BI Software | WebFOCUS

New WebFOCUS Newsletter

2011-12-29T10:53:00.000-08:00

Information Builders, the software vendor of the WebFOCUS BI product, has just published the January/February 2012 newsletter that you can read by clicking here.

Information Builders Discloses Summit 2012

2011-12-26T15:57:00.000-08:00

Information Builders, the software vendor of WebFOCUS and iWay Software, recently disclosed the location of the 2012 annual users group meeting.

IBI will once again hold the Summit conference in Orlando, Florida; or more accurately, in Kissimmee at the Gaylord Palms.

The five-day event starts on Sunday, June 3rd, and lasts through Thursday, June 7.

Online registration is already open. Click here to register.

Don't take me wrong, but I am excited most about the probably offsite event (I'm guessing IBI will once again rent out the Streets of New York section of Universal Studios).

Not that the other parts of the Summit are not good--education sessions, meeting with experts, networking, food, drinks, etc.--but who can compete with some great 3-D reality rides?

On the other hand, I am disappointed to learn the Universal Studios recently shut down the Jimmy Neutron Nicktoon Blast ride. Hopefully, Universal Studios will have the "Despicable Me" replacement open before the Summit attendees show up in June 2012.

And when you are at the Summit 2012 event, be sure to stop by the Partner Intelligence booth. While I do not have the details worked out yet, Partner Intelligence should be presenting one of the educational sessions. Stay tuned for more information.

Wireframe Mockups for WebFOCUS Dashboards

2011-12-19T07:09:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for a way to collaboratively design your WebFOCUS BI dashboards, there is an excellent tool on the market. Software vendor Balsamiq offers a low-cost low-fidelity software application for creating user interfaces mockups.

See my general BI blog for more information.

WebFOCUS Drops Legacy End-User Assist Tools

2011-11-29T09:24:00.001-08:00

Information Builders, the software vendor of enterprise BI WebFOCUS, announced today they will drop support for some legacy end-user report builders as of WebFOCUS 8.0.0, expected to be released sometime yet this year.

No longer supported will be the Report Assist and Graph Assist tools. Both will be replaced with the newer web-based RIA InfoAssist end-user reporting feature.

Few people should be concerned about these tools going away. Both user interfaces were old Java applets, which meant that software needed to be installed on end-user desktops. Replacing these legacy technologies with a better web-based product is the appropriate thing to do.

Any reporting applications that your end users generated using the Report Assist and Graph Assist should still be fine. When you get to WebFOCUS 8, however, the legacy code will be opened with the InfoAssist product.

I suspect there could be issues where the new parsers cannot understand the legacy code, but we will have to wait and see.

In addition to Report Assist and Graph Assist, WebFOCUS 8 will also sunset these features:

Managed Reporting (MR) Applet User Interface
Reporting Object Applet Tool
Alert Wizard Applet Tool
Publish Utility Applet Tool
Applet-based Graphs, Graph Editor (accessible from Applet-based graphs), and Old Graph Engine (GRAPH32)
ReportCaster Applet Interface and Scheduling Wizard
Power Painter
Advanced Graph Assistant
Developer Studio Graph Assistant
Developer Studio Managed Reporting Publish Utility

For more information on this announcement, see IBI's WebFOCUS Release 8 Tools Consolidation statement. For more information on when you can expect WebFOCUS 8, see IBI's release schedule.

If you discover you need to convert legacy code based on any WebFOCUS 8 changes, let me know. For example, IBI is also dropping CGI support for HTML launch pages calling WebFOCUS; this is something that Partner Intelligence can assist you with an automated conversion.

WebFOCUS Testing

2011-11-16T12:31:00.001-08:00

Somewhere in India, people appear to be taking a Business Intelligence test that involves questions about Information Builders and WebFOCUS.

Over a period of eight hours, I saw a bunch of blog hits from people in Pune, Hyderabad, and Mumbai who were all searching for the name of the vendor who owned WebFOCUS.

One person even cut and pasted into their Google query what looks like a test question (or some type of online exercise):

1. Identify the software vendor for the Business Intelligence tool "WebFocus"

If you are taking a BI test, you must have gotten that question right (and, hopefully, using Google to find answers is not frowned upon). If you come across other tough ones, I am here to help.

Bonus Points: If you want to impress your testers, be sure to point out that the actual mixed-case spelling of the product is officially "WebFOCUS."

PSA for Zombie Preparedness

2011-11-14T13:22:00.001-08:00

You can never be too prepared.

See what the Center for Disease Control says about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse.

I think the CDC is on to something, using humor and pop culture to pull unsuspecting people into a conversation about a serious topic, such as preparing your family for an emergency.

There may be more people out there searching for information on zombies than on a family emergency plan.

I will let you know if my blog search hits for Business Intelligence software go way up just by mentioning zombies.

New WebFOCUS Feature to Ignore Your BI Users

2011-11-13T18:11:00.001-08:00

Information Buildersintroduces so many new WebFOCUS features with such little fanfare that it isdifficult to keep up.

That being the case, Isuspect that few people are aware of a new feature in the WebFOCUS HTMLComposer for ignoring parameter values. It is an enhancement to a nifty featurethat came out many releases back called "FOC_NONE."

This takes somehistorical explanations. Consider as an example building a graphical userinterface for a report with an option to select data for a particular geographic region. Ofcourse, that selection is optional, so you give your users the ability toidentify "ALL" regions as well.

In the early webapplication development days, WebFOCUS developers would dynamically build aWHERE condition with the user-selected values and, for the "ALL"option, either skip around that with a GOTO or build a symbolic WHERE line thatwould be blank. However, that type of coding often meant that the WebFOCUS GUItool was immediately confused and would no longer paint the report.

To help overcome thischallenge, Information Builders added logic to WebFOCUS to ignore any lineswhich contained a keyword of "FOC_NONE." By setting your selectioncriteria to "WHERE REGION IS FOC_NONE," you could guarantee the line wouldjust be ignored resulting in the "ALL" condition you wanted.

Again, some backgroundinformation is useful. There are two types of WebFOCUS language: one proceduraland the other non-procedural. The processor for reading the languages is calledDialogue Manager. As it reads the code, the procedural statements are executedimmediately while the non-procedural statements are placed into a stack ofmemory for later execution.

So the FOC_NONEprocessing takes place within Dialogue Manager and the core WebFOCUSnon-procedural language is totally unaware. The Dialogue Manager line containing FOC_NONE is processed (the special keyword does not cause the line to be ignored); only the non-procedural lines get ignored.

Now, fast forward tothe latest WebFOCUS 7.7 release.

The new WebFOCUS HTMLComposer now has an option to specify the "ALL" ignore option aseither FOC_NONE or a new keyword: _FOC_NULL. These two words are deceptivelysimilar but very different.

For one, the FOC_NONEkeyword is processed by Dialogue Manager by throwing away the entire line beingparsed and not putting it into the WebFOCUS stack for processing.

_FOC_NULL, on theother, is a new part of the core language syntax. Instead of ignoring lineswith that keyword, Dialogue Manager will put the line into the stack and letWebFOCUS figure out what to do with it.

So what will WebFOCUSdo with _FOC_NULL? If inside a WHERE statement, WebFOCUS will ignore it muchlike it would with the legacy FOC_NONE option.

Everywhere else,however, WebFOCUS will see the _FOC_NULL. When embedded inside headings andfootings, that new keyword will just show up as a blank. Typically, this iswhere you want FOC_NONE and ignore the entire line.

Perhaps a more usefulplace for _FOC_NULL is with DEFINE calculations. Let's say that you create atemporary column with a symbolic variable. Later, you use that column inanother calculation.

If the parameter valueis provided, all works well.

However, if you get aFOC_NONE value in the first calculation, the entire calculation is ignored.When WebFOCUS comes to the second statement that references the first, it fails(since the first calculation was never really processed). You end up with a syntaxerror because WebFOCUS ignored the line with FOC_NONE (just like it is supposedto do).

If you were to pass inthe _FOC_NULL keyword instead, then the first calculation would be processedbut with a null value. The second calculation would then work, albeit with noreal data.

Still, I have problems with this new feature. In real-life, sometimes you need FOC_NONE and sometimes_FOC_NULL behavior in the exact same program. That means coding to switch values back and back between the two keywords. Perhaps it wouldhave been better to create an environmental setting to change the FOC_NONEbehavior instead of having two different keywords.

My other concern is thatthe HTML Composer's default behavior is to generate the new _FOC_NULL keywordinstead of the legacy FOC_NONE. I would prefer that enhancements follow a more "backward-compatible" philosophy.

Unfortunately, theHTML Composer has in the past changed behavior so that previously-built WebFOCUSapplications stopped working. I have some inside scoop on how InformationBuilders plans to avoid this in the future and I will blog about it shortly.

Hiding Symbolic Variables from WebFOCUS HTML Composer

2011-11-10T06:41:00.000-08:00

One of the powerful features of WebFOCUS is the ability to symbolically represent data, content, and instructions--basically anything in a program--and process these variables with a procedural scripting language, known as Dialogue Manager.

Sometimes, symbolic variables are created and used only within a single program. In this case, WebFOCUS developers use the -SET command to dynamically specify a variable's value. The syntax of the -SET command is varied; statements can be a simple assignment, logical with an IF-THEN-ELSE statement, mathematical, process strings, call subroutines, or a combination of these.

At other times, values for symbolic variables are just passed into the program after having been set elsewhere. For example, your WebFOCUS program may get parameter values from an HTML launch page, another WebFOCUS program, or some other technology. Either a human user or an application could be passing in the desired values.

Best Practices

For these types of symbolic variables coming from an external source, it is a best practice to always provide a default value. If WebFOCUS runs a program where no value has been assigned to a symbolic variable, it will automatically prompt you for the value (assuming this feature is turned on, otherwise it will just fail).

For a software developer creating WebFOCUS programs, it is also nice to have default values inside the code instead of having to retype them each time you run a specific module.

Within the program, always explicitly identify the variables that will be passed in from the outside. There also seems to be a common practice (I'm not sure who started this, but I see it at many WebFOCUS accounts) of naming these variables with &XP_. Other developers will tell you to use names as short as possible to avoid hitting a URL string-size limitation in the IE browser.

Default Values

You provide default values for these external variables using the -DEFAULT command.

Unlike the -SET command, -DEFAULT only allows simple assignments. It is also different from all other non-procedural WebFOCUS commands, in that it is executed when (and other if) needed at the beginning of the process regardless of its location in the code sequence. Because of this, most WebFOCUS developers avoid confusion by grouping their -DEFAULT commands at the top of their modules.

HTML Composer

With all that said, it is important to understand that the Developer Studio's HTML Composer evaluates the WebFOCUS programs for these symbolic variables. When it sees the -DEFAULT commands, it assumes that you will want to create HTML controls for these symbolic variables.

If these parameters need to be passed from the HTML launch page to the WebFOCUS program, the HTML Composer is making a very good choice. The launch page needs corresponding controls and logic to pass parameter values to WebFOCUS properly.

However, your WebFOCUS programs may be passing parameters to each other (e.g., in report or graph drill-downs) and the HTML launch page does not need to know anything about it.

In a situation where you have symbolic variables being passed into WebFOCUS programs from a source other than the HTML launch page, you can instruct the HTML Composer to ignore these using an alternative form of the default command, which is -DEFAULTH.

The H in -DEFAULTH stands for "hidden." Do not confuse this with a hidden input control in the HTML sense of the word (since those often still need to be passed from HTML to WebFOCUS). Instead, you are marking it to be hidden from the HTML Composer.

When you link a WebFOCUS program to an HTML inline frame, the HTML Composer will parse your program and offer to build controls for any of the -DEFAULT variables and ignore those with -DEFAULTH.

This is a very nice feature added to the core WebFOCUS language to help you build HTML launch pages.

WebFOCUS Predictive Analytics with no Add-Ons

2011-11-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

The underlyingWebFOCUS language has a built-in statistical function that can perform somebasic predictive analytics. If you only need basic data forecasting, there maybe no need to purchase a third-party statistical product.

Out of the box,WebFOCUS supports the following forecasting functions:

Linear Regressions
Simple Moving Averages
Exponential Moving Averages (single, double, and triple)

Using linearregression, a WebFOCUS application can calculate a straight line that best fitsa time-series of actual data points. The predictions are then future pointsalong this straight line past the available actual data values.

A moving average iscommonly used with a series of data spread over a time period to identifylong-term trends or to smooth out short-term fluctuations. You might also knowthis as a rolling average, rolling mean, or running average. The WebFOCUSapplication tells the forecasting function how many data values to use whencalculating the averages.

A simple movingaverage calculates averages using the actual data values. For an exponentialmoving average, the function calculates a weighted moving average using anactual data value and its previously calculated average. The weighting factorsdecrease exponentially over time, never reaching zero.

In a singleexponential moving average (also known as smoothing), the WebFOCUS applicationapplies multipliers (weights) to the newer and older values. However, thistechnique may not accurately identify real trends in the data series. To better handle true data trending, theWebFOCUS function provides for both double and triple exponential movingaverages.

In a doubleexponential moving average, weighting accounts for the tendency of data toeither increase or decrease over time without repeating. In a tripleexponential moving average, weighting accounts for repeated seasonalfluctuations in the data in addition to the trend.

You can read moreabout this on Information Builders' documentation site.

It your BI applicationneeds only the basic forecasting methods using linear regression, simple movingaverages, or exponential moving averages, WebFOCUS may already have thefeatures you need. If however you need more robust analytics, then implementingindustry-strength statistical products such as the open source R language,IBM's SPSS, SAS, or KXEN may be more appropriate than using the standardWebFOCUS forecasting function.

One Simple WebFOCUS BI Best Practice - Personal Backups

2011-10-17T17:06:00.000-07:00

While developingWebFOCUS BI applications, you will invariably experience a "Duh!" moment.You just saved something bad to the development server and immediately wish you could somehow undoa potentially time-consuming mistake.

One way to ensure youcan get the coding equivalent of a golfing "Mulligan" is by adopting a practice of creating personal backups of your BI applications. Withearlier snapshots of the application available, you can virtually go back intime and get code as it was before your poorly-made change.

Having a personal backup saves you the embarrassment of groveling to the system administrator to see if he might be able to find your files within last night's system backup.

Where to Keep Personal Backups

Because I often workat the client site and on their systems, I typically keep a backup library on aremovable thumb drive. For my own company's development, I keep backups on aUSB extension hard drive.

For my personalbackups, I (almost daily) create a folder with the name of the client and dateof the save, for example: "ABC Financial Dashboard (2011 Oct 17)."While a backup done each morning is usually sufficient, if I am getting readyto do something major in the afternoon after having already done quite a bit ofdevelopment in the morning, I may make a "PM" version in addition tothe original "AM" one.

I group all of thesedaily backup folders into a parent folder for that particular client. Ona regular basis, I might go back and weed out all of the duplicates. Forexample, I have been making regular backups of the BI Consolidator softwareapplication for about ten years. Every so often, I clean out this important backup folderby deleting all but one version for each previous month.

How to Create Personal Backups

Components of WebFOCUSapplications can exist on multiple platforms in a variety of libraries. So whencreating a personal backup, remember to capture a snapshot of the importantpieces on both the WebFOCUS Report Server and the Managed Reporting web tier.

On the WebFOCUS ReportServer, you typically have an application folder which at the least containsmetadata. In addition to this one, there may be other important folders in thepath as well (e.g., the always-present BASEAPP or perhaps a shared templatefolder), so consider backing up more than just your application folder.

Backing up the WFRSapplication folders is straight-forward and we can use the Developer StudioWindows-based product to just copy and paste. There are two places to view theWFRS application folders, the first being near the top under the Data Server (EDASERVE)view.

When using this DataServer view, Developer Studio provides a segregated look at the differentcomponents and groups them into virtual folders. That makes backing up all ofthe files difficult. A more appropriate view for backups can be found at thebottom of the Developer Studio tree on the left-hand side under "WebApplications."

With this view,Developer Studio displays all of the components in the WFRS application folderin a simple list. To create a backup, select all of these files and copy themto the Windows clipboard.

Then, paste the WFRSfiles into the current day's backup folder. If you need to backup multipleapplication folders, you might want to create a separate backup folder for each(e.g., BASEAPP, FINANCE, and OPERATIONS).

The Managed ReportingEnvironment on the web server is a bit more complex. There is securityinformation, real and descriptive names, and so forth. Luckily, InformationBuilders created a Change Management feature for exporting MRE applicationsfrom one image and importing them into another. For our backup purposes, we canjust let WebFOCUS perform an export and keep the zipped archive file as our MREbackup.

From the MRE Main Menu(the /ibi_apps/ link),click on the "Managed Reporting Change Management Extract" feature. Fromthe next screen, select from the MRE tree on the left the MRE Domain you wantto backup. Although we typically only work in one MRE Domain at a time,remember to backup all the ones that are being actively modified as part ofyour application development effort.

Check the option todownload the file and click on the button to create a Change ManagementPackage. The web page will give you a Save dialog box and let you write theresulting zip archive file into your backup folder.

Inside this zip file, you will see an XML document called "cmRepos" and a folder for each of your saved MRE Domains. The cmRepos document contains additional information that WebFOCUS needs to import this change management package back into another environment.

The MRE Domain folder contains a subfolder called "apps" which contains all of your WebFOCUS application code.

When You Need to Restore

When you have that"oh no" moment during WebFOCUS application development, just go back to your backup folder. Find theearlier version of the code you messed up and open the file with a text editor suchas Notepad. Select all and copy it to the Windows clipboard. Then go intoDeveloper Studio, open the bad code with the IDE text editor and paste in the copied earlierversion.

Of course, you may want to make a quick backup of the bad code first. Hopefully, you can use something and not have to entirely recreate the work you lost by reverting to the backupversion. Still, this is a better option than being under stress to correct an existing problem on the development server (by the way, you would never develop on the production server, right?).

Yes, even You willstumble into a self-imposed dumb experience. Taking the time to be a little paranoid and make personal backups is a smart thing to do.

Brotherhood Mutual and WebFOCUS BI

2011-10-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

Rob talks about WebFOCUS

Rob Fosnaugh, manager of Business Intelligence for Brotherhood Mutual in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was recently recorded talking about his feelings on Information Builders and their BI software product, WebFOCUS.

For more than ninety years, Brotherhood Mutual has provided insurance for America's churches and ministries. They purchased the WebFOCUS product about five years ago. Despite having no previous WebFOCUS experience at the time, Rob leveraged his background in other BI products to quickly develop sophisticated insurance dashboards with IB's software.

If you are interested in learning more about how Brotherhood Mutual uses WebFOCUS, you can download Rob's presentation from the Summit 2011 annual users' conference held in Dallas.

Brotherhood Mutual is more than just a commercial venture; they share a common vision with their customers and actively assist Christian ministries. For example, see their work with a comic book aimed at helping today's children deal with moral dilemmas.

See Rob's video here.

Partner Has a New BI Recruiter

2011-10-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

Partner just keeps getting better. Named as a finalist in the Best Places to Work in Cincinnati, great people are taking notice.

This month, Lynn Holliday joined us as Director of Human Resources. In addition to her management duties, Lynn will play a special role in helping Partner Intelligence recruit WebFOCUS BI professionals.

For the past dozen years, Lynn has specialized in recruiting technical professionals. Recently, she has specialized in Business Intelligence skills.

Partner Intelligence continues to see profitable growth, but WebFOCUS skills are hard to find. Having a dedicated WebFOCUS recruiting staff should make for an exciting 2012 year.

If you have the right BI experience and skills, now is the time to talk to Lynn about an exciting open position to join a growing organization with some of the best WebFOCUS consultants in the Midwest.

Partner Named 2011 Finalist in Cincinnati's Best Places to Work

2011-09-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

The Business Courier has selected Partner as one of 50 finalists for the 2011 Best Places to Work in Cincinnati.

For more information about Partner, see the Business Courier's September finalist announcement and read their August article about Partner's amazing growth during hard economic times.

Where are the WebFOCUS Skills?

2011-08-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

In a recent general BI blog post, I wrote about the use of social networking sites such as LinkedIn by individuals in the business intelligence software industry.

Within my LinkedIn network, 80% of the BI skills listed were grouped into SAS, IBM SPSS, SAP Business Objects, and IBM Cognos. Not far below those on the list were Microsoft and Oracle products.

However, Information Builders' WebFOCUS was way down the list. Within the United States, I could only find about 1400 people who mentioned that skill anywhere on their LinkedIn profiles.

If you are a WebFOCUS professional and not using social media, you need to consider it to be just as important as a resume (in fact, LinkedIn could become an alternative to the traditional resume).

In the past few years, recruiters have turned to social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs as a predominate method of locating talent. In a recent Jobvite survey, almost all of the 800 survey respondents said they had successfully hired a person through LinkedIn.

If you have not already, setup a LinkedIn profile and document WebFOCUS as a skill. Be sure to send me an invitation to connect.

Converting FOCUS to WebFOCUS: Unsupported Features

2011-08-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

If you are getting ready to convert your FOCUS applications over to WebFOCUS, be sure to get my checklist of items you should consider by going to this blog posting.

One thing I failed to mention in that article was that Information Builders eliminated several legacy FOCUS features (text editor, end-user wizards, type to screen, statistical facility, etc.) and did not move them to WebFOCUS. Certain things that you may have done in FOCUS no longer exist in the web version.

Therefore, when analyzing a FOCUS-to-WebFOCUS conversion, look for these old features embedded in the 4GL code:

TED (text editor)
TABLETALK (end user reporting wizard)
MODIFYTALK (end user data maintenance wizard)
ANALYZE (statistical analysis)
FIDEL (green-screen processor used within MODIFY)
FMMAIN (the FOCUS Menu facility)
ISHFSHLL (the TSO FOCUS Toolkit)
PWREP (the TSO Power Reporter)

Converting batch jobs (MVS JCL) from FOCUS to WebFOCUS can also raise serious issues. For more information, see this blog posting.

WebFOCUS Closed-Loop Mobile BI

2011-08-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

Information Builders, the vendor of enterprise BI product WebFOCUS, announced today "closed-loop BI" support for mobile devices.

This is not a new skill for Information Builders. From the start, their products have had features for full application development tasks. Not only can their BI product display information content to the users, but it can interact and gather raw data. Closed-loop means that the user can view information as well as change it.

While some organizations are concerned about BI applications that update data, others embrace it. For one Partner Intelligence client, we implemented a dashboard solution that provided their purchasing group with suggestions for saving money. However, if a purchasing decision maker disagreed with the automated recommendation, he or she could click on that line and cause it to disappear from that and future reports.

That "closed-loop" reporting feature updated a flag in the database identifying that piece of information to be excluded from the report. It was an easy task with WebFOCUS, but may have been near impossible with a typical report writing software product.

WebFOCUS also provided a way for that client to enter currently-not-available information. The purchasing person had some inside information about a future agreement that was not yet in the ERP system. Using a BI data entry screen, this person could add this piece of breaking news into the application that would influence the savings advice for everybody the next day.

During nightly processing, WebFOCUS picks up the new information, builds a formal transaction, and passes it along to the ERP system so that this new information can become active. Had the client needed more real-time synchronization, we could have made the ERP communication happen on a data-change basis.

Many people still dismiss handheld devices such as phones and tablets as being devices only good for "consumption." They want to pigeon-hole mobile devices to reading information, unable to process transactions and update data. Information Builders may help change this attitude.

For more information on Information Builder's closed-loop mobile BI offerings, see their press release.

Summit 2011 Partner Intelligence Give-Away Winner

2011-06-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

Congratulations go out to Kyle at Dollar General in Goodlettsville, TN, for winning Partner Intelligence's raffle give-away at Information Builders' Summit 2011.

Not present at the "Ask Gerry" session where Information Builders announced the winner, Kyle found out via e-mail that he now owned an Amazon Kindle book reader. Partner Intelligence consultant Rick Koch visited Kyle a few days later to hand deliver the Kindle.

In addition to Kyle himself, his employer Dollar General was a big winner. See IB's blog for more information.

Summit 2011 IBI Winner

2011-06-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

This year, Partner Intelligence created a new tradition of raffling a prize for the IBI employees staffing the annual users group event. Typically, these hard-working individuals are not allowed to participate in any Summit give-aways.

All that has changed in 2011 with Lori Pieper, a Senior System Engineer at the Cincinnati office, winning an Amazon Kindle book reader. Congratulations, Lori!

Summit 2011 Best Customer Presentation

2011-06-16T07:22:00.000-07:00

Last night, Gerry Cohen of Information Builders announced the best customer presentation out of the entire five-day event. The award went to Chris Byrne of Paycor, a well-known Cincinnati-based payroll processing firm.

A fairly new IBI customer, Paycor created a unique web reporting solution. Using web services, Chris and the Paycor team were able to get to the underlying nuts and bolts of WebFOCUS, expose them to an ASP.NET web application, and craft an impressive ad-hoc reporting application.

Thrilled, the audience gave Chris the highest votes of all the customer-led sessions. Congratulations, Chris!

The Big BI Event in Texas

2011-06-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

Things are big down here in Texas at the Information Builders' Summit 2011 event.

So when we called a shuttle to take us to a nearby restaurant, we should not have been surprised at the size of the ride. I told those with me that I think we were the oldest folks to be inside our tricked-out stretch Hummer, as it was obviously designed for teenagers on prom night.

When we arrived, the restaurant was wonderful. The concierge at the Hilton Anatole had recommended Truluck's on McKinney Avenue and what a wonderful suggestion that was. The great people at Truluck's did everything exactly right.

However, if you do drive your own Hummer over to Truluck's, be sure to go the speed limit. As we ate dinner, we observed one of Dallas' finest perform an ongoing stop-and-ticket campaign one right after another. And you never know, these might be big Texan traffic fines.

WebFOCUS Job Opportunity - BI Consultant

2011-06-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

As the leading Midwest provider of WebFOCUS business intelligence talent, Partner Intelligence continues to grow. We have consultants in Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Nashville. We specialize in critical BI initiatives such as strategic advice; dashboards and application development; and automated conversions.

Since we first started the company in 2007, the software vendor of WebFOCUS Information Builders has chosen us to augment their Professional Services organization. In addition to working on IBI vendor engagements across the country, Partner Intelligence also provides services directly to regional clients.

The vendor named us an elite Solution Partner, providing us with the ability to resell the WebFOCUS BI product as part of our services engagements. As a formal partner, we have access to WebFOCUS software, technical support, documentation, training, and other resources.

We have performed successful projects for many of the regional WebFOCUS customers. Because our reputation is so important to us, we make sure each and every engagement is setup to win; our Partner Intelligence consultants have a full support team behind them.

We have immediate opportunities for experienced individuals to join our team as full-time employees and participate in our exciting client engagements. We offer competitive benefits, a tremendous learning opportunity, and a fun time.

You can expect:

Competitive Base Salary (paidbi-weekly)
Variable Bonus Plan(paid annually)
Long-Term IncentivePlan (calculated annually)
Paid Holidays
Paid Time Off Plan(based on length of service)
Travel Expensescovered, with hotel and airfare direct-billed to Partner
Travel Agency to assist with your travel plans
401K
Group Insurance Plans:Health, Dental, Vision, Life
Long-Term DisabilityPlan
WebFOCUS Mentoring andTraining
Notebook computer with full WebFOCUS environment
Challenging WebFOCUS consulting engagements

If you are looking for a full-time career with like-minded passionate individuals where you can maximize your skills and build a strong BI reputation, consider Partner Intelligence.

Our partners have excellent career opportunities. Our customers come to us for the complex BI initiatives that they cannot do themselves nor find expertise elsewhere (even the software vendor turns to us).

In addition to Consultants, we need Practice Leaders in a variety of specialties, such as BI dashboard application development, automated legacy conversions, Best Practice advisory sessions, and Project Management. If you want to move into a business role, we also need Recruiters and Business Development professionals. You may even be able to start your own branch of Partner Intelligence in the geography of your choosing.

If you are interested in joining us, please contact me immediately at DLautzenheiser at my PartnerPS dot com e-mail address.

Be sure to read more about us at this link.

Breaking News from 2011 September 19: The Courier just named Partner one of 50 Finalists for the 2011 Best Places to Work in Cincinnati. Read more about it here.

Summit 2011 for Networking

2011-06-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

Information Builders' Summit 2011 is proving itself to be an excellent "people place." If you are here, you have made some great new contacts among this community of BI practitioners as well as run into some familiar faces from past events.

Information Builders has organized the event well to facilitate mingling and conversations. The breakfast, lunch, break, and reception activities are all perfectly suited for talking with guests, analysts, and vendors. Tonight is the offsite Rodeo event, another great place to interact with people.

Gerry, Vashti, and Mark

People from around the globe are here, from both small and large organizations (the Canadians will spend some extra time at the event now that Air Canada went on strike today). I would guess that the audience mix is 80% technical and 20% business users.

Yesterday, I had breakfast with Lt. John of the New York City's 1PD. Passionate about his job, Lt. John supports about 4000 detectives with a WebFOCUS application for incident reporting, arrests, and criminal investigations. In a few minutes, I will watch his presentation.

Equally passionate was Teri from a financial services firm who had created a SaaS reporting application using web services to get to the nuts and bolts of WebFOCUS and opened it up to external customers.

At lunch, I sat with individuals who use WebFOCUS to do financial dashboards for a non-profit organization in Texas. At dinner, I had a great time with BI professionals from a variety of industries.

I had the good fortune of sharing an elevator with Howard Dresner and having a nice chat while walking to the sessions. Later that night, Wayne Eckerson stopped by the Partner Intelligence booth for a conversation. I was also able to spend time with many of the great IBI employees.

About two hundred people have already dropped off raffle tickets to win a free Amazon Kindle book reader. I wish there was enough time to get to know each of them.

Talking to people, it is obvious that we have a tight job market for WebFOCUS professionals. There is a shortage of qualified people out there, everybody has a job, and many companies are trying to hire. I talked to several people who had just recently switched employers.

This is an exciting time to be a BI professional. The more people you know, the better your career opportunities. If you are here in Dallas at the Summit 2011, be sure to stop at the Partner Intelligence booth and introduce yourself.

IB Summit 2011 Has Started!

2011-06-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

Information Builders' annual user conference is off to a great start. Last night was the Welcome Reception with open bar and an excellent meal. I was surprised to see a full spread and not just finger food like in the past few years. Instead, the Hilton Anatole in Dallas served up dishes containing roast duck, halibut, tenderloin, lobster, and crab.

Is this a sign of the economy in general or just BI software?

We had a great turnout at our Partner Intelligence booth, where we are giving away one Amazon Kindle book reader to a customer and another one to an IBI employee. At conferences, vendor employees working the booths and presenting rarely get included in the give-away drawings. Here at Summit, with top-notch freebies such as iPads, iPods, XBox 360s, and so forth, I felt especially bad for my WebFOCUS/iWay friends so I bought an extra Kindle.

On this Monday morning, the General Session has just wrapped up. It was obvious from the size of the ballroom that Summit attendance is higher than last year. During his talk, Gerry Cohen showed three slides of new US customer logos since last year's event and two more slides of new international customers. Things seem to be going well for Information Builders.

During the software demonstration, IBI announced in passing that their WebFOCUS Developer Studio product will be replaced with a new "App Developer" that was created with a similar look-and-feel as the InfoAssist end-user reporting tool. Now, both products with have the Microsoft Ribbon Bar feature. The switch is to happen in WebFOCUS 8.0.

The other big item of interest during the software demos was the emphasis on mobile BI. Frankly, I was concerned last year when IBI only gave away iPads but did not talk about them in their software presentations. I was especially worried that their development seemed to be focused on Adobe Flash which would not work on the Apple devices.

But today, IBI indicated they are committed to BI on any platform. When the demo person showed a Flash graph, he added in a comment of "Of course, on your iPad this would be using HTML 5 to get the same content." (Just as a side comment, I spoke with a gentleman who won an iPad at Summit last year. He said he was the first person in his small organization to have one. After they saw his new innovation, thirty-seven of his associates have since bought an iPad.)

The industry analysts talked about mobile BI as well. As always, audience interaction with the panel was good. Members included Howard Dresner, Wayne Eckerson, Boris Evelson, Cindi Howson, Mark Smith, and Dan Vessett.

Some comments from the analysts provide some insight into the larger audience and fancier accoutrements of this year's event. First, BI has become mainstream and executives have jumped onto the bandwagon. Also, BI is not necessarily an IT topic. Instead, over half of the BI initiatives are being driven by the business people. IT is being forced to adapt.

One area of adaptation is in mobile computing. Mark Smith commented that today's executives are impatient. In the past, they had a team of reporting specialists producing daily "briefing books" of important information. Now, executives want that information real-time on their mobile devices and are frustrated that IT cannot make it happen quickly.

Another important trend is the shortage of BI professionals. Boris Evelson talked about the high level of job security we in the BI space are enjoying now and which we will continue to see into the future. Business is constantly facing new challenges and needs information to make the best decisions. Because of this, Boris said, "BI never stands still."

The good BI professional is hard to find. That is because he or she has both technical skills and business acumen. Wayne Eckerson called these the "purple people" because of their unique traits and scarcity. Cindi Howson agreed, saying that in her research she saw that the number one key success factor for BI was executive sponsorship; number two was having these hybrid business/IT people leading the BI team.

Howard Dresner discussed a case study where a "purple person" became an "organizational activist" who used BI as a lever to change the entire company culture. Dan Vesset pointed out that BI professionals need to learn to market themselves within their organization. Mark Smith said that some organizations are using social media to identify their internal "purple people" and engage them on the official BI teams.

So things are getting off to a great start. Keep an eye on the blog for more information.

Be My Guest at IBI Summit 2011 in Dallas!

2011-06-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

Are you really not attending Information Builders' annual WebFOCUS user group coming up in June?

If you are not coming for financial reasons, perhaps I can help.

Being a premier sponsor of the event, Partner Intelligence has a number of "guest" tickets that can get you in the door for free. I would be happy to provide one to you, especially if you have never before been to the event. You would still have to cover your own travel costs, but Partner Intelligence would take care of your conference attendance fee.

I have a limited number of tickets left and need to confirm attendance very quickly. Contact me at DLau....
as soon as possible if you are sincerely interested in being my guest.

IBI Announces Off-Site Event for Summit 2011

2011-05-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

Information Builders kept the secret as long as they could. Their off-site event for Summit 2011 is a rodeo.

You should not be too impressed with my psychic abilities to predict this (see my earlier blog). The Summit is in Dallas, Texas; did you expect an Hawaiian luau?

On Tuesday evening, the 14th of June, you will want to get in line early at the Anatole Hilton's Chantilly entrance for a 7:30PM bus ride to the Resistol Arena to see the Mesquite Pro Rodeo.

IBI says to expect three and a half hours of rip-roaring rodeo recreation. In addition to partaking in food and drinks, you can ride on a mechanical bull and in a stagecoach (hopefully, "stagecoach" is not rodeo jargon for what we non-Texans would call an ambulance).

Now that you know the secret, be sure to pack your clothing and spurs accordingly.

Free WebFOCUS Software

2011-05-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

On a regular basis, I see Google searches where individuals are looking for free WebFOCUS software or for trial licenses.

Traditionally, Information Builders has adamantly refused to provide trial licenses of their business intelligence and integration products. Free copies of their software are going to be out of the question.

Because this is enterprise software, the total price you would be asked to pay depends upon several variables such as your hardware platform, the databases you intend to access, and the number and type of users.

If you are a corporate buyer of software and have not yet engaged the IBI software vendor directly, free feel to contact me directly to discuss your options.

IBI and IBM Talk Mainframe

2011-04-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

On the 11th of May, 2011, Information Builders CEO Gerry Cohen will be the featured speaker on an IBM webinar presenting his thoughts on the future of the mainframe.

Also speaking will be Leo Porter-Lee, a senior technical analyst at Chubb. Moderator for the event will be Doug Rock, the publisher of IBM Systems Magazine, from MSP TechMedia.

For more information or to register for the event, see their web invitation.

IBI Summit 2011 FAQs

2011-04-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

Information Builders has posted a list of frequently-asked questions about Summit 2011 in Dallas, Texas, on their website.

For example, IBI answers some important questions about the evening events:

Sunday night (June 12th): Welcome Reception
Monday night (June 13th): Cocktail Reception
Tuesday night (June 14th): Off-Site Event
Wednesday night (June 15th): President's Reception (Ask Gerry)

If like past events, you will also be invited on Monday night to a Regional Cocktail Receptions following the general reception. Each of the Information Builders' field sales force regions will gather their customers and provide a smaller networking event somewhere in the Hilton Anatole.

The details of the off-site event are still being kept quiet under lock and key. But here is what I can share (don't tell anybody where you heard it): it will be a fun location near Dallas that can hold about a thousand people. It will probably have a big Texan theme and offer enough different activities to satisfy a variety of personalities.

Myself, I am rooting for a rip-roaring rodeo with a Texas barbeque.

I would not be surprised if there is boot-scooting music involved (not to mention a photo opportunity between you and a big steer!).

Summit 2011 Give-Away

2011-04-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

If you were at Information Builders' Summit 2010 in Orlando, Florida, you may remember that Partner Intelligence gave away a pair of Bose headphones.

For this year's event in Dallas, Texas, we chose what I think is another great prize: an Amazon Kindle 3 electronic book reader.

I actually bought one for myself just to make sure we were making the right decision!

To be eligible to win, just stop by the Partner Intelligence booth in the vendor area sometime between Monday, June 13th, and Wednesday, June 15th, and sign one of our registration slips.

You cannot miss us; you will pass our booth not only as you look for the Welcome Reception's open bar but also everyday as you head for the breakfast and lunch buffet lines. So when you think of free drinks and food, think of Partner Intelligence (but only during the Summit; otherwise, it should be "when you think of BI, think of PI").

We will randomly pick the lucky winner at the end of the user conference event. I am thinking that it could very well be you!

Reflections on Life in the Cloud

2011-04-07T09:19:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in web-enabled applications using data stored in the cloud, see an article on my general BI blog.

WebFOCUS Difference Between DEFINE and COMPUTE

2011-04-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

If you have ever interviewed for a WebFOCUS developer position, you have heard this: "What is the difference between DEFINE and COMPUTE?" It is a simple question, but surprisingly there are many who cannot articulate a good response.

This question serves the same purpose as the college English 101 class. It immediately knocks out people who should not even be sitting in the room.

Both DEFINE and COMPUTE are phrases used in the WebFOCUS 4GL computer language to perform calculations. These are robust commands that can be logical (IF-THEN-ELSE phrase), mathematical (such as calculating percentages), comparisons, or calls to other programs (such as user-written subroutine).

So if both do calculations, why are there two of them?

When you create a calculation using the DEFINE statement, WebFOCUS will perform it on every record that meets your selection criteria (an IF or WHERE test). So if you have one million sales transactions and are aggregating them by month, the DEFINE calculation will happen one million times.

On the other hand, WebFOCUS performs the COMPUTE calculations only after its sorting and aggregation steps have finished. So WebFOCUS would first sum your one million records into twelve months and then perform the COMPUTE twelve times.

The DEFINE happens on every detail database record while the COMPUTE is on each aggregated result line. Your next question is, when would you use one over the other?

The common response deals with efficiencies. If you can get the same results performing a calculation one million times versus doing it just twelve times, you want to use the one with the least amount of work involved. That makes your BI reports run faster and more efficiently.

Another common but less valid response is: "if you get the same results either way, just always use DEFINE." That is the non-thinking person's answer.

The real answer is you use either COMPUTE or DEFINE when you must. Sometimes, you must be at the detail record level in order to perform a calculation. Sometimes, you must work with the aggregated values.

One example would involve percentages. You can never calculate ratios and then add them together (at least, not if you want to show correct figures).

Take these three students, their individual grades, and their very small class total:

Bob: 24 out of 25 questions (24/25 = 96%)
Ted: 23 out of 25 questions (23/25 = 92%)
Sue: 20 out of 25 questions (20/25 = 80%)
Class Total: 67 out of 75 (67/75 = 89.3%)

If you were to just sum the three detail averages to get a class total, you would get 268% (96% + 92% + 80%), which is not correct. Therefore, you would not use a DEFINE statement to calculate these percentages and then sum them together--you would get the wrong ratio.

Instead, you could use a COMPUTE phrase to summarize the details by class and then calculate the results. The COMPUTE will provide you with the summary figures of 67 divided by 75 for the right ratio of 89.3%.

Of course, handling this single interview topic properly will not get you that WebFOCUS job. It will, however, give you a chance to answer more than one question.

Press Release: New Strategic Relationship with WebFOCUS Vendor

2011-03-31T06:16:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK, NY – March 30, 2011 – Information Builders, an independent leader in operational business intelligence (BI) solutions today announced that Partner Intelligence, a full service BI and data warehouse solutions company, is expanding its role as an Information Builders' Solution partner. Partner Intelligence will continue recommending and implementing WebFOCUS, Information Builders' comprehensive business analytics platform, in customer situations while also tapping the solution to help organizations modernize their existing BI applications.

Information Builders and Partner Intelligence began working together four years ago. Partner Intelligence was already successful, implementing WebFOCUS to Information Builders' new customers while expanding the platform's use with existing customers. Under the terms of this new agreement, Partner Intelligence will now market WebFOCUS to its customer base to dramatically reduce the time, cost, and risk of implementing web-based business intelligence. Partner Intelligence selected WebFOCUS as its BI tool of choice because of its vast experience with the platform and successful joint implementations at organizations like Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc., where it used WebFOCUS to implement an enterprise dashboard, and the State of Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS), where the company had automated a legacy reporting system conversion into WebFOCUS.

"When I engaged Partner Intelligence to do a major project to convert hundreds of production jobs into WebFOCUS, it seemed like an unattainable undertaking," explained Richard Smith, IT manager at OKDHS. "Not only was I wrong, but it was one of the smoothest projects on which I have had the pleasure of working in years. If you need to convert code, then Partner Intelligence is the company you need to work with!"

"Partner Intelligence provided expertise and skill to get our enterprise dashboard up and running quickly, enhancing functionality and giving our management a clear line of sight into the company's metrics," said Dave Ascah, vice president, IT Enterprise Solutions at Wendy's/Arby's Group.

Doug Lautzenheiser, general manager of Partner Intelligence, said: "We are excited to expand our relationship with Information Builders and the range of capabilities we can offer around WebFOCUS. Organizations looking to replace legacy reporting systems or implement enterprise BI dashboards will benefit from this new partnership."

"Partner Intelligence has had success automating complex conversions of legacy technologies into WebFOCUS," said Gerald Cohen, president and CEO of Information Builders. "Our customers are quite happy with Partner Intelligence's capabilities and we are pleased with the partnership. With our new agreement, we're making it even easier for Partner Intelligence's clients to implement web-based, enterprise business intelligence."

About Partner Intelligence

Partner Intelligence is the BI practice of Partner Professional Staffing. Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Partner Professional Staffing is a full-service professional services firm, offering a variety of recruiting, staff augmentation, and project-based consulting services. Partner Intelligence provides clients with consultative services, specializing in strategic BI advice, BI application development, and automated BI system conversions.

About Information Builders

Information Builders provides software and services that bring smarter decision-making and streamlined processes to leading organizations in business, government, and education worldwide. The company's software is installed in tens of thousands of locations, servicing millions of users. Its WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) platform delivers massively scalable information applications, analytics, and customer-facing portals to the new generation of information users to deliver game-changing business results. Its iWay Software integration platform allows enterprises to leverage all of their information resources to streamline internal and business-to-business processes while escalating the overall accessibility and integrity of information regardless of environmental complexity. Headquartered in New York City with 60 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,350 people and has established significant industry partnerships. Visit Information Builders at informationbuilders.com. For ongoing news, go to informationbuilders.com/new or follow Information Builders at @infobldrs.

Might HP Acquire BI Vendors?

2011-03-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

See a recent post on my general BI blog if you are interested in the mergers and acquisitions within the Business Intelligence software industry.

IBI Summit 2011 Sneak Peaks

2011-03-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

What, you cannot travel to Dallas for IBI's annual users group conference--Summit 2011--in June?

Don't fret, you may still be in luck and able to see the presentations. In fact, you might be able to get a free sneak peak even before the paying attendees.

Many of the local Information Builders user groups are hosting events in the next few months where the Summit presenters can do an initial dry-run of their material.

Take a look at IBI's schedule of events for more details.

Local WebFOCUS Presenters at IBI Summit 2011 in Dallas

2011-03-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

Several companies local to Partner Intelligence's headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, will present at Information Builders' Summit 2011 in Dallas.

Below is a quick summary of the Midwest WebFOCUS customers who will be at IBI's annual users conference in June:

Ad Hoc Reporting Delivered!

Chris Byrne, Paycor, Cincinnati, OH

Tuesday 9:45AM - 10:45AM
Ever wanted ad hoc reporting? At Paycor, we've crafted a unique reporting solution using WebFOCUS, web services, and ASP.NET. This presentation explores how these technologies interact to create an intuitive, easy to use web application, giving our users the power to make the report they want with a few simple clicks.

Where In the Universe Is My Data and How Can I Get It?

Jeralee Seaburn, Hercules Tire & Rubber Company, Findlay, OH

Tuesday 2:45PM - 3:45PM

Hercules Tire, a wholesale tire distributor based out of Findlay, Ohio, recently embarked on an initiative to provide data to its sales team in an effort to get them the right information at the right time and continue to provide excellent customer service. Hercules has a unique enterprise resource planning (ERP) system with a flat, multi-valued database structure (Universe), which presented some unique challenges, and benefits, for the WebFOCUS implementation team. This case study will address some of those issues and showcase the Guided Ad-Hoc tool we developed to provide critical data to our internal users in a much easily managed and understood format.

A University's Approach to Data Transfer Using DataMigrator

Gayle DeGennaro, Franklin University, Columbus, OH

Wednesday 11:00AM - 12:00PM

Franklin University has successfully used iWay's DataMigrator to move financial and student information between three different database systems. This presentation will explore the university's approach as well as tips and techniques used to ensure success.

Dynamic Dashboards: A Data and Presentation Partnership

Rob Fosnaugh, Brotherhood Mutual Insurance, Fort Wayne, IN

Tuesday 8:30AM - 9:30AM
This session will show how a dashboard was created using a combination of dynamic staging tables, SQL, and WebFOCUS. This method can be used to create a usable way to view more than 40 insurance book-management elements all in one screen (at the agent, agency, state, region, and countrywide levels) while also comparing current metrics to previous demographic levels and over time. Topics will include data staging methodology, HTML Builder dashboard page design, WebFOCUS report design, parameter passing into SQL and WHERE statements, as well as exploring extensibility of the model.

If you come to Dallas in June, be sure to attend the presentations listed above. Also, stop by the Partner Intelligence booth, say hello, and register for our free give-away. Like last year, we are a proud Platinum Sponsor of IBI's big event.

Are You Ready for WebFOCUS BI Dashboard?

2011-03-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

Warren Buffett once said, "Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing."

If you are considering building a BI Dashboard using the WebFOCUS software product from Information Builders, hold on just a minute. Before you jump in, here is a checklist to review to see if you know what you are doing. There is no reason to blindly take on risk.

The BI Foundation
First, you must ensure you have established the right BI Foundation consisting of:

Business Intelligence Team (the right People)
Business Intelligence Standards (the right Policies and Procedures)
Business Intelligence Infrastructure (the right Technology and Data)

Start at the top (people) and work your way down (tools). Too many companies start first with the BI technology and expect to be successful. They buy a box of software and just hand it to the college intern.

(Rick Sherman said something similar in his blog a few days after this post).

Imagine that you have a home improvement project, so you purchase a hammer, nails, and wood. The outcome of a project using those tools will be very different depending to whom you give that material: a twelve-year old child or a twelve-year carpentry expert. Even if you select an expert carpenter to do the work, if you provide no guidance as to what to build your end result will just be a surprise.

When I list those three critical layers, I am making a big assumption. I am guessing that your organization understands the value of Business Intelligence software, has a strategic reason for implementing it, and has the organizational maturity to pull it off successfully. Some organizations are excited about the idea but do not have the capability to create or support a BI infrastructure.

Your Organizational Readiness
To evaluate your readiness, consider the following checklist:

Strategic understanding
Formal training in Business Intelligence topics
Executive sponsorship
Budget approved
Technology implemented
Key metrics formally identified and calculations codified
Common business language codified (e.g., "profit" means the same to everybody)
Data available
Resources available (people, environment, etc.)
Organizational culture that is supportive of BI

The BI Dashboard Layers
At a very high level, a BI Dashboard consists of three main layers:

Operational Systems
Reporting Repository
User Presentation

The critical data is being maintained in your secure operational systems. These are the transactional details that drive your organization. You rarely use BI tools directly against this raw data. Instead, you need to extract the information, transform it for reporting, and load it into the Reporting Repository. For details on why this is so important, see my earlier blog posting.

Your Reporting Repository should be designed for quality, speed, and historical trending. In addition to your reporting data, you need to consider Master Data Management.

Your Human Resources

Let's face it. It's all about the people on the team. If you have the wrong people, your BI initiative will never be successful. Here are the people you need to identify to make the project run smoothly:

Executive sponsor
Project leader
Application and BI subject matter experts
DBA, network administrator, WebFOCUS administrator, security expert
WebFOCUS application developers

Do you wonder what a great WebFOCUS application developer looks like? See my earlier blog posting.

BI Initiative Expectations

Before beginning the BI Dashboard, make sure important expectations have been set:

Time and cost expectations
Functionality expectations (features, user presentation types)
Ease of use of the BI application
Ease of application development
Deadlines (firm/drop-dead or flexible/nice-to-have?)
Versioned release schedule

BI Initiative Logistics

This is an important application development project and you don't want to forget to handle the basic logistics:

Workspaces
Security (network userids, door cards, VPN/Citrix keys, etc.)
Location (address, contact, security procedures)
Working hours
Policies on working remotely

BI Architecture

OK, you have the right people involved and you set the right expectations. What about your technical architecture?

Platforms
Complementary technologies (e.g., ETL)
WebFOCUS release
WebFOCUS images (Development, Test, Production QA, Production, Disaster Recovery)
Automated backup routines
Web tier (web server, Java app server)
Load balancing, fail-over
Security methods (e.g., Active Directory, SiteMinder, MRE, etc.)
Databases
Data access methods (metadata, tables/views, stored procedures, SQL pass-through)
Automated information delivery (Distribution Server and ReportCaster)

WebFOCUS Licensed Software
Consider the different WebFOCUS licenses that you might need for the project, both server and client:

On-demand access through the web browser ("pull," WebFOCUS Report Servers)
MRE licenses
Automated Information Delivery ("push," Distribution Server, ReportCaster, Report Library)
Deferred execution
Developer Studio copies
Adapters (data, application, web services, etc.)
Add-ons (Magnify, InfoAssist, Active Reports, R Stat, ESRI, etc.)

BI Application Development Topics

Do not be mistaken: this is a software application development project. Regardless of what you heard about point-and-click GUI Business Intelligence, do not be naive. You need to run a BI project just like you would any other software application development initiative.

Methodology (e.g., none, waterfall, RUP, agile, etc.)
Versioned release schedule (phased rollout)
Source code management (e.g., none, Subversion, etc.)
Quality assurance (e.g., none, Mercury, Bugzilla, etc.)
Requirements definition (e.g., use cases, mockups)
Status meetings, conference calls, reporting
Promotion schedules
Naming standards (libraries, programs, etc.)
Server backup/recovery procedures

Common Dashboard Components

Common components to consider for a WebFOCUS BI Dashboard include:

BI Dashboard
Banner images
Tab Breakouts
Common tab for dashboard release information and alerts
Common alert subsystem

HTML Launch Pages

Typically, each WebFOCUS has its own launch page, where the user can provide parameter values ("filters") for highly dynamic reports. Components to consider include:

Filters
Static parameter definition
Dynamic parameter population routines and MDM data
Cascading stylesheets
Common JavaScript routines (cookie processing, launch WebFOCUS, edit validations, date logic, toggle logic to "hide" and "show" filters)

WebFOCUS Reports
Of course, with a BI Dashboard you want to display dynamic reports. Consider the following common elements for which you want reusable widgets to reduce the time and cost of the project:

Hierarchy drill-down logic
Standard headings
Standard footings (parameter descriptions)
Export to PDF and Excel
Security (user entitlement rules)
Alerts and Messages
Back navigation
Standard stylesheet
Common No-Data logic
Common Error logic
Common Documentation block
Dynamic legends
Common browser window target logic

Common Reporting Development Topics

Before you build those reports, remember some basics:

Establish color schemes, logos, fonts, reporting standards before developing
Display descriptions, not codes (pass codes for WHERE selections)
Use consistent formatting, look and feel
Recommend visualization (peer graphics, stoplights, images)
Use different formatting for online viewing (HTML), printing (PDF), and analysis (Excel)
Should you use Active Reports?
Are there plans for mobile BI or a universal front-end?
Is there a desire for sizzle (maps, Flash/Flex, etc.) or practical functionality?

Data Topics
If you do not have the proper data in place, then building reports is difficult (or a waste of time and money). For the Reporting Repository, you need to consider the following:

Reporting Repository population routines (initial load and ongoing incremental loads)
Master Data Management creation, load, and maintenance
Scheduled batch jobs

Anything Else?

Wow, that is quite a list! Imagine jumping into a BI Dashboard application development project without even considering these topics--that would be costly, painful, and embarrassing. Yet some people do it.

I hope this checklist provides you with an intelligent approach for your WebFOCUS BI Dashboard initiative and enables you to be successful.

If I can be of service, just let me know.

IBI Disclosing Summit 2011 Case Studies

2011-03-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

Information Builders, the software vendor of WebFOCUS and iWay, is beginning to disclose some of their speakers for the upcoming Summit 2011 annual user conference to be held at the Hilton Anatole Dallas in June.

Here is a partial list of case study speakers:

Entertainment Publications: Business Process Reengineering and iWay

Hercules Tire & Rubber Company: Where in the World Is My Data and How Can I Get It?

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning: Developing an RIA-Based Dynamic Charting Dashboard for MetroPulse Chicago

World Wide Technology: WebFOCUS – The Road to Better Business Decision-Making

AkzoNobel: B2B Integration With iWay Trading Partner Manager

If you are coming to Summit 2011, be sure to let me know so we can get together.

Profile of a WebFOCUS BI Consultant

2011-03-01T08:54:00.000-08:00

Good WebFOCUS BI consultants are hard to find. Great ones are in short supply.

What makes an exceptional WebFOCUS BI application developer? Here is my checklist of how you would identify such a person.

User Interface Skills

Skilled in WebFOCUS products such as BI Dashboard, Developer Studio, HTML Layout
Skilled in user interface design and usability topics
Experience building WebFOCUS dashboards for other clients
Skilled in dynamic HTML topics (JavaScript, CSS, Document Object Model, cookies, etc.)
Experience with WebFOCUS user security models

Web Tier Skills

Experience with various web servers (e.g., Microsoft IIS and Apache)
Experience with various Java app servers (e.g., Tomcat and WebSphere)
Experience with various web security models
Experience with WebFOCUS Client Console and configuration topics

Reporting Server Skills

Experience with various operating systems and databases
Experience with the SQL language, performance tuning, and related database topics
Experience with WebFOCUS products such as Server Console, Metadata Management
Skilled in WebFOCUS architecture (ask him or her to draw you a chalk-talk)
Experience with latest WebFOCUS releases

BI Application Development Skills

Experience in full software application development lifecycle and various methodologies
Skilled in application design and project definition topics
Skilled in information design topics (tabular reports, graphs, visual representation, etc.)
Skilled in interactive application topics (web integration, drill-downs, hyperlinks, symbolic variables, etc.)
Experience with WebFOCUS Developer Studio for building dynamic applications
Experience with Report Layout for building reports
Skilled in WebFOCUS 4GL language and experience with latest features
Skilled in Dialogue Manager language and use of symbolic variables
Skilled in managing software projects and technical individuals

Resources

Has access to key technical individuals (e.g., vendor resources, industry experts, etc.)
Has personalized Site Code access to vendor's Technical Support website
Has corporate support resources (not a lone independent)
Has personal computer with full WebFOCUS environment installed
Has a library of past WebFOCUS engagements for use as quick templates
Has software tools to speed application development efforts
Follows formal methodologies to ensure successful engagements

Life Experiences and Personality

Has at least ten years of WebFOCUS application development skills
Has lead BI application development initiatives at other clients
Has interpersonal communication skills (for both business and technical audiences)
May have been an Information Builders vendor employee
Has a formal degree in information systems
Has a positive work history in information systems
Does not have current personal issues that impact his or her performance
Is confident yet humble and has a heart for serving the client

Business Acumen

Has formal business training
Understands relevant business concepts (finance, marketing, etc.)
Has either a broad industry background or specializes in your company's industry
Has experience with relevant business computer applications

The individual who meets all of these criteria is of course exceptional. If you are lucky to have this type of person on your BI initiative, be sure to treat him or her with respect. If this list describes you and you are interested in an exciting WebFOCUS consulting role, please contact me.

The Threat of WebFOCUS Extremists

2011-02-21T08:49:00.000-08:00

Within the WebFOCUS community, there is ongoing conflict between two groups of extremists.

Standing off to one side, you have members of the business community who embrace a strong belief that all WebFOCUS application development must be done by individuals with minimal experience and a mouse in one hand. I am going to classify these people as the Right, since they want a right-brain visual "painting" approach to BI application development.

These are often the same individuals who recently championed or funded the purchase of the BI product because of phrases such as "ease of use" and "rapid application development." They have been convinced that BI application development is point-and-click easy.

Over on the far Left, you have an older group of 4GL technicians from Information Builders' legacy FOCUS era. While many individuals in the 1990s moved forward with the new WebFOCUS product, one particular group was unwilling to adopt the use of the graphic user interfaces. Instead, they preferred stand-alone text editors such as UltraEdit. These left-brain logical programmers point out the limitations of using a mouse to build applications; their preferred mode of operation will be two hands with fingers flying across a keyboard.

Both the Right/Sola-GUI and Left/Anti-GUI extremists are wrong.

Yet both have valid points. If you are involved with WebFOCUS BI application development initiatives, you need to understand the thinking behind both extremes. Otherwise, your WebFOCUS project is threatened.

One source of contention comes from the failure of either side to clearly define their use of the "GUI" term. WebFOCUS comes with a graphical integrated development environment (IDE) called Developer Studio.

Developer Studio is the GUI. Not appropriate for end users and too far of a stretch even for the business "Power Users," Developer Studio is a robust development tool for developers. IBI developed this tool to give experienced developers a way to more easily build end-user BI applications. For business end users and Power Users, Information Builders provides easier GUI tools such as the InfoAssist.

Depending on your licensing agreement, Developer Studio will have features such as:

Integration with Administrative Consoles (both client and server tiers)
Metadata management
MAINTAIN for building interactive web-based database maintenance applications
SQL Wizard for interacting directly with RDBMSs
MATCH Wizard for creating extracts using match/merge logic
Procedure Viewer for visually laying out procedural logic
Report Painter for visually laying out report logic
HTML Painter for visually laying out web launch pages
Text Editor for editing procedural logic

When the business community voices demands that their project team use the WebFOCUS GUI, they typically mean that they want developers to use the Report and HTML Painters instead of the Text Editor feature. On the other hand, the Anti-GUI extremists may be against the entire Developer Studio IDE, not just one or two features.

The Right drank eagerly from GUI cup and the Left turned away.

Of course, there are historical reasons for our friends moving into the Anti-GUI camp. When these hardcore 4GL coders first looked at the Developer Studio offering in the mid-1990s, they saw a product that provided report painting features for only the simplest of static layouts. In particular, the painter sorely lacked support for the procedural scripting language known as Dialogue Manager.

Dialogue Manager provides WebFOCUS with a critical key differentiator from other BI products. Using Dialogue Manager, the BI developer can create highly dynamic output. Based on user selections, the generated report can look completely different.

For example, your organizational BI standard might be to have headings, footings, and subtotals when viewing an online report but not when producing an Excel spreadsheet. You might want to have hyperlink drill-downs on HTML output but have those features turned off when using the PDF output format. Even these types of simple dynamism were difficult to paint using the early Developer Studio in the WebFOCUS 4.5/5.1 era.

Around the early 2000s and the WebFOCUS 7 releases, Information Builders began adding good Dialogue Manager support into the Report Painter. Over time, it became more and more possible to "paint" dynamic reports. These are the demo features that converted business decision makers into Sola-GUI believers but which the Anti-GUI extremists ignored.

But...

Using a GUI painter for all application development tasks is impossible. Information Builders cannot provide such a robust feature. Microsoft doesn't provide it. Apple doesn't provide it. IBM doesn't provide it.

There is just no software vendor in the world able to create completely "paintable" app dev tools (although there were some trying to sell CASE tools in the 1980s). While vendors can give you a tool to visually lay out a web page and automatically generate HTML under the covers, they still make you type in any procedural JavaScript.

Likewise, when a BI developer builds a WebFOCUS application of any complexity, he or she is forced to use the Developer Studio Text Editor for the Dialogue Manager procedural scripting and web JavaScript coding. The Sola-GUI believers must understand that BI is a software application development activity and using the keyboard for procedural scripting is a valid, respectable task.

All of our Partner Intelligence consultants understand they must do everything possible to build WebFOCUS reports in the painter so that when they leave, the clients will be self sufficient, able to maintain their reports using the GUI. The same philosophy is true when building web launch pages--it is GUI all the way. There is no reason for a developer to ever type the underlying HTML code (the associated JavaScript procedural commands are different and require a text editor).

With today's version of Developer Studio, developers can build fairly dynamic reports while staying in the GUI Report Painter.

However, clients do not engage outside experts to do the simple stuff. Instead, they call Partner Intelligence when they want sophisticated, highly-dynamic BI applications.

That is where all bets are off on "painting" WebFOCUS reports.

Imagine asking Home Builders to give you a single architectural drawing of a house that is a two-bedroom single-story ranch on weekdays, a two-story bungalow on Saturday, and a three-bedroom bi-level with walk-out basement on Sunday. That is the type of challenge Information Builders faces when trying to provide a GUI painter for a dynamic report.

Here are my key recommendations to consider for your WebFOCUS application development initiative.

WebFOCUS has a GUI IDE called Developer Studio. Its graphical layout tools are useful for producing static and often times, fairly dynamic, web page and report layouts. When building web applications, it is necessary for a developer to use the IDE's GUI text editor feature to script procedural commands (Dialogue Manager and JavaScript).

All WebFOCUS developers should be experienced in and utilize the Developer Studio because of its productivity-enhancing features. They should also understand the 4GL code that Developer Studio generates and be skilled in manually coding procedural scripts (both Dialogue Manager and JavaScript).

For all web page layout needs, developers should utilize the Developer Studio HTML painting feature. For almost all report layout needs, the developer should use the report painting feature.

When you need a highly dynamic BI application, your developer will have to be an expert in the underlying WebFOCUS language rather than have it generated by a painter. That does not mean the developer totally ignores the painter. Instead, he or she still uses it to first produce a standard version of the report and then build upon that code as the foundation for other dynamically generated variations. Instead of the Developer Studio painter generating the WebFOCUS code, your BI application will.

Before you move a veteran FOCUS 4GL developer onto your WebFOCUS team (absolutely before you make this person a "leader" making decisions), ensure that he or she does not harbor extremist Anti-GUI views. In addition to hurting the productivity of the project, this poor decision could leave you with an unsupportable BI application.

I doubt this blog brings peace between two groups of WebFOCUS extremists with opposite worldviews. But I do hope that a few people will examine their strongly held beliefs and move to the middle where happier application development is possible.

Summit 2011 Labs

2011-02-15T12:13:00.000-08:00

Sarah Dowil at Information Builders just sent me some information about the hands-on labs to be offered at the upcoming Summit 2011 in Dallas, Texas.

These sessions are unbelievably popular. If you want a seat, be sure to register as quickly as possible (June is not that far away).

Sarah pointed out some of her favorites:

Active Dashboards With InfoAssist: So Simple Anyone Can Build Them
InfoAssist: Ad Hoc Query and Analysis for the Masses
iWay Data Quality Part 1: Profile and Clean Dirty Data
iWay Data Quality Part 2: Data Governance With Issue Tracker
WebFOCUS BI Portal: S.I.M.P.L.E. As Can Be
Relational Efficiencies: Know What’s Happening and Make It Better
Extending Performance Management With WebFOCUS Business Content
WebFOCUS RStat: Add Predictive Analytics to Your BI Applications
Magnify: Building Indexes With WebFOCUS Reports
iWay Business Activity Monitor: Creating Dashboards

Use this link to register on the IBI website.

BI Valentine Card

2011-02-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

I asked the Partner Intelligence consultants what it was that they loved about the software product in which they had dedicated their careers.

Rob in Indiana, the very first BI consultant to join me at Partner Intelligence years ago, did not waste any time sharing his feelings:

I'm not one to profess love for inanimate things, but I did develop an extreme fondness for WebFOCUS when I was introduced to it over a decade ago. A network technician at the time, I had very little experience with any kind of application programming other than some batch scripting. I also had limited exposure to any database technologies. But here I was, tasked with learning a web-based BI product and support a higher education community of thirty users.

In less than a month, I accomplished this task. I was absolutely shocked at this powerful report tools' ease of use. Using WebFOCUS, we were able to deliver critical information for extremely important decisions such as Admissions and Financial Aid planning. My fondness grew into a passion and led me to learn as much as I possibly could about this "miracle" tool.

My fondness for WebFOCUS led to a career that has presented me with exciting challenges and opportunities that dwarf anything I would have ever experienced as a systems techie. And because of that.... I guess I do LOVE WebFOCUS.

And Marisa in Tennessee was quick to provide her thoughts:

I have seen a variety of companies use WebFOCUS for BI solutions, from the food industry to healthcare, financial to government. Dashboards, Adhoc reporting, you name it, firms have probably done it with WebFOCUS. Personally, I have used WebFOCUS for more years than I care to admit (back in the days when "Web" wasn't even part of its name).

Using this enterprise product, you can get to any kind of data you need: mainframe, SQL server, Oracle, ESSBASE, and the list just goes on. Luckily, when Information Builders added "Web" to the FOCUS 4GL, they didn't forget that many companies have legacy data and systems that still need to be run and accessed.

At one time, I worked for a major retail company that has been using Information Builders' products since the 1980s. Even today, this company still stores its financial data in legacy databases and both FOCUS and WebFOCUS work together to handle it. Good old FOCUS extracts the information and WebFOCUS produces pretty reports that decision-makers see.

In short, WebFOCUS is hard to beat if you want to be able to do it all.

On this Valentine's Day, tell your BI vendor what you love about their software products.

Information Builders Blogs

2011-02-09T01:23:00.000-08:00

Be sure to read about Information Builders' new blog.

WebFOCUS Presentations and Information

2011-02-08T15:28:00.000-08:00

Many people come to my blog searching for presentations on WebFOCUS or iWay Software from either the software vendor, Information Builders, or from one of their BI customers.

One good source of IBI presentations is the archive of vendor and customer presentations from past Summit events (the annual users group meeting). See my blog postings for more information.

IBI provides good information on their product webpage. You can also check out their YouTube channel!

I also found about a hundred IBI presentations being shared on a site called SlideShare. These included documents from a variety of sources including IBI Executive Briefings, User Group presentations, Lunch and Learns, RFPs, industry analysts, and others.

Of course, you might consider contacting your local IBI sales office as a good source of information. Look up one of Information Builders' worldwide offices on their contact page.

If you would rather talk to an objective third-party, feel free to contact me with your questions about Information Builders' enterprise BI product offerings.

Information Builders Announces Summit 2011 Details

2011-01-12T12:40:00.000-08:00

Information Builders today announced that their annual users group--Summit 2011--will be held in Dallas, Texas, from June 12th through 16th. It is being held at the Hilton Anatole hotel, which is downtown and not far from the airport.

I recently stayed at the Hilton Anatole and can tell you that it is wonderful. Although, I doubt that I get the same upgrade to a corner two-room suite during the Summit event.

Be sure to register quickly and save on Information Builders' early-bird-special. When you arrive at Summit 2011, come to the vendor displays and say hello to me!

For more details, see the IBI website.

Boulder BI Brain Trust on WebFOCUS

2010-11-28T09:55:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, Information Builders met with the Boulder BI Brain Trust to brief the group on the upcoming release of WebFOCUS 8. In case you are not familiar with BBBT, they describe themselves as "a gathering of leading, local, BI consultants and experts who attend 1/2 day presentations from interesting and innovative BI vendors."

Following the IBI meeting, two BBBT members--Richard Hackathorn and Ronald Damhof--each summarized his own thoughts on the organization's blog.

An industry veteran, Hackathorn remembers Information Builders' start in the mainframe reporting market and sees their current software products as an ongoing evolution from the initial 4GL offering:

"IBI is a long-term, established vendor in the BI market. The FOCUS lineage is impressive, having solid global customer communities. The product continues to evolve, expanding its features into a full BI suite...a long way from simple reporting on tape files. IBI tends to be omitted from discussions of BI suites. You would be smart of include them on the list."

Damhof, who admits his mother gave birth to him not long before Gerry Cohen founded IBI, was either not familiar with the software vendor or confused by their marketing message.

"I gotta say that I was surprised listening to the BBBT meeting with Information Builders. I tend to think of myself as somebody who is reasonable knowledgeable about tooling in the BI realm. Either I was wrong (nahh ;-)) or there is something going on with the message that is not conveyed properly."

Damhof went on to say:

"IBI is offering a platform and in my opinion they are trying to sell this platform. Selling platforms makes selecting IBI a very high profile investment within any organization, in that realm the competition is tough as well as internal opposition. Why not break the platform marketing-wise into several functionalities? One example would be the Data Integrity tooling, it can easily be a separate functionality, separately marketed and priced. As I said I am not very familiar with IBI software, but I like the angle of WebFOCUS being some kind of informational development platform where you can develop and distribute data-oriented apps very quickly. It is certainly an angle that would differentiate IBI from its competitors!"

While Damhof seems to caution IBI against offering a full BI stack due to stiff competition from the mega-vendors (SAP, IBM Cognos, Microsoft, and Oracle), IBI should compare that advice to Boris Evelson's polar-opposite comment to the few remaining pure BI vendors:

"Offer your own full BI stack or position yourself for an acquisition. No other long-term options in my mind."

Feedback from BBBT may indicate that Information Builders is still challenged to articulate a consistent marketing message of who they are and what their products do. In the late 1990s, IBI had a major chasm to jump as they transitioned from selling a host-based 4GL tool to an enterprise business intelligence platform. Even today, people may still be confused or ill-informed.

Just this week, Computer Business Review wrote an article suggesting that Information Builders is considering legal action against Micro Focus, a three-decades old software vendor of COBOL tools. As IBI's software peer grows and reinvents itself as a legacy modernization vendor, somebody within IBI must be concerned about confusion over the "Focus" products.

I can personally vouch for this misunderstanding-- over the years, I have talked with many industry individuals who when I mentioned FOCUS thought I was talking about Micro Focus COBOL. Of course, I also saw similar confusion by companies over the difference between IBI and IBM, which may have benefitted Information Builders.

Despite the confusion, like Hackathorn states, Information Builders has a robust BI application development suite and companies should include WebFOCUS on their short-list of potential software purchases.

Where to Store HTML Forms?

2010-11-23T08:38:00.000-08:00

With the -HTMLFORM syntax, WebFOCUS provides web app developers with a way to utilize HTML forms and syntax within the FOCUS 4GL code. You can include not only web pages for displays and user input but JavaScript processing as well.

You have two options when doing this: either embed the HTML code inside the WebFOCUS code or reference an existing HTML page stored elsewhere.

Syntax for inline HTML code:

Syntax for referencing separate HTML code:

You can see your Information Builders documentation for more details on the -HTMLFORM command. I have seen both of the above options in use at client sites and only recently encountered an issue that would cause me to suggest one approach over the other.

If you embed the HTML form inside the 4GL code using the BEGIN and END tags, the WebFOCUS pre-processor for Dialogue Manager symbolic variables will read that HTML code. If you have ampersand variables referenced in the HTML form, you run the risk of having substitution happen when you do not want it. Then, you need to take extra steps to make sure your variables are not evaluated and changed to their literal values. For example, if your HTML contains a servlet call with variables, those will get evaluated and changed (not what you want to happen).

If on the other hand your program just references the HTML form stored in an HTML file, WebFOCUS does not do the symbolic variable evaluations. Problem avoided.

So here is my advice. If you need to dynamically build an HTML form, then putting it inline and using Dialogue Manager is your best approach. However for static HTML forms, you should always put the HTML code elsewhere and reference it by name inside your WebFOCUS code.

Another note: I believe that as of the latest 7.6 release, your HTML form file must be on the WebFOCUS Report Server in the app path and not in the Managed Reporting Environment. When searching for the referenced HTML form file, WebFOCUS is currently only searching the WFRS applications and not looking in MRE (I have asked IBI for an enhancement to the command).

Ventana Research Names IBI a Leader

2010-11-12T10:39:00.001-08:00

Ventana Research recently named Information Builders, the software vendor of the WebFOCUS BI product, one of their vendor technology leaders. For more information, see the IBI press release.

DIY WebFOCUS Functions

2010-11-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

If you are an experienced WebFOCUS developer, you are all too familiar with the standard user-written subroutines provided with the BI product. You are sure to have old-time favorites such as EDIT, SUBSTR, and HEXBYT for which you still need to go back to the documentation to refresh your memory on the parameters.

Historically, many of these came from the old FOCUS Users Group (FUSE). Customers wrote their own routines and shared them with their friends at user group meetings. For the really useful routines, Information Builders would provide them to other clients in the FOCUS FUSELIB library.

While it has always been possible to write your own subroutines that could be called from within the 4GL product, it meant using a low-level language--such as C, Fortran, Assembler, or COBOL--and then linking your module into IBI's software. This was something not for the novice or weak at heart. You had to remember to do this with each upgrade and/or platform migration (and don't lose the original source code!).

Information Builders has changed that. It is now quite easy to build your own functions using a fairly new feature called DEFINE FUNCTION. If you are experienced with DEFINE and COMPUTE calculations, you can code one of these functions.

Below is a simple example of a function that reformats a date string.

It really looks just like a DEFINE FILE block of code; it uses the same syntax except for the first statement.

You give each function a specific name, such as CHGDATE in my example, as well as input parameters. My example only has one input parameter (a date string), but they can have more.

Inside the function, you can have lots of statements, but there does need to be one calculated column named the same as the function that will contain the answer to be returned to the calling program. In this simple example, the calling program passes in a ten-digit string, checks for FOC_NONE (in other words, there is no parameter value and this statement is to be ignored by WebFOCUS processing), reformats the date string (okay, I already know it's a silly function, so don't waste your time suggesting code improvements.), and passes back the answer.

You can put your homemade functions inside a particular report program (a FOCEXEC), inside a common module for sharing (a -INCLUDE file), or keep them on the WebFOCUS Report Server (in the server profile, or EDASPROF) where they can be in memory for any program.

These DEFINE functions get invoked just like any other function or subroutine call. You can call them from a Dialogue Manager statement or from the DEFINE/COMPUTE phrases.

Here is an example of invoking my CHGDATE function using Dialogue Manager:

For more information, see Information Builders' TechSupport site or drop me a note.

By the way, I caused some of you programming experts out there to ponder the difference between functions and subroutines (terms I used willy-nilly in the above blog). For those interested, a function has a specific connotation in programming. A function should accept your input parameters (and not modify them) and return an answer. That is all it should do; take input, process it, and give you back a value.

A subroutine, on the other hand, is not under any type of "legal" restriction. You call it and it can do all sorts of things; it doesn't have to even pass back an answer to you. A subroutine performs some type of procedure for you when you call it. That is the difference between a subroutine and a function.

In the old days of the FOCUS 4GL, users wrote whatever external routines they wanted so calling them subroutines was appropriate. With the new WebFOCUS DEFINE FUNCTION, you are truly writing functions in the pure sense of the term.

WebFOCUS 5.3 Functionally Stabilized

2010-11-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

Information Builders, the Manhattan-based vendor of WebFOCUS and iWay Software, recently announced that they will functionally stabilize the 5.3 release of the products in January 2011. Currently, all 5.2 and older releases have been stabilized.

Here is IBI's formal notice from their TechSupport website:

WebFOCUS Release Notes
Release 5.3 Functionally Stabilized January 31st, 2011

Applicable to: The Entire Release 5.3 Product Line (iWay, WebFOCUS, DataMigrator and ETL Manager), All Platforms

This advisory provides advanced notification of planned changes in product availability and support.

Effective January 31st, 2011, WebFOCUS and iWay Release 5.3 on all platforms are functionally stabilized. This is applicable to the complete 5.3 line of products including the WebFOCUS Client Release 5.3.x, WebFOCUS Developer Studio Release 5.3.x, WebFOCUS ReportCaster Release 5.3.x and the WebFOCUS, iWay, DataMigrator and ETL Manager Reporting Servers Release 5.3.x on all platforms. Customer support will still be available for this release, however, no patches or fixes for new problems will be provided.

Users on this release level should upgrade to the most current WebFOCUS or iWay Reporting Server release at their earliest opportunity.

DOCID: 1002324

This announcement goes hand-in-glove with IBI's published release schedule which lays out the plan for their major new architectural change (WebFOCUS 8) someday soon:

Information Builders supports the most current and past three releases of their products. Releases before that are "functionally stabilized," which means that IBI will no longer provide any fixes for products released that far back.

The old WebFOCUS releases are not "dead" -- they are just in a perpetual state of minimal life-support.

You can still call the Customer Support group and talk about issues related to the stabilized software, but IBI's suggested solution will always be to upgrade to a newer WebFOCUS release.

But that of course means you need to be paying IBI the annual maintenance fee.

If you are running a stabilized release of WebFOCUS (today, that means 5.2 and older) and you stopped paying maintenance fees, then you are out of luck for fixing problems. If you want to reinstate the maintenance and upgrade, don't be surprised if you have to pay for all missed past annual fees.

The moral of the story is pay IBI those annual suppport fees and keep your WebFOCUS releases up-to-date.

Information Builders Becomes a Forrester Leader

2010-10-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

Information Builders, the software vendor of the WebFOCUS product, is in the news in the recently published Q4 2010 Forrester Wave on Enterprise Business Intelligence Platforms. Read about it in my general BI blog.

Business Intelligence Principal for USA IN/KY/OH Territory

2010-07-19T06:50:00.000-07:00

Because you are such a well-networked individual, I have a favor to ask. I am looking for a savvy technologist to help grow a Midwest professional services organization.

Partner Intelligence specializes in Business Intelligence software services, offering strategic advice, application development, and automated conversions. Currently, we concentrate on Information Builders' WebFOCUS but there is a strong possibility we will expand into other BI products, such as IBM Cognos. Geographically, we are currently focused on major cities in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.

I am searching for a high-quality person who has both pre-sales business development and the right BI skills to envision and design a solution, lay out a project plan, and participate part-time in the execution of the engagement (I know, I am asking for a lot). I call this important role a "BI Principal."

The BI Principal would work as part of a team. A "hunter" business development person handles the standard sales activities and brings in the Principal only upon finding qualified opportunities. The Principal has a team of delivery specialists and project managers to execute his or her plan. The Principal also has easy access to executive leadership and corporate administrative functions.

More than likely, the right candidate is going to have previous experience with a software vendor doing technical sales support.

If your network contains such a gifted person, please let me know.

Doug Lautzenheiser (DLautzenheiser at GMail dot com)

WebFOCUS and the Apple iPad

2010-07-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

Happy and sad. I was happy to see Information Builders giving away Apple iPads to attendees of their annual users group conference. I was sad not to see any presentations on actually using WebFOCUS for mobile business intelligence.

Information Builders does not offer any type of BI app in the Apple Store. However, that does not prevent you from using WebFOCUS for mobile apps on the iPhone or iPad. The Apple devices come with the BI tool of choice for WebFOCUS: the Safari web browser!

I tested Safari with WebFOCUS and it works fine for business intelligence, including Information Builders' BI Dashboard (the use of HTML frames causes problems for the Blackberry browser). Safari JavaScript did well for general logic, calendar controls, cookies, and calling WebFOCUS.

(I will be really sad if the upcoming new version of the WebFOCUS BI Dashboard does not work on the Apple mobile devices.)

If you are interested in using WebFOCUS for mobile BI applications, contact me.

IBI 2010 Summit Presentations Available

2010-06-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

On their website, Information Builders recently published the 2010 Summit presentations from their annual WebFOCUS and iWay Software users group meeting in Orlando. Gerry Cohen, president and founder of IBI, sent out this message to attendees:

Summit 2010 has come and gone, but the knowledge, relationships, and skills gained from the event will stay with us for a long time. Thanks for being a part of this year's conference.

If you missed any of our sessions or labs, you can catch many of the presentations by visiting our Summit Agenda Web page.

You can also go to: informationbuilders.com/events/summit/index.html for complete coverage of the general session on IBTV, as well as see a slideshow of Summit's highlights. You might even see yourself!

Thank you once again for attending. And keep your eyes open for an exciting new incentive program for next year's event!

I truly hope you'll use Summit's best practices to put your information to work!

If you are looking for WebFOCUS application samples, this is a good resource.

IBI Announces Major New Version of WebFOCUS

2010-06-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

In mid-June 2010, Information Builders made available a major new version of their enterprise Business Intelligence product, WebFOCUS. First released around 1995, this mature web-based BI product is now at its 7.7 moniker.

This release is just a foreshadowing of the WebFOCUS 8.0 product that IB has planned for the end of the year.

IB identifies the following strategic new features in WebFOCUS 7.7:

Enhanced Active Reports Visualization, including new Flex/Flash charts
Build Active Reports Dashboards directly from InfoAssist
Enhanced performance enhancements and many limits lifted across the product
Significant metadata enhancements including simplified metadata management
New adapters for Columnar Database (1010data)
Centralized Console configuration for iWay and WebFOCUS adapters
New DataMigrator release (Change Data Capture, Real-time updates, etc.)
ReportCaster Workload Management & Fail-Over

Because of major modifications to the product, Information Builders warns existing customers to fully test their BI applications before upgrading to WebFOCUS 7.7:

The Release 7.7 implementation is a major new feature release that contains hundreds of new features that span all product components. As such, Information Builders strongly recommends that customers evaluate Release 7.7.01 in a test environment, do extensive regression testing, and promptly report any issues to Customer Support.

This is a good opportunity to climb onto a soap box and quickly restate my opinion on the necessity for multiple BI environments. At a bare minimum, you must have two -- one for test/development and another for production.

For a major release test such as this, however, you really should have three images: sandbox for upgrade testing, test/dev, and production. You do not want problems with a major release to mess up your test/dev environment while your developers are trying to roll out new applications.

In an ideal world, you would actually have the following BI environments:

Sandbox for software product testing (does not impact test/development application work)
Development / Testing (test data environment; purists want two separate images, but I see that as overkill making a person develop in one place and promote into a different test area. With that said, however, if you demo to clients from a test environment, you don't want a developer monkeying with the application at the same time as your presentation)
Production QA (user acceptance area, production data volume testing)
Production (protected, secure, always available, high performing environment)
Disaster Recovery (in case your Production environment goes kaput)

If you have not yet purchased WebFOCUS, work with your IB sales rep to include multiple images -- that can be more cost-effective to negotiate upfront.

If you need assistance with regression testing of this new WebFOCUS release, please contact Partner Intelligence.

Summit 2011 Being Planned

2010-06-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

With Summit 2010 just coming to an end, Information Builders is already making plans for next year's annual WebFOCUS and iWay Software user conference.

Inside sources say that Dallas and Las Vegas are being considered as locations for Summit 2011.

Stay tuned!

2011 Updates: be sure to see the most current information here:

Summit 2010 Winner!

2010-06-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

At Information Builders' Summit 2010 annual users conference, Partner Intelligence gave away a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort Noise-Cancelling Headphones.

Congratulations go to Jaclyn from Indiana! Presenting the prize is Partner Intelligence's Account Manager Eric Bulmahn.

(By the way, noise-cancelling headphones are a useful item to have when flying in and out of the kid-oriented Orlando airport).

We selected Jaclyn's name randomly from surveys completed by conference attendees. As a result of our BI survey, we confirmed our belief that companies are extremely interested in WebFOCUS BI dashboard technologies.

Individuals are also looking for advice on how to strategically use Business Intelligence within their organizations. Also on their minds are efficient ways to replace their legacy reporting applications with modern BI products such as WebFOCUS.

The days were long and I did not have opportunities to blog while working the event. I will post some after-the-fact blogs soon.

Information Builders Summit 2010 Offsite Event - Universal Studios

2010-05-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

It is official!

As part of their Summit 2010 User Conference, Information Builders will host an offsite event at Universal Orlando. On Monday, the 7th of June, shuttles begin leaving the Gaylord Resort at 7PM.

In past years, Information Builders has rented out Universal's New York section (which is quite appropriate for this Manhattan-based software vendor). They typically serve a nice buffet meal at Finnegan's Bar and Grill and then turn the guests free to wander the park.

Only the Information Builders group will be at the park -- with the smaller crowd, it is easy to go from ride to ride with no waiting in line.

If Information Builders picks the same spot, be sure to try the Revenge of the Mummy rollercoaster. Other great rides include Back to the Future, ET, Shrek 4D, and Jimmy Neutron (my personal favorite). You can also see live-action attractions such as "Twister...Ride it Out."

If I don't see you there, don't forget to get your picture taken with the Great White from Jaws! And don't miss the last shuttle back to the hotel at 11:45PM.

June 2010 Update:

Yes, it was back to Universal Orlando's New York section for Information Builders! This year, Summit attendees enjoyed a new rollercoaster attraction.

But, alas, it is no longer possible to ride in Doc Brown's Delorean and travel Back to the Future. Universal has remodeled the infamous car into a virtual rollercoaster through KrustyLand with The Simpsons.

Partner Intelligence and WebFOCUS

2010-05-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

Let me explain the Partner Intelligence organization. In a nutshell, we help companies make better business decisions through effective use of Business Intelligence software and data.

We organized the company to provide our clients with what they want and need:

Experienced individuals who deliver on promises and produce the desired results
Value for their money
A company that is easy to work with
Local resources who will be there for a long-term relationship
A trusted advisor who has their best interest in mind

In addition to our clients, we exist for our "Partners" -- those valued individuals who work with Partner Intelligence. Our associates receive the following:

Full-time employment (we are not a subcontracting "body shop")
Annual salary plus incentive bonus plan (we do not pay on a temporary, 1099 basis)
Full benefits (e.g., health, disability, paid-time off, training)
Career opportunities (e.g., projects at marquee clients, knowledge transfer, access to resources)
Fun environment
Meaningful work

We also provide services to vendor partners such as Information Builders. In mid-2007, we formed our first relationship with IBI as an "InfoElite" partner. Later, we switched to an "Advisor" role and are now one of their few "Solution" partners. In this new relationship, IBI gave Partner Intelligence the ability to sell the WebFOCUS software to new customers.

Partner Intelligence is a division of a larger company, one of the fastest growing privately held firms in Cincinnati. Partner Professional Staffing provides staffing and recruiting solutions for IT, finance, healthcare, and government. This debt-free and profitable parent organization provides Partner Intelligence with a strong financial foundation as well as wise executive leadership.

But what exactly does Partner Intelligence do? Well, we specialize in WebFOCUS BI software and offer three main consulting services:

Strategic BI Advice
BI Application Development
Automated BI Conversion Services

You might ask, "What makes your BI advice strategic?" During their careers, our experienced BI consultants have learned the best practices along the entire life cycle of a BI product lifecycle. We have organized this know-how and can provide sound advice on how to:

Select the right BI software product
Create an enterprise BI "Road Map" for success
Organize the proper individuals to support a BI product and run BI initiatives
Establish the proper procedures and policies for successful BI initiatives
Implement the right technical architecture
Anchor the BI environment with an early successful project
Leverage existing resources for efficient BI projects
Identify opportunities for legacy modernization or replacement

Our clients ask us for a variety of BI application development services, such as:

Dashboard or portal-type online web applications
Mobile handheld applications
Reporting applications
Data maintenance and transactional applications
Database BI repositories
Support or enhancement of existing BI applications
Mentoring and/or training of client staff

We also have a niche in automatically converting one BI product to another. This unique ability to automate complex conversions sets Partner Intelligence apart from all other service providers. Because of our experience and proprietary software and methodology, Information Builders' Professional Services group selected Partner Intelligence in 2009 as the preferred supplier of automated conversion services.

We call our automated conversion software the "BI Consolidator." Currently, the application can handle legacy reporting tools such as:

FOCUS 4GL
NOMAD 4GL
Oracle Portal
Crystal Reports
QMF/SQL

Bob Gabriel, the VP of Professional Services at Information Builders, explained his decision this way:

"We chose Partner Intelligence because of their success automating complex conversions of legacy technologies into WebFOCUS. Partner Intelligence’s software application can reduce the time, cost, and risk of converting companies into WebFOCUS clients."

Richard Smith, our sponsor at the State of Oklahoma Department of Human Services, wrote this after their automated conversion project:

“When I engaged Partner Intelligence to do a major project to convert hundreds of production jobs from mainframe FOCUS to WebFOCUS in just six months, it seemed like an unattainable undertaking. Not only was I wrong, but this was one of the smoothest projects on which I have had the pleasure of working in years! If you need to convert code, then Partner Intelligence is the company you need to work with!”

Tim Sharp, VP at JPMorgan Chase, made this comment:

“[Doug] was engaged to assist my team to automate a 4GL replacement project. The project was estimated to span a significant portion of the year and preliminary costs would be very large. Thanks to Doug's expertise and commitment to the project, we successfully converted the legacy reporting tool in just a few months.

In addition to reducing the cost and complexity, we were able to quickly take advantage of the WebFOCUS features that led to employee productivity improvements. We also were awarded a ComputerWorld award for the initiative. I am glad I took Doug up on his offer when he said, ‘I'll bet I can automate that!’ He delivered on everything that he promised.”

Gerry Cohen, the co-founder of Information Builders, had this to say about us:

“Partner Intelligence has had success automating complex conversions of legacy technologies into WebFOCUS. Our customers are quite happy with Partner Intelligence's capabilities and we are pleased with the partnership.”

In addition to the information you can find on this blog, be sure to read information about the BI Consolidator software and DAPPER methodology on my general BI blog. Click here for details.

Partner Intelligence is your trusted partner for Business Intelligence. If you are thinking of BI, think of PI!

Contact me at DLau....

Partner Intelligence is Sponsor of IBI Summit 2010

2010-04-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

Partner Intelligence is sponsoring Information Builders' Summit 2010 User Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Check their sponsor website for more information.

Information Builders Funnies

2010-04-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

Information Builders, the vendor of WebFOCUS, now offers comics.

Comics about Business Intelligence, anyways.

And even though it is the first of April, I am not pranking you--just see for yourself. There is only one BI comic on Information Builders' website today, but more will follow.

Two Minutes on WebFOCUS

2010-03-27T14:44:00.000-07:00

Take a two minute break and see Information Builders' quick presentation on WebFOCUS.

WebFOCUS Dropping CGI and ISAPI Support

2010-03-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

On March 26, 2010, Information Builders' Customer Support group sent e-mails announcing that WebFOCUS would stop supporting the use of web CGI and ISAPI calls.

Nobody needs to panic.

These interfaces allow the end user's browser to communicate through the web tier to the WebFOCUS Report Server. CGI refers to "Common Gateway Interface" programs which enable web pages to talk with other systems. ISAPI, or the "Internet Server Application Programming Interface," is a Microsoft version of this technology.

There was a period in early web application development when people asked, "Should I use CGI or Java Servlets?" but those days are long gone. Instead of using these legacy technologies, IB would like all customers to switch to their Java Servlet method.

IB says that the CGI/ISAPI calls are not being installed with WebFOCUS Client component as of their most current 7.6 releases.

In Q2 of 2010, IB will release WebFOCUS 7.7 and will "deprecate" the use of the CGI/ISAPI at that time. Basically, you can still use those calls temporarily but you have been given notice that IB will sunset the features sometime soon.

Your deadline is when WebFOCUS 8.0 comes out -- the legacy CGI/ISAPI features will then be gone, officially "desupported" by IB.

If you have only developed WebFOCUS Business Intelligence applications for a few years, you most likely started with a Java application server (and may not even remember CGIs and ISAPI calls). You will not be impacted by IB's sunsetting decision.

If you have used WebFOCUS from its genesis in the mid-1990s, you probably did use CGI calls to build the initial web BI applications. Sometime in the last decade, however, it is very likely you dropped the CGI and switched to the newer Java Servlet.

However, if you really do have legacy WebFOCUS BI applications out there with CGI calls in them, Partner Intelligence's BI Consolidator product has a feature to automatically convert your HTML pages to use Java Servlets. If you have ISAPI calls instead of CGIs, we should be able to easily handle those in an automated conversion as well.

Our automated conversion application can process about 20 programs per second, so talk to us before doing this manually. If you are unsure if your WebFOCUS HTML pages use CGI, Partner Intelligence can automatically scan, inventory, and discover what your logic is doing.

If Partner Intelligence can be of service, just let me know.

Sample WebFOCUS BI Dashboards

2010-02-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

Recently, a blog reader arrived while looking on the web for sample WebFOCUS BI dashboards.

While some companies might create public sites using WebFOCUS, most use the BI Dashboard product for internal applications. A good place to look for examples would be for PowerPoint presentations from earlier Information Builders Summit presentations.

You might also try a search aggregator such as Addict-O-Matic. It's a neat site that uses all of the other search engines plus sites such as Flickr, Twitter, Truveo, YouTube, and others. Give it a try now for WebFOCUS BI Dashboards.

You can also try it for Summit presentations (hey -- look who shows up in the top results!).

Also, if you need to see samples in order to build your own WebFOCUS BI Dashboards, feel free to contact me for assistance.

IBI and IBM Partner for System z Data Warehousing

2010-01-26T13:09:00.000-08:00

Today, Information Builders and IBM announced a new Business Intelligence partnership for data warehousing on the System z platform. See the press release.

The new "Data Reporter for DB2" is a special WebFOCUS version specifically for System z DB2 data warehouses.

Just a few years ago, IBI and IBM announced a similar partnership with the "DB2 Web Query" product -- a special WebFOCUS version made for System i data and intended to be a next-generation replacement for Query 400.

This announcement raises some questions. For example, if WebFOCUS supercedes Query 400 on the System i, is this same modernization message true for its mainframe peer Query Management Facility (QMF)? A bigger question is, why didn't IBM just use its own BI product, Cognos, which also runs on the System z?

You can also read about this on Information Builders' website.

Partner Intelligence to Speak at IB Summit 2010

2010-01-25T12:50:00.000-08:00

It is once again time for Information Builders' annual user group conference. From June 5th through 9th, Summit 2010 will be taking place at the Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee, Florida.

At this event, Information Builders will roll out WebFOCUS 8, the latest release of their Business Intelligence software product. If you would like to see examples of last year's presentations, see my earlier blog.

Also, Partner Intelligence will present with a government agency to demonstrate how we automated the conversion of their mainframe batch processes from using the legacy FOCUS product to WebFOCUS. It's amazing -- hundreds of reporting jobs were literally converted in just seconds.

If you are thinking of manually converting mainframe FOCUS to WebFOCUS, you need to see our presentation before you waste any of your company's time and money. If you use legacy 4GLs (FOCUS, RAMIS, NOMAD), QMF/SQL, DYL280, Crystal Reports, or other old reporting tools, see how Partner Intelligence can leverage your existing application investments by translating into modern technology.

During the presentation, we will explain our DAPPER Methodology for automating the retirement of your legacy reporting tools. We will show you the tools we use to automatically scan, discover, and inventory your existing applications, dramatically reducing your upfront analysis time and cost. Then, we will show the automated conversion tools to translate legacy reporting applications into web-based BI with no manual coding effects needed.

Nowhere else will you will get the time and cost savings you will achieve from working with Partner Intelligence. Manual BI conversions are a thing of the past, only proposed by services firms who want to provide you with a team of consultants for long, expensive engagements.

Contact me directly if you are attending Summit 2010 and would like to meet face-to-face to discuss how we can work together to dramatically reduce the time, costs, and risks of your enterprise BI consolidation efforts.

Convert Legacy FOCUS Batch Jobs to WebFOCUS

2009-12-29T09:48:00.000-08:00

One of the major challenges in converting legacy FOCUS on the mainframe is the number of batch jobs written with JCL. Now, the challenges of manually analyzing and changing these jobs have been overcome.

Partner Intelligence has enhanced its BI Consolidator software for mainframe JCL. For analysis and a conversion roadmap, the application can automatically scan, analyze, and inventory the instructions contained in the job stream. After that, the BI Consolidator can automatically create new versions of the JCL: a legacy "test" version along with a new WebFOCUS "test" version for parallel testing, plus a new WebFOCUS version for moving into production.

The BI Consolidator currently offers two options for converting mainframe jobs with FOCUS steps. First, we can easily convert MVS FOCUS to Unix System Services WebFOCUS. You eliminate your legacy text-based FOCUS license and usage, move to the web version, yet still have mainframe data access. Your current FOCUS batch jobs continue to work, just using new web technology under the covers. If you want, you can enhance the batch job outputs to take advantage of new WebFOCUS features, or simply leave everything running as-is.

A second BI Consolidator option is to automatically convert the JCL to replace MVS FOCUS processes with those running on a zLinux partition using TCP remote calls. This technique allows you to offload mainframe processing while keeping your legacy batch job streams. This is especially important if you have integrated other mainframe technologies into the FOCUS batch stream (e.g., COBOL steps, IMS batch access, TSO batch access, IDCAMS, external sorts, and so forth).

The BI Consolidator also provides documentation features that generate new job listings with special highlighting as well as test plan spreadsheets. These help guide and simplify the parallel testing work.

Partner Intelligence's BI Consolidator application eliminates all of the manual coding typically involved with converting mainframe JCL with FOCUS steps to run with WebFOCUS. It does this with zero defects and at a rate of about 20 jobs per second. Any alternative manual approach is a waste of your company's money as well as unnecessary risk.

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

2010 Growth for Partner Intelligence

2009-12-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

In 2010, Partner Intelligence will double its consulting staff!

We are seeking experienced Business Intelligence professionals (in particular, with WebFOCUS skills) primarily in the Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana geography. We need to expand our permanent staff with quality individuals seeking long-term careers in BI software consulting services.

After just a few years, Partner Intelligence has consulting staff in major cities of Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Dallas (these are full-time employees, not temporary subcontractors). In 2009, Information Builders named Partner Intelligence their preferred national vendor for BI conversion services, due to our methodologies and award-winning automated software tools.

To sustain our growth, Partner Intelligence has a direct sales and marketing staff. Our national recruiting team searches for quality WebFOCUS professionals across the country. We have a strategic advisor, executive management team, and the typical administrative groups. Our executive management team have relationships with most of the area's major firms. We are now in our second office space and have decided in 2010 to purchase a new, larger location. Partner Intelligence's growth is supported financially by a debt-free parent organization that ranked second as the fastest-growing privately-held company in Cincinnati.

I am proud of Partner Intelligence’s success and am working hard to continue that into the future. Would you like to be part of this exciting opportunity?

If so, let's discuss how you could join Partner Intelligence. Contact me at DLautzenheiser at my PartnerPS e-mail address.

Converting NOMAD 4GL to WebFOCUS

2009-09-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

If your organization still uses the NOMAD 4GL, Partner Intelligence has a cost-effective option for modernizing your applications and retiring NOMAD. Partner Intelligence can leverage your legacy investments by automatically translating much of your logic into WebFOCUS.

Back in the 1980s, the competing 4GL products were NOMAD, RAMIS, and FOCUS. Today, only the FOCUS 4GL is still owned by its original developers. Companies still relying upon NOMAD and RAMIS are few and far between (see my 2008 blog entry).

Since releasing the next-generation web version of FOCUS around 1995, Information Builders and their customers have done extremely well with the new architecture. Thousands of well-known organizations use WebFOCUS: NASA, American Express, JPMorgan Chase, Ford Motor Company, Nationwide Insurance, FedEx, Target Stores, Sony, and JCPenney, just to name a few.

If you still have NOMAD, now is the time to consider moving to modern technologies. Here is a list of how the Partner Intelligence application converts specific NOMAD features into a WebFOCUS equivalent:

• Report verb (LIST) and extract file verb (CREATE)

• Multiple verb requests in a single program file

• Original program comments carried forward into generated WebFOCUS code

• Calculations of virtual columns (DEFINE)

• Subroutines (DISPLAY, SUBSTR, CAT, CATB, IN, BETWEEN, CONTAINS, DECODE)

• Aggregation functions (CNT, SUM, UNIQUE, MAX, MIN, AVG, FIRST, LAST, NUMBER)

• Distinct Count

• Page headings and footings (TITLE and FOOTING)

• Report footings (SUMMARY)

• Report body (columns)

• Report sorting (BY column) and subtotal break (SUBTOTAL FOR)

• Sort control breaks (BYHEAD and BYFOOT)

• Matrix report sorting (ACROSS column) and row-total (ROWTOT)

• Descending sort option (DESC)

• Report options (NEWPAGE, FOLD, SKIP, OVER)

• Report grand totals (TOTAL ALL)

• Body and sort column invisible option (NOPRINT)

• Column titles (HEADING)

• Column reformatting (AS format)

• Selection criteria (WHERE, SELECT)

• Column spot markers in text (COLUMN)

• Symbolic variable setting (SET &variable) on sort columns

• Symbolic variables used in text (&variable)

• Symbolic substitution using the ‘?(&variable)’ syntax after pre-scan and prior to execution

• Prompting of symbolic variables and formatting (DECLARE AS) *exception is DATE format

• FOR WORKSHEET and LOTUS123 extract file options

• ON filename option

• Extract file (CREATE) subsets with MATCHING (EXTRACT, SUBSET, MERGE, REJECT)

• Support for NOT IN phrases

• Support for some system variable (&NOTAVAILABLE, &NOVALUE)

• Equivalency tests with &NOTAVAILABLE converted to MISSING tests

• Support for DUP option to force sort values not to be suppressed (WebFOCUS BYDISPLAY)

• Procedural scripting labels and unconditional GOTO statements

• DEFINE AS EXTRACT option

• HEADING option on DEFINEd columns (ignored)

• NAMED option on columns (WebFOCUS “AS” and ASNAMES setting)

• SYSTEM ALLOC and FREE commands (translated to TSO commands – may need to translate for USS)

• CALL routines translated to EXEC (see translation notes)

• TEST and LIMIT statements are translated to RECORDLIMIT

To convert legacy BI products, Partner Intelligence employs our "DAPPER" approach, proceeding through the following phases:

D - Discover
A - Analyze
P - Perform Pilot Conversion
P - Plan for Full Conversion
E - Execute the Plan in a phased approach
R - Retire the legacy BI product

One of our first steps in a BI conversion is to get an accurate inventory of the existing legacy environment. Using our automated scanning and inventory application, Partner Intelligence can quickly provide you with details for scoping a conversion effort. Contact us for more information.

Running WebFOCUS BI Applications on the iPhone

2009-09-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

Have you ever considered accessing your WebFOCUS BI applications from your phone? You can if you own the Apple iPhone. For more information, see my general BI blog or contact me.

Information Builders' Summit 2010

2009-09-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

Information Builders has announced details for Summit 2010, their premier annual event bringing together users of their WebFOCUS Business Intelligence product, iWay Software enterprise integration product, and FOCUS 4GL.

For the past two years, Information Builders has hosted the conference at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. This year, the venue switches to another Gaylord location: the Palms Resort in Kissimmee, Florida. The event runs from Saturday, June 5th, through Wednesday, June 9th.

Watch the IBI Summit 2010 webpage for more information as it becomes available.

Who is Partner Intelligence?

2009-09-06T05:19:00.000-07:00

Partner Intelligence provides technical consulting services to organizations using (or considering) the WebFOCUS Enterprise Business Intelligence software product. We offer BI strategic advice, application development, and automated conversion services.

From our corporate headquarters in Cincinnati, we serve North America and have a focus on major Midwest cities such as Columbus, Indianapolis, and Louisville.

WebFOCUS customers come to Partner Intelligence for results they are not currently getting on their own. Clients engage us when they:

Implement Business Intelligence and need to establish the proper foundation for success
Build new BI applications and need expertise, experience, and ideas
Replace legacy BI applications and need methodologies and tools for efficient removal
Need to deal with stalled or failed BI initiatives
Need onsite BI mentors or trainers to increase their staff capabilities

We provide clients with deep technical expertise in WebFOCUS for BI application development. Our consultants use methodologies, templates, and tools to efficiently complete project-based engagements.

As a long-term local partner, we are committed to delivering success at a fair value. When you need WebFOCUS services, contact Partner Intelligence.

WebFOCUS BI Professionals in Demand

2009-08-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for your help.

For several years now, Partner Intelligence has been building the solid foundation of a premiere Business Intelligence consulting practice. In 2008, our parent company was ranked the 2nd fastest growing privately held company in Cincinnati. We offer local clients affordable and personalized professional services: strategic advice, BI application development, and automated tools.

We specialize in the WebFOCUS enterprise BI product and are a formal partner with the vendor, Information Builders. Thanks to our good relationship with IBI, they named us their preferred provider for converting legacy BI reporting tools into WebFOCUS.

We have also established solid relationships with well-known clients. We are implementing enterprise BI solutions that transform how these companies run their businesses.

Our growth is being limited - we are facing a challenge of finding high-quality professionals who specialize in the WebFOCUS product. If you (or somebody you know) have the experience, skills, and attitude to be one of the best BI consultants in the area, we need to talk.

Please contact me at DLau....

IBM Acquires SPSS

2009-07-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Today, IBM acquired SPSS. For more information, see my general BI blog.

Trend in BI Software Jobs

2009-07-02T11:25:00.001-07:00

If you are interested in the trend in BI Software jobs, please see my general BI Blog.

While WebFOCUS jobs remain just a small percentage of the total positions available (only about 1/2 of a percent of all BI openings posted on the Monster job board), there has been an increase from the beginning of 2009 to today. That is positive considering that some BI tools such as Crystal Reports saw a 35% decline in jobs during that same period.

Summit 2009 | Presentation Copies

2009-06-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

With the 2009 event over, Information Builders will soon post copies of the presentations on their website. For those of you who could not be at my sessions and cannot wait to get the material, I made a private copy available on my site.

Summit 2009 - Day Five

2009-06-11T10:14:00.001-07:00

The last day of Summit 2009 is still going on in Nashville but I have returned to Cincinnati. Today is a half-day event with lots of educational sessions and hands-on labs. The always-popular Expert Room is still open until noon.

I hope that everybody who attended found the same type of value that I did. If you could not attend, please see the archived presentations that Information Builders will soon post to their website.

Summit 2009 - Day Four

2009-06-11T09:47:00.001-07:00

The fourth day of Information Builders' Summit 2009 was packed with great presentations.

I particularly enjoyed Nationwide Insurance's presentation on how their Office of Corporate Citizenship worked with an urban school system to build an informational portal designed to improve student proficiency. Information Builders had earlier awarded Nationwide an award of distinction for their use of Business Intelligence software for humanitarian purposes.

Based on federal and state guidelines, Nationwide consolidated 40 Excel worksheets into a single color-coded scorecard available in a WebFOCUS portal. From the scorecard, educational users can drill-down from a city summary to the individual student. Longitudinal trends and comparisons quickly identify problem areas. Collaborative features allow school officials to share intervention strategies among their peers.

I will blog more about it in the future, but here is something that every school in the United States should have. While Nationwide would not take credit, this city increased their high school graduation rates from below half to three quarters (the continued improvement goal is 90% of all city students should successfully complete high school).

Summit 2009 - Day Three | Another Presentation

2009-06-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

My second presentation on automating BI application development was well attended and the audience had great questions.

Legacy BI applications are a major problem. One client told me that his company struggles with business systems written in a legacy 4GL product. Their expert retires soon and there is probably not an experienced replacement in the entire town. Even if they find another 4GL developer somewhere else, that person is probably ready to move to a winter retirement village anyway.

It is just not feasible anymore for companies to use the legacy tools for which there is no labor force or training available. Developed for host platforms in the days before the Internet, these products no longer meet the needs of competitive firms.

In addition to eliminating legacy tools, many people expressed the need to replace BI products that no longer meet their needs and which have uncertain futures, such as Business Objects, Crystal Reports, and Actuate.

Many individuals in the audience were excited to hear there may be a solution to their problem.

Summit 2009 - Day Three | BI Consolidations

2009-06-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

I just completed the first of several presentation at Summit 2009.

When I saw the agenda, I marveled at my good fortune to get the 7:45AM speaker's slot the morning following the evening cocktail receptions (thanks, IBI!). That meant a really committed audience who would have to give up sleeping and eating breakfast to see my presentation. But BI consolidation is a great topic regardless of the time of day.

I talked about automated tools and methodologies to convert legacy BI report writers into modern, web-based products. Boris Evelson had a great term yesterday for one characteristic of the next-generation of BI products: "built-in expertise."

That is what the Partner Intelligence tools have: we put our expertise to convert legacy BI applications directly into the application. My next presentation is within an hour.

-------------
6/12 update: Information Builders posted the presentation to their website:

The Latest in BI Consolidation
Doug Lautzenheiser, Partner Intelligence
Tuesday 7:45AM - 8:15AM

Now is the time to do more with less. Smart companies are saving money and improving productivity by reducing the number of their supported reporting tools. Doug Lautzenheiser will explain the methodologies and tools his clients have used to overcome the challenges of performing enterprise BI consolidations.
Download presentation

Summit 2009 - Day Two | Comedy

2009-06-08T12:08:00.001-07:00

Information Builders started its plenary session with laughter. Corporate comedian Greg Schwem opened the event by showing the absurdity of software vendor marketing, technical jargon, and job postings (in a light-hearted way, of course). See Greg's website.

Summit 2009 - Day Two | Boris Evelson

2009-06-08T11:54:00.001-07:00

Boris Evelson, Principal Analyst for Forrester Research, spoke today at the Information Builders' Summit 2009 in Nashville on the next-generation of Business Intelligence. Boris' studies show a continued uptick in BI software interest. In fact, out of the over 1000 IT decision makers surveyed, none were decreasing or stopping their BI initiatives. Over a quarter of the individuals expressed interest in BI and almost one-third indicated a "greenfield" where BI was not yet implemented within the organization.

Boris said that the number one question that people ask him is how to prove BI ROI. Boris admitted that few people know how to do BI and that calculating returns is difficult. He stressed that a big mistake is starting with technology. Instead, Boris recommended some best practices for addressing BI applications which focused on executive sponsorship, user types and their unique requirements, using industry-standard models if possible, and assessing current environment. Boris also recommended bringing in external expertise to up the odds of your BI initiative.

When discussing BI ROI, Boris covered general topics such as automating manual processes, consolidating, upgrading, and creating advanced BI usages. At the bottom of his list was enterprise BI solutions, whose scopes can be too large to justify a business case for moving forward.

While the next-generation BI solution may be a fairy tale today, Boris feels we are getting closer to reality. For next-gen BI, Boris lists 4 attributes: automated, pervasive, unified, and limitless. For more information, see the Forrester Research blog.

Summit 2009 - Day Two | Awards

2009-06-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

During Information Builders' general session, awards were given to customers who had created distinctive WebFOCUS BI applications. The winners were:

Ford Motor Company, for the Best Enterprise BI
Columbus Ohio Public Schools and Nationwide Insurance, for Most Humanitarian
US TRANSCOM, for Best Use of BI in the Public Sector
New York Public Library, for Best Use of BI
TNT, for the the Best Use of iWay Software

Summit 2009 - Day One

2009-06-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

The first night of Information Builders' Summit 2009 went well. Both the Nashville weather and the Gaylord Opryland Hotel are beautiful. From Cincinnati, Nashville was an easy 5-hour drive.

At 7PM, we opened a Delta Ballroom for a general welcome reception to meet and greet each other. Information Builders served dinner and offered an open bar with live entertainment. We wrapped up everything at 10PM but I think the guests would have stayed longer if the hotel staff hadn't stuck to the agreed-upon schedule.

It was great to see the familiar Information Builders faces from the NYC corporate and field sales offices. I talked to quite a few of my former IBI colleagues.

Client attendance seemed light and I noticed fewer international guests, but a bigger crowd may show up tomorrow morning for the General Session. At the Partner Intelligence booth, I talked with a variety of Midwesterners but the West Coast and southern USA were also represented. A few individuals from Sweden even stopped by.

WebFOCUS new-name sales must be good. I talked to many first-time attendees who were there to learn how to take advantage of their new enterprise BI product. A common theme I heard was that they had purchased WebFOCUS because of its ability to develop highly dynamic, parameterized web reporting applications.

Monday is a full day of sessions and evening Cocktail Receptions. I will work the vendor booth at lunch and dinner, so please stop by if you are attending.

Preparing for the WebFOCUS Summit 2009

2009-06-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Partner Intelligence is thrilled to sponsor Information Builders' Summit 2009 in Nashville. My associates Roger Jeter and Ben Dolan will attend for the first time. During the week, we present twice and will roll out exciting news about our vendor partnership as well as our new national recruiting offering for WebFOCUS professionals.

We arrive at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel on Sunday, the 7th of June, to setup in time for the 7PM Welcome Reception in the Delta Ballroom C. When you come for dinner, be sure to stop by Partner Intelligence booth, which is near the ballroom entrance.

We are bringing along our putting green and will give away a TaylorMade putter at the last vendor session. You only have to sink one of three putts to be entered in the drawing (practice before you come to Nashville!).

Along with the Monday through Thursday Summit sessions, be sure to take advantage of special events. Each Information Builders sales region will host a get-together for clients and partners and Partner Intelligence will be at the Central Region Customer Cocktail Reception at the Relache Outdoor Pool from 7PM to 8PM. This is convenient for those of you in the Midwest who attended in 2008, as we are in the exact same location this year.

Once again, Information Builders selected the Wild Horse Saloon as the Tuesday night off-site event. Shuttles being leaving at 7:30PM from the Delta Portico. Dinner will be served and the event lasts from 8PM to 11PM (or until you tire of Boot Scootin' Boogie).

I have planned several face-to-face meetings with individuals interested in learning more about Partner Intelligence offerings, including our automated Business Intelligence consolidation tools where we can simplify the replacement of your legacy BI products (such as NOMAD, FOCUS, Oracle Portal, and QMF/SQL). Send me an e-mail if you would also like to schedule some time together.
Via this blog, I plan to keep everybody informed of happenings at Summit 2009.

IBI + PI = Value 2 U

2009-05-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

I am proud to announce that Bob Gabriel, vice president of Information Builders' Professional Services organization, has asked Partner Intelligence to be its official BI conversion partner.

We work with Information Builders to help organizations convert legacy BI tools into the enterprise WebFOCUS product using our unique automated BI consolidation methodologies and software. While our primary focus will be on FOCUS-to-WebFOCUS conversions, we will also replace other legacy products (e.g., 4GLs such as NOMAD and RAMIS).

I am honored to be selected by the software vendor of WebFOCUS as their preferred supplier of conversion services.

More information on this partnership will be made available at Information Builders' Summit 2009 being held in Nashville, TN, in June.

2009 Summit in Nashville

2009-04-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

Information Builders' annual Summit User Conference is almost here!

With last year's success, IB will once again hold their premier customer event at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville. Summit 2009 begins on Sunday, June 7th, and goes through Thursday, June 11th. I started going a dozen years ago, when the event was called FUSE. Here's what I like about it.

First, Summit provides a unique opportunity to meet individuals from WebFOCUS clients from around the world. If you are interested in networking, I can coordinate personal get-togethers. Let me know your interest, and I will try to connect you with the right persons.

In addition to networking, Summit is the place to increase your WebFOCUS knowledge -- listen to excellent speakers, attend workshops, and talk one-on-one with product managers and technical gurus. If you need a difficult problem solved, visit the Expert Room where top-quality representatives will dig in to figure out the issue.

Last but not least, the Summit schedule is jam-packed with presentations from industry analysts, vendor product gurus, and customers. Hear what the top analysts say about business intelligence and see how other companies use WebFOCUS.

At last year's Summit, Don Garland and I co-presented on Henny Penny's global BI. This time, Dan Watkins from Brightpoint and I will reveal how we automated BI application development to speed delivery of critical customer-facing reports (if you are building WebFOCUS reports by hand, you need to see this to believe it!).

I realize we are all trying to do more with less in today's economy, but I encourage you to spend a few days at this conference. If you do, please stop in for our presentation and at the Partner Intelligence booth.

To learn more about the Summit 2009, visit the website. I hope to see you there!

Defining Business Intelligence

2009-04-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

Watching a vendor's PowerPoint presentation on Business Intelligence doesn't have to be boring.

See how Microsoft does BI presentations.

Mainframe Data Sources

2009-04-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

A individual from Omaha, Nebraska, came to my BI blog through the Ask.com search engine to learn if WebFOCUS could read mainframe tape files.

From a technical standpoint, yes, but the answer does depend on which components you have licensed and installed.

If WebFOCUS runs on your MVS mainframe, you should have no problem reading tape files. But, if WebFOCUS runs on a non-MVS platform (e.g., Windows, UNIX, AS400, or a zLinux partition on the mainframe), then you will need a mainframe component to get to the tapes.

Basically, you must have a WebFOCUS server and data adapter running on the mainframe to read tape files (or almost any other mainframe data structure for that matter -- an exception would be DB2, but that is a different topic).

If your WebFOCUS Reporting Server is not on the mainframe, it will have to ask a mainframe server for its data. Information Builders offers a lower price for this secondary mainframe component because you do not use all of the full features of WebFOCUS -- you might think of this as a limited use of a Reporting Server. Information Builders calls this a Remote Data Server or Adapter.

A potentially confusing thing is that Information Builders may say they are selling you an "adapter" for the mainframe. An adapter all by itself doesn't do anything; it has to be called by a "server." For the price you pay for the adapter, you are really getting the server as well.

Of course, for WebFOCUS to read these mainframe files, you must allocate them and have metadata descriptions. You may also want to consider only accessing tapes in scheduled batch or deferred execution requests rather than allowing users with a web browser to read tapes in a real-time mode.

I hope this answered the question. If not, be sure to contact me directly via e-mail.

WebFOCUS Foundations

2009-03-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

To be successful with WebFOCUS, you must first establish a solid foundation for Business Intelligence. Despite what the sales rep told you about being able to create enterprise reports within minutes of installing the software, there are no BI shortcuts.

To learn more, read my general BI blog article on BI Foundations.

If you need assistance laying this WebFOCUS foundation, feel free to contact me.

WebFOCUS Metadata

2009-02-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

A Google searcher from Bangalore came to my blog with the burning question, "Why doesn't WebFOCUS have centralized metadata?"

WebFOCUS stores its metadata layer on its Reporting Server, which can run on platforms such as Windows, Linux, zLinux, zOS, etc. But, BI is not limited to a single computer and database; it is more enterprise in nature.

A WebFOCUS Reporting Server can ask for data from other servers (typically called Remote Data Servers). This means that many WebFOCUS environments will have metadata residing on several different computers.

As an example, let's say that you have a WebFOCUS Reporting Server running on Windows. All of your web BI consumers land there first with their requests for reports, queries, analytics, and so forth. This Windows box might talk to standard database such as SQL Server, Essbase, and Oracle, so it has a metadata layer and adapters that can access those structures.

However, let's assume that your BI consumers also need data from Non-Stop SQL on a Tandem box and VSAM, Datacom, and Model 204 on the mainframe.

Those are not technologies that Windows would understand.

The solution is to run a WebFOCUS Remote Data Server on the Tandem box and another one on the mainframe. The Tandem server's metadata layer and adapter will understand Non-Stop SQL; the mainframe its files.

On the central Windows box, you will have what might seem like redundant metadata pointing to the Tandem and mainframe servers. In essence, the Windows technology does not know how to get the data, only who to ask for it.

You want Non-Stop SQL and VSAM and SQL Server in the same spreadsheet? No problem: "Hey, Tandem server, it's me Windows again! Pass back these columns from your tables. Use this selection rule, calculate this virtual column for me, and sort and sum it. As soon as I get the answer set from you, I will join it to the mainframe's VSAM file (let's see which of you guys is faster!)."

I admit, WebFOCUS metadata is a bit different from that of other BI products. For one thing, WebFOCUS keeps its metadata stored in flat files using comma-separated values (did you read that twice?). Yes, it's true but that implementation is also completely open and simple. It's fast. It's effective.

WebFOCUS has a variety of tools for generating and maintaining this metadata layer. You do not need to know anything about the underlying code.

If you want, however, you can dig into the nuts and bolts and even write your own metadata utilities. For example, I have created custom routines for generating WebFOCUS metadata from proprietary data dictionaries, COBOL copybooks, spreadsheets, and even from a digital version of a report where the client did not own the electronic metadata for a legacy packaged application. I have gone the other way as well, reading the WebFOCUS metadata as a source and automatically generating SQL load routines, web launch pages, and report logic.

So the answer to the person's question is, "WebFOCUS does have centralized metadata." If you have more questions, feel free to contact me.

Cognos and WebFOCUS

2009-02-11T23:30:00.000-08:00

If you are evaluating Business Intelligence platforms, be sure to read a posting on my general BI software blog: How to Choose Between Cognos and WebFOCUS.

Preparing for FOCUS-to-WebFOCUS Conversions

2009-02-03T07:24:00.000-08:00

If you are considering converting your FOCUS 4GL environment to the new web-based version, here are some things you need to know.

Many people want to understand the difference between FOCUS and WebFOCUS and come to my blog looking for a comparison between the two products, so let me start there.

Both are software products from Information Builders and both share a common 4GL processor. In fact, the vendor in recent years has been able to consolidate these two products into a single code base, which is fairly portable and independent of any particular operating system.

The FOCUS product was used both interactively and in batch. Online users could communicate with menus and screens for providing information or go directly to a command processor for simple ad-hoc requests. Programs could also be run using JCL or other batch control mechanism with parameters passed in or determined by the program itself.

There are two three broad components of the FOCUS 4GL, the main piece being a non-procedural language for reporting, graphing, analysis, and maintaining data. There is also a procedural scripting language (Dialogue Manager) that provides some logical control of the embedded non-procedural code, symbolic variable substitutions, and multi-step complex processes. These are critical to enabling WebFOCUS to perform complex, dynamically-generated web applications.

A third important component is the metadata and adapter layer, which hides the complexity of the underlying data structures, allowing developers and end users to write 4GL programs with minimal knowledge of the data.

Major Features of the Procedural Scripting (Dialogue Manager):

Symbolic variable substitutions (calculations, prompting, file I/O, etc.)
System variables (date, time, userid, platform, environment settings, etc.)
Calculations of temporary variables
GOTO branch controls and procedural labels (non-conditional as well as IF-THEN-ELSE conditional branching)
Embedded operating system commands
External file I/O
Green-screen interactive with the user (not functional in WebFOCUS)
Executing procedures (EXEC command and server-side code inclusions)

Major Features of the Non-Procedural Scripting (FOCUS 4GL):

Reports and output files (TABLE facility)
Graphs (GRAPH facility)
Joining files (JOIN facility)
Matching files (MATCH facility)
Database maintenance (MODIFY facility; non-screen features supported in WebFOCUS, otherwise replaced by MAINTAIN)
Statistical analysis (ANALYZE facility; was rarely used and not ported to WebFOCUS; recently R Stat support was added)
Environment settings (SET phrases)
Calculation of temporary columns (DEFINE and COMPUTE phrases)

FOCUS-to-WebFOCUS Conversion issues:
Despite the portable FOCUS 4GL that lies beneath the covers of WebFOCUS, there are still some considerable challenges to converting from legacy to web-based architectures. I have solved some of those problems for you by automating the process. Below are some conversion issues and their potential solutions.

1) Major architectural change (single technology stack to enterprise web stack)

Solution: architect a solution that minimizes change
Solution: for new WebFOCUS app path commands, automatically add to existing code

2) New end user environment

Solution: automatically convert existing 4GL programs for users; generate scripts for loading Managed Reporting Environment; provide user training

3) Persistent sessions not supported in web environment

Solution: analyze and determine how to replicate persistence (for example, loss of "global" variables)

4) Batch processing handled differently in web environment

Solution: replicate batch jobs using WebFOCUS ReportCaster scheduler/distribution product

5) Output report formats default to HTML, which does not respect original layout

Solution: automatically add stylesheets and PDF support

6) Dumb terminal green-screens not supported in WebFOCUS

Solution: for simple menus, convert to HTML
Solution: for simple data maintenance, convert to HTML and MODIFY
Solution: for complex data maintenance, convert to MAINTAIN

7) WebFOCUS eliminated some legacy FOCUS features (text editor, end-user wizards, type to screen, ANALYZE statistical facility, etc.)

Solution: analyze and develop work-around

8) New Graph engine

Solution: automatically add support for new graph rendering (third-party Java product)

9) If moving to new platform, multiple problems, including access to legacy data, embedded OS commands, file names, allocations, user-written subroutines, userids, printer ids, integrated third-party tools (e.g., SAS, SyncSort, OS utilities), etc.

Solution: analyze and automatically convert as much as possible

10) Organization typically wants to take advantage of new features quickly

Solution: automatically add some support during conversions (e.g., spreadsheets, dynamic launch pages to consolidate existing FOCUS code) -- in other words, get rid of the legacy product as quickly as possible by doing a straight replication, but try to give the business some new things in the process

Trying to manually convert FOCUS to WebFOCUS is just not a good approach. By utilizing a proven methodology and software toolkit for automating much of the manual effort, you will dramatically reduce the time, cost, skill-set requirements, and risk of doing the legacy replacement.

Be sure to read some of my other blogs on this topic. A good place to start is here.

If you have questions, feel free to contact me.

Hanging with the Leaders

2009-01-24T07:29:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of 2009, Information Builders is still with the leaders in Gartner's Magic Quadrant of Business Intelligence platforms. In fact, IBI is positively moving farther from the boundary lines. Three years ago, IBI was on the fence, just threatening to leave the Challengers and join the Leaders.

Here is how Gartner describes a "Leader":

Leaders are vendors that are reasonably strong in the breadth and depth of their BI platform capabilities, and which can deliver on enterprisewide implementations that support a broad BI strategy. Leaders articulate a business proposition that resonates with buyers, supported by the viability and operational capability to deliver on a global basis.

For "Challengers", they provide the following definition:

Challengers offer a good breadth of BI platform functionality and are well positioned to succeed in the market. However, they may be limited to specific technical environments or application domains. Their vision may be hampered by a lack of coordinated strategy across the various products in their BI platform portfolio. Or they may lack the sales channel, geographic presence and industry-specific content offered by the vendors in the Leaders quadrant.

You recognize the leaders that Gartner says have the most ability to execute successfully in the BI software industry: IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP. You also see SAS and MicroStrategy in the mix. IBI is a wallflower standing alone in the corner, but is considered by Gartner to be more innovative than Microsoft.

Gartner has really good things to say about IBI's BI product, based on comments from customers, many of whom say they use WebFOCUS as their standard BI tool. Gartner praises IBI for its new offerings, but points out that these innovations have not really helped IBI move beyond its core strengths in enterprise reporting.

On the negative side, Gartner points out that IBI is "late to the game" if they want to get into the on-demand side of BI (self-service, analytics, and OLAP). Gartner seems to view IBI as a vendor that is primarily positioned to deliver static enterprise information to report consumers.

Gartner continues to complain about the small amount of revenue earned by IBI through third-party channels, but points out that IBI is making an effort (by rehiring ex-IBIer Tom Rydz and putting him in charge of partnerships in early 2008). Gartner points out that IBI has twice as many North American direct sales reps as indirect throughout the world.

Gartner also waves a big red flag for IBI: a large chunk of its business is done with financial services firms -- a major downturn there means major downturn for IBI?

Gartner points out the continuing problem that IBI has little name recognition in the BI market despite having been a player since the 1970s. (Case in point: when I mentioned IBI to a Microsoft manager earlier this week, he said, "Information Builders? Never heard of them.") Even within customer sites, IBI applications are not explicitly branded, so users do not know they are using WebFOCUS.

Be sure to read the entire article, compliments of SAS, who wants everybody to know Gartner still recognizes them as the most visionary of the BI leaders.

WebFOCUS Automagically

2009-01-22T21:35:00.000-08:00

What if developing WebFOCUS applications could be done with the click of a button? It sure would ruin all the fun, wouldn't it?

After manually building WebFOCUS applications for years, I got tired of the redundant work. Really, I was just copying a tried-and-true template and then making some manual changes to the code. I finally thought, "Why not just generate the underlying logic?"

My starting point for this magic is the WebFOCUS metadata. It has most of what a person needs for developing a report -- the name of the table/view and the column names. Using the WebFOCUS Developer Studio, I add a few additional things to the standard metadata: include some column descriptions, identify the dimensions and measures, mark which columns should be parameters on a launch page (and where to find a list-of-values for pull-downs), hide some columns from the user, and so forth.

With that done, I use a C++ application to parse the metadata and use that to generate an HTML launch page and WebFOCUS report logic. Both are highly parameterized and dynamic. The webpage allows the user to specify detail/summary report, enter selection criteria, and identify sort columns, page-breaks, subtotals, output formats, etc.

If the selection columns are dates, the tool automatically generates GUI calendar controls. If there is a list-of-value program identified in the metadata, the launch page will be generated with dynamically populated pull-downs (for either single- or multiple-selections). For long lists of values, pop-up searches are available.

The user can also select which columns to display on the report, change the column titles, and resequence the columns.

I put some extra work into the generated code to make sure the WebFOCUS Developer Studio could open the results -- for example, the HTML Painter can display the launch screen. That means a developer can in the future easily enhance and support the generated application.

Not happy to just create one WebFOCUS application at a time, I added a mass-generation feature: the utility reads all WebFOCUS metadata in a folder and generates hundreds of launch pages and reports in seconds.

So, is it as fulfilling to click a button instead of typing for days to develop an application? Well, the results are the same and it is fun to see the look on peoples' faces when I crank out hundreds of WebFOCUS reports in seconds.

Will you see this as a new feature for WebFOCUS sometime in the future? Not if the vendor wants to keep its Consulting revenues!

Need for Speed - WebFOCUS

2009-01-04T23:15:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wanted a Kawasaki motorcycle that could go 185 miles per hour? What if you could get your WebFOCUS application developers moving that fast?

See more about this on my general BI blog and contact me if you are interested in learn more.

WebFOCUS Server Symbolic Variables

2008-12-24T06:30:00.000-08:00

Within the WebFOCUS Reporting Server's profile logic, you can set symbolic variables that user programs can interrogate. For example, you could set a flag so that WebFOCUS programs know where they are running. This "where am I?" feature is useful when your test, development, production QA, and production environments may be slightly different and the programs must take into consideration some nuances.

Let's image putting the following statement in the WebFOCUS Reporting Server's profile (the edasprof.prf file):

-SET &&SYS_SERVER = 'DEV';

Any program running on the server can now check this global variable to see what value the server has put there. In the example above, the programs could look at &&SYS_SERVER and know that they are on the development server.

Here is an example -- common code that programs could call to find the names and locations of company logo images:

-DEFAULT &&SYS_SERVER = 'PROD';
-SET &IMAGE = IF &&SYS_SERVER IS 'LOCALHOST' AND
- &WFFMT IS 'HTML' THEN
- 'http://localhost/approot/baseapp/co_logo.jpg' ELSE
- IF &&SYS_SERVER IS 'LOCALHOST' AND &WFFMT IS 'PDF' THEN
- 'http://localhost/approot/baseapp/co_logo_small.jpg' ELSE
- IF &&SYS_SERVER IS 'DEV' AND &WFFMT IS 'HTML' THEN
- '/reports/images/co_logo.jpg' ELSE
- IF &&SYS_SERVER IS 'DEV' AND &WFFMT IS 'PDF' THEN
- 'co_logo_small.jpg' ELSE
- IF &WFFMT IS 'HTML' THEN '/prod/images/co_logo.jpg' ELSE
- IF &WFFMT IS 'PDF' THEN 'co_logo_small.jpg' ELSE ' ';

By default, this common logic assumes reports run on the production server. If this is not the case, the server lets the program know that is on (in this example, anyway) the development server or on an developer's machine (using the default LOCALHOST name).

Here is another good idea for symbolics on the server. Developers like to include debugging comments in their programs and often forget to remove them when promoting to production. Using a WebFOCUS server symbolic, we can dynamically turn on and off debug commands depending upon which server is being used. When running on the test server, turn on debugging. When running production, however, turn those commands off.

On the production server, put this command in its profile:

-SET &&DEFECHO = 'OFF';

On the test server, change it slightly to be this:

-SET &&DEFECHO = 'ALL';

Inside all of your WebFOCUS programs, you can always have this command:

-SET &ECHO = &&DEFECHO ;

When running production, debug echos are turned off; in the test environment, they are turned on.

If you have any questions about WebFOCUS symbolic variables, let me know.

Tracing BI Dashboard Activity

2008-12-23T05:35:00.000-08:00

Turning on traces for the WebFOCUS BI Dashboard involves tinkering with an XML configuration file on the Java application server. Like the WebFOCUS server traces, use caution -- play with a test server before trying this in production.

On a Windows box running WebFOCUS 7, you will find this BID configuration file at drive:\ibi\webfocus7x\worp\conf\bid-config.xml. It contains a parameter telling WebFOCUS whether or not to trace dashboard activity.

Within < > brackets, you will see:

trace-option trace-flag="false" trace-level="DEBUG"/

To start tracing, change the "false" to "true" and restart the Java app server. WebFOCUS will then create trace files for each person logging into the dashboard. On a Windows box, WebFOCUS 7 stores the logs in a folder called: drive:\ibi\webfocus7x\logs.

WebFOCUS names the output log files with a prefix of a unique number and "DashboardTracing." It also adds a suffix of the userid and date-time stamp. The naming format is: #####_DashboardTracing_userid_yymmdd_hhmmss.trace.

When you are done tracing BID activity, change the configuration setting back to "false" and restart the app server.

Below is an example of a Windows WebFOCUS BI Dashboard log-in failure:

**********************************C:/ibi/WebFOCUS76/logs\00101_DashboardTracing_doug_071126_112944.trace
Gen Date: Mon Apr 2 16:31:57 EDT 2007
Gen Number: 4
Gen Label: branch761
Server Info: Apache Tomcat/5.5.17
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 INFO WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 INFO WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo ###########################################
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 INFO WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo Request type: WORP_LOGIN
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 INFO WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo Is valid session: false
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 INFO WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo ************************************
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo Request Parameters:
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo WORP_REQUEST_TYPE=WORP_LOGIN
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo IBIWF_language=en
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo WORP_USER=doug
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo WORP_PASS=******
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo ************************************
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo Request Attributes:
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG WORP_RM.logDefaultTraceInfo ************************************
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG SignonAdapter.createWFMRSession Created WFMRSession
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG WORP_SignonManager.singon() Signing on to Dashboard
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG WORP_SignonManager.singon() Doing form authentication: doug
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG WORP_SignonManager.singon() Doing single signon
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 ERROR WORP_RM.doPost Exception
ibi.worp.util.WORP_Exception: (19105) Invalid user ID or password. Please try again.
at ibi.worp.mrapi.WORP_SignonAdapter.signon(WORP_SignonAdapter.java:383)
at ibi.worp.WORP_SignonManager.signon(WORP_SignonManager.java:449)
at ibi.worp.WORP_RM.doPost(WORP_RM.java:1655)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:709)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:802)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:252)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:173)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:213)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:178)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:126)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:105)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:107)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:148)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:869)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11BaseProtocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.processConnection(Http11BaseProtocol.java:664)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.PoolTcpEndpoint.processSocket(PoolTcpEndpoint.java:527)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.LeaderFollowerWorkerThread.runIt(LeaderFollowerWorkerThread.java:80)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:684)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: ibi.webfoc.wfmre.mrutil.WFMRError: The User ID or Password you have entered is incorrect.
at ibi.webfoc.wfmre.mrutil.WFMRUtil.throwMRError(WFMRUtil.java:1691)
at ibi.webfoc.wfmre.repos.htm_bd.WFMRFileUserHandler.getAuthenticatedUser(WFMRFileUserHandler.java:1104)
at ibi.webfoc.wfmre.repos.core_bd.WFMRRouterUserHandler.getAuthenticatedUser(WFMRRouterUserHandler.java:212)
at ibi.webfoc.wfmre.repos.WFMRUserHandlerProxy.getAuthenticatedUser(WFMRUserHandlerProxy.java:454)
at ibi.webfoc.wfmre.mrobj.WFMRRepository.getAuthenticatedUser(WFMRRepository.java:650)
at ibi.webfoc.wfmre.WFMRSession.getAuthenticatedUser(WFMRSession.java:478)
at ibi.webfoc.wfmre.WFMRSession.authenticateUser(WFMRSession.java:825)
at ibi.worp.mrapi.WORP_SignonAdapter.signon(WORP_SignonAdapter.java:380)
... 18 more
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG WORP_SessionUtil.doDispatch forwarding to: /bid-login
2 11/26/2007 11:29:44:937 DEBUG ibi.worp.xml.WORP_DocumentBuilder.open Opening file for reading=C:/ibi/WebFOCUS76\config\basedir-config.xml

Summit 2009 (June 7-11)

2008-12-22T22:30:00.000-08:00

Mark your calendar for Information Builders' 2009 users’ group conference held on June 7th through the 11th. Like last year, we are going to the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee.

Take advantage of this opportunity to network with WebFOCUS professionals from other companies and learn about their BI projects. If you are interested, I can coordinate breakfast, lunch, or dinner get-togethers to help you connect with the right people.

Summit is the place to increase your WebFOCUS knowledge -- listen to excellent speakers, attend workshops, and talk one-on-one with product managers and technical gurus. If you have a difficult BI problem at work, visit the Expert Room where top-quality vendor representatives (field technical managers, corporate technical support, and product managers) will dig in to figure out and resolve your issues.

To learn more about the Summit, visit IBI's website. I hope to see you there!

WebFOCUS on zLinux for Enterprise BI

2008-12-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

On my general BI blog, I wrote about the State of Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) moving their legacy FOCUS applications to WebFOCUS on zLinux. For more information, click here.

Dude! Where's my Trace?

2008-12-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

WebFOCUS traces can be a challenge, especially if you expect things to work like FOCUS.

When WebFOCUS traces are turned on, you can display them as comments within your output's HTML -- something called "client-side tracing." If you pick an output that does not generate an HTML page (e.g., PDF) then you will not be able to see the trace.

While most WebFOCUS environmental settings are basically toggle switches with ON and OFF settings, traces are different. There is a TRACEON setting as well as one for TRACEOFF. For each, you identify the trace component that you want to turn on/off. For example, I may want to see the SQL statements being generated from the 4GL commands; I need to TRACEON that particular SQL component (called STMTRACE -- comparable to the FSTRACE4 for FOCUS).

If you want to query the current environmental settings, you can use "?" for the trace component value. There is one setting to see the trace options turned on (SET TRACEON = ?) and another for those turned off (SET TRACEOFF = ?). With a syntax inconsistent with other settings, the WebFOCUS tracing feature is less than intuitive.

See the WebFOCUS Server Console diagnostics custom-filtering page for a full list of the trace components. Relational data adapter traces include:

SQLDI (like FSTRACE) - SQL physical layer (BX, BY messages)
SQLAGGR (like FSTRACE3) - optimization information (BR messages)
STMTRACE (like FSTRACE4) - SQL statements (AE, AF messages)
SQLCALL - exchange between physical and logical layers of the data adapter (BW messages)

For non-relational interfaces, you have:

ADBSIN (Adabas) - has 4 trace levels
IDMS - has 2 levels
IMS - has 4 levels
M204
Others (Nomad, Millenium, Supra/Total, CA-Datacom)
Proprietary traces for IBI developers (IBITROUT)

Some components do not seem to be made for HTML tracing -- their messages are not formatted properly for HTML standards. For example, NWH, NWH2, and CEH components may corrupt your HTML output. The R1H communications component may have a glitch -- it starts two WebFOCUS agents which never end. So, do not tinker with traces on the production server.

Also, instead of identifying a specific trace component, you can say "ALL" -- that is fine for turning OFF all traces, but you probably should not turn ON all traces.

In addition to the trace component, there is an optional parameter (separated by a forward slash) for the "Trace Level" as some components can display different levels of details. If you omit the trace level, you get all traces for that component. Setting the trace level to 1 will give you the top level of the details; 0 will turn it off. For the STMTRACE, you can specify the RDBMS adapter as the trace level, e.g., "STMTRACE/DB2/CLIENT"

Another optional parameter (again separated by a forward slash) is the location of the trace output. Frankly, I question the quality of this feature -- traces are okay going into the HTML comments, but do not seem to go to physical file locations properly (there is an additional setting of TRACEUSER to identify the filename). To send the trace output to the HTML in your browser, use "CLIENT" for this parameter.

Here is the syntax:

SET TRACEON = component [/tracelevel [ /filename]]
SET TRACEOFF = component [/tracelevel [ /filename]]

Here are some examples of the trace settings:

SET TRACEOFF = ALL
(turn all the traces off)
SET TRACEOFF = ?
(show the inactive trace settings)

SET TRACEON = MFP//CLIENT
(MFD parsing; displays FG messages)

SET TRACEON = PRH//CLIENT
(FEX parsing; displays AG messages)
SET TRACEON = STMTRACE//CLIENT
(SQL calls; displays AE, AF messages)
SET TRACEON = SQLDI//CLIENT
(SQL physical layer; displays BX, BY messages)
SET TRACEON = SQLCALL//CLIENT
(exchange between SQL physical & logical layer; displays BW messages)
SET TRACEON = SQLAGGR//CLIENT
(SQL optimization messages; displays BR messages)
SET TRACEON = ESSBASE//CLIENT
(Essbase calls; displays CE, CF, CG, CH messages)
SET TRACEUSER = ON
(turn on the user tracing)

In FOCUS, to see your generated SQL and optimization messages, you would have allocated some FSTRACE files and looked at the contents afterwards. To do something comparable in WebFOCUS, you use these commands and look in your HTML output:

SET TRACEOFF = ALL
SET TRACEON = STMTRACE//CLIENT
SET TRACEON = SQLAGGR//CLIENT
SET XRETRIEVAL = OFF
SET TRACEUSER = ON

(The XRETRIEVAL setting turns of the execution of the 4GL code, so you can see the SQL without actually running it and waiting for the answer set.)

So while this WebFOCUS tracing feature may test your nerve and skill, it can be very useful to see what is going on under the covers.