Partner Intelligence has Split!

When you think of BI, think of PI!

Partner Intelligence recently split from its previous owners, a local staffing and recruiting firm. We wish them the best after their decision to focus on Healthcare IT.

In the process of leaving the original parent organization, Partner Intelligence itself split.

I now operate Kencura Systems, which owns and maintains the software products and methodologies used within our large BI engagements. For example, we utilize the BI Modernization Workbench suite of software to automate the conversion of legacy reporting tools into web-based BI products. Kencura Systems is a formal provider of software and services to Partner Intelligence.

Eric Bulmahn, who joined me in 2009, now runs the Partner Intelligence services group. He provides our clients with a team of great people to perform complex BI engagements such as: strategic advice, dashboard application development, and automated legacy modernizations.

I should mention one other change. The Partner Intelligence e-mails had used the domain name of the staffing firm, so we needed to get new addresses. You can now reach Eric at EBulmahn at PIforBI dot com. You can reach me at DLautzenheiser at PIforBI dot com (or at Kencura dot com).

If you are one of our thirty-plus happy Partner Intelligence clients, this split should not be of any concern to you. Other than a new corporate address and e-mail addresses, not much has changed. What is important to you has stayed the same: we are still here to provide you with quality BI services at a fair Midwest price.

BI Modernization Topics

If you are interested in modernizing your legacy reporting applications, see these previous articles:

• White Paper on Automating BI Modernizations
• BI Modernization Frequently Asked Questions

• Using Text Data Mining and Analytics for BI Modernizations

• Using Word Clouds to Visually Profile Legacy BI Applications

• DAPPER Methodology for BI Modernizations
• Leave a Legacy: Why to Get Rid of Legacy Reporting Apps

• Moving off the Mainframe with Micro Focus

• Preparing for FOCUS-to-WebFOCUS Conversions
• Converting the NOMAD 4GL to WebFOCUS
• Convert FOCUS Batch JCL Jobs for WebFOCUS
• Automatically Modernize QMF/SQL to WebFOCUS

Huge Ground-Floor Opportunity for WebFOCUS Professional

Are you ready to use your Business Intelligence talents for a wealth-building opportunity?

We are looking for the right creative person with solid WebFOCUS skills to help build a SaaS client-facing information portal. This is a well-backed start-up venture where leaders will have equity rights.

In addition to your technical abilities, you will need pre-sales and communication skills in order to work with the management and sales teams promoting the application. 

The right person will be a BI architect with the ability to do hands-on work while leading a team of developers. Skills and experience in the following technologies are needed: 

• Project management 
• Dashboard User Intelligence design and development
• Database design and development 
• WebFOCUS Developer Studio 
• WebFOCUS BI Dashboard/BI Portal 
• WebFOCUS 4GL 
• WebFOCUS Data Migrator ETL 
• WebFOCUS Managed Reporting Security 
• SaaS cloud topics (e.g., multi-tenant security and architecture)
• DHTML, JavaScript, and JQuery 
• Enterprise Relational SQL and Big Data NoSQL databases 

Contact me ASAP if you are interested: Doug underscore Lautzenheiser at Yahoo dot com. 

WebFOCUS is the enterprise BI product of Information Builders.

Using Word Clouds to Analyze Legacy BI Applications

If you have end-user reporting applications on the mainframe, some of them may have been around for decades. More than likely, the original coders have long ago retired and few people today can explain what these applications are doing.

I decided to add some visualization to shed light on legacy applications' inner secrets. Here is a word cloud generated from the keywords found inside a legacy FOCUS 4GL application:
After scanning the legacy libraries, I used the R statistical programming language to create a word cloud.

Somebody with an understanding of the FOCUS language can decipher this word cloud and quickly see that this application runs on a mainframe computer (e.g., the DYNAM commands) using green-screen technologies (e.g., the -CRTFORM and PFKEY commands). It is primarily a mainframe reporting application (the TABLE command) using menu navigation screens.

What is unusual is the big CASE keyword, which is a MODIFY database maintenance feature to provide procedural branching.

In this word cloud, the MODIFY count is small, the CRTFORM count is slightly bigger, and the CASE count is relatively large. Without looking, my first hunch is that somebody used the old IBI MODIFYTALK facility to automatically generate an add/update/delete online transaction application. That 1980s tool was notorious for generating a lengthy routine with lots of CASE logic.

In addition to the keywords, I could also do a word cloud of the actual database tables being accessed. If I needed more detail, I could also do word clouds for the columns of particular tables.

Since I'm a visual guy, this seems much nicer to me than looking at a spreadsheet or tabular report of numbers.

Of course, this type of visual analysis is not limited to the FOCUS product from Information Builders. It could be done for the other 4GLs (NOMAD and RAMIS) or reporting tools such as SAS, QMF/SQL, Crystal Reports, etc.

There is no reason you should not understand your legacy reporting applications.

If you are interested in learning more, just contact me. 

Approaching Deadline for IB Summit 2013

Your window of opportunity to speak at Information Builder's annual user group in Orlando, Florida, in 2013 is quickly closing.

To be selected as a presenter, you must provide IBI with a fifty-word abstract as part of a call for papers. The deadline is just a week away: November 30th. Go here for instructions on how to fill out a simple form that is found here.

All you need at this point is a quick summary of your topic. You still have several months to actually create the material. The event is scheduled for the first week of June 2013 and you do not need to provide finalized slides until sometime around early May.

While there is no guarantee IBI will select me, here is what I submitted:

Understanding BI in 60 Minutes (or Less)

For two decades, Doug has created complex BI applications for a variety of industries. A veteran of Information Builders, Doug first presented at the 1992 event. Now, Doug offers "speed-training" to learn BI in just one sitting. Doug will cover the important topics as well as emerging trends (e.g. Big Data and Predictive Analytics). Afterwards, you will be able to discuss BI like a top industry expert.

Give it a try. Perhaps we will see each other in the Green Room. 

IBI Wants You to Present at Summit 2013

Information Builders has announced that their annual iWay and WebFOCUS users group event--Summit 2013--will be held again in Orlando, Florida, at the Rosen Centre Hotel.

The event will be held from Monday, June 3rd, through Friday, June 7th.

Information Builders would like YOU to present at what could be their most-attended event ever (considering that they are, according to Mark Smith of Ventana Research, the Hottest BI Vendor in the World!). In exchange for presenting, Information Builders will waive your registration fee.

I think Orlando is a great location for the event since Information Builders can take advantage of local theme parks for offsite events. While I also look forward to staying at the Rosen Centre again, my fondest memories of Summit 2006 are from Charley's Steak House just down the street. Be sure to ask your IBI sales rep to take you there for a free steak dinner!

See Information Builders' Summit website for more information. 

Succeeding with WebFOCUS Skills

In a recent general BI blog, I discussed the TIOBE study showing today's demand for hot programming languages (see it here). I also pointed out a nice eWeek summary of the same study and it is worthwhile to take a look at it here.

But what, you ask, does this have to do with Information Builders' enterprise BI product WebFOCUS?

Well, the reality of today's marketplace is that just having WebFOCUS as a skill may not keep you employed.

Instead, you need to combine WebFOCUS with other in-demand technologies such as SQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and web development tool kits like JQuery. Any employable WebFOCUS BI professional needs to possess this cluster of enterprise web application development abilities.

But that is just the starting point. Today's clients are trying to do more with less and keep up with rapidly changing technologies and market events. Your clients or employer will look to you to participate in meeting a variety of needs--other than in just a single software product such as WebFOCUS--which provides you with career opportunities to become involved with many information technologies.

Common examples would be the standard C-based programming languages of C/C++, Java, C#, and Objective-C, which are all in demand. You also have the sizzling web languages: PHP, Perl, Python, and Ruby.

Make sure you are seated before you read any farther.

Seated? Okay, now check out this job trend comparing WebFOCUS to the C languages. That black line across the bottom at the zero percentage is the market demand for WebFOCUS developers. Compare that trend line with the other in-demand programming skills.

Java, C++, C#, WebFOCUS Job Trends

Java jobs - C++ jobs - C# jobs - Webfocus jobs

Here is a graph comparing WebFOCUS to JavaScript:

JavaScript, WebFOCUS Job Trends

Javascript jobs - Webfocus jobs

Some languages like Objective-C are experiencing an exponential power curve in demand. Others, like JavaScript shown above, have a strong linear demand that is being reinforced by emerging improvements such as HTML5 to support mobile devices.

If the market demand for JavaScript is five times that for WebFOCUS, then companies are going to expect you to know JavaScript when they ask you to build WebFOCUS web front-ends.

Nobody should try to label me as negative just because I point out there is a flat demand for WebFOCUS. There's definitely a niche market out there and you can make a good living specializing in it.

And please don't take me wrong. I'm not trying to tell anybody to give up on their hard-earned WebFOCUS expertise.

My point is that your ticket to success comes from combining WebFOCUS with other hot technologies. With today's employment circumstances, there is no longer a "should;" it has essentially become a "must."