Business Intelligence (BI) Portal

The Business Intelligence Portal provides the framework that unites several of our products. Features specific to the BI Portal are listed first and then features for each included product are listed.

1. Security:
   • Authentication - users can access the application in a secured way from anywhere in the World over the Internet.
   • Forms Based Authentication - BI Portal Custom security integreated with MS Analysis Server, MS Reporting Services
   • Active Directory Based Authentication
   • SSRS Server - Customer Forms or Windows Integrated
   • SSRS Security and delivery extensions are provided for Internet deployments
   • SQL Server - SQL Security or Windows Integrated
   • Delegation - Delegation is NOT required since it imposes a major security risk
2. Authorization: The solution supports three levels of security granularity:
   • Analysis Server - cube data can be secured on a "per User" basis;
   • Analysis Server - cube data can be secured at the Role/Group level;
   • Analysis Server - anyone can access the data through impersonated account
   • SQL Server - SQL Security or Windows Integrated
   • Report Server - Customer Forms or Windows Integrated
3. Storage:
   • SQL Server Storage Engine
   • Reporting Services Storage Engine
4. Users:
   • Personalization and Membership
   • Multi Language Support
   • Internationalization - Currency and Date/Time Formats
   • Custom Color Themes
   • Presentation and Management solution in one
5. Additional Features:
   • Silverlight based application with interactive GUI
   • Distributed computing - presentation drawings and data processing executed on the client
   • Self Updating application
   • Windows Application or Web Site Based Application
   • Extensible container to host other Silverlight applications
6. Business Intelligence Companion:
   • Object Usage - Dimensions, Hierarchies, Levels, and Measures can be placed on rows and columns.
   • Filtering - Paginated filters work in simple and advance modes. Batch lookups and properties-search are available. Context filtering allows only relevant members to be displayed.
   • Instant Filters - Interactive selections of members allow for instant filtering. Level drill downs and up is available for easy navigation. Auto-play will iterate over the selected member based on a preset interval.
   • Sorting - Both rows and columns members can be sorted at the same time. Measures can be sorted within the hierarchy or on the whole set. Alternative sorting is done for Time members.
   • Actions - All actions types are supported: 1) SSRS in-place report viewing; 2) HTML links; 3) Datasets; 4) HTML fragments. 4) Drillthrus. Available-actions indicators are placed in the cell corners.
   • KPIs - All KPIs indicators are supported, including the new ones for SQL 2012.
   • Sessionless - All MDX statements are self-contained so the solution can run on a session-less load-balanced SSAS farm. Note: Writeback operations require session affinity.
   • Bandwidth - The solution has been optimized for bandwidth usage. All traffic is compressed by default. No IIS configurations are needed. Reports can be compressed as well for lower storage requirements. Low-bandwidth configurations are available with advance settings.
   • Network Monitor - The user can check at any time how much bandwidth has been used by the software.
   • Performance Monitor - The administrator can configure the software to allow the user to check on the server current performance. CPU%, Disk%, Memory%, and SSAS counters are exposed via the UI.
   • Pagination - Server-based pagination is fully supported. Both the grid and filter results can be paginated.
   • Localization - The solution is fully localizable. This includes the UI, the metadata, the dimension members, and the formatted values. All available visual aids are locale aware so currency and date formats are automatically applied. Multiple currencies are supported at the same time.
   • Server Formatting - All the formatting instructions from the server are honored by the software. This includes: cell formatted values, text color, filter requirements, etc. The metadata tree node icons are also based on the type of the object. This allows the user to quickly identify dimensions of interest.
   • Mobile Devices - The software automatically detects mobile devices and renders the output to HTML5 format. iPad, iPod, Android, WP7, Win8 tablets are supported for report and dashboard viewing.
   • Drillthrus - The software supports multi-coordinate drillthrus. Any filters are applied to the drillthru results.
   • Writebacks - "What-if" analysis is available. Both Permanent and Temporary cube updates are supported.
   • Maps - Two types of maps are supported: file-based and GIS. Integration with BingMasp is also available. The solution comes with 500+ Map files and 2.5GB GIS database. Custom shapes and Shapefiles are also supported.
   • Excel - There are two ways to export data to Excel. The first one is a data export; filters, maps, and charts are also exported. The second one is an export of the connection string so the user can continue browsing the cube in Excel. Note: Custom security is supported for Excel cube browsing over the Internet.
   • Localcubes - The software allows the user to slice the cube and take the sub-cube offline. Security is enforced so only the allowed data is exported. The user continues browsing the offline data in the same way as the connected data. Note: export of calculated measures is supported.
   • Charts - The user can view the data in a grid or via charts. Numerous options are available for formatting the charts. Multi-chart layouts are also offered by grouping on Series or Measures.
   • Visual Aids - The data can be explored by using various visual UI elements: Heat Maps, Decompisition Charts, 3D cube explorer, Measure and Dimension Explorers, Cluster Explorer, etc. The filters are in effect for all the elements. Components can be removed from the UI via configuration settings.
   • Configuration Options - The administrator has full control over the user interface and the included elements. The deployment is done on the server and is in effect the next time the user logs in.
   • OOB Mode - Out-Of-Browser deployment is available. The software is self-updating.
   • Calculations - Calculated Members and Named Sets are fully supported. The user can chose to save the new calculations in the metadata tree and reuse them later. Common calculations are also exposed by clicking on a cell: Time Calculation, %-based, moving averages, etc.
   • Grid - The grid rendering is virtualized for better performance. The rows and columns are frozen; the cell location is highlighted. Widths and Heights resizing are persisted in the report.
   • Property Slicing - The software offers slicing and dicing of data based on Properties. The user can filter data based on the Property values for a given member.
   • Image Data - Image data is fully supported. It can be seen in the members properties, cell values, KPIs, dimension properties, and Actions. GIF, TIFF, PNG, BMP, and JPEG are supported formats.
   • Debugging - The software uses only industry standards: HTTP, XMLA, and SOAP. HTTP monitors can be used to observe the communications and troubleshoot the issue at hand. It is an opened-box system.
   • SQL 2012 - Both multidimensional and tabular modes are supported.
   • SSRS integration - The solution can be tightly integrated with SSRS. One-click SSAS-to-SSRS report conversions are available. In-place report viewing can be also done via cell Actions.
   • Dashboards - The software comes with Dashboard Designer. The user can design reports using various UI elements: maps, grids, charts, filters, SSRS report, media files, heatmaps, gauges, text, geometrical shapes, and more. The dashboards can be parameterized so the user can interact with them. Mobile devices can supported via HTML5.
   • SSRS - The user can create, design, publish, and administer reports from the application. Multiple servers are supported as well as transferring objects between them. SQL, Oracle, and SSAS are supported for data sources. Each data source can be explored as a hierarchy of objects, from which the user can drag-n-drop during the report creation.
   • Data Mining - The software allows for exploring of data mining algorithms. Various charts and elements are available for visualizing the data. All Microsoft algorithms are supported. Predictions and Lift Charts are also included. Export of DM data to files is also available.
   • Offline Data - Only authorized data is exported in Localcubes. Encryption of the localcube file is also available.
   • Managers and Analysts have a simple way for reporting and analyzing the business data.
   • Top management can easily monitor Key Performance Indicators
   • No special skills required to create custom reports and get the data needed for managerial decisions.
   • Zero Deployment. Either use it off our web site, or install a local copy on your IIS server at your network. There is no desktop installation, no custom controls to deploy, no management and support with the setup, no updates to each workstation, no issues whatsoever. Just copy and paste the files into a virtual directory on your web server and the Silverlight BI Companion is ready to go.
   • Hosted Secured Solution – the Silverlight BI Companion utilizes Active Directory integrated security. So even if you use it off our web site, you are still secured. Here is how: The Silverlight BI Companion executes on your local machine (Internet Explorer) and connects to your local network to your local data sources uses your logged in credentials. Nothing ever leaves your network.
   • Locally Deployed Secured Solution – the Silverlight BI Companion can also be deployed on your internal IIS servers (just copy and paste files, no special installation), and your internal users can use an internal link to access and browse your corporate cubes.
   • Best of all, use it for free only, directly off our web site.
   • Virtually zero involvement from IT to deploy, support or manage this solution.
   • Silverlight based application with interactive GUI
   • Save your reports for later use or share with your colleagues.
   • Self Updating application.
   • Export your reports to Excel, or directly connect from Excel.
   • Never have to write one line of code or understand the complexity behind the scenes that makes it all work.
   • Comply with security requirements, by fully hosting the solution on your network (restrict access traffic based on IP addresses).
   • Browse the cubes remotely over HTTPS enabled connections or VPN. Have access to what you need from anywhere – in the office or on the road.
   • Enjoy the fully integrated Charts, Graphs and Maps
   • Now you can get the answers that you need without having to reach for IT support and services. Making informed better decisions just got easier with the Silverlight BI Companion.
   • Silverlight BI Companion is a multidimensional, data analysis and reporting software application for Microsoft Analysis Server based cubes.
   • Supported Languages - English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Bulgarian

The Business Intelligence Portal allows companies to centralize their reporting resources into one easy to use system. It is a combination of several products that each target specific need, and it can be easily extended to allow for additional products to be integrated into the solution. The BI Portal provides the underlying security, the storage engine, the presentation and delivery that all of the components share.

	Silverlight Business Intelligence Companion – the first truly no installation, web-based application for quickly browsing and analyzing OLAP cubes. You won't be able to find anything faster than the BI Companion. If you know how to use your mouse, you are ready to delve into your data. Creating reports and dashboards is a matter of minutes now. Drag and Drop functionality makes the BI Companion user friendly for users of all technical levels.
	Report Server Companion – Finally a tool that requires no installation, no maintenance and allows you to browse MS Report Server reports, and create your own reports. No need to be a report designer or developer. Quickly drag and drop a stored procedure or create an SQL statement, adjust the parameters and your report is ready and deployed on the MS Report Server. Managing the Report Server is just as easy. Depending on your privileges right clicking on any item will dynamically show you what you are allowed to do with it, including setting security, caching parameters, backups, restore, export and so much more.
	Report Server Viewer – The RS Viewer allows you to browse RS reports in a Silverlight Application. The Viewer makes direct calls to the Report Services interface thus preserving end user security. No middle tier, no scalability issues.
	Interactive Dashboards– Enterprise Software Solutions' interactive dashboards are flexible to create and easy to use. Support has been extended to allow for SSRS reports, images, BI Companion Reports, text documents, xml files and more. Start by selecting the panes positioning – free form or grid based. Then drag and drop onto the panes to populate them. Drop over the same pane multiple items and select the rotation interval, to make panes auto-rotate content. Save the dashboard. Right click and copy the URL then paste it into any browser to see the dashboard.
	Data Mining Companion – no more battling with complex MDX and SQL Statements. This tool allows users to mine data like they've never before imagined, creating scenarios and evaluating results with the click of a mouse. The interactive user interface allows users to visualize complex algorithms and make them easy to understand.
	Interactive Charts and Maps - Real-Time Charts, Over 500 Maps, Advanced Tooltips (Image & Text), Custom Chart Type Integration, 3D Support, Rotation and Shadow and just some of the features allowing BI Portal users to better visualize the data.

Enterprise Software Solutions provides software support related to the purchased product at no additional cost. Most of the submitted bugs and requests are addressed and resolved within 48 hours. Recommendations and New Feature Requests are added on a TODO list and addressed after being reviewed and approved.

• Initial overview of your environment, security, servers, deployment, setup, and configuration
• Recommendation on product deployment – stand alone, failover cluster, web farm
• Initial configuration of the product
• Initial overview of configurable options, discussion, review and help with decision making on default values
• Initial training on how to use the product, get you started on report creation, sharing, and depending on your storage engine on report delivery and sharing
• 1 year of support directly related to the product in included with initial purchase
• Yearly renewal extends the support and new versions updates for 1 year

• Staging, Development, Academic and additional Cluster Node licenses are at 50% the original product price
• Multi-language support and translation as necessary
• Yearly renewal prices for support and new versions are 50% of the original product cost

• Dedicated service and support
• Advanced software development
• Development Architect, Consulting
• Monitoring, Tuning and Optimizations