Thursday, September 27, 2007

Development Tip: Get into the "Import" Business with web 2.0 servlets

This may be just about the easiest way you will ever find to build dashboards and put building block servlets together into comprehensive applications.

And what's better? It's less than a two minute read. Click here to see for yourself.

Monday, September 24, 2007

What you should consider in your BI - Part 3 : Separating the players from the pretenders

Most BI tools fall down when it comes to allowing data-entry.

If we can't add or modify important data to include the full picture of new customers, or products, or plants...then BI becomes virtually useless. And, if we're not going to be able to see the accurate or whole picture, what is the point?

Here are 2 demos showing you three easy (and different) ways you can enter/update your data with m-Power. This example shows the benefit as it pertains to creating budgets/projected sales:

  • Method 1: Mass (Fast) Budget Entry

  • Methods 2 and 3: Work With Budgets and Budget Additions

  • Then, you can see the final report with all of the changes when you visit Budget Report and you make your selections and hit return. (In this system our budgets are by year, month, customer, and product.)

    If you are looking to build a BI system, give m-Power a look. If you'd like to see how easy it is to build an application using m-Power, visit our online trial today and test it out via the Web!

    Thursday, September 20, 2007

    Is SOA a reality, or a myth?

    This recent article from IBM's e-Server Magazine sets out to answer this question. I'll give you a hint...it's not a myth.

    What it is, is a useful implement, one you should have in your arsenal, but one of many implements you should include in the ongoing battle to not only modernize your systems, but to remain relevant in a global marketplace.

    Recently, our friends at Bimba Manufacturing deployed an application to SOA in a matter of seconds, giving life to a portal application, and integrating it with an outside system. You can read about it here»

    Wednesday, September 19, 2007

    Collaboration for Innovation: How partnering up can be good for you.

    While partnerships are nothing new between companies to develop new product lines or services...partnerships often get overlooked when it comes to internal innovations and departmental problem-solving. And that's a mistake.

    This article examines two separate, and very unlikely, business partnerships that led to major savings, and incredible financial gains. And, with their tips for winning over management, colleagues, and staff, approaching your current business problems with a collaborative spirit might be the solution you've been searching for.

    Tuesday, September 18, 2007

    What you should consider in your BI Part 2 - For the Power User

    Power Business Intelligence users don't always want everything laid out for them. They often want the ability to pick and choose what they are going to look at. Something like this:

    Sales By Year : Ad Hoc Query
    Or they may want a combination where this is linked to some of the views we presented in Part 1. (See September 10th Post) That's all very easy to do with m-Power.

    But to really separate the men from the boys (so to speak) with respect to tools used to build your Business Intelligence system, stay tuned to Part 3 . . .

    Thursday, September 13, 2007

    Educating Non-Tech Execs about Tech (In 5 Hours or Less)

    IT departments have a vested interest in keeping their counterparts on the business side informed about technology, and technological opportunities for business.

    Why, you ask?

    Well, keeping your senior management informed is a win-win when it comes to getting your pet projects pushed through. If you can convey to them the benefits of IT applied to your business, and make them see why technology is invaluable, you might just be considered invaluable yourself.

    Here's a short article on how to teach your Non-Tech Execs about Technology.

    Wednesday, September 12, 2007

    Web Tip: Put practical wireless apps into action.

    Wireless (with all its gadgets and spaceage beaming) can be hard to envision practically applied to your business. But you might be surprised.

    How many steps are involved in orders? How can a field rep look up product availability from the road? How can a manager get sales numbers when they are stuck in a snowstorm in Dubuque? How can you reset a server when you are poolside yourself?

    Here's how this UK manufacturer put real warehousing solutions in the palm of their users hands...literally.

    Monday, September 10, 2007

    What you should consider in your BI Part 1 - Endless views: Try to keep count.

    Business Intelligence - Everyone does it in one form or another. Here are three examples of the more traditional approach, with all the data pre-sliced and diced for the BI user:

    Sales By Year: YTD
    Sales By Year: Full-Year Data
    Overall Monthly Sales
    These examples were built with m-Power, but even cooler than that is the versatility of Java servlets behind the examples. To see what I mean, click through all the links in each application and note the URLs as you go. Can you count how many times servlet I00610s is re-used, and all of its different looks?

    Does it ever show you the same data twice? That's the object-oriented power you get when you build your applications with m-Power. One build will bring you a multitude of views for your users, each with a different purpose.

    (If you'd like to build something like this, just fill out this form and tell us what you need. We'd be more than happy to build you a live proof of concept.)

    Wednesday, September 05, 2007

    7 Ways to Protect Legacy Systems When Boomers Retire

    The fact that a generation of some of IT's most experienced and knowledgeable professionals will be leaving over the next decade has been discussed for years, yet most organizations have done little to prepare for this exodus of talent, especially as it concerns maintaining all-too-important legacy systems.

    Here are 7 recommendations on how to retain this know-how to preserve your company's assets.

    Tuesday, September 04, 2007

    Take the datamart challenge: Integrate your data for all (authorized users) to see.

    With more than 15 million records in their datamart and more than 600,000 records being added each month, Bosselman had a huge BI challenge on their hands. How to analyze that amount of information, and distribute it in useful, meaningful formats among fifteen different companies representing 8 different industries.

    This was no small BI task. It was a datamart challenge. See how they rose to meet it»

    Monday, September 03, 2007

    The most versatile "Top 10-style" reports you've ever seen

    Our Web 2.0 reports make doing "Top XX" reports (e.g. Top 10 sales offices, Top 20 products sold) so easy and versatile.

    This post will take you through some quick examples of just how easy and versatile.

    In coming weeks, I'll show you how to combine this versatility with the "Import" features of our Web 2.0 reports to build dashboards in a snap.

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