When it’s time for a business intelligence portal

The BI software marketplace has seen a proliferation of choice in recent years. Rather than sticking to one vendor, businesses can now pick and choose the best tool for each task. This is desirable — but difficulties can arise in making those disparate BI tools work in harmony. The challenges here include:

• a long learning curve for new recruits to learn all the BI tools
• users having to repeatedly log in to multiple BI solutions
• more time spent managing user permissions and authentication
• lack of built-in data integration between BI software vendors

The good news is, you can overcome these issues with a custom BI portal.

Advantages of business intelligence portals

If you want to make multiple BI tools work in a unified way, then a BI portal holds the answer. These are just a few business benefits of owning a custom business intelligence portal:

• increase efficiency by cutting the need to switch between BI applications
• improve employee satisfaction with a streamlined BI user experience
• get the exact mix of analytics, reports, and dashboards you need
• multiply the value of BI software by integrating it with other BI capabilities
• enhance your brand with custom portal styling, logos, and interfaces
• meet security and regulatory needs more easily with a single log in

How do you develop a custom BI portal?

1. Software requirements gathering

The beauty of custom BI software is that it’s built to meet your exact requirements. For this reason, a good software development company will always start by understanding your business goals. Once those are quantified, it’s time to design the system that will best achieve those aims.

Some of the questions we often ask at this stage are:

• do you have a data platform or does one need to be built?
• what variety of data formats do you need to integrate?
• are there any regulatory restraints on data management?
• what online analytical processing tools (OLAP) are needed?
• should the BI portal be accessible on mobile or only desktop?
• what level of technical skill does your user base have?

By answering dozens more questions covering cost, security, performance, and more, we build a complete picture of the software required.

2. BI portal development

Depending on the plan established in stage one, the development process can include:

• designing an integrated data warehouse or data lake
• extract, transform, and load (ETL) data integration design
• integrating data from on-premises and cloud-based BI software
• building custom user interfaces, dashboards, and query tools

3. Software handover

After technical testing and user approval, it’s important to smooth the transition to your new BI portal. A well-designed portal will be user-friendly, but it still helps to show staff the functionality before they get started. A brief training session is usually enough to get employees up to speed.

Real-life BI portal examples

As both BI developers and web portal specialists, clients often engage us to deliver custom BI portal solutions. To get an idea of what we can achieve, take a look at the recent projects below.

• Kent County Council tackles climate change with custom reporting software
• Logistics company boosts BI performance through data warehouse migration
• Manufacturer streamlines warranty claims with an ERP integration solution

The post When is a bespoke business intelligence portal better than off-the-shelf BI software? appeared first on egforit Software.

Microsoft Power BI has seen important changes with the Power BI update July and August 2018. On the basis of user feedback, Power BI has been improved with new features for better functionality.

So what’s new in Power BI?

Power BI Features Update

As one of the leading BI consultancies in Cairo, we at egforit Software are excited to promote the new features in Power BI. Recent months have brought extra functionality and user-friendly improvements to please mobile and service users.

The features of the Power BI update July and August 2018 include improvements in visuals, filters, data gateway, and multi-geo capabilities. Read on to browse the full details of the Power BI update July and August 2018.

Explore Our Services on the Power BI Site

Preview: Multi-Geo Support for Power BI Premium

July saw Microsoft announcing a public preview of Multi-Geo for Power BI Premium.

Multi-Geo enables Power BI administrators to deploy a Premium capacity to one of nine geo locations globally. In the current preview, your Power BI datasets and cached queries are stored in the region you choose for your capacity. Dataset credentials and Excel workbooks, along with other additional metadata, are stored in the geo associated with your Power BI tenant.

Power BI plans to migrate this functionality into the Multi-Geo capacities within the coming months.

APIs and PowerShell Cmdlets

IT administrators can now effectively govern their Power BI deployment with a new set of Admin APIs, along with a .NET SDK and a PowerShell module. These functions give administrators visibility into every aspect of their BI environments.

Persistent Filters on Custom Visuals

After the introduction of persistent filters in March, Microsoft has now introduced this for reports with custom visuals as well.

Visuals now supported with persistent filters are:

• Chiclet slicer
• Hierarchy slicer
• Timeline slicer
• Attribute slicer

Preview: New Workspaces Experience

The app workgroup preview shows that it will be easier to manage access to workspaces through security groups, distribution lists, and O365 groups.

These changes will empower large enterprises to easily manage their BI content at scale.

Custom Visuals API v1.1 and Older Deprecation

Microsoft announced that custom visual API version 1.1 and older will be deprecated from September 1, with support remaining for API 1.2 and later.

Power BI Report URL Filter Improvements

Users can now define more complex query string parameters with enhanced URL filtering capabilities on reports. This enables the creation of shortcuts to pre-filtered reports and also providing hyperlinks to consumers.

On-Premises Data Gateway July and August Update

The custom data connectors in the Enterprise gateway, announced in the July release, have continued to improve in the latest release of the on-premises data gateway.

Preview: Power BI Premium Capacity Monitoring

The Premium Capacity Monitoring app enables capacity administrators to monitor the health of premium capacities and spot any factors that might affect end users.

The app displays all dataset refreshes, dataset evictions, and queries in the capacity for the preceding seven days, alongside system metrics.

Single Sign-On in Power BI Mobile Windows App

With single sign-on (SSO), you can access all applications and resources through a single user account. You can now use your primary organisational account to sign in to your domain-joined devices and Power BI Service.

Phone Report Layout Editing in Power BI Service

You can now create phone report layout directly from Power BI Service. It’s as simple as switching to edit mode and clicking the Mobile Layout option in the top bar.

Phone Drill-Through for Table and Matrix Visuals

Mobile users can access the drill actions with Table and Matrix support for tooltips.

Any Questions about Power BI Features?

For further details of the Power BI update, visit the Microsoft Power BI blog. Want to know more? Our dedicated Power BI team is on hand to answer any inquiries about features of the Power BI update July and August 2018, licensing, and business benefits.

Get Answers from the Power BI Experts

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Thousands of clients, small and large, have transformed their businesses with egforit Software’s BI services over the past 20 years. At the same time, we understand that business intelligence offerings are rapidly evolving, and work to ensure our clients stay ahead of the competition.

Power BI is an agile BI tool that provides SaaS insights for both growing business and enterprise teams. To ensure our clients get the very best ROI from Power BI, we provide consultancy and support services to ensure your teams and your business get the best out of the amazing Power BI toolset.

Are you ready to optimise your business? Find out how to leverage the ever-growing volumes of data that are crucial to keeping your market edge.

Visit Our Power BI Services Website

egforit Software’s Power BI support and consultancy services are based on years of experience, and thousands of successful BI implementations. Our priority is maximising your system’s suitability to your business processes, resulting in fewer man-hours and higher ROI.

Power BI software is a SaaS-based online service, first released in 2015. Businesses can use Power BI Desktop to create powerful connections, models, and reports for sharing on Power BI.

The service has persisted in the highly competitive BI market because of its flexibility and ability to work with a wide range of software. The egforit Software team is expertly qualified to design the optimum Power BI Services for you.

Eminently Integrated

One of the major benefits of Power BI is its wide connectivity. Businesses can consult us on the best use of Power BI with sources such as Excel, Azure, CSV, Web Pages, MySQL, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sharepoint Lists, Oracle, Salesforce, and MailChimp.

Cloud Connections, On-Premise Possibilities

While Power BI is primarily a cloud-based analytics service, on-premise options such as on-premise Power BI Report Server are available. Other on-premise solutions include the Data Management Gateway and Power BI Mobile Apps, meaning there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Into the Azure

Connectivity with Azure cloud services such as Azure HDInsight, Azure Blob Storage, and Azure Table Storage make Power BI a powerful tool for refining data. egforit Software’s accredited trainers and skilled implementation specialists are primed to assess your needs and provide effective solutions.

Power BI Services Website

You can visit our Power BI services website to find out a little more about Power BI options. Or, if you are looking for more agnostic Business Intelligence consultancy, advice or solutions, why not ask have a chat with our Business Intelligence team to find out what options would best suit your business.

Discover Your Best BI Options – Ask Our Experts

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Business Intelligence software is now mandatory for organisations wanting to enjoy strategic and profitable growth. BI is the only way to support and sustain lean and agile operating systems.

However, company growth doesn’t just come from better efficiency. Successful organisations have a vision. They also have the confidence to innovate and take well-planned risks. Does that mean business inspiration relies on the best data analytics tools as well?

What If You Contacted egforit about Cognos Analytics?

BI and ‘Out Of The Box’ Thinking

IBM Cognos Analytics is a great launch pad for business discussions and thinking that includes a “What if…?” Businesses that thrive on innovation are constantly looking for new product or service ideas, as well as new markets to pursue. In that case, the last thing you need is an ocean of information to navigate – or a complicated piece of software with whistles and bells.

When inspiration is one of your driving business needs, having a centralised, easy-to-use business dashboard helps cut through data quickly. For example, you can use IBM Cognos to design and create your own intuitive BI dashboard. Configure it to provide the sort of autonomous and simple-to-access analytics that are your specific “food for thought”.

Be warned though: not all BI offerings have this “self-service” flexibility and versatility.

Team Inspiration and Collaboration

Inspired and inspirational companies know the importance of unlocking the creativity and motivation of their team. Some of your potentially profitable “What if…?” leads may come from anywhere in your organisation. Your teams need a tool that is readily available to explore and share ideas. That’s another reason why choosing the right BI system is crucial.

For example, IBM Cognos Analytics provides quick access to information via its drag and drop dashboard, that any user can navigate on any device. They can hop on for either enterprise-wide reporting or “dip in” to specific areas of interest or concern.

As it’s web- or cloud-based, users can then report, share, and collaborate on their ideas instantly. So “What if” IBM Cognos Analytics could deliver this and more? You need never miss a good idea again!

For Data You Didn’t Know You Needed

You can hit a brick wall in your innovation. Creativity can dry up. This is another time when data analytics can become your “new best friend”. For example, IBM Cognos Analytics is particularly adept at drilling down into data and uncovering information your organisation may have previously missed. In fact, you could end up with insights you didn’t even realise you needed!

Having access to these hidden depths and angles can make a big difference in well-informed and confident decisions. And for answering the question, “What if….?”

‘What If’ IBM Cognos Analytics Has the Answers You Need?

What if you contacted egforit Software to find out more about IBM Cognos Analytics? There’s one way to find out.

egforit Software is an IBM Egypt , middle east Partner. We offer complete IBM Cognos Solutions: IBM Cognos Licence Sales, IBM Consultancy, and even Cognos Analytics support packages to suit.

HULFT-transfer.co.Egypt , middle eastQuestions about Cognos Analytics?

The post What If IBM Cognos Analytics Could Answer Your Business Intelligence Questions? appeared first on egforit Software.

IBM Planning Analytics Flavours

Get the Predictive Powers of IBM Planning Analytics

Give Your Business Predictive Powers

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Can The Lack Of Training Impact Business?

Consider this, would the world’s number one golfer or tennis star go straight into an important competition or match with new clubs or a new style racket without having tried them out first and practised with them? I very much doubt it.

The performance will suffer, more mistakes are made. This will impact on the result.

It is the same in any business. Just giving your workforce the right tools to do the job won’t magically provide the desired results unless they get the proper training to use them.

The bottom line is, training increases user adoption and improves performance.

If your business invests in new software, upgrades to a more recent version, or even brings in new staff, without training performance will suffer. If you want to both protect the investment and drive results, the most effective way to do that is through timely and efficient training.

Find SAP BusinessObjects Training Courses

What Are The Benefits Of Quality Training?

So, what are some of the main reasons behind training your staff?

• Increased job satisfaction and morale among employees
• Improved employee motivation and engagement
• Enhanced efficiency in processes, resulting in financial gain
• Improved capacity to adopt new technologies and methods
• Greater innovation in strategies and products
• Reduced employee turnover and absenteeism
• Improved skills improve business quality: Results, services or products will improve.

Business Benefits Of Training Can Include:

• Improved Bottom Line
  Improving efficiency, productivity and profitability will ultimately improve the bottom line.
• Improved Flexibility, Competitiveness and ability to Adapt
  Just as the latest golf club or racket can give a player the edge, so can new business tools – but if they are not used properly the advantage is lost. Allowing teams to implement new technology correctly not only improves direct results, it increases take-up of new strategies and ideas. Improved ability to embrace new trends and technologies creates better business flexibility. without suffering from skill shortages
• More opportunities for Business Growth
• Better customer satisfaction
• Better internal communication and leadership
• Less waste and reduced need for external costs

When Do Staff Need Training?

• New software purchases
• Upgrading to newer versions of old software
• Migrating Systems
• New staff, staff changing teams or promotion to new roles
• To “pilot”, or test, the operation of a new system
• When a performance appraisal indicates performance improvement is needed
• As part of an overall professional development program
• Succession planning, to help employees be eligible for organisational role change

Now we have in mind the benefits of training and when it may be needed, what is the best way to roll out your training plan?

Different Learning Styles

There are many different ways in which staff learn and we don’t all learn quickly or well by sitting alone with a text book! To ensure staff get the right training to suit their needs, different learning models have been defined to help understand how they learn.

One popular model explains that the vast majority of people fit into 1 of 3 learning styles. These 3 styles are visual learners, audio learners and kinaesthetic learners.

Visual Learner

• Uses visual objects such as graphs, charts, pictures and likes seeing information
• Can read body language well and has a good perception of aesthetics
• Able to memorise and recall various information
• Tends to remember things that are written down
• Learns better in lectures by watching

Audio Learner

• Retains information through hearing and speaking
• Often prefers to be told how to do things and then summarises the main points out loud
• Notices different aspects of speaking

Kinaesthetic Learner

• Likes to use the hands-on approach to learning new material
• Would rather demonstrate how to do something rather than verbally explain it
• Prefers group work more than others

It is important to ensure when looking for staff training that the course leader fully understands the material and topic, but is also agile in adapting and incorporating different teaching methods into the training to suit.

Targeted Training – Goals And Planning

Now we understand how people learn, the next issue to address is what do they need to know.
Good trainers always answer vital questions when putting a training plan together.

• What are your training goals for this session?
  • New skills
  • New techniques for old skills
  • Better workplace behaviour
• Who is being trained?
  • New employees
  • Seasoned employees
  • Upper management
• What is your training budget?
• How much time has been allocated for training within your organisation?

All of the above questions should be able to be answered after a detailed Training Needs Analysis has taken place (which we will be covering in our next Training Blog instalment)

Back To School? Rediscover The Classroom

In summary – Business Training for staff is often overlooked, either as a cost or time-saving. However training isn’t just important to any company, it is vital.
The mid and long term business benefits of training drive down costs, boost efficiency and performance, which all improve the bottom line. Staff feel the benefit, engagement rises and turnover drops. Everyone wins.

Identifying the need for training is just the first step. Getting the right training is the real secret to success.

Choose A Training Company With Experience

Not only a breadth and depth knowledge of the course content but also a great ability to understanding the needs and requirements of your staff. It’s why we ensure our course leaders have years of experience under their belts, both using the software and delivering sessions to groups of all sizes, abilities and needs.

Check The Course Has Positive User Feedback

It’s one thing for a business having a great training sales pitch, but it’s another to have proof. It is important to look for training providers that have positive feedback from actual course users.

egforit invite all those who train with us to provide feedback via CourseCheck. An independent 3rd party that allows verified course users to post reviews about the courses they take. So you can be sure that all the good feedback for egforit Training is genuine!

There are many delivery styles available to cater for the training needs of your organisation, but based on the learning styles that people have, there is only one that can meet them all in one go.
It’s time to go back to school and rediscover the classroom!

	Ask About egforit Training
Contact egforit’s Training Team Email: training@egforit.com Tel: 0207 337 6136 Or complete the form below to arrange a call-back. [contact-form-7]

The post Why Bother Training Staff? How Can You Make It Effective? appeared first on egforit Software.

SAP released their latest version of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.2 earlier this year to a great reception from business users and IT teams alike. It’s very likely you’ve heard about the release but have you properly considered how much of an impact upgrading to 4.2 could have on your business?

If you haven’t already it’s time to set your sights on this major release. In this article we explore what exactly has SAP improved and look at the killer features that make this the most accessible and user friendly BO version we have ever seen. We cover the key improvements, consider how this release will boost your ‘analytical’ organisation – and why you should consider upgrading right now.

Simply Empowered: SAP Business Intelligence

SAP has been at the forefront of BI software for many years. They understand that user needs evolve quickly and it is clear they have been listening to feedback. They know users want easy to use but ever faster and more capable BI. So it was no surprise that with BusinessObjects BI 4.2 they have delivered a stronger BI experience for all.

The driving force behind SAP’s latest release theme was this: Simplify and Empower.

The aim: to make it easier for your business teams to understand business performance and to make your business faster and more agile.

Our experience so far has confirmed that BusinessObjects BI 4.2 certainly delivers. Using the new release feels far simpler and more intuitive than previous versions. This is achieved using a raft of new features, enhancements, more geospatial capabilities and now with capabilities to connect to SAP BW and SAP HANA. It is clear that SAP are true to their core guiding principle: to help customers RUN SIMPLE!

Talk to SAP Gold Partners egforit Software about SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2

Running Intelligent Business, Simply

SAP’s RUN SIMPLE principle actually makes a lot of sense, especially when applied to Business Intelligence. Taking a step back we can all see how, in practically every industry, the pace of technological change around us has become exponential. The ever growing mountain of data this creates leads to new challenges and opportunities. For some companies not set up to cope the gap between data and access, between IT departments and Business users has grown. But If your business is to compete (and ideally thrive) you need to access this data in a practical and useful way. Intelligent Business Analytics built within a solid landscape are now vital toolsets for organisations.

However, in the face of this data tidal wave, BI Analytics software has become ever more complex and unwieldy. Many solutions are now so IT Resource hungry and so convoluted that front end BI admin users rarely get the full benefits of these essential tools. All while the demand for better, more agile information grows.

SAP realised that if their users really were to use analytical insights as the foundation of their business, to empower business users, they must be made simpler.

The result: SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.2.

3 Core Themes Key To Improvements

Beyond RUN SIMPLE, the particular recipe SAP chose to bake into the 4.2 release was centred upon 3 core ingredients:

	Simplify Easier to use and manage, for BI Admins and IT. Empower everyone with analytics, boost collaboration Access in the cloud One vendor Partner for all your analytics needs
	Enhance Improved capabilities and tools New methods to access data and boost productivity Integrate your current source systems Reuse and expand platforms
	Innovate Enhanced customisation Reveal hidden opportunities and risks Improved developer experience Anticipate and plan future outcomes

Which Users Benefit From SAP BOBJ 4.2?

It’s safe to say everyone who upgrades to the latest BusinessObjects version will benefit. There are however key users whose roles will be substantially improved, including:

	Business Users, Designers & Analysts All BI users benefit from increased responsiveness, including those using: SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence SAP BusinessObjects Lumira SAP Crystal Solutions
	IT Administrators Managing and optimising platform performance Easier upgrades and installs Reduced workload and costs
	Ecosystem & Development Partners Those looking to extend the value and capabilities of the integrated BI platform Help business drive better decision making across the organisation

Enhanced, Improved – Simple Wins

OK, so that’s the overarching theory on how SAP are pushing to remain top of the BI market with BOBJ 4.2. What about the actual technical enhancements, the new features, and how do they benefit users? Well, where to start? There are extra mobile BI capabilities, better self-discovery tools and new geospatial capabilities. Then there are boosted cloud solutions, integration with the powerful in-memory platform HANA, and an all-round simplification of portfolio. All of these extra enhancements could put extra pressure on the BusinessObjects core – so that is what SAP focused upon first.

Improved Stability and Capability

SAP BusinessObjects has a solid history. In our internal tests the environment has proven reliable. It is clear BI4.2 is the culmination of core stability and capability improvements built upon several key innovations and incremental product advances we saw in BI4.1.

Main New Features in SAP BO 4.2

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform 4.2 includes

• Recycle Bin
  When users deletes an item from the BOE system, it’s now moved into the “Recycle Bin” and an administrator can recover the files. Items will be stored there only until the bin is emptied, which may have a time-limit or happen on set days – at which time the files are permanently deleted.
• BI Commentary Service
  A new CMC application that allows document users to collaborate, to comment on any of the data/statistics accessible in a given document.
• Restful Web Services APIs for Publication
  A whole raft of nifty new tools allow the management of:
  • Users and User groups
  • Publications, files and scheduling
  • Queries, Server and Jobs statistics, Content and Application usage, and more
• BI Administrators’ Cockpit
  Another new CMC application. Administrators can collect basic data about the BI environment. You can also obtain information about Servers, Scheduled Jobs, Applications and Content Usage
• Selectively retrieve objects from an LCMBIAR file
  Selectively retrieve objects from an LCMBIAR file. This requires that the user has the introduction of ‘Edit LCMBIAR’ right. When you selectively retrieve objects from an LCMBIAR file, a new job with the selected objects is created.

SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence 4.2 includes

• Element Sharing
• Parallel Queries, Data Provider Refresh
• Enabled BI Commentary Services
• Geo Maps and Visual Extensions
  • Good looking and insightful dashboards can be created, using ESRI maps or google maps. Any map that has an URL can be now used to cross geospatial information and our own data
• Direct Access to HANA
  • View HANA data without having to export it!
    SAPs strategy is to avoid copying, or making data redundant – which is why 4.2 tools can connect with BW. For users already on HANA and S4HANA, there are now unique capabilities to connect.

SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise 4.2 includes

• BarCode and QR Code Support
• Waterfall Charts
• Vertical Alignment of Text
• The Information Design Tool: 2 new enhancements
  • Linked Universes
    A means of linking a universe to one or more core universes, allowing the re-use of components from those universes’ business layers and data foundations.
  • Authored BW BEx Universes
    SAP Business Explorer (BEx) authored universes – a way of building and saving universes on BEx queries, using the BICS connector.

Other changes and improvements  include:

• New Licence Keys
  To upgrade to BI4.1 users need to activate a new licence key
• Dashboards and Presentation Design Improved Access
  • 64 Bit systems support
  • Filter components can now be viewed in new formats
• Improved install/uninstall performance
  • Enhanced installation or uninstallation finish screen of BI 4.2
  • Faster to setup
• New: Audit Web Service Clients
  AnalysisOffice, Xcelsius and other Web Service clients that use Web Services consumer SDK can now be audited in BO 4.2.
• Add New Languages
  When upgrading to SAP BI 4.2 you can now add a new language by modifying your BI platform installation during the upgrade.
• New Data Access Support added
  This includes new access for:>
  • HANA SPS10 and PowerPC
  • Hadoop Hive 0.14
  • Amazon EMR Hive 0.13
  • Cloudera Impala – CDH 5.2 (0.13 and 0.14)
  • Apache Spark (JDBC and ODBC)
  • Greenplum 4.3
  • IBM (IDS 12.1 (ECS France) and Netezza 7.2 (support 7.1 by reference)

Further SAP Resources: Find Out More

What’s New – SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Suite Document Version: 4.2
A 22 page pdf (xKb) outlining key components of BI4.2

SAP BusinessObjects BI4.2 What’s New L0 (pdf xKb)
A HIGH LEVEL presentation (35 pages) covering the key components and features of the BI4.2 release

SAP BusinessObjects BI4.2 What’s New L2 (pdf xKb)
A DETAILED presentation going (147 pages) covering the components and features of the BI4.2 release

Video: SAP Business Objects BI: What’s New in Release 4.2?
Extensive YouTube video posted by SAP BusinessObjects Analytics (59:24 ~ An hour long video)

For 25 years egforit Software has delivered quality business software & data solutions from within the Egypt , middle east.
egforit Software provide software solutions for any IT project you need to deliver successfully.
If you would like to talk to us about a Business Intelligence solution, SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 Licences, SAP BOBJ Consultant, SAP BOBJ Implementation or SAP BOBJ Training please contact us.Visit our Cairo team in the world famous Searcys rooftop bar of our landmark 30 St Mary Axe (City) site or visit us at our Kent and Glasgow offices.

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