The Style Intelligence Solution
Reports in the repository are run with live data every time. There are many cases in which a report will need to be saved with a copy of the data. This archiving of reports is critical to business processes that demand the ability to audit past work.
The archive in Style Intelligence is integrated with the live report repository. This means that a user can easily compare current data to those from last week, or month. When reports are saved, their format can be chosen from the list of export formats, or it can remain in native Generated Report format. The advantage of native format is that you will be able to export the archived report to any format at some point in the future.
Scheduling Problem
It is difficult for a person to keep track of, and run, a large list of reports that need to be executed and delivered at different times.
The Style Intelligence Solution
Most reports are run on a timetable. Style Intelligence provides a scheduler that runs independent of the interactive servlet. The reporting system administrator can manage a centralized list of time-based tasks through the Enterprise Manager web interface.
The scheduler controls all time-based task definitions. Users and administrators can create these definitions. Each definition includes conditions and actions. The conditions indicate when the actions should be performed. For example, you can have a report run daily, quarterly, on a certain week of the year, on a specific date, and more. The actions are: e-mail notification; e-mail delivery; save to disk; save in archive; and print. You can, of course, define your own custom condition or action. The custom condition need not be time-based; the only requirement is it must return either true or false. It is possible, for instance to create a custom condition that is based on current data. For this purpose, however, we recommend using the built-in alert notification feature.
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“We evaluated many reporting vendors and were most impressed at the speed with which the proof of concept could be developed. We found InetSoft to be the best option to meet our business requirements and integrate with our own technology.”
- John White, Senior Director, Information Technology at Livingston International |
Alerts Problem
Some simple data checks are tedious, and can be missed by a person. This is especially true as the amount of data increases.
The Style Intelligence Solution
Style Intelligence’s Alerts are scheduled tasks that check for data conditions. You can define either a threshold or a trend. When the condition is met, the delivery actions will be performed.
A data alert can be created to perform various tedious tests. Alerts consist of a test schedule, a trend or threshold, and delivery actions. The schedule determines how frequently the report should be run, and the data tested. The trend or threshold is the data check to be performed. A trend can be a numerical change or a percentage change, and can be a moving average. A threshold is a hard number maximum or minimum, and can be applied to any or all of the data rows. You can define this test to be performed on any time basis available in the scheduler. Once the trend or threshold condition is met, the corresponding actions will be performed. The actions are e-mail delivery, and saving to the archive.
Dashboards Problem
The Style Intelligence Solution
A popular management reporting tool is the Key Performance Indicator Dashboard. A dashboard gives a quick high-level view of a company or a project by combining multiple reports into a single composite. Style Intelligence provides highly interactive, visually compelling dashboard and scorecard functionality.
Different dashboards can be assigned on a user or role basis. The user can customize the specific collection of reports that they see, and save these changes. Users can modify the contents of each section of the dashboard, as well as change the layout. Each of the individual reports in a dashboard can have its own drilldown settings to see more detail about that indicator.
Export Formats Problem
A single report must be archived in PDF, and e-mailed in Excel or PowerPoint to a manager for review or auditing.
The Style Intelligence Solution
A large part of delivery is the ability to export to other standards. Different users, with different responsibilities may require the same report in different file formats. In the different areas of Style Intelligence you have the ability to choose among the various export formats.
All of the reports you design can be exported in any of various formats. The most popular is PDF because it guarantees an exact match of layout regardless of platform. Another popular format is Excel. We offer three different options for exporting to Excel. One matches the layout exactly, one focuses on data editing capabilities by preserving formulas, and one eliminates pagination. The other export formats include PPT, RTF, XML, text, CSV, SVG, and HTML. These export formats can be used with live reports, scheduled reports, alert delivery, and archiving.
Localization Problem
A multi-national organization with offices around the world requires a single report to be readable by users who do not share a single language.
The Style Intelligence Solution
As a global reporting solution, InetSoft provides the capability for report localization. A single report can be run in different languages and with different regional settings for currencies and dates.
Style Intelligence utilizes i18n internationalization. Resource bundles for different countries and languages allow reports to be run in the users native language. Every element in a report can be configured to suit the users language - not only text fields, but also chart labels, and table headings.
Report Bursting Problem
Sometimes the same report needs to be run for each member of a population, with only the data that is relevant to that individual.
The Style Intelligence Solution
Another burden that is shouldered by Style Intelligence is that of distributing individualized reports to a large number of recipients. Through report bursting, a single large report can be segmented and disseminated to a list of users with minimal configuration by developers.
Style Intelligence provides a feature called report bursting that makes this process easy. Developers will produce a large report that contains all of the data for all of the recipients. This report can be run once. The general report element is split based on a criterion when the report is accessed. The rest of the report, including the header and other elements, remains the same for every user. Thus, you do not have to create a separate report for each recipient. Style Intelligence does the hard work for you.