Connecting to your data

AI for Data Analysts

Andy Cotgreave

Author and Speaker, Former Technical Evangelist at Tableau

The flat file approach... and its limits

 

  • File uploaded into the AI's context window
  • Every platform has size limits — free tiers are lowest
  • Not scalable, not reproducible — a starting point, not a workflow

 

flat_file.jpg

AI for Data Analysts

Integrations: connecting to your real data

mcp.png

  • MCP (Model Context Protocol) — the emerging standard, broadly adopted
    • Snowflake MCP can view tables, explore schemas, and run queries from the chat
AI for Data Analysts
AI for Data Analysts

The context problem

example_spreadsheet.jpg

  • AI guesses from field names and sample rows

Guessing isn't good enough for serious analysis

AI for Data Analysts

Data dictionaries and semantic layers

data_dict.jpg

 

  • Data dictionary: data structure and definitions
AI for Data Analysts

Data dictionaries and semantic layers

 

  • Data dictionary: data structure and definitions
  • Semantic layer: business definitions
  • Together: close the gap between inference and understanding
AI for Data Analysts
AI for Data Analysts

Giving AI context: the production approach

 

cortex_analyst.jpg

AI for Data Analysts

Let's practice!

AI for Data Analysts

Preparing Video For Download...