Setup Metabase and connect to the database

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What exactly is Metabase? In a nutshell, it's a free and open source business intelligence tool. Some might describe it as a reporting and dashboard tool. Metabase enables you to easily ask questions of your data and view it in a variety of logical formats.

I came across this amazing tool during my recent Data Analysts technical challenge. I had heard of it but had never used it. Every day is a learning cup, and learning never stops.

Instructions;

  • I was given the task of importing a spreadsheet into a database and connecting it to Metabase.

  • Visualize the data by route and time of departure.

  • Using whatever tools you have at your disposal, forecast which routes and departures are the most profitable, making recommendations on which to expand and which to cancel.

Before adding a new App, one must first create an account with Heroku then new App → Resources → search for ClearDB. I had to use cleardb to connect Heroku to my MySQL workbench using a csv file.

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ClearDB MySQL should be expanded in the settings section expose configuration parameters This will enable us to connect to the local database and view the following information;

mysql://b176c32991cf37:14187ffe@us-cdbr-east-**

USER NAME = **

PASSWORD = *

HOST = us-cdbr-east-*

DATABASE NAME = heroku_*

You run heroku config to get the CLEARDB DATABASE URL, which should look like this:

CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL => mysql://[username]:[password]@[host]/[database name]?reconnect=true So you basically just look at your own url and get everything you need from there. That is how I configured mysql workbench.

'mysql://b0600ea495asds:9cd2b111@us-cdbr-hir.. 06.cleardb.net/heroku_4a1dc3673c4114d?recon.. This will then be your database credentials. (Extracted from the URL above)

USER NAME = b0600ea495asds

PASSWORD = 9cd2b111

HOST = us-cdbr-hirone-west- 06.cleardb.net

DATABASE NAME = heroku_4a1dc3673c4114d

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The screenshot shows that the connection between the MySQL workbench and the remote database was successful. Screenshot 2022-08-29 at 02.09.32.png

I received an error during the csv file import process, as shown in the screenshot, indicating that it was unicode (utf - 8) with BOM, despite the fact that MySQL supports unicode (utf - 8) so I had to convert it to unicode (utf - 8) as shown in the series of screenshots, then import it again.

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I was able to successfully import both my local and remote databases, as shown in the screenshots.

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Visualize the data by route as well as departure time for the first question. The number of routes taken in a given period of time.

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Routes with multiple counts and representative times

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Exploring Metabase using a sample database

Various visualisation features Screenshot 2022-09-11 at 22.20.30.png

Query to SQL Conversion Screenshot 2022-09-11 at 22.20.46.png

Visualization Screenshot 2022-09-11 at 22.21.11.png