We are developing a training manual for Qlik Sense for use in our upcoming Sense Training Courses. As much of the content is useful, even out of context, we will be publishing some of it on our blog. This section is from early on in the material and covers the different versions of Sense that are available. This extract on Sense Versions is the first of these extracts.
A twelve page sample PDF of the material is available here.
1.2 Different Versions of Sense
There are now several different ways you can use Sense. There are many similarities between each of these versions, and this course material can be used with any version.
This section gives an overview of each of the different versions, how they are licenced, and the features of each.
Qlik Sense Enterprise
This application is installed on a Windows Server and is accessed via a web-browser. It is the most common implementation of Sense in commercial environments. Configuration of a Sense Enterprise site is done via the QMC, a set of web-pages available to administrators. Multiple Streams can be configured, and users can be granted access to different streams based on a set of security rules. Being on-premise, Sense Enterprise can connect to company databases and integrate with MS Active Directory to allow users access. Scheduled reloads of data can be configured.
Licencing for Sense Enterprise is done by applying licences to the Server, which are then allocated to users either manually or by a rule.
Sense Enterprise can be expanded by having many nodes all talking to each other, providing scalability which can expand with the enterprise.
Qlik Sense Desktop
This application is available as a free download and can be installed on Windows Desktop operating systems. There is no licence required to use Sense Desktop and (unlike QlikView Personal Edition) there is no limitation on commercial use.
Access to Sense Desktop is generally through the app itself, though a browser can be used provided the app is currently running. While browser access is possible, the application can only be reached from the local machine. This makes sharing of insights with colleagues more difficult and Desktop is only generally used for trying Sense out before moving to one of the other platforms.
Registration at https://qlikid.qlik.com/register is required to use Sense Desktop, but this is a simple step with no charge.
Qlik Sense Desktop
Qlik Sense Cloud – Basic
Anyone with a Qlik.com account can access and use Sense in the Cloud. Simply go to https://www.qlikcloud.com/. Here you can log in, or register for an account, before going to your own Sense Hub in the cloud.
Buttons in Sense Cloud allow you to upload data in your own private space and create applications based on that data. Some connectivity to online sources is also available, such as web-files and Qlik Data Market. The other limitation to be found in Cloud Basic is the amount of storage you can have.
There is sharing available in Cloud Basic, but the up-to-five users you share with can see all your shared content. You can not select to share different content with different users.
Qlik Cloud Basic is highly unlikely to be useful for a production application of any kind, but then it is free. It can be useful for trying out features of new Sense releases (they tend to be applied to Cloud ahead of other platforms) or using Sense when out and about on a non-Windows platform.
Qlik Sense Cloud – Business
This is the subscription version of the Qlik Sense Cloud and has most of the advantages of the Basic cloud offering, with fewer limitations. Registration is completed in the same way and, once in your Cloud account, you can choose to upgrade. You decide how many users you wish to include in your subscription and set up a monthly payment for this. If you contact a Qlik Partner they may be able to provide a discount on annual subscriptions.
Once you have a Cloud Business Workspace you can invite colleagues to collaborate with you. Up to five streams can be created and different apps can be shared with different users in these streams. Users with Workspace access can create and publish applications, where stream users can simply consume information.
Storage, connectivity, and number of Workspace users are still limited, but there is much more on offer here than there is with the Basic offering. Apps can be scheduled to reload daily, so fresh data can be waiting for your users each time they log in. This makes it a viable solution for some small to medium use cases.
Specifications and pricing for Qlik Sense Cloud Business change frequently (usually adding functionality) so look online for the latest information on this.
The Future
Sense is a product that is evolving quickly. Recently, offline capability has been made available for the Apple iPad (for Enterprise users) and the direction of travel seems to be to have more connectivity between different versions of Sense. It is likely that there will be more ways to consume and create Sense applications in the future.
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Thank you Steve, do you see challenges in the cloud version of Sense when it comes to interact with company databases and Active Directory integration?
Hi Sohail,
There are a number of limitations with the Cloud version, with Cloud For Business having significantly fewer limitations than Basic. You are unlikely to be able to access your companies Active Directory directly from Cloud, so you would need to have something on premise that extracted the directory into a database or a flat file. If you have Sense on premise (even a Desktop version) you could load from Active Directory and store to QVD. Connecting to databases is possible, provided that you open up the correct ports on your network to allow database traffic. An option in both cases is to write to QVD on premise and then put the files in a place that Cloud can get to them, such as DropBox or FTP. Hope that helps.
What is your opinion on the future of Qlik?
Hi Steve. Well, I have bet my mortgage on the success of Qlik, by building a company that only works with Qlik software. The last couple of years have been interesting, with Sense taking centre stage for Qlik and competing products emerging. However, I still think that the technology the Qlik have is incredible and I think the future for Qlik is a bright one. Steve.
Hi Steve, this is my first question for you, even though I have followed you for over 5 year.
Can you use QlikView as a PIM -Product Information Management?
Hi Mike. QlikView does not do data capture (natively) it just pulls data from other sources. If you have the product data required in a source (or sources) that QlikView can get to then it can act as a PIM. We do a lot of work with manufacturers and distributors, and categorizing products based on numerous factors is often something that we do for them.
Hope that helps.
Hi Steve, first of all thanks for a great overview. I would like to ask you if you had a chance to try store qvd files by using qlik business cloud. I have tried with cloud basic using the connection used for uploaded files and it was not possible. So I am curious if we might take an advantage of the QVD files in qlik cloud?
What are the biggest limitation using qlik business cloud against qlik enterprise from your point of view? I have tested qlik basic cloud little bit and I see those:
– Security (missing security rules and section access)
– Missing self service features like creating my own sheet in published apps
– App size and number of stream limitations
Hi Pavol,
The STORE statement simply doesn’t work in Cloud. This is one of the biggest hinderances I am aware of, as it prevents incremental load. With a cloud analytics platform you are perhaps likely to be loading from cloud sources, and this will typically mean an API. The nature of these is that you don’t pull all data on each load. Without STORE this isn’t possible. The other limitations are kind of what you would expect for the (very low) price point, i.e. limited storage, less granular sharing etc.. We have a few small clients on QSC4B and for them it is absolutely spot on, and they are aware of the limitations and what they will not be able to do until they upgrade to Enterprise.
Steve
Hi Steve, thanks for your point of view and confirmation of the store statement limitation.
Pavol
Great post Steve. Thanks for this.