Sqribe Updates Enterprise Reporting Suite
Last month, Sqribe Technologies (Menlo Park, Calif.,
www.sqribe.com) announced a new release of Sqribe Enterprise, its Java-based enterprise reporting suite. The suite includes a new interactive report builder, called VisualSqribe; a new version of the ReportMart enterprise information portal; the SQR enterprise reporting server, which has been updated to support reports generated using VisualSqribe; and the existing version of the PowerSqribe visual query and analysis tool.
The VisualSqribe report builder is new to this release of Sqribe Enterprise. Developers create reports in VisualSqribe’s drag-and-drop environment. However, VisualSqribe also creates editable code, so report designers can adjust it as necessary. "The graphics capability of Sqribe does not limit the report developer," says Bob McDonald, Sqribe vice president of marketing.
With Sqribe Enterprise’s new Empowered Reports feature, authorized users can use VisualSqribe to embed interactive analysis capabilities into reports. "This saves the report designers from having to create 10 reports to accommodate sales managers who want to see data by month instead of quarter," McDonald says.
Thanks to Empowered Reports, power users will be able to become report designers, according to Baer Tierkel, vice president of e-business at PeopleSoft (Pleasanton, Calif., www.peoplesoft.com) "I think our customers are going to be able to push out the development of very complex reporting from the IT department to the power user," Behr says. "We think that ease of use at the user’s fingertips is critical to software’s success down the line."
The reports can be viewed in any Web browser. When a report is generated, VisualSqribe automatically adds links to related reports. Report creators can also add links to related Internet content from within the VisualSqribe environment.
Once a report is generated by VisualSqribe, it is published to the ReportMart Enterprise Information Portal, which provides repository, management and security capabilities for the delivery of reports, as well as other documents, reports from other systems, structured data and unstructured data such as audio and video files. Users navigate all data in the ReportMart repository through an Internet portal-like interface. In addition to accessing existing reports, users can also execute reports on the fly through ReportMart.
According to a research report written earlier this year by IDC Corp. (Framingham, Mass.) analysts Jacqueline Sweeney and Brian McDonough, there really are differences between "enterprise" reporting software such as Sqribe Enterprise and traditional query and reporting tools. In IDC’s definition, enterprise reporting tools must have a repository for report storage, instead of just allowing users to query and report directly from the data source; they must have administrative functions on a middle tier; and they must allow users to manipulate the data in reports.
IDC estimates the market for enterprise reporting will be the fastest-growing segment of the information access tools market from 1998 to 2002, and that the market will reach $933 million by 2002. According to the report, IDC considers Sqribe to be one of the four vendors most likely to succeed in the enterprise reporting space. "Sqribe’s solutions will appeal to firms that need to allow enterprise reporting through the web," the report states.