Introduction
In this post, we will be discussing the advantages and
disadvantages of having code on the visualisation tool vs having the hard logic
done by the source side or the back-end. The premise being, should all the
complicated code such as creating complicated measures be moved to the back-end
script or can these be written in the front-end. A simplified example would be
if you have a long “if” statement, should this be moved to the back-end script
and what is the performance contribution of having this in the front-end.
Front-end
For visualisation tools that act as a front-end, it is of
the utmost importance that the tool runs smoothly, and performance is high. This
is important because the visualisation tool is where the users interact with
the data and thus, this needs to be streamed lined. The front-end should
deliver data to the user as quickly as possible without lag because chances
are, the tool will be used by all sorts of users who might be presenting as various
platforms and therefore, it is imperative that this does not get delayed by
performance hits.
Back-end
The back-end is generally where the data would sit. This could
be in the form of databases or in the case of tools such as Qlikview, this
would be in the form of QVD files. The front-end reads data from here and then
is modelled into what would make the data more sensible. Once modelled, we can
then make visuals from the data that would fulfil the business needs of the users.
The back-end can be any storage format that makes sense for the tool to use. Storing
data on the back-end has some advantages that will be listed below.
Advantages of Front-end
Below are the advantages of having complicated code in the
frontend:
·
Back-end runs faster
·
Back-end becomes smaller
Disadvantages of Front-end
·
Complicated measure or calculated column could
cause performance issues
·
Makes maintainability of code harder
·
Visualisation tools usually use the RAM to
render visuals and keep queries in memory, therefore, a complicated measure/calculated
column uses more memory
Advantages of Back-end
·
Is allowed to do the heavy lifting of
complicated code
·
Depending on usage of data, is allowed to take
time to refresh new data
·
Makes code maintainable
·
Acts as a custodian of data and allows for interchangeable
visualisation tools
Disadvantages of Back-end
·
Depending on need, could slow down refreshing of
data on live reporting
·
Adding extra columns could lead to over bloated
tables which could affect performance when those tables are loaded into the visualisation
tool
