System i business intelligence and financial software developer, New Generation Software, Inc. (NGS), has introduced Qport Office, a new entry-point to the NGS System i BI solution portfolio. Qport Office is a reporting tool designed for Microsoft Office users who need easy, secure access to their company's DB2 database on the System i.
MS Office and System i DB2 applications are the basics for all System i customers. Qport Office marries these two in a way that enhances the productivity of MS Office users and those who support them by eliminating the time-consuming manual steps usually associated with moving DB2 data to MS Office applications. As a Windows "one-click" link to existing queriesùor to a sequential series of queriesùusers can immediately direct their final output into Excel, Word, Access, the Windows display, or their PC or network printer.
Excel users can preserve their existing Excel formats by specifying a named range to receive the data. Excel formats, formulas, charts, and references to a named range will update automatically each time the range is refreshed with new data via Qport Office. As a result, data integrity is improved and users save time by not cutting and pasting new data into a previously formatted report. PowerPoint or other applications that use Excel as their data source can now be easily updated with new DB2 data. Qport Office can be run directly from one-click icons on the Windows desktop or from a Windows panel offering more options.
"Microsoft Excel is the de-facto standard for business data analysis in companies of all sizes. Even though our current BI solutions do much more, we wanted an entry point for the thousands of small to mid-size companies who haven't had the time, lack the experience to implement, or can't cost-justify a more robust business intelligence solution. They want a low-cost, no-risk way to simplify their reporting and analysis work using the MS Office and DB2 skills they have in-house today. Qport Office was developed for these companies," says Bernard Gough, president and CEO of NGS.
NGS is providing a 90-day warranty with the software. Customers have the option of licensing additional users and extending the warranty beyond 90 days. The NGS upgrade protection plan will apply fifty percent of all Qport Office license and maintenance fees paid during the first three years towards the cost of any of NGS' more comprehensive BI solutions which provide advanced query and ETL, OLAP, dashboards, portals, and industry specific solutions. Prerequisites for Qport Office include IBM i5/OS V5R1 or higher; IBM Query or Query/400; Windows 98SE, NT, 2000 or XP; and Microsoft Office Professional 2000 or above.
For a complete list of events where NGS will be exhibiting and offering companies an opportunity to license Qport Office for free, please go to www.ngsi.com or contact NGS at (800) 824-1220 or (916) 920-2200.
With over 20,000 System i users throughout the world, NGS is an industry leader with 25 years of experience developing field-proven software for business intelligence and financial management. Both NGS-IQ Business Intelligence and the Concert Series Financial Management System are recognized by IBM as "Server-Proven Solutions." NGS is an Advanced Member of IBM PartnerWorld and a member of the System i Initiative for Innovation.
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