Needed Skills for Utilizing Open Data in Business : Using Open Data as a Support of Business

The purpose of this thesis was to introduce the topic of open data and to present the needed skills for utilizing open data in business. The paper was established for the Smart Service research unit in Häme University of Applied Science respectively for their project OpenHäme (Finnish: AvoinHäme). The theoretical basis of the thesis consists of the research method, an introduction of open data, followed by a presentation of the data management process and the most common open data technologies and tools. Based on the collected information the four tools ArcGIS, QGIS, PowerBI and Sisense were tested. Predefined evaluation criteria concerning technical, business and training aspects were used as a framework. Afterwards, a short field report on the experiences of working with the tool was established. The first outcome of the research work was an open data matrix including open data categories and the data management process steps. This matrix can be used as an overview and initial position to work with open data. Furthermore, the comparing showed that open data can be processed with open source tools just as good as with commercial tools. The results of the thesis indicate that there are enough open source tools existing to work with open data. By following the instruction and respecting some rules working with open data is possible for everyone