MITS Announces New Release of Flagship Business Intelligence Solution
MITS, provider of online analytical processing (OLAP) business intelligence and operational reporting solutions, has announced a new release of its flagship business intelligence solution, MITS Discover. MITS Discover 7.0 delivers enhancements to the end-user experience, improved tools for creating and adjusting analysis focused data collections known as hypercubes, and numerous enhancements to performance and reliability.
“We have done major expansion and enhancement in our dashboarding capabilities - which, we believe, will please current users and attract new interest in Discover,” said Gary Owen, MITS vice president of development, in making the announcement. The release includes a new, browser-based Dashboard Object Creator, which allows business users to rapidly create dashboard components in familiar grid, gauge, chart, and other formats, each of which can be incorporated into any number of dashboards. The enhancement - along with new dashboard library tools - is intended to simplify the creation and use of dashboards while reducing the need to involve scarce IT resources in the process.
With the new release, end-users will be able to create reports from multiple data sources, not just from a single hypercube. This will speed and simplify the process for many queries that previously required more complicated effort. Enhancing queries and reports will get easier as well, said Owen. “We’ve added drag-and-drop capabilities for relocating columns within a query or report grid. And now users can add or omit multiple columns simultaneously, instead of one-at-a-time.” Performing “what if” and other more involved analysis will also be easier. The ability to selectively drill down within a displayed query or report by limiting results to specified values of a key data column has been substantially re-engineered.
An additional time-savings enhancement is the ability to add new drill-down paths to a hypercube without the need to rebuild the cube. This will allow end-users who realize they need to explore data in a new way to do so more quickly. Moreover, reports and queries will be easier to navigate and view. Sorting on multiple columns is now easier, and new icons indicate the current sort order in effect, column by column. Users can hide “zero value” report rows, and navigate instantly to the beginning or end of the results. Finally, a small but important enhancement adds a dynamic, visible status bar to queries in progress. For analysis that requires several minutes to process, end-users will know when results will be available.
Some of the improvements with the new version - particularly those focused on improved performance and wider application in the future - leverage the work MITS has done on its companion MITS Report product. Now both solutions will more fully leverage state-of-the-industry constructs and technologies - Java gateways, AJAX calls and tiered application design, according to Owen. For more details on MITS software solutions, individuals can contact a MITS representative at info@mits.com or visit the MITS Web site.
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Hitech Systems and Entrinsik Partner to Deliver Real-Time Reporting to the Public Safety Market
Hitech Systems, a public safety software solution provider, and Entrinsik, developer of Informer Web-based Reporting software, have announced a partnership providing Hitech customers with an easy-to-use, feature-rich reporting tool for accessing data in real time. By partnering with Entrinsik, Hitech Systems now offers its customers a fully integrated platform for reporting, enabling them to access data directly from Hitech’s SafetyNet public safety applications where and when they need it and view the information in HTML, Excel or PDF formats.
“Entrinsik presented Informer at Hitech's 2008 Annual SafetyNet Conference, and the response was incredible. We are bringing the Informer product to our market space as SafetyNet EZReports, under our umbrella of end-to-end public safety solutions,” said Jaime Lim, Hitech Systems vice president of business development, in making the announcement. “EZReports will allow our customers a Web services reports creation capability that is unmatched in our industry.”
Pointing to Hitech's prominence in the public safety arena, Doug Leupen, president of Entrinsik, told 5 Minute Briefing that Hitech offers an emergency call system with a wide range of functionality “that is very well-recognized.” According to Leupen, “all of Mexico” uses it, and it is also widely used in the U.S. Hitech has elected to bundle Informer with that and make it an optional part of the standard system, he said.
The relationship with Hitech represents a continuation of Entrinsik's strategy of taking Informer to market with trusted reseller partners, Leupen explained. “The industry works with bundled software. Hitech sells IBM software and they have built a very industry-specific application that they have become famous for. They provide incredible support and people in the industry flock to buy their software because of that.”
The MultiValue industry “has a really pressing need to be able to get data out of the system easier than the traditional methods have been,” Leupen said. “Informer meets that need.” For more information on Hitech, go here. For more information about Entrinsik, go here.
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Revelation's June Training Classes Now Forming
Revelation Software, which offers regularly scheduled classes for OpenInsight, is now planning classes for June. Introduction to Development in OpenInsight will be offered June 2-4, Intermediate Development in OpenInsight will be offered June 9-11, Advanced Topics in OpenInsight will be offered June 16-18. To find out more about schedules, course descriptions, and training fees, call 800-262-4747 or 201-594-1422. For more about Revelation, go here.
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HIPAAsuite Adds Support for UniVerse as Underlying Database
HIPAAsuite, a Maryland-based software provider in the HIPAA EDI field of the healthcare market, has announced that in addition to UniData, it now also uses UniVerse as an underlying database. HIPAAsuite, the company's flagship software, is a complete HIPAA-EDI(Electronic Data Interchange) front-end application for all HIPAA transaction sets. It is designed for organizations that receive and send EDI transactions in the healthcare industry like payers and repricers.
“Our GUI products are geared to the smaller payers in the health insurance industry,” noted HIPAAsuite's president Martin Scholl. “HIPAAsuite uses UniData and now also UniVerse as an underlying database and presents a complete store forward application that easily integrates with existing applications,” he said. It uses the multi-dimensional characteristics of the Pick/U2 data model to natively store nested EDI transactions such as EDI 837 claims. “Typically, clients have their own software systems that are grown over decades,” Scholl explained. “With HIPAAsuite, they can extract from the electronic transactions only the data that they need.”
HIPAAsuite can reconfigure claims into 837 transactions to send to repricing organizations. With adjudication results, it can create 835 remittance advices and 277 claim status responses. HIPAAsuite has modules for all 12 HIPAA EDI transactions and takes the frustration out of a HIPAA EDI conversion, according to the vendor.
HIPPAsuite recently brought Welfare and Pension Administrative Services, a Seattle, WA-based third-party administrator, online with EDI, said Scholl. Because WPAS has a UniVerse claims and membership system, Scott Ballinger, a local U2 consultant, helped to write the interface. “Within one week WAPS imported EDI claims into their system, after two weeks they produced 835 transactions from their adjudications and now they exchange EDI claims with repricers and other payers,” said Scholl.
In addition to HIPAAsuite, the company offers the HIPAA Claim Printer. This tool converts 837 EDI transactions into images, paper and image files of the standard paper claim forms and serves as translator to ODBC/SQL databases. For more information, go here.
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MITS and Zumasys Announce Reseller Relationship
MITS and Zumasys, a systems integrator specializing in multi-vendor technology solutions for small and medium businesses, have announced a new reseller agreement aimed at providing increased choice and business intelligence capabilities to the Zumasys customer base.
In addition to its MITS Discover OLAP Business Intelligence System, MITS offers MITS Report, which enables enterprises using a range of technology platforms, including MultiValue and relational systems, to quickly launch complete operational reporting environments.
Zumasys helps companies with MultiValue-based systems, including more than 11,000 users of the D3 database, to extend the life and value of their systems. “Our strategy with these companies is to help them rejuvenate their systems, wrapping them with newer infrastructure technologies - from wireless mobility with Citrix, to warehouse management, to virtualization, network security, and, especially now, reporting and analytics,” said Paul Giobbi, president of Zumasys, at the time of the announcement.
According to MITS, the Zumasys strategy dovetails well with its marketing philosophy. “Our value proposition is similar,” said Fred Owen, MITS president. “When we face the MultiValue space, we bring technology that can re-invigorate and extend the life and value of existing systems. That plays well for end users, resellers who may be embedding our solutions inside their applications, and integrators like Zumasys - all of whom are trying to make the most of these legacy systems.”
Giobbi said Zumasys customers have consistently shown interest in data warehousing, reporting, imaging, and other ancillary solutions and, as a result, this year the company focused on these complementary technologies at its Annual Customer Solutions Conference “The response to the MITS business intelligence and reporting solutions was tremendous.”
The new relationship is expected to expand as new applications for MITS solutions emerge. Once Zumasys consultants identify a need for operational reporting and/or advanced analytics, MITS consultants will become involved and work with the customer to define a specific solution.
“These companies have often made huge investments in their MultiValue systems,” explained Giobbi. “Because we can surround them with newer technologies, our customers often begin to see their legacy systems as significantly more valuable than they had thought.”
For more details on MITS software solutions, send an email to info@mits.com or visit the MITS Web site. For more details on Zumasys, visit here.
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Case Study - Saint Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority Sets Sail with BlueFinity’s mv.NET
Ideal Business Services Ltd. is a U.K.-based IT solutions company that develops and supports tracking and control solutions for various logistics industries. Ideal's client, Saint Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority (SLASPA), is responsible for running the Caribbean island's two principal seaports, Castries and Vieux Fort, and the George F.L. Charles and Hewanorra International Airports, as well as the smaller points of entry, Soufriere, Marigot and Rodney Bay Marina. SLASPA's mandate is defined as the provision of coordinated and integrated systems of airports and seaports.
Until recently, statistical information for SLASPA’s airports was maintained locally in each of the island's two locations. The setup had become obsolete; information was not shared correctly between the airports causing reporting inaccuracies. In order to provide accurate and consistent reporting of all aircraft and passenger movements to the Government Council, SLASPA needed a solution which would provide real-time updates from their port management information system. SLASPA needed a secure Web portal where SLASPA employees could input statistical information and allow real-time reporting for government authorities. Although SLASPA looked into available solutions, because of its specialized requirements, there were no off-the-shelf packages that met their needs.
At the time, Paul Parkinson of Ideal Business Services was involved in a project to upgrade SLASPA’s existing port management information system to capture data on its cargo, and container handling operations in a UniData database to enable easier access to information. When he learned about the problems SLASPA was experiencing regarding the airport management, Parkinson thought BlueFinity’s mv.NET might be the tool they needed to bring the application online.
Parkinson was assured by BlueFinity that a sharp learning curve and extended development effort could be avoided with the use of mv.NET. And, since mv.NET is available for all MultiValue databases, he would be able to create applications for the Web while taking advantage of his experience with UniData.
Today, better data reporting gives SLASPA management and appropriate government ministers the information they need when they need it, and the more efficient systems have led to reduced customer waiting time. The Airports Statistics Management Information System (ASMIS) now captures data on all aircraft and passenger movements at both George F.L. Charles and Hewanorra International Airports.
Parkinson has also developed other applications utilizing mv.NET for SLASPA. “Since October, we’ve added features to the airport management application, added yacht management and designed an application that accesses cruise liner databases and vessels to give a visual representation of the harbor in St. Lucia, all using BlueFinity’s mv.NET. The next projects will be linking into the existing systems and I have it in mind to use Web services to transfer the data from system to system,” said Parkinson. For more details on the Ideal implementation for SLASPA, go here and for more on BlueFinity, go here.
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