2
Feb/12

SSRS: An Ideal Business Intelligence Reporting Tool

by under Business Analytics
SSRS Report Development

SSRS Reports are well integrated with the Microsoft stack.

Microsoft’s SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is a flexible platform, incorporating a centrally managed reporting system and on-demand web-based and desktop applications. From report writing to deployment, this complete reporting platform supports the entire report life-cycle.

Based on our experiences in SSRS report development, SSRS is an ideal tool for business intelligence reporting due to the following key factors:

Five Styles of Business Intelligence

The five styles of BI are:

  1. Reporting: Operational and financial reports that are mainly used by the junior to mid level management to facilitate their day-to-day work
  2. Scorecards and Dashboards: Graphical representation of data that
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27
Jan/12

Software Testing as a Service: A New Way of Thinking

by under Outsourcing, Software Testing

The evolution of software testing services.

I’m not sure who coined the word ‘Software-as-a-Service”, but Salesforce.com have certainly capitalized on it and packaged it as a concept, an idea, a way of thinking and most importantly have successfully monetized it.

Any on-demand service has an extension of ‘as-a-service’. Testing is no exception. In the following few paragraphs, I will try to map this concept with real world scenarios and hopefully give our readers a flavour as to where we are heading, from a Testing & QA perspective, in the next few months to come.

Over the past couple of months, we spoke to over 50 companies in British Columbia, Canada. This included the likes… Continue reading

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26
Jan/12

Tablets that Work

by under Mobile Application Development

Are you starting to see more tablets in your office? I’ve been seeing a steady stream of note pads being replaced by tablets. From iPads to Slates and Androids, the first question everyone seems to be asking is, “which app are you using to take notes?”

Below is an infographic from Online Marketing Trends. It illustrates the rapid adoption of tablets. From 16.1 million shipped in 2010, market researchers predict there will be 147.2 million tablets shipped in 2015. Currently iOS is leading the charge with about 61% of the market with Android in a distant second holding 30%. In 2012, we can expect to see that level out as Android and Microsoft start to whittle away Apple’s dominant position.

The usage breakdown is also very interesting… Continue reading

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3
Jan/12

Best Practices for Engaging SMEs in Reporting Projects

by under Business Analytics

Involve SMEs when gathering requirements. They know what they need!

In most report writing projects, the biggest challenge as a consultant is to quickly gain an understanding of the client’s data. A consultant needs to get a good grasp of all systems and business logic at the requirements gathering stage before embarking on report development.

It is useful working with the company’s IT department, especially in terms of understanding the use and impact of the chosen technologies/applications on the project. However, a consultant also needs to understand the business itself, which includes gathering knowledge on the company’s business model and its success drivers, KPIs, and how the report’s data will… Continue reading

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31
Dec/11

Functional Test Automation Using QTP And QC – Part 1

by under Software Testing
HP QTP

Lessons from a HP Partner in Vancouver

Before I delve in, let us first take a deep breath and appreciate the implications of Testing in our daily lives! A 30 second Ikea commercial nicely summarizes the importance of quality.

 

QTP is a tool for automating functional and regression tests. QC works as a quality management platform that offers requirements management, test management, defects management, and business process testing. Together they are a powerful force which significantly facilitates functional test automation.

These are award winning products, now an integral part of the multi-billion dollar HP Software Portfolio.

This is a 2-part series. In this article, Part 1, I… Continue reading

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13
Dec/11

Report Builder 3.0 Functionality and Advantages/Disadvantages

by under Business Analytics
Using Report Building to create reports for SSRS.

Using Report Building to create reports for SSRS.

SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Report Builder 3.0 is a report creation tool developed by Microsoft. I have only recently started using Report Builder, but have been pleasantly surprised on how quickly I could pick up some of the more advanced features. In this post I will discuss the application’s functionalities that I have found useful and the pros and cons of using Report Builder.

First off, I will give you a brief overview of the different features in the Report Builder workspace. After creating a new report your workspace will look similar to the image above. The… Continue reading

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30
Nov/11

How to Start a Winning Mobile Strategy

by under Mobile Application Development
An array of smartphones

How can you deploy an application to all these devices?

Looking to build a mobile application for your company but not sure where to start? Have you considered doing it in small phases using open source technologies? This approach will enable you to make a relatively smaller investment upfront and get a solid, usable proof of concept together before making a serious investment of time and money.

When planning a mobile strategy, you can get overwhelmed with the choices. Do we focus on smartphones or tablets? Do we build an iPhone app or a mobile website? What about all of our BlackBerry users?

Where to start?

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11
Nov/11

Business Analytics in 2012

by under Business Analytics, Cloud Computing
Business Intelligence in 2012

Gartner's business intelligence predictions for 2012

As 2012 is next door, Gartner has identified next year’s trends. From the list, I find the following the most fascinating.

Next-Generation Analytics: As we know profitability at any organization is the result of limitless “minor” actions taken by decision makers at the front lines — at employees’ desks, in front of customers, with partners etc. But, because traditional business intelligence solutions are best suited to delivering historical, narrowly-focused information, most companies are unable to arbitrate and respond to business changes in real time.

The enabler of micro- and macroscopic views of profitability is analytics: sets of interactive… Continue reading

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25
Oct/11

Building Reports in SSRS, the Optimus Way

by under Business Analytics
SSRS Logo

SSRS Reports are well integrated with the Microsoft stack.

You may have noticed our blog is all about building reports in SSRS these days. That’s because we’ve seen a big trend in the BI market towards the Microsoft stack. We have two major types of projects right now: creating new reports in SSRS and migrating reports from other systems into SSRS.

Below is our 6-step approach to building reports in SSRS from a project management perspective. We use a standard issue tracking system to monitor a report from start to finish. This enables us to track common issues and see exactly how long it took to create each report. After creating a few… Continue reading

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18
Oct/11

SSRS or Crystal Reports: An ongoing debate

by under Business Analytics

Two major reporting vendors in a constant race.

For the past couple of months, I have been working on reporting projects for a few clients in British Columbia. One of the clients is using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) as the reporting platform for all organizational reports, including custom built Microsoft Dynamics AX. Another client is using Crystal Reports (CR) as their core Business Intelligence application.

Both SSRS and CR are business intelligence applications that take data from data sources of varied formats and generate reports providing decision support information. The reports can be interactive Web reports, tabular, graphical, free-form on-screen or print reports. For… Continue reading

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