SytePower Information

[Chris Kelleher]

Hello All,

We are currently reviewing the functionality of SytePower and need to understand how it can be utilized in a multi-site environment. If you have experience with this product and offer any in-site, I would be interested in hearing from you.

Catherine Legros.

 

[Chris Kelleher]

Catherine,

I've spent a little time working with SytePower (Business Intelligence).
The manual says it should only be installed by Syteline Personnel. They
leave out a few helpful hints on how to install it to enforce this
proclamation. Once installed and working, I thought it was entirely to
complicated for the average Syteline user.

I thought I could work my way through the product but due to other
commitments, I keep getting taken away to other tasks. We've decided to
have a guy spend a few days in here helping us figure out the tricks and
finish our evaluation.

We are a multi-site company. One of the good things about SytePower is that
it allows you to work with multiple ODBC databases where most products
don't.

Not much help but it's my three days experience.

Butch Fralia

 

[Chris Kelleher]

I didn't use SytePower in a multi-site environment, but what we found was
that it was too slow to run any reports other than HR (which has fewer
records). We don't use it for anything else.

 

[Chris Kelleher]

I am also new to SytePower - correct me if I am wrong.

It sounds like you were running reports against the live database
(Interactive Reporter) instead of the off-line "cubes" (Information
Analyzer). The latter is very responsive.

Chris Mitchell
I.S. Manager, Huffman Corporation

 

[Chris Kelleher]

Hello Peggers,

So far, we have been almost totally unable to produce any meaningful reports from SytePower. It is difficult to get helpful support on the product, and you sometimes must obtain new driver software (ODBC) in order to allow it to handle long
file names, for example. Symix Tech Support now tells us that we are "pushing the envelope."

If I can extract and format the data I need with Progress Results, why should I fight with this very complex SytePower system, and then put up with limitations that prevent the production of the reports that my management needs.

If we don't start seeing some benefit from this product very soon, we will abandon it.

- Richard Clemmons
Director of I.T.
Fairchild Fasteners - Fullerton Operations

 

[Chris Kelleher]

Amen! It's clear that a lot of technical skills are required in order to
utilize this product. You can forget turning it over to a user(s). Heavy I.T.
involvement is required to use the SytePower system.

- Richard Clemmons

 

[Chris Kelleher]

I agree. If you have to have heavy IT and administration involvement, you
may as well go ahead and use Progress.

Curtis Patterson

 

[Chris Kelleher]

Hello,

Please remember that there are (at least) two pieces to Sytepower:

First piece is Interactive Reporter (IR) which is just another report
writer. Functionality is comparable to Results, but in query mode it can
serve as data source for Information analyzer, which is the second (major)
component.

Information Analyzer (IA) is where Sytepower shines, and no other report
writer is even remotely capable of what it can do.

IA Implementation is not a user function. You need to design data sources
based on reporting requirements. Data source can be IR query, which we don't
use. We mostly use CSV export files, generated with Progress reports. Once
you have data source, you build the model using Transformer. Based on the
model, Transformer generates data cube from data source. Data cube is what
you "slice and dice" with Information Analyzer.

Another problem is the end user training. They are just not used to what IA
can provide, and are usually quite overwhelmed. You provide them with a
chart, and that's the way they look at it. It is a single chart to them,
they don't realize how much information is stored in it.

Check on Cognos web site, they have been doing free seminars in New Horizons
training centers, maybe they will do it again. Very well worth it, I would
say at least $1200.

Walter.

 

[Chris Kelleher]

Forwarded for Marty Rhodes ...

Response to a number of questions/comments/and others to the below...

- SytePower/Business Intelligence (BI) is very easy to install on the
client, pretty easy to install on the server (with proper documentation)
- YES, it is a technical product. Building cubes should be left to the IT
dept. I believe SytePower was originally perceived in the market as a
"report writing" tool. It is not just a report writing tool. The real
value lies in the analysis capabilities through the data marts (cubes) built
using the whole suite of apps included with BI.
-The tools are extremely easy to learn and use. The real
difficulty/learning curve revolves around understanding the SyteLine schema
and the potential for complex logic required for some queries. Herein lies
the rub. BI is not the be all/end all reporting product. You should use
the right tool for the job. Sometimes you might use Results, sometimes BI,
sometimes you do it with a Progress program. It depends what the USER
wants/needs.
- Depending on what the USER needs, you can consolidate data from multiple
sites into a single data mart.
- Although ODBC is nice for connecting to multiple db's, it's painfully, and
I do emphasize painfully, slow. This is simply a function of the overhead
associated with using an ODBC adapter. We use Progress .p's to extract raw
data from db's which is then input into Transformer to build the cubes.

Bottom line - BI is an extremely powerful tool if used for what it was
intended, analyzing data in multiple dimensions with the flexibility to
dynamically alter the view by the user. (ie. Viewing cubes). If you want
a reporting writing tool, BI will do it, but so will Results and Progress.
If you don't expect your user community to build their own reports using
Results or Progress, don't expect them to do it with BI.

Marty Rhodes
Single Source Systems, Inc.

 

[Chris Kelleher]

We'd be real interested in that "proper documentation" if you could point us
in the right direction!

Butch Fralia