MANAGING KNOWLEDGE COMPLEXITY THROUGH VISUALIZATION

Unit21, a risk and compliance management company, uses ReGraph and KronoGraph in its financial crime solution. Detection models flag unusual events or unexpected connections that may indicate fraud. ReGraph then shows features in the data with overlapping entities such as shared addresses or accounts that reflect unusual connections. Users can also filter out extraneous data so that important information is easier to spot. So far, Unit21 has helped customers monitor more than $100 billion in transactions.

“Ease of use for nontechnical staff is a central feature,” continued Lanum. “Visualizations are engaging and fun to use, which facilitates the discovery process.” The ability of KronoGraph to show timelines in data provides another dimension in visualization. “Seeing patterns across time can be revealing when events such as text messages or transactions are being analyzed.”

Joe Hilger, COO of Enterprise Knowledge, LLC, emphasizes that graph data can be presented in multiple forms. “Just because data is in the form of a graph, it does not need to show up just as nodes and lines. Standardized tools such as Tableau can show the data in different ways.” Custom views can show entities in relation to each other and provide summary information.

The geolocation imperative

Visualization that uses geolocation is a rapidly growing area, according to Hilger. This information can be reflected either in nodes that show a common location or in map form. “Esri, the leading provider of geographic information system (GIS) technology, has a graph integration component now,” said Hilger.

Last year, Esri integrated ArcGis Pro, a GIS system with a user interface for graph analytics, a graph server, and a graph data store, to create a new product, ArcGIS Knowledge. In the first quarter of 2023, ArcGIS began support for external Neo4j graph databases with data managed by third-party tools. Combining graph data with visualization in the form of maps offers yet another dimension for understanding data, and these two technologies have powerful synergy.

From insight to action

Visualization leads to insight, and insight leads to action. Large retailers and manufacturers have a lot of data at both ends of the supply chain and need to make decisions based on a plethora of information. “Our customers can start with a map, then click into a bar chart of categories or products, and then drill deeper into a waterfall chart to see how it is changing over time,” explained Jason Longhurst, director of user experience at Domo, a data experience platform company.

DHL, a global logistics company, ships products of all kinds and also carries out warehousing and distribution functions. The company generates a tremendous amount of diverse data. Some of its shipments need special care, such as pharmaceuticals that require an environment with a specific temperature range. The company outgrew the capabilities of Excel in terms of the volume of data and needed a solution that would provide information much more quickly and comprehensively.

Domo monitors ambient temperatures throughout the supply chain to be sure they are within range and sends an alert if they are not. Data collection and analysis were reduced from a week to near real time, and information is routinely presented on dashboards on mobile devices. DHL describes the visualization as intuitive, with easy access to both high-level and detailed data, and reports that it can now take actions that were previously impossible.