Business Intelligence, General

Soccer World Cup 2018: Choose your champion by using the new Qlik app

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Soccer World Cup 2018 - Qlik Sense AppThis years FIFA World Cup is just around the corner. An app of BI provider Qlik allows a forecast of the tournament course based on historical data. Choose your champion!

Starting today the balls of the Soccer World Cup will be kicked off again – this time in Russia. If you can‘t wait for the matches, you can meanwhile use a new Qlik Sense app, which has been especially prepared to calculate all possible results for the World Cup in advance. On this end, BI vendor Qlik has compiled the results of past tournaments as well as the FIFA and Elo rankings. On the base of this data, the winning odds of each team were finally evaluated and visualized.

With the Qlik Sense app you can run through all possible pairings within the various tournament groups. Each score is then supplemented with a chart and some key information (e.g. shots on goal). Based on this data, users can decide for themselves, which teams will be virtually advanced to the next round.

The web-based Qlik World Cup app can be used for free – even on smartphones and tablets.

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Qlik Sense April 2018 – What’s New

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Qlik Sense April 2018The new release of the data visualization solution Qlik Sense has been released with some new features and improvements under the name Qlik Sense April 2018.

In addition to improved map visualization, the new version includes the ability to support chart visualization, variable grid sizes in working mode, and the ability to publish Qlik Sense apps from within the Hub. Highlights of Qlik Sense April 2018 include:

Supported data visualization with Qlik Sense recommendations Qlik Sense recommendations make it easier to create visualizations by making it possible to quickly drag and drop fields onto the worksheet. The Cognitive Engine in Qlik, which gathers insights from the loaded data and combines them with best practices for data visualization, also provides the user with chart suggestions.

Improved maps visualization
Qlik Sense April 2018 also offers some new features for the visualization of maps. For example, the new release supports drill-down capabilities, multiple layers and labels for point and area levels. In addition, there is no fixed upper limit to the number of objects, countries, divisions, cities and postal code areas can be looked up quickly and easily. Circle selection with distance measure, layer control, zoom limit and draw order are also features of the new release.

Link the Qlik Sense Mobile App to third-party apps
The new version also allows the Qlik Sense Mobile App to interact with third-party mobile applications through a custom generated URL (“deep link”). The created link can be integrated into the respective external app with appropriate filters. Clicking the link opens the app in Qlik Sense Mobile with the filters and selections applied during the original presentation.

Publishing apps from the Hub
In Qlik Sense April 2018, created apps can be published through any stream the user has publish access for. After publishing an app to a stream, the app can be moved between all streams the user is allowed to use.

New grid size control
With the new release, the author of an app can choose between three different grid sizes creating a new worksheet. Available are the sizes “small”, “medium” and “large”.

Numeric Abbreviations
From now on it is possible to individualize currency abbreviations in the number format mode “automatic” – for example: Thousand, million, billion (instead of previously: k, M, B).

In addition to the features listed, Qlik Sense offers some other interesting new capabilities in April 2018, such as support for keyboard navigation and shortcuts in the Qlik Sense Hub or the ability for anonymous users to print and export data.

Qlik Sense April 2018

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Qlik releases Qlik Sense February 2018

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Qlik Sense February 2018As the new release cycle claims, Qlik has published the latest version of its data visualization software Qlik Sense.

The new release offers the user some improvements and features for optimized analyses, evaluations and visualizations. Apps can be styled with a custom theme on a global or granular basis now. For example, you can change the colors of background and individual chart elements, specify font sizes and colors, and define color palettes and gradients.

Another innovation is the ability to use recommended associations to see possible associations between tables. This facilitates experimentation before actually applying any changes to the data model.

In addition, Qlik Sense February 2018 allows the creation of on-demand app generation solutions that support anonymous use. This extends the possibilities for publicly accessible websites and OEM scenarios.

Users of the Qlik Sense Mobile App will also benefit from the new release. The app, which provides full access to any Qlik Sense Enterprise environment and the respective apps on- and offline, was previously only available for iPad. With Qlik Sense February 2018, the mobile app is now also running on iPhones.

In addition to these new features, Qlik Sense February 2018 offers some more enhancements, such as improved data loading performance or new ways to query web hosted files. An overview of the most important new features of Qlik Sense February 2018 is also available in the following video:

Qlik Sense February 2018 - What's New

Business Intelligence, General

Offline Data Analysis with the Qlik Sense Mobile App

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With the June release of its data visualization platform Qlik Sense, BI vendor Qlik introduced many new features. In addition to a revised release cycle and new features in the range of data preparation, visualization and predictive analytics, the new Qlik Sense Mobile App has been launched. The app is currently only available for iPads, but will be released for iPhones in February.

The native Mobile App for iOS provides full access to any Qlik Sense Enterprise environment and the respective apps. The powerful features of the QIX engine, such as the associative search, run directly on the iPad and remain fully preserved.

Using the app and doing associative data analysis is also available in offline mode. As the QIX engine runs locally on the iPad, a network connection is not necessary. After setting up the Mobile App and downloading the desired Qlik Sense apps, they can be used offline (e.g. in flight mode or if no Wi-Fi connection is available).

Qlik Sense Mobile App
Information box about the online / offline mode of the apps.
Qlik Sense Mobile App
Filtering for dowloaded apps and apps, which are still available for download.
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Qlik launches Qlik Sense November 2017

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Around two months since the last release in September, Qlik has introduced the latest version of its data visualization solution Qlik Sense November 2017.

The improvements and updates of the new release mainly relate to visualization options, the adding of data, as well as navigation within the apps. The most important new features and add-ons include the following:

Improved visualization
The visualizations of Qlik Sense November 2017 have been improved and extended. Among other things, users are now able to scroll horizontally in a table, vary bubble sizes and use an expression to set the color of distribution charts and box plot diagrams. Moreover, data can be added and refreshed in the sheet editor without having to switch to Data Manager.

Manual adding of data
In Qlik Sense November data can be manually entered in Data Manager. Manual entry allows data to be added directly into a table editor and subsequently as a table to Data Manager.

Details dialog in Data Manager
A details dialog now views the sequence of changes performed on selected tables and fields. This allows the user to directly identify the source of the table or field, the current changes and transformations that have been made, as well as the order in which they have been applied.

Keyboard navigation in Qlik Sense apps
It is now possible to navigate by using the keyboard within the app overview page and the Qlik Sense toolbar.

The following video provides a short overview of the listed and some additional new features in Qlik Sense November 2017:

Qlik Sense November 2017

Alongside launching the new Qlik Sense version, Qlik also introduced the November releases of its QlikView and Qlik NPrinting solutions, which predominantly contain technical improvements.

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Qlik publishes Qlik Sense September 2017 and Qlik NPrinting September 2017

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Recently BI vendor Qlik announced its new release strategy: starting now, a major-release will be launched five times a year. In addition to continuous releases of Qlik Sense, there will be different focuses on other products of the BI portfolio.

After the release of “Qlik Sense June 2017” last June, Qlik now published “Qlik Sense September 2017”. At the same time, the reporting platform Qlik NPrinting features a new version and some – partly long-awaited – capabilities and improvements.

The Qlik Sense September 2017 release also includes some interesting features and extensions, for example:

New Qlik Sense Mobile App
The new Qlik Sense Mobile App for iOS devices is now available at Apple Enterprise Store. Using the app, you can download Qlik Sense evaluations locally and use them on the iPad. The powerful features of the QIX engine, such as the Associative Search, run directly on the iPad and remain fully preserved.

Qlik Sense September 2017 Mobile App
Source: Qlik

Waterfall Charts
Using the new waterfall chart, users can now illustrate how an initial value is influenced by intermediate positive and negative values. For example, they can show positive and negative contributions of different accounts in an income statement.

Qlik Sense September 2017 Mobile App
Source: Qlik

Box Plot and Pivot
In addition, the box plot diagram, which was introduced in the June version, was equipped with more detailed selection options. Pivot tables also received new format options.

Color Selection
The color picker in Qlik Sense September 2017 now shows the five most recently chosen colors.

Improved Data Manager
Improvements of the data manager give the possibility to perform continuous transformations on tables and fields.

Qlik NPrinting September 2017 (NPrinting 17.5)

  • Report Cycles
    A separate report file can now be added for each combination of one or more dimension values.
  • Report Export and Import
    It is now possible to export a report to a compressed file and import it into another Qlik NPrinting installation (for example, to transfer a report from a test to a productive environment).
  • Object filters for Qlik Sense Charts
    With Qlik NPrinting September 2017, a filter can now be applied to a single object (e.g. a chart) without placing the filter on objects in the report. On the other hand, filtering an object can be blocked.

In addition to these and other new features, Qlik Sense September 2017 and NPrinting September 2017 also contain numerous bug fixes. The following video shows the most important innovations of Qlik Sense September 2017:

In addition to these and other new features, Qlik Sense September 2017 and NPrinting September 2017 also contain numerous bug fixes. The following video shows the most important innovations of Qlik Sense September 2017.