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Introduction

Introduction

Ravel is a new, entirely visual, “no-code” way of analysing any type of data. Broadly speaking, today there are 3 types of computer programs used for data analysis:

  1. Spreadsheets ( Excel , Google Sheets , etc.);
  2. Business Intelligence programs ( Power BI , Tableau , etc.); and
  3. Data-oriented programming languages ( Python , R , etc.)

These give you three basic tools for data analysis:

  1. Formulas using cell references;
  2. Pivot Tables; and
  3. Computer code

Ravel is a whole new type of data analysis computer program, based on its unique and patented GUI (“graphical user interface”) object, the Ravel.

ravel-tutorial figure

Figure 1: A sample Ravel with six dimensions

ravel-tutorial figure

far more powerful, than it is with spreadsheets or standard BI programs. The equivalent cell reference formulas would be both hard to read, and hidden behind the thousands of numbers they would generate.

These are Ravel ’s two super-powers, in comparison to spreadsheets, BI programs, and dataoriented programming languages:

  • A Ravel has as many dimensions as your data, whereas a spreadsheet has only two dimensions: rows and columns; and
  • In place of invisible and unauditable cell formulas in a spreadsheet, or complex lines of code in a programming language, there are flowchart formulas which are easy to create and read.