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BI This Week
News in Brief
Databeacon Collaborative Edition; Edwards enhances SCM
suite
5/21/2003
By Stephen Swoyer Databeacon Delivers Revamped Reporting
and Data Analysis Platform
Databeacon Inc., announced Databeacon Collaboration Edition, web
reporting and data analysis software that lets organizations publish
and disseminate live Web reports and data analysis to information
consumers over corporate extranets or the Internet.
Databeacon says that its new Collaboration Edition can expose
information that might otherwise remain isolated in departmental
silos.
Databeacon Collaboration Edition makes it possible for users with
Web browsers and Internet connections to collaborate on Web reports
without the need for client software. Users can create self-defined
workgroups by sending an e-mail from the Databeacon Insight viewer
to colleagues or co-workers. Recipients can click on a link embedded
in the e-mail to analyze Web report data in the context of
Databeacon Insight viewer, which loads automatically in their Web
browsers. They can share their own Web reports with others in the
workgroup as needed.
In this regard, the product makes it possible for analysts to
collaborate on data-driven conclusions with clients, or for managers
to deliver the results of data explorations to executives. In
addition, Databeacon features an unlimited user/per processor server
licensing model that it says allows customers to cost-effectively
publish interactive Web reports for analysis by thousands or tens of
thousands of users from a single Web server.
Databeacon Collaboration Edition features an updated user
interface for its Databeacon Insight viewer component, along with
new presentation modes that allow data to be presented in a more
natural reporting format, but also allows more advanced users to
switch modes to a more powerful analysis, or Online Analytical
Processing (OLAP) format, with one click. Other new features include
a PageEnhancerAPI, which makes it possible for customers to tight
integrate Databeacon functionality with their existing portal
environments and applications.
Databeacon Collaborative Edition is available immediately for
computing running Microsoft’s Windows operating environment and
supports the software giant’s IIS Web server, along with the open
source Apache Web server. Releases for several flavors of Unix—AIX,
HP-UX, Solaris and Linux—are scheduled for sometime this summer,
Databeacon confirms.
For more information, see http://www.databeacon.com/.
J.D. Edwards Announces New Modules for Supply Chain
Planning
J.D. Edwards & Company last week announced several planned
enhancements to its J.D. Edwards 5 ERP suite, including new planning
and scheduling functionality designed to help manufacturers maximize
factory throughput, minimize inventory and make their supply chains
more dynamic and adaptable.
The ERP stalwart says that it will introduce the new
functionality as part of enhanced Production and Distribution
Planning (PDP) and Production Scheduling modules. J.D. Edwards says
that the new modules can be used with its other collaborative
enterprise solutions, or on a stand-alone basis.
PDP incorporates an in-memory supply-planning algorithm that
synchronizes a company’s in-bound materials flow with its resources,
production capacity, and process requirements. It also provides
intelligent material forecasts, minimizing inventory and improving
profitability.
The Production Scheduling module uses a finite scheduling
technology—called Constraint Directed Search (CDS)—designed to help
industrial manufacturers produce high-quality production schedules.
Both modules offer a Windows GUI interface for planners, along with
a portal view for customers and suppliers. New integration
enhancements in the modules deliver real-time information on supply
chain events from execution systems.
The new PDP functionality is designed for industrial
manufacturers, and will be available by Q3 2003. The Production
Scheduling module, also targeted at industrial manufacturers, is
available today.
Stephen Swoyer is a technology writer based in
Athens, Ga. You can contact Stephen via E-mail at swoyerse@yahoo.com.
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