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NGS Extends Multi-dimensional Analysis in New Release of OLAP Module

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New Generation Software (NGS)  announced at COMMON an upcoming new release of SmartView, the integrated OLAP module of the NGS-IQ business intelligence system. The new features significantly expand a customer's ability to create and customize analytical reports that reflect the complex, multidimensional nature of their business, according to NGS. 

The new release gives users the ability to create calculated fields from data fields in their SmartView OLAP model. This function is especially useful and beneficial when further analysis of data is required for critical decision making, such as to quickly determine gross margins, averages, totals, percentages of totals, and other information not furnished in their production database or created by the underlying NGS-IQ query. For example, a sales manager can view territories by the average quantity ordered and average sales amount and use SmartView’s drill down capability to see the detail for each territory. If the data highlighting feature of SmartView is activated, he/she can selectively view those records of the utmost concern or interest. A sales representative would find the new calculation fields handy when figuring his/her sales commission for the month or quarter. SmartView gives users the option of whether or not to display the calculated fields in different views of their presentations and graphs and charts that they create off-line. Summary values may be calculated from left to right and top to bottom to satisfy different business demands. 

Also available in the new release is a one-step process to export SmartView data to Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and to HTML where it can be shared with other business users through portals and other collaboration tools. Users select the export function and name and save their SmartView presentation either as an .xls or HTML file that can be posted to a secure Web page. When exported to Excel or HTML, all the SmartView formatting–colors, fonts, etc.–are retained as well as any drill-down from summary to detail analysis. This new "Export" capability facilitates the sharing of SmartView analysis with management, other departments, customers, vendors, and business associates.

NGS has also enhanced the data filtering function of SmartView so a user can more easily include or exclude data from the presentation. Helpful icons make it easy to select or unselect all or specific values and to reverse previous record selections. 

The SmartView OLAP software is designed to complement the high-level analysis provided by the NGS-IQ Business Performance Dashboard module and the Web-based detail and summary reporting supported through NGS-IQ’s IQ Server module. 

“We continue to design SmartView to be an OLAP module for any business user, not just for analysts who spend all day looking at data,” says Bernard Gough, NGS president and CEO. “The new calculated fields function is important because while some values must be calculated at the record level in the underlying query, other values like average order quantity or average order amount by product and territory need to be calculated after the data is delivered to the SmartView user,” adds Gough. 

With SmartView, any Windows user authorized to run NGS-IQ reports can build an unlimited number of multidimensional reports. SmartView can show users what they need in seconds without any programming or custom database design work on their IBM i (AS/400). The software offers a long list of multidimensional analysis functions while requiring surprisingly little personal computer memory. It lets users connect and leverage the resources of the IBM i for data retrieval and then work offline while performing their analysis to make optimal use of their computing resources.

About New Generation Software, Inc. (NGS)

With more than 25,000 IBM i users representing virtually every industry and company size worldwide, NGS has been an industry leader in developing high-performance, field-proven software solutions since 1982. NGS-IQ is a versatile, scalable BI suite designed exclusively for the IBM i. The Concert Series is NGS’ modular financial accounting system including General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll, and Human Resources that can be easily interfaced to custom and third-party business applications. NGS is an Advanced Member of IBM PartnerWorld and a supporter of the iManifest initiative.

 

New Generation Software, Inc. (NGS) delivers high performance IBM i (iSeries, System i, AS/400) business software solutions to companies of all sizes and representing virtually all industries. Hundreds of people worldwide rely on NGS’ solutions every day. NGS is an IBM Business Partner and active supporter of the COMMON User Group and numerous regional IBM i user groups. In addition to IBM, NGS has strong business relationships with numerous independent software vendors and IBM solution providers. For more information, visit www.ngsi.com.

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