In a general sense, self-service is the system by which line-of-business professionals or analysts can access and work with data to generate insights (predictive or not) as well as data visualization with little direct support from data scientists, IT, or a larger data team (though the self-service platform itself should be supported by these personas).
GE Aviation has implemented their own version of a self-service system that serves their specific needs and requirements and that allows them to use real-time data at scale to make better and faster decisions throughout the organization:
- Engineering is using data from these tools to redesign parts and build jet engines more efficiently.
- Supply chain is using it to get better data insights into their shop floors and streamline supply chain processes.
- Finance is using it to understand key metrics such as cost, cash, etc.
- The commercial group (by leveraging data scientists) is using these tools to transform engine sensor data from customers and build analytics services for them.