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Data Management Group
Business Intelligence Advantage - A Newsletter brought to you by Data Management Group
 
August, 2007
Business Intelligence Spans from Business to Everyday Life

In Brief
What does the industry consolidation mean to you - the customer?
Across the CPM industry, you see a frenetic pace of Consolidation: SAP recently bought OutlookSoft; Oracle purchased Hyperion Solutions; Business Objects purchased Cartesis.  So what does this mean to you the customer?  A mixed blessing no less!  In some ways this is a very good thing because you will begin to see standardization across software platforms over the long term.  Eventually you will begin to see a common software platform across your Enterprise Performance Management systems.  Whereby you can do budgeting, forecasting, consolidation, external reporting etc. from a familiar interface with the same underlying core platform enabling single sign-on into all of your applications; the same reporting and analytical tool for all the products etc.

However, there might be some road bumps along the way as the vendors seek to align the pricing structures of their new acquisitions.  This might result in higher pricing of some of the products that customers are used to.  There is an argument also that “less means more”, meaning that as these smaller independent companies get gobbled up by the big vendors, there is less competition and this might result in more expensive offerings.

Featured Articles
Business Intelligence Spans from Business to Everyday Life
By the start of 2007, I had already made numerous attempts to categorize and essentially make sense of my personal finances; however, managing the accumulating Excel spreadsheets proved to be a bit too cumbersome to manage and eventually became time consuming. Comparing data from multiple months side by side in an Excel document did not prove to be very useful from a visual standpoint; though, I knew my data had an important story to tell. I needed a better way to quickly see patterns and trends in my spending; I needed a better approach to managing my finances. Luckily, I learned that one of my coworkers had been using Crystal Reports from the BusinessObjects Enterprise package (BOE) for years, not only to help organizations manage their operational and financial data, but to manage her own personal accounts. When I decided to go that route myself, I was introduced to the sleek and visually stimulating Xcelsius tool. After seeing the power behind Xcelsius, I decided to take her Crystal report to an entirely new level. Full Article>>

Web Seminars
Reporting out of Great Plains® just got Easier - September 10 & 12, 2007
Join Data Management Group on September 10th and 12th to learn about how reporting out of Great Plains® just got easier! By utilizing the Business Objects® suite of tools for reporting and data visualization, we've developed the DMG Great Plains Quick Start offering that will allow users to easily access Great Plains data for a reporting solution in weeks rather than months. More>>

Converting your Annual Budget Models into Rolling Forecasts - September 20, 2007
This web seminar is for Government Finance Executives involved with budgeting, planning, forecasting and financial reporting processes. Please register early. Open to the first 75 registrants. More>>

Training
Instructor Led Training

  • Crystal Reports XI R2 Boot Camp
    • Washington DC - 9/17/2007
      Do you struggle to combine data from multiple systems to create professional-looking reports? How much time do you spend customizing and maintaining reports to address ever-changing user requirements? Can you deliver up-to-date reports over the web? Why not let us assist with training you on one of the many levels in Crystal Reports. Crystal Reports RD110 (2 days) is designed for users with no experience looking to quickly design and distribute reports. Crystal Reports 210 (2 days) is for users who have completed RD110 and are looking to enhance their skills. Crystal Reports 310 (1 day) is for users who have completed RD110 and 210. You will learn how to create complex formulas, describe report processing, subreports and how to build custom functions. You can take just one course or take all three for the Crystal Reports Bootcamp.
  • Business Objects Enterprise XI R2 Boot Camp
    • Washington DC - 9/10/2007

Other Courses Available Onsite

  Suggest a Training Topic

Trainer's Talk

  • Error: "Cannot create query on Repository..." when attempting to refresh a metric or group of metrics
    In BusinessObjects Performance Manager XI, when attempting to refresh a metric or group of metrics, the following error message appears:

    "Error: Cannot create query on repository for probe <name of the metric>: [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server] Invalid object name '<name of relevant fact table, first object in SELECT statement>". More>>


White Papers
Business Intelligence Within Reach
This paper introduces the Microsoft BI Platform and demonstrates how solutions that extend business intelligence to all levels of the organization deliver a higher return on the investment in data management and analysis systems as well as increased competitive advantage. More>>

The Business Value of Business Intelligence

A Framework for Measuring the Benefits of Business Intelligence Solutions. More>>

DMG In The News
Data Management Group Partners with Business Objects for Launch of Open Appliance Initiative
Data Management Group, a leading strategic consulting firm focused on helping organizations make better business decisions based on end-to-end business intelligence and enterprise performance management solutions, today announced it extended its relationship with Business Objects by joining the Business Objects Open Appliance Initiative (OAI). This new global partner network is designed to offer customers an array of BI appliances that provide innovative and streamlined ways to deploy integrated BI and data warehousing solutions within their organizations. More>>


Next Month
  • The Importance of Business Intelligence Training
  • Developing Financial Models to Better Manage an Organization's Future
  • Why WAIT for Insight into your SAP® Data?
  • Mark your calendar for the Data Management Group/Business Objects Mid-Market Road Show - coming to Tyson's Corner on September 18th. More info to come!

© 2006 data management group. all rights reserved.   |   ph. 1-888-394-1664   |   fax. 1-757-578-4532

 

In This Issue

Converting your Annual Budget Models into Rolling Forecasts - Web Seminar

Reporting out of Great Plains just got Easier - Web Seminars

WHAT OUR CLIENTS ARE SAYING
"We were immediately able to gain insight into the production SAP® system and generate business intelligence for executive stakeholders as well as gain insight and understanding of the performance of the Municipal Authority. ROI was received immediately by leveraging existing internal BI resources for reports development lessening the workload on our internal ABAP report writer."

Don Crawley
Manager, Application Development & Support
Information Technology
Halifax Regional Municipality

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE EVENTS
CONFERENCES

Reporting & Analytics 2007 Conference - Orlando, FL, October 15-17
Look for Data Management Group at Reporting & Analytics 2007! This unparalleled event attracts high-level decision-makers who are looking for new and innovative ways to maximize the effectiveness of their enterprise data collection and analysis, and also improve the timeliness and accuracy of their SAP reports. More>>

EXECUTIVE SEMINAR

Developing Financial Models to Better Manage an Organization's Future - August 23, 2007
Many organizations budget, forecast and plan for the upcoming year, but still use very basic and time consuming techniques that have to be revisited multiple times when scenarios change. See how you can utilize technology and processes to build sophisticated business modeling that takes into account environmental factors like inflation and new regulation as well as operational factors like operating capacity, utilization and so on. If you want to drive and manage customers, products, channels and the business as a whole from a profitability standpoint, you won't want to miss this informative session. Come learn the processes and framework of financial modeling and how to use the powerful tools from Business Objects for intuitive and compelling what-if analysis. More>>



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