Business Need
Global Software Project Status reporting was the requirement of a software development house that already had evaluated various competitor tools such as Business Objects and various other competitor tools. They needed Digital Dashboard style reporting with color-coded status indications for all major parameters of their software projects. In addition they required the feature of automatic messaging to report 'Alert States' based on key indicators.
Solution
Cognos Visualizer, PowerPlay, and Impromptu provided an ideal combination for the client to achieve the following advantages:
- PowerPlay cubes for various project related dimensions and measures provided multi-dimensional analytical capability
- Visualizations on these cubes with 'color-coded' thresholds provided instant status information
- A 'drill through' feature from the Visuals to PowerPlay provided analytical capabilities thereby demonstrating product integration and application reuse. This was extended from PowerPlay to Impromptu to provide 'transactional reporting' from the underlying application data structures
- All of the integration requirements were proven both using the desktop as well as the web version of the Cognos tools, thereby proving easy migration from desktop to the web without redevelopment
- A new tool in version 7 called 'NoticeCast' may be used to monitor the occurrence of various events and report using email, PDA alerts, and SMS messages.
Multi-product integration provides the capability to delivery the appropriate reporting and analytical tools to the various levels of users, from Senior Executives to Business Analysts. The integrated products allow for a single-vendor approach, which reduces the complexity and maintenance as it does not require interfaces between third party toolsets. |
