Work Your PlanA yardstick for those who know what they want to measureby David McAmis Continued from Page 1 For full-length reports, the reporting interface is basic and the process of developing reports is a bit arcane. It could definitely benefit from the features found in the other Brio product offerings.
On the whole, the analytic client is intuitive and easy to use and shouldn't require a lot of training to get users up to speed. Room for ImprovementThe only downside to the product is that it's written mostly in Java, and while Java provides a number of architecture features that the product leverages, Windows users will miss their familiar interface. In addition, the core technology in this product is the result of an acquisition, and the user interface and terms for different components don't match other products in the Brio family. It would be nice if the reports or dashboards could leverage some of the advanced reporting and export features found in Brio Intelligence and Brio Reports (formerly SQR), but the product can stand alone without having to rely on either product. The back-end components for Metrics Builder can be run on most Unix or Windows platforms, but the only supported database platforms are DB2 and Oracle. For organizations that don't currently use either of these RDBMSs, this limitation could add substantial cost to the total cost of implementing a Metrics Builder solution, but future releases might support a wider range of database platforms. Another enhancement that could increase the value of the product would be the development of some prebuilt data structures that map to existing ERP, accounting, and financial systems (such as SAP, JD Edwards, and Baan). In addition to providing a starting point, these prebuilt data structures could also cut down on the implementation time required to map the source data structures to a well-formed data mart. In terms of who would get the most benefit from Metrics Builder, it would have to be middle to senior managers who rely on KPIs to drive business decisions. For organizations that haven't defined their business objectives or how to measure them, this product won't be of much value; it doesn't work well as an ad hoc analysis tool. But if you have a plan for your business and are looking for a flexible framework for delivering metrics and KPIs across your organization, Brio Metrics Builder 7.0 may be the solution for you. David McAmis [dmcamis@hotmail.com] is an IT consultant, journalist, author, broadcaster, and expert in business intelligence who lives and works in Sydney, Australia. RESOURCESRelated review at IntelligentEnterprise.com:
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