Vertica QuickStart for Qlik Sense

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The Vertica QuickStart for Qlik Sense is a sample BI application implemented as a Qlik Sense app and powered by Vertica Analytic Database. The dashboards present sample retail data for analysis. The QuickStart shows how retail companies could use Vertica and Qlik Sense to quickly explore, visualize, and gain insight into their data stored in Vertica.

You can download the Vertica QuickStart for Qlik Sense from the following location:

https://www.vertica.com/quickstart/vertica-quickstart-for-qlik-sense/

About the Vertica QuickStarts

The Vertica QuickStarts are free, sample applications created using front-end products from Vertica technology partners. For an overview, watch this short video:

The QuickStarts are posted for download on the Vertica QuickStart Examples page.

Note The Vertica QuickStarts are freely available for demonstration and educational purposes. They are not governed by any license or support agreements and are not suitable for deployment in production environments.

About Qlik Sense

Qlik Sense is a data visualization and discovery tool that lets you analyze data easily and make business decisions quickly. For details, see the Qlik Sense website.

Requirements

The Vertica QuickStart for Qlik Sense requires a Vertica database server with a standard installation of the VMart example database, a Vertica client, and Qlik Sense.

Install the Software

To install the software that is required for running the QuickStart, follow these steps:

Install the Vertica Database Server
Install the VMart Example Database
Install Qlik Sense Desktop
Install the ODBC Client Driver

Install the Vertica Database Server

If you do not already have Vertica, you can download the Community Edition free of charge:

Navigate to Vertica Community Edition.
Log in or click Register Now to create an account
Follow the on-screen instructions to download and install the Vertica Community Edition.

Install the VMart Example Database

The Vertica QuickStart for Qlik Sense assumes a default installation of the Vertica VMart example database.

To install VMart, follow the instructions in the Vertica documentation:

For details, see VMart Example Database Schema, Tables, and Scripts.

Install Qlik Sense Desktop

Qlik Sense Desktop runs on Windows desktop platforms. If you do not have Qlik Sense Desktop, you can download and install it as follows:

Go to the Qlik Sense website.
Download the Qlik Sense installation file.
Launch the executable.
Follow the prompts to install Qlik Sense Desktop.

Install the ODBC Client Driver

Before you can connect to Vertica using Qlik Sense, you must download and install the Vertica client package. This client package includes the Vertica ODBC driver that Qlik Sense uses to connect to Vertica.

Download and Install Vertica Client

Go to the Vertica Client Drivers page on the Vertica portal.
Download the Vertica client package that matches your version of Windows and Vertica server.
Follow the steps for installing the Vertica client as described in the Vertica documentation.

Note Vertica drivers are forward compatible, so you can connect to the Vertica server using previous versions of the client. For more information, see Client Driver and Server Version Compatibility in the Vertica documentation.

Create a Data Source Name

Qlik Sense Desktop uses a Data Source Name (DSN) to connect to Vertica. You must create a DSN based on the architecture of your operating system and the Qlik Sense version that you installed. Qlik Sense Desktop will use this DSN to connect to your Vertica database.

To set up a 64-bit DSN:

Go to the Windows Run window,
Type Set up data sources (ODBC).
Select the executable.

For a 64-bit windows machine, this shortcut points to 64-bit ODBC data sources executable, located in C:\Windows\System32\.

For detailed information about creating a DSN, follow the instructions in the Vertica documentation: Setting Up an ODBC DSN.

Download the QuickStart

Navigate to vertica.com/quickstart
Select Vertica QuickStart for Qlik Sense.
Log in or create an account.
Click Download.

Connect to the Vmart Data Source

Navigate to the folder where you downloaded the compressed file and extract the contents.
Place the QuickStart Qlik Sense file, qvf, in the default Qlik Sense applications folder. On Windows, the default Qlik Sense apps location is:
```
C:\Users\dbadmin\Documents\Qlik\Sense\Apps
```
From the Windows Start menu, open Qlik Sense Desktop.
On the Qlik Sense Desktop hub tab, click the VMart_quick_start.
On the Navigation menu, click Data load editor to connect to your Vertica Vmart database.
On the Data connections panel on the right-hand side of the screen, click the Edit connection icon.
In the Edit connection (ODBC) dialog box, select the appropriate bitness and the DSN connection that you previously created.
Enter the username and password.
If the DSN has a saved username and password, you can leave those fields blank. Leave the default name VMart and clik Save.
On the right-hand side of the window, click Load data.

Note The load process may take some time, possibly several minutes.
To view the dashboards, on the Navigation menu, click App overview.
Click the dashboard that you want to explore.

About the QuickStart Dashboards

The QuickStart dashboards present sample business and operational data that a large retail chain might track over time. The chain operates brick-and-mortar stores and an online marketplace. It sells a wide variety of products that it purchases from different vendors.

In this section, we show you a few of the dashboards.

Note The data in your dashboards will not match the data in the screen shots in this document. This is because the VMart data generator generates data randomly.

Executive Dashboard

The Executive Dashboard presents a high-level view of the business data that is shown in greater detail in the other dashboards. You can use this dashboard to analyze the overall functioning of the business over time.

Select the sales_dollar_amount metric to see a display like the following:

Online Sales Dashboard

This dashboard presents information that you can use to analyze the performance of the chain’s online sales over time.

Store Sales Dashboard

This dashboard presents information that you can use to analyze the performance of the chain’s store sales over time.

Customer Dashboard

This dashboard presents information that you can use to discover patterns of customer behavior over time.

Product Dashboard

This dashboard presents information that you can use to analyze products sold online and in stores over time.

Vendor Dashboard

This dashboard presents information that you can use to analyze the chain’s interaction with different vendors over time.

Choose the metric Perfect Order Rate to see a display like the following:

Inventory Dashboard

This dashboard presents information that you can use to analyze the chain’s inventory over time.