Data meets creativity: Recap of the Compose SDK ‘Analytics in Action Hackathon’

From May 28, 2024, 11:00 am ET, to May 31, 2024, 4:00 pm ET, Sisense invited app builders from all backgrounds to join our first-ever hackathon. The ‘Analytics in Action: A Compose SDK hackathon’ encouraged participants to create unique analytics experiences. Before the May 28 start time, participants were invited to chat and collaborate on the Sisense Discord server.

Why Compose SDK?

Sisense chose Compose SDK as the central element for the hackathon to challenge participants to be creative with the flexible developer toolkit. Compose SDK enables embedding analytics in a code-first, scalable, and modular way. For developers and product teams, it allows rapid prototyping with pre-modeled data, dynamic data interactivity, and custom visualization flexibility.

The challenge: Enhance apps with analytics experiences

Using React, Angular, or Vue.js, participants were challenged to “enhance an existing app or develop a new front-end solution leveraging the capabilities of Compose SDK.” The task was designed to be industry-agnostic and focus on the creative use of data to power versatile workflows.

Examples ranging from custom report creation to data blending to AI integration helped registrants understand the types of output the judges were looking for. Before the start of the hackathon, the mood on the Discord server was equally friendly and competitive.

Participants from various backgrounds came together to explore the limits of data integration and analytics. The teams started work on Tuesday, May 28 after a spirited hackathon kickoff early in the day, and worked through to Friday, May 31, late afternoon. During that time, the sense of community on the Sisense Discord server was palpable, creating a supportive environment where creativity thrived.

By Friday at 4 PM EST, all submissions were in, and the judges began their work.

Code, compete, conquer: Judging the Compose SDK hackathon

Sisense judges Ayala Michelson (Chief Product Officer), Billy Kovalsky (VP of Product), Steven Griffith (Senior Director, SDK), Tuan Pham (Staff Software Engineer), and Steve Poff (Senior Solutions Engineer) reviewed the projects from over 20 participants for more than a day.

Projects submitted ran the gamut.

One was a dashboard builder that allows for write-back capabilities using, for example, Snowflake. In fact, due to Compose SDK’s flexibility, this team noted that it could also be any other data source.

Another submission described itself as a “smart travel companion,” collecting data from various sources to help optimize travel plans.

Yet another focused on healthcare analytics. The team created a powerful yet accessible dashboard with metrics from medical case occurrences to a doctor’s distribution of work against, say, revenue, to help grow healthcare organizations.

Beginning with a pool of six projects, the judges narrowed it down to three, and finally, the top two emerged.

Innovate and integrate: The best of the Compose SDK Hackathon

First place: Team Measuremen

The five-person Team Measurmen aimed to add more flexibility to the dashboard canvas, and won first place in the Compose SDK Analytics in Action hackathon.

The five-person Team Measuremen was made up of self-proclaimed Wizards and Ninjas.

Team Measuremen entered the hackathon with one main goal: To add more flexibility to the dashboard canvas. They noted, “Our submission could be used both within the Sisense environment or, as we demonstrated, as a separate canvas for users without a designer role on their team.”

The hackathon judges praised Team Measuremen for their advanced self-service capabilities, highlighting their sophisticated code. They noted the real-world applicability of the widget-to-PDF report feature and commended the team’s implementation of a self-service layout tool with drag-and-drop functionality, wrapping DashboardWidget into MovingWidget and ResizableWidget.

Second place: Team CareInsights

Second place winner was Team CareInsights, a team that focused on healthcare analytics. The two-person team was Software Engineers Eric Santos and André Lopes. Regarding using Compose SDK to build their winning submission, Santos and Lopes noted how simple it was to integrate the data into the front end, as well as the helpful product documentation.

Team CareInsights is made up of software engineers Eric Santos and André Lopes.

Judges were impressed with the CareInsights submission for its use of external libraries, sleek dashboard design, and the extensive use of Compose SDK capabilities. The team skillfully implemented chart interactions to build cross-filtering, showcasing the power of embedded analytics. CareInsights, created a powerful yet user-friendly healthcare analytics dashboard. Here’s their video submission:

Santos and Lopes said, “Compose SDK worked really well even though that was the team’s first time using the SDK in a project. We realized it has the potential to help us develop better frontend products, and we’re going to try to bring that into our current company’s usage.”

What we learned: Valuable insights from our Comopse SDK hackathon participants

Our hackathon participants provided valuable feedback on the Compose SDK and its usage. They noted a need for increased clarity of examples regarding certain functionalities—for example, formatting dates and currencies. In addition, based on feedback, we were able to improve product documentation. We’re grateful for this feedback as we work on implementing it.

Hackathon wrap-up: Innovation, fun, and future plans

The Compose SDK hackathon was more than a competition; it was a fun and enriching learning experience. Participants had the opportunity to collaborate, share ideas, and explore the full potential of the Compose SDK.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the winners,  Team Measuremen and Team CareInsights, whose outstanding projects demonstrated the immense capabilities of our platform. Their work, along with all other submissions, provided invaluable feedback that will help us continue to enhance our product and documentation.

As we reflect on the success of this event, we are already looking forward to our next hackathon. Stay tuned for more opportunities to innovate, compete, and learn with Sisense in future events. Together, we will continue to drive the future of analytics and create exceptional user experiences.

Thanks to all who participated and contributed to making this hackathon a memorable and impactful event! Start your 30-day free trial of Compose SDK.