Here's a list of answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about Aperture Data Studio.
| Question | Answer | More info |
|---|---|---|
| What kind of data profiling capabilities does Data Studio have? | Profiling is one of the core capabilities of Data Studio. You can use any of the 70 in-built statistics or define your own. | Profile data |
| Can custom rules be created to check data is suitable for use across the business? | Validation is a core capability. Business users can build complex rules without any coding knowledge. | Validate data |
| How are users alerted to data outside the business rules? | Bad data can be highlighted on a Dashboard within the tool and an email can be sent to ensure users are aware. | Automations and notifications |
| What Dashboarding capabilities are there? | Pages can be created containing related charts and data. Users can drill into the raw data to understand where any anomalies are occurring. | Dashboards |
| How can data be integrated in our existing dashboards? | Data can be synched to Tableau, PowerBI, Excel, etc using OData. | Using OData |
| What matching tools exist within Data Studio? | Finding, standardizing, matching and harmonizing duplicate customer records is advanced functionality used to build a single customer view or golden record store. | Find duplicates |
| What standardization and cleansing processes are supported? | Data Studio has dedicated Workflow steps to cleanse and validate addresses from over 200 countries, plus real-time validation of emails and phone numbers. | Contact data validation |
| Do you provide an SDK for custom development or enhancements to the solution? | Yes, the software development kit allows Workflow steps and parsers to be built for your specific requirements. | Use the SDK |
| Do you provide an API with your platform? | Yes, an API is available to programmatically interact with the product. | Use the REST API |
| Does Data Studio have any AI/machine learning capabilities? | Yes, for both out-of-the-box data tagging (which is customizable) and as part of the training for the Find duplicates functionality and matching rule optimization. | Data tags |
| Can data problems be fixed within the tool? | Yes, Data Studio can automatically suggest data transformations that will improve the quality of the data. In addition to many in-built Functions, you can create your own data transformations. | Functions |
| Can advanced matching and Regex patterns be applied? | Yes, regular expression can be used within Functions to find and replace values in your data which can then be used in repeatable data cleansing and validation tasks. | Custom Functions |
| What data connectivity options are there? | Connect to databases/CRMs using JDBC or file systems such as AWS or Azure. Custom Workflow steps can pull/push data from or to any application via the REST API. | Connect to data |
| Question | Answer | More info |
|---|---|---|
| How long does it take to get started? | The on-premises version of Aperture Data Studio can be deployed in hours with a typical project scoped and live within weeks. | N/A |
| Where should Aperture Data Studio be installed? | Anywhere that allows multiple users to access and collaborate, so either an on-premises server or a cloud environment (Azure, AWS, etc.). | Technical recommendations |
| We only have VMs and not physical machines. Can we still run Data Studio? | Many customers run Data Studio on Azure or AWS or similar. | Using virtual machines |
| What hardware is required to run Aperture Data Studio? | This depends on the number of users and volume of data. We have minimum recommendations based on some common use cases. | Technical recommendations |
| Is there a limit on the number of environments that we can install (DEV, QA, PROD etc.)? | A license token is for a single machine / installation, but it is possible to request multiple tokens for each deployment. Each installation can have multiple 'Environments' and each environment multiple 'Spaces'. | N/A |
| What volumes of data can be processed? | We test complex Workflows with hundreds of millions of records. Ultimately, it depends on your hardware and setup. | Large workload recommendations |
| Does the end-user's machine require the installation of any additional software or browser plugins? | No, on-premises Aperture Data Studio is browser-based. | N/A |
| What web browsers are supported and minimum versions of those browsers? Do you have a recommended browser? | We recommend using Chrome or Edge (we test two versions back from the latest using these browsers). | Technical recommendations |
| Describe your backup and recovery procedures? | Backups can be configured and used for recovery by your system administrator. | Repository backups |
| Can Experian host the product on our behalf? | Yes, see the Hosted Data Studio section below. | Hosted Data Studio |
| What's the URL my employees would use to access the platform? | This will be fully configurable by your system administrator(s). | N/A |
| Can changes be made in a test environment before being published? | Yes, changes can be versioned before being published. | Manage versions |
| How can changes be synched between different Environments? | Data Studio uses lightweight .dmx files to easily transfer objects such as Workflows between different Environments. These files (typically only kilobytes in size) can be 'checked in and out' of your version management system, such as Git or VSTS. | Migrate metadata |
| Question | Answer | More info |
|---|---|---|
| What is Hosted Aperture Data Studio? | Think of it as an alternative 'mode' of Data Studio. Experian will host and manage the application on your behalf in your own dedicated environment (single-tenancy) or in a multi-tenant environment. | N/A |
| What cloud computing platform does your solution utilize? | Hosted Data Studio runs on the Microsoft Azure platform in your own dedicated instance. | N/A |
| In which geographic locations will my data be stored? | Your instance (and backup) location will be in your country (assuming Microsoft provides a local site) for single-tenancy. | Azure geographies |
| Is your solution deployed to multiple virtual data centers, availability zones and/or workload domains? | Multiple Availability zones (currently available in AU, UK, US) for multi-tenancy. | N/A |
| Does Hosted Data Studio (single and multi-tenancy) sit on public clouds? | Yes, Microsoft Azure and AWS. | N/A |
| Will you be storing data in the cloud on our behalf, i.e. files loaded into Data Studio? | Yes, in AWS for multi-tenancy. | N/A |
| Does Hosted Data Studio make use of any third party APIs? | No. | N/A |
| What are your backup and recovery procedures? | Backup is taken nightly and saved to a second site in the same region. The most recent backup will be used in the event of a restoration. | N/A |
| Can recovery be requested for a reason such as a data issue and is there a charge for this? | Yes, recovery will be implemented by our Managed Services team and there's no additional charge for you - the cost is included in the hosting price. | N/A |
| Do you have uptime/availability guarantees? | Our target is 99.5% and real-time system availability can be monitored on the status page. | Check system status |
| How are users notified of planned downtime or system outages? | Planned maintenance occurs outside of working hours. To access the latest schedule, we recommend signing up to our community. | Hosted and managed services |
| How is access managed? Does your solution utilize multi-factor authentication? | Customer admin users manage access to the application. Users use SSO MFA to login. It is mandatory to provide a mobile phone number per user for Multi-Factor Authentication as a security measure. | N/A |
| Are there any differences between the hosted and on-premises Data Studio? | Not all functionality is supported in hosted Data Studio. | Speak to your Experian contact |
| Which aspects are encrypted using approved protocols and ciphers. | In Transmission: Hosted Aperture Data Studio is HTTPS enabled. An SSL certificate from a recognized Certificate Authority is applied. In Transit: A number different file encryption methods are supported for importing and exporting file data securely. At Rest: AWS provides Encryption at Rest using an industry standard AES-256 encryption algorithm. | N/A |
| Question | Answer | More info |
|---|---|---|
| Can business emails be used as usernames in your solution? | Yes, username should be a business email. | N/A |
| What are the user account password requirements for your solution? | Password policy can be configured in line with your security requirements. | Password policy |
| What user authentication options are available? Explain the levels of integration with Microsoft Active Directory your solution supports. | In addition to an internal authentication mechanism, Data Studio can be configured to authenticate using an LDAP server or an identity provider like Okta or Azure Active Directory using SAML v2.0. | Choose authentication/ Set password policy |
| Does Data Studio use HTTPS and TLS 1.2 to transmit data securely? | Yes. The administrator should change the port and apply an SSL security certificate on installation. | Add SSL certificate |
| Is data in your solution encrypted both in transit and on disk? | Yes. Enable AES-256 encryption in Security settings. Support for PGP, GPG, AES, ZIP and Excel password. | Data encryption |
| Can different users have different levels of access? | Yes. Data Studio provides a lot of flexibility in defining users, roles and access permissions that work for you. | Users and roles |
| Can users have different levels of access to the same data? | Yes. This is achieved using the Views functionality. | Create Views/ Share data selectively |
| Does Data Studio protect against unauthorized access and modification of individual columns and rows? | Yes. Using Views, the same data can be presented to specific users differently without needing to modify the underlying data. Each View can have columns hidden or included with the sensitive values obfuscated. Advanced filters can also be applied to limit the rows included in a View. Users are automatically be warned before sharing data that could contain sensitive/PII-type values. | Users and roles/ Create Views |
| Does Data Studio allow partitioning of data sets and user groups? | Yes, each Dataset is associated with a Space and an Environment. Access is controlled by assigning users/groups specific roles within a given Environment and permissions to Spaces within that Environment. | Users and roles/ Manage Spaces |
| Can access to software configuration settings be limited? | Yes, granular access controls can be defined and roles created to restrict access to administrators/different levels of administrator. The lowest level of server settings requires physical access to the server to make changes. | Users and roles/ Install and configure |
| Does Data Studio provide easy access via User Interface (UI) to timestamped history of configuration changes? | Partially. Data processing Workflows and Functions are versioned with the version history visible in the UI. Versions can also be reverted as needed. The application configuration is not versioned, only the current state is retained. Access to change these settings is restricted by role, and it's expected that users create backups of configuration before making changes. | N/A |
| Question | Answer | More info |
|---|---|---|
| What audit information is logged by the application? | User sessions (logging in/out) and actions (which user performed which action and when). | Audit usage |
| Are data changes audited in the logs? | Yes. Actions such as Dataset creation/deletion and Workflow execution is captured in logs. | Audit events |
| How can log information be accessed? | Within the application, users with the 'installation manager' access can create reports or you can use the API to programmatically extract audit information. | API for audit |
| Is it possible to customize the logging? | Yes, you can customize the levels of logging as well as audit the usage depending on your requirements. | Audit usage |
| Do objects have a version history/can changes be reversed? | Yes. You can revert Workflows, Views and Functions to a previously published version. This also allows you to test changes in your own Space without affecting the published objects. | Manage versions |
| Is there an option to archive compliance reports? Does this have to be manually done by users? | Audit reports can be pulled via UI or using the API. | Generate audit report |
| Question | Answer | More info |
|---|---|---|
| What support do you offer? | The customer support and professional services teams can assist with setup, training or implementation. Contact support for specific technical issues. Get involved in our community to get advice from others, find out about latest releases and much more. | UK customer framework |
| What training options are available? | We offer e-learning courses that allow you to learn at a pace and time that suits you. Customized training can be booked with our professional services team. | Speak to your Experian contact. |
| What documentation or knowledge base is available? | Online documentation is available and updated frequently. There is help within Aperture Data Studio searches across both the documentation pages and the Community site. | Documentation |
| How do I contact us/help desk? | Submit a ticket via phone, email or the customer hub (where available). | Contact support |
| Question | Answer | More info |
|---|---|---|
| How frequently is the product updated? | Data Studio is being continually developed and improved. Generally, weekly releases introduce enhancements and bug fixes and quarterly major releases additional features and functionality. | Community site (register for customer-only content!) |
| What's the product upgrade process? | Upgrades are typically undertaken when a customer identifies a compelling reason, such as new functionality, significant performance improvement or fixes. Version upgrades are low-impact and designed to avoid breaking changes. Downloading the latest installer opens a wizard to guide the user through the upgrade process which will pick up any configurations from the previous version. | N/A |
| How frequently should customers upgrade? | Upgrades are typically undertaken when a customer identifies a compelling reason, such as new functionality, significant performance improvement or fixes. While it is not mandatory to install every minor release, we typically recommend that upgrades are performed at least once every quarter. | N/A |
| Do you share a roadmap with future version enhancement plans? | Yes. We also share previews of features with customers. | Product roadmap |
| How do I request feature enhancements? | You can make suggestions through your Experian contact, within Data Studio using the feedback option or create a post in the our community. | Make a suggestion on the ideas board in our community |
| How are feature enhancements prioritized? | Requests are aligned with the focus and intent that we have in mind for the product in core markets and then prioritized regularly using the RICE scoring methodology. | Product roadmap |
| Can I be involved in the development of new functionality? | Yes, absolutely. We often reach out to customers for feedback. Get in touch with your account manager if you'd like to get involved. | N/A |
| Does Data Studio follow web accessibility standards? | Experian products are designed for use by the widest range of people, including people with varying levels of abilities. Complying with web accessibility standards, including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) and considering the needs of users with disabilities throughout the design and development process is a key principle since building products with accessibility in mind will result in a better user experience for everyone. | N/A |
| Does your company have ISO / SOC certification? | Experian is a global business headquartered in UK&I, our Global Security policies are modelled after the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) 27001 standards. | N/A |
| How often do you perform penetration tests on the platform? | Penetration tests are performed frequently by a third-party in line with Experian Global Security policies. | N/A |
| How are new security vulnerabilities identified and resolved? | Security vulnerabilities are monitored and resolved in line with Experian Global Security policies. Weekly releases contain the latest patches to resolve any issues, so we encourage customers to upgrade frequently. | N/A |
| Does your organization have a GDPR and California Privacy Act compliance statement? | Yes. | Privacy at Experian |
