Hello everyone, my name is Aaron Thomas and I work for DC Public Library. We are currently in the process of joining the Polaris family with migration set for middle of next year.
We are curious if there are any other libraries out there that use Tableau with Polaris? If so, would you mind sharing any best practices or be open for myself and my Data Analyst to bombard you with emails?
Any best practices or advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated!
2 Likes
Following. We at Jacksonville Public Library just went live with Polaris last month. I have to say the one area I’m struggling with is replacing the custom reports and capabilities of Blue Cloud Analytics.
Depending on the level of SQL access to your database, Power BI might offer better out of the box support, but I’m sure there are those who’ve plugged Tableau into MSSQL databases. I know that Miami Dade has done some impressive stuff with PowerBI.
Probably your best place to get started with using Polaris Statistical data and importing it for use elsewhere is by understanding the transactions database, thankfully, there is a book for that: Bricks Without Clay - Demystifying PolarisTransactions
Innovative partnered with LibraryIQ Watch the Recording: Expanding Your Library Analytics with LibraryIQ - Innovative Interfaces Inc. which might get you part of the way there on bib & item data. Patron data would probably involve another 3rd party company like Savannah Spot On — OrangeBoy Inc.
You can add visualizations to SSRS the built in Microsoft SQL/Polaris reporting tool. You can find information on how to create a graph like this in a previous presentation I did on SSRS.
Probably not the exact answer you were hoping for, but hopefully a starting point.
2 Likes
Adding on to what Wes said, we’re (Regina Public Library) a PowerBI shop and import data from Polaris there for reporting and data visualization. Our consortium (SILS) uses Kibana on Elastic for similar purposes. We both use SSRS to schedule data dumps and other reports - though SILS has higher access to SSRS than we do.
We use PowerBI separately from our consortium because we report on a lot more things than just the ILS (events, computer usage, printing, visitor count, etc.). We’re happy to discuss our use of PowerBI further with anyone who is interested.
I know SILS did an IUG presentation on their use of Kibana. It can be found here: Visualizing Your ILS Data With Kibana.
1 Like
Hello @athomas, my name is Rich Beverungen and I work for Western Maryland Regional Library. We use Polaris and Tableau for our three western Maryland county public libraries. I am open to sharing my experiences with you. I hope I can help.
And I’m the Polaris administrator for W. Maryland Regional – pretty familiar with SQL and Tableau, so I’d also be glad to help. I think I can speak for Rich (since I just walked across the hall and asked him!) in saying we’d be happy to do a zoom call sometime. I’m at wtaylor@wmrl.info.
Thank you all so much for your input. We will be following with you all that offered help!
Aaron
Thank you for posting a link to that book. That is a fantastic resource.