Often times, knowing how to use a sophisticated third-party data analysis package, such as S-PLUS, SAS, Statgraphics, R, etc., is not enough. The package will need to be integrated within your framework, which may include:
- Data stores
- Databases – a standard database such as Oracle, Sybase, etc.
- Data feeds – real-time data feeds such as XML
- Other proprietary data stores
- Other third-party applications
- In-house applications
- Corporate or organization web site
In addition, it may be necessary to customize the tool to fit your business through one or both of the following methods:
- Internal – Custom procedures within a given data analysis package that perform the analysis that is specific to your business. For example, custom procedures may be written in S-PLUS or SAS that analyze your data in a manor relevant to your business processes.
- External – External modules that are developed by VRDS to tie multiple systems together if the selected data analysis tool does not support such activity out of the box. For example, your data analysis tool may draw data from your database, perform the analysis and post the results to your web site, an Excel file or an in-house application, on demand or on a regular interval.