Latest Business Intelligence News
“Gaming the Clock” Survey Finds That Many Employees Admit to Cheating on Timesheets
A new survey commissioned by The Workforce Institute at Kronos® Incorporated and conducted by Harris Interactive reveals that 21 percent of hourly workers have cheated on their timesheet to gain extra pay from their employer
CHELMSFORD, Mass. (June 15, 2009) –
A new survey commissioned by The Workforce Institute at Kronos® Incorporated and conducted by Harris Interactive reveals that 21 percent of hourly workers have cheated on their timesheet to gain extra pay from their employer. The “Gaming the Clock” survey indicates that employers who use outdated workforce management methods are at risk of significant payroll inflation.
News Facts
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21 percent of respondents who are compensated with an hourly wage admit to “gaming the clock” (cheating on their timesheets)
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Of the total number of respondents who state that they game the clock, 69 percent admit to punching in earlier or punching out later than scheduled
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22 percent admit to adding additional time to their timesheet
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14 percent say that they don’t punch out for unpaid lunches or breaks
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Five percent admit to having someone punch them in or out (“buddy punching”)
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35 percent of respondents who receive an hourly wage stated that their employers use paper timesheets to keep track of employee time worked
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According to a Nucleus Research report, organizations with manual time and attendance systems typically incur unnecessary payroll costs upwards of 1.2 percent of their total payroll costs due to inaccurate application of pay rules, as well as human errors. For example, an organization that has annual payroll costs of $50 million could save more than $600,000 per year if they automated the collection of employee time.1
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Along with providing immediate cost savings by reducing time-consuming processes and costly payroll errors, an automated workforce management system can also empower organizations with the information they need to uncover significant labor cost savings. A recent Diagnostic Assessment analysis by Kronos of more than 19 months of timekeeping history for a manufacturer with approximately 6,800 employees uncovered more than $20 million in cost savings overall including $3.6 million in gaming the clock-type abuse.
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When researching the purchase of a workforce management solution, organizations should ask vendors about the potentially hidden costs of
customization; whether the time and labor data is provided in real-time or in batch fashion; and how intuitive and easy to use the product is.
Supporting Quotes
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Joyce Maroney, director of The Workforce Institute, Kronos
“If 21 percent of workers admit to gaming the clock, the actual percentage of workers engaging in this type of behavior is likely much higher. Employers are not only losing money by paying for time not worked, but may also be increasing their risk of non-compliance with federal labor legislation such as FLSA, FMLA, and state regulations such as California meal and break laws.”
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Joyce Maroney, director of The Workforce Institute, Kronos
“A workforce management system, properly installed and managed, can lead to greater employee satisfaction and engagement. No one likes to be paid incorrectly and an organization thrives when employees can be assured that everyone is being compensated fairly.”
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Jim Kizielewicz, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Kronos
“Not all workforce management solutions are created equal. Organizations that choose an ERP system to manage time and labor may find that payroll inflation remains a problem because these solutions are expensive to customize and only automate a portion of a company’s pay policies. Lack of real-time processing and an awkward user interface also limits the ability to quickly identify problem areas.”
Supporting Resources
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About Harris Interactive
Survey Methodology
This “Gaming the Clock” survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive® via its QuickQuerySM online omnibus service on behalf of The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated between January 30 and February 3, 2009 among a nationwide sample of 2,241 U.S. adults aged 18 and over among whom 1,265 were employed full-time or part-time. 681 of those were compensated with an hourly wage. Data were weighted using propensity score weighting to be representative of the total U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity, and propensity to be online.
About The Workforce Institute
The Workforce Institute was founded by Kronos Incorporated in 2006 as a think tank to provide research and education on critical workplace issues facing organizations around the globe. By bringing together thought leaders, The Workforce Institute is uniquely positioned to empower organizations with the knowledge and information they need to manage their workforce effectively and provide a voice for employees on important workplace issues. A hallmark of The Workforce Institute’s research is balancing the needs and desires of diverse employee populations with the needs of organizations. For additional information, visit www.workforceinstitute.org.
About Kronos Incorporated
Kronos is the global leader in workforce management solutions that enable organizations to control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve workforce productivity. Tens of thousands of organizations in 60 countries – including more than half of the Fortune 1000® – use Kronos time and attendance, scheduling, absence management, HR and payroll, hiring, and labor analytics applications. To learn how Kronos uniquely delivers complete automation and high-quality information in an easy-to-use solution, visit www.kronos.com.
© 2009 Kronos Incorporated. Kronos is a registered trademark and The Workforce Institute is a trademark of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Footnote 1. “G45 – ROI Evaluation Report – Kronos Workforce Timekeeper,” Nucleus Research, 2006.
Source: Kronos
Kronos
Kronos® Incorporated customers Anna Marie Butrie, vice president of operations improvement and Debbie Coakley, director, at Catholic Health East (CHE), will present a strategic session on how CHE achieved significant efficiencies and cost savings through a successful productivity improvement pr
USA (June 12, 2009) –
What:
Kronos® Incorporated customers Anna Marie Butrie, vice president of operations improvement and Debbie Coakley, director, at Catholic Health East (CHE), will present a strategic session on how CHE achieved significant efficiencies and cost savings through a successful productivity improvement program. Butrie and Coakley will discuss the specific steps that CHE took to achieve labor cost savings.
When:
Monday, June 15th at 2:45 p.m.
Where:
ANI 2009 Healthcare Finance Conference
Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle, Wash.
Kronos is exhibiting in booth #429
Why:
With $1.6 billion in annual acute care hospital salaries and benefits expenses for 54,000 employees across 11 states, CHE’s senior management determined that an enterprise-wide productivity improvement program was needed to manage labor expense. By implementing a system-wide productivity program and facilitating the sharing of comparative reports and best practices, CHE improved workforce productivity and controlled labor costs. The success of the program is based on standardized infrastructure definitions and an automated tool (Kronos Visionware). With the healthcare industry significantly impacted by macro-economic conditions for the first time in decades and labor costs remaining high, attendees will learn about CHE’s effective labor management program.
About Catholic Health East
Catholic Health East is a multi-institutional Catholic health system, which is co-sponsored by 9 religious congregations, and Hope Ministries, a Public Juridic Person within CHE. Based in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, the System provides the means to ensure the continuation of the Catholic identity and operational strength of the sponsors’ health ministries, which are located within 11 eastern states from Maine to Florida. The System includes 34 acute care hospitals, four long term acute care hospitals, 25 freestanding and hospital-based long term care facilities, 14 assisted living facilities, four continuing care retirement communities, eight behavioral health and rehabilitation facilities, 32 home health/hospice agencies, and numerous ambulatory and community-based health services. CHE facilities employ approximately 54,000 full-time employees as partners in ministry.
About Kronos Incorporated
Kronos is the global leader in workforce management solutions that enable organizations to control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve workforce productivity. Tens of thousands of organizations in 60 countries — including more than half of the Fortune 1000® — use Kronos time and attendance, scheduling, absence management, HR and payroll, hiring, and labor analytics applications. To learn how Kronos uniquely delivers complete automation and high-quality information in an easy-to-use solution, visit www.kronos.com.
© 2009 Kronos Incorporated. Kronos is a registered trademark of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Source: Kronos
Survey Highlights Current Challenges in Federal Government Employee Workforce Data Tracking and Reporting
As ARRA presses more transparency, agencies need to leverage tracking systems for accuracy
CHELMSFORD, Mass. (June 11, 2009) –
Kronos® Incorporated today announced the results of a survey it sponsored with the Government Business Council to explore current issues facing federal agencies that must track and report on funding received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
News Facts
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The “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: New Requirements for Tracking and Reporting Federal Workforce Data” survey found that top concerns among participants include:
o How do we accurately track and report on the ways ARRA funds are used?
o Can the information be audited?
o How difficult is it to gather the information and quickly report it?
o Is the funding spent on contracting resources as well as federal employees?
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Other findings include:
o A majority of respondents agree that accurate reporting is key to successful agency operations and many believe that their agencies will need to overcome new challenges due to the ARRA goals of accountability and transparency.
o Many agencies still rely on multiple, disparate systems to track and report on time and attendance and absenteeism, which can lead to errors, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities to use data strategically.
o Most agencies have a limited ability to track contractors’ time and attendance information.
o The federal workforce is in a state of flux. With a shift in focus on the use of contractors, upcoming retirements, and tightening budgets, agencies are tasked with more difficult decisions within a more demanding timeframe.
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175 federal program managers participated in the survey.
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Kronos is hosting a webinar about ARRA and the tracking and reporting of federal workforce data at 2:00 p.m. on June 18. Register here.
Supporting Quotes
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Jeff Babcock, vice president and general manager, Kronos federal division
“These survey findings confirm what we believe are serious challenges faced by federal agencies today. While ARRA is designed to reinvigorate our economy, it adds a layer of complexity to the tracking and reporting of time and attendance data for federal workers. With 60 federal agency customers and 650,000 federal employees using our workforce management solutions, Kronos is well-positioned to help federal agencies simplify the complexities involved with complying with accountability and transparency requirements.”
Supporting Resources
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Kronos in the federal government: www.kronos.com/federal.
About the Government Business Council
As Government Executive Media Group’s research and thought leadership division, the Government
Business Council (GBC) is dedicated to advancing the business of government through analysis, insight and the sharing of best practices. By leveraging Government Executive’s proven credibility with senior federal decision-makers and its dedicated research capabilities, the GBC is uniquely positioned to develop comprehensive research on the federal government.
About Kronos Incorporated
Kronos is the global leader in workforce management solutions that enable organizations to control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve workforce productivity. Tens of thousands of organizations in 60 countries — including more than half of the Fortune 1000® — use Kronos time and attendance, scheduling, absence management, HR and payroll, hiring, and labor analytics applications. To learn how Kronos uniquely delivers complete automation and high-quality information in an easy-to-use solution, visit www.kronos.com.
© 2009 Kronos Incorporated. Kronos is a registered trademark of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Source: Kronos
MicroStrategy Announces Free Reporting Software Package for Departmental Business Intelligence Applications
Provides Easy Entry Point for Small Reporting Applications and Seamless Path to Expand BI Environment
McLean, Va. (June 10, 2009) –
MicroStrategy® Incorporated (NASDAQ: MSTR), a leading worldwide provider of business intelligence (BI) software, today announced a free reporting software package for departmental BI applications. MicroStrategy Reporting Suite enables companies to use MicroStrategy’s integrated BI platform to develop and deploy premium, Web-based reporting applications, at no cost.
With this compelling new reporting package, MicroStrategy has eliminated cost and time impediments for departments and workgroups to initiate new reporting applications. Business users can simply visit the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite Web site, www.microstrategy.com/freereportingsoftware , download the free software, and begin building their reporting applications, all in the same day.
MicroStrategy’s easy-to-use reporting software enables business users to quickly create the reports they need to gain critical insights into business data and make timely, analytically-based decisions. Users can view data in detailed tabular grid reports, graph data to analyze information quickly, drill-down to investigate root causes, make ad hoc queries, manage business performance with arithmetic and statistical metrics, and export data to Excel and PDF. When reporting requirements expand, companies can purchase licenses for more advanced report presentation, more interactivity, and additional BI users.
MicroStrategy Reporting Suite gives companies an easy entry point for initiating small, departmental reporting applications, along with a seamless path to build and expand BI deployments without creating independent silos of BI. Some departmental reporting tools create individual islands of BI that cannot be integrated into the larger BI system, resulting in inconsistent data and undermining the system’s credibility. With MicroStrategy, organizations can efficiently merge departmental applications into a cohesive BI environment to ensure data consistency across the enterprise.
Leading Industry Analysts Comment on the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite:
Rita L. Sallam, Research Director, Gartner Inc.
Gartner’s Research Director Rita Sallam recently evaluated the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite. To learn more about Gartner’s findings and how you can benefit from this new software package, visit www.microstrategy.com/GartnerVol3 to read the complete report.
Cindi Howson, Founder, BIScorecard
“Given the product capabilities, migration path, and support, it seems like a deal too good to be true…. The appealing aspect [of the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite free offering] is that it provides customers with an easy entrée into BI, without that entrée being a total throw away. If customers later want to add dashboards or multi-source, for example, they don’t have to start over or migrate to a new product as is often the case with many departmental BI tools.”
Wayne Eckerson, Director, TDWI Research
“MicroStrategy recently created a major stir in the industry by offering its fully functional MicroStrategy Reporting Suite for up to 100 business users at no charge! This bold move will allow MicroStrategy to change the market perception that it only offers high-end BI tools, expand its footprint into smaller applications, and thereby grow the number of companies it does business with.”
Mark Smith, CEO and EVP Research, Ventana Research
“MicroStrategy is dramatically simplifying the adoption of enterprise strength reporting by providing organizations the ability to download and quickly deploy a set of free reporting software that is easy to use. By providing departments and workgroups with a reporting package that is quick and easy to deploy, MicroStrategy allows organizations to start small and easily transition to more advanced and sophisticated BI applications as their needs grow beyond their initial deployment and require more robust analytics.”
Boris Evelson, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
“Now MicroStrategy is taking the concept of free BI one step further. MicroStrategy announced that it is making its Release 9 software available for up to 100 users/consumers of info at no cost! Now that’s a whole different story. Now we are talking about not just individual components, but a complete BI solution. We are also not talking about a small use case for just testing groups or QA or prototyping. With 100 users you can roll a BI application out for free to a whole department in a large enterprise or to a small business.” Excerpt from April 17, 2009 Forrester Blog: http://blogs.forrester.com/information_management/2009/04/free-bi-is-still-no-free-lunch.html
The MicroStrategy Reporting Suite Includes the Following:
* Up to 100 named user licenses of the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite: MicroStrategy Intelligence Server and MicroStrategy Web Reporter – with a 1 CPU limit
* Two named user licenses of development software: MicroStrategy Desktop and MicroStrategy Architect
* Two named user licenses of many of MicroStrategy’s most popular products and services: MicroStrategy Web Analyst and Professional, MicroStrategy Mobile, MicroStrategy Office, MicroStrategy Report Services, MicroStrategy Distribution Services, and MicroStrategy OLAP Services
* Free online support, which includes access to MicroStrategy’s extensive online searchable knowledge repository, online community forum, video guides, and online education
* Free e-mail support for 60 days for two named support liaisons to interact one-on-one with MicroStrategy Technical Support representatives via e-mail
* A Quick Start Guide and access to product documentation
“In today’s competitive business environment, companies are searching for new ways to minimize costs while maximizing employee productivity,” said MicroStrategy COO Sanju Bansal. “Our exciting new Reporting Suite delivers premium reporting software at no cost, along with online support and tools to help users get their reporting applications up and running very quickly. With MicroStrategy, companies can start with small applications and easily migrate them into a cohesive and consistent enterprise BI framework.”
To learn more about the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite, visit www.microstrategy.com/freereportingsoftware.
About MicroStrategy
Founded in 1989, MicroStrategy is a global leader in business intelligence (BI) technology. MicroStrategy provides integrated reporting, analysis, and monitoring software that helps leading organizations worldwide make better business decisions every day. Companies choose MicroStrategy for its advanced technical capabilities, sophisticated analytics, and superior data and user scalability. More information about MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) is available at www.microstrategy.com.
MicroStrategy, MicroStrategy OLAP Provider, MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform, MicroStrategy Report Services, MicroStrategy Reporting Suite, MicroStrategy Architect, MicroStrategy Web, MicroStrategy Mobile, MicroStrategy Office, MicroStrategy Distribution Services are either trademarks or registered trademarks of MicroStrategy Incorporated in the United States and certain other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Wende Cover
MicroStrategy, Incorporated
1-703-770-1646
wcover@microstrategy.com
Source: MicroStrategy
World’s Largest Paint Company Uses iWay to Optimize B2B Relationships
AkzoNobel Connects Easily With Business Units, Partners, and Suppliers Worldwide Via iWay Trading Partner Manager
NASHVILLE, TN (June 09, 2009) –
Integration technology and services from iWay Software are helping global industrial manufacturing leader AkzoNobel build its business the old fashioned way: by forging stronger relationships with customers and suppliers. The world’s largest paints and coatings company depends on iWay Trading Partner Manager to set up, manage, and monitor online relationships with partners and distributors across multiple trading networks. iWay Software, an Information Builders division and an innovator of enterprise integration solutions, deployed its Business-to-Business (B2B) Suite to help AkzoNobel manage this vast and diverse information landscape, simplifying exchanges among many different trading networks, message sets, and protocols while also connecting AkzoNobel’s internal business units worldwide.
“Our overriding objective is to make it easier for our partners to do business with us,” said Bas Van Amerom, eSupply chain manager at AkzoNobel. “iWay Trading Partner Manager simplifies our relationships. Now we can easily connect to partners no matter what kinds of systems they are using. iWay is boosting productivity and reducing costs for us.”
iWay Trading Partner Manager manages information among trading partners by making B2B interactions a natural extension of an organization’s SOA efforts. AkzoNobel also uses iWay Business Activity Monitor (BAM) to supply real-time information about the status and results of partner processes and transactions.
With help from Information Builders Professional Services, AkzoNobel standardized on iWay to streamline its vendor-managed inventory (VMI) processes, enabling materials suppliers to take responsibility for raw materials inventory. The integration initiative has had a positive impact on the bottom line by freeing up working capital and minimizing inventory carrying costs. Using iWay, suppliers can schedule deliveries whenever they want. This enables them to optimize quantities of on-hand materials based on real-time forecasts of manufacturing schedules and production runs. “Lowering the required physical stock has advantages to everybody in the supply chain, but we need to be able to reliably share information to make it happen,” said Van Amerom. “iWay Software helped us construct a B2B gateway to set up and maintain thousands of partner relationships in a highly reliable framework.”
AkzoNobel is globally organized into 18 business units. Suppliers and customers connect to these business units via a variety of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. AkzoNobel needed a central hub to facilitate these connections. Within six months, the Amsterdam, Netherlands-based company was testing system-to-system interfaces via iWay Trading Partner Manager and monitoring those connections with iWay’s BAM. Formerly, establishing an interface with a new vendor could take AkzoNobel many days of coding. According to Van Amerom, iWay has cut that time nearly in half.
“iWay has a successful history of helping customers tackle extraordinarily complex infrastructure challenges with our B2B solutions,” said Gerald Cohen, founder and CEO of Information Builders. “As AkzoNobel has learned, having the right technical infrastructure in place allows a company to focus on relationships rather than wrestling with technology.”
About AkzoNobel
Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, AkzoNobel makes and supplies a huge range of paints, coatings and specialty chemicals. As a major producer of specialty chemicals, AkzoNobel supplies industries worldwide with quality ingredients for life’s essentials. The company has 60,000 employees in more than 80 countries. Its pro forma 2007 revenue totaled EUR 14.4 bln.
About iWay Software
iWay Software’s integration methodology is simple: it uses a single, integrated set of graphical design tools to assemble powerful pre-built components for enterprise-class business-to-business (B2B) integration, business process automation (BPA), or enterprise information management (EIM) integration scenarios – without the use of custom code. Integration configurations can be deployed in a stand-alone manner to any environment supporting a JVM – or to Web application servers from any vendor. iWay delivers the fastest, most cost-effective, and simplest way to integrate and streamline critical business processes. iWay Software’s vendor-, platform-, and protocol-neutral solutions achieve the promise of SOA: true reusability.
About Information Builders
Information Builders’ award-winning combination of business intelligence and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions to more than 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the world’s most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides the security, scalability and flexibility needed at every level of global extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical, and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users. Information Builders’ iWay Software suite provides state of the art, multi-purpose, pre-built integration components that address all SOA, application, data and information management requirements. Its integration adapters have been adopted by the leading software platform providers. Together, these products give Information Builders’ customers the ability to grow and innovate according to their needs.
Information Builders’ customers include most of the Fortune 100 and U.S. federal government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,450 people and has more than 350 business partners.
Source: Information Builders
Business Intelligence Leader Information Builders Showcases New Release of WebFOCUS
Includes More Than 100 Updates Driving the Expanding Scope of BI
NASHVILLE, TN (June 09, 2009) –
Information Builders, an independent leader in business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced new products and updates to its WebFOCUS portfolio, including more than 100 functionality enhancements focused on driving the expanding role of BI at leading enterprise and government organizations worldwide.
According to the 2009 Gartner Executive Programs CIO Survey, BI remains a top-five technology priority for the fourth year in a row. Yet many organizations are still struggling to get BI into the hands of the people who need it. BI technology helps organizations drive value from IT investments in tangible ways like making business processes more efficient and information-management processes less complicated.
As the scope of business intelligence expands beyond dashboards, OLAP, and report distribution, Information Builders is continually adding new components to WebFOCUS that bolster essential BI capabilities without the need to buy add-on products. By adhering to standards and leveraging open source software, Information Builders has incorporated search, predictive analytics, electronic publishing, performance management, and mobile BI, to give customers BI applications that are pervasive, inexpensive, and easy to deploy.
“Information Builders has led the market in bringing BI to more people by delivering rich functionality on a budget,” said Information Builders founder and CEO Gerald Cohen. “We have added new features that actively help customers push BI to support more applications, touch more facets of their business, and deliver BI to 100 percent of the people that need it. These add-on components alleviate the need for customers to buy separate BI products, not only reducing license costs, but also making the entire BI environment easier to learn, upgrade, and maintain.”
Key highlights include enhancements that help organizations understand what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen through BI.
Active PDF and InfoAssist: Insight on What Has Happened
Part of the latest version of WebFOCUS, Active PDF extends the platform’s current Active Technologies capability to give users the ability to quickly and easily navigate and filter large documents and complex analytical dashboards. Rather than scouring hundreds of printed pages, users are able to consume and print only the most relevant business information from anywhere, on any smart device, saving time and money.
End users who currently leverage Active Reports and WebFOCUS Enable for Adobe® FLEX® can now access custom interactive and animated analytic dashboards in PDF format for free. This new interactivity builds on the coordinated, print-ready PDF capabilities that WebFOCUS already provides. In addition to dashboards, Active PDF can be used for bank and investment statements, inventory reports, invoices, and more.
Introduced in November 2008, InfoAssist is an intuitive ad hoc reporting solution that provides business users with the easy-to-use, robust query and analysis tool they need to make faster business and operational decisions. Information Builders has added more than a dozen enhancements to make report building even easier, including:
* Compose View combines the features of query building with the ability to style and present customized documents, and allows users to build multiple reports and charts on the same canvas
* New Cube Browsing capabilities allow users to browse any cube or database in the InfoAssist Interactive Design view and see a live preview of the query output as they add and remove objects and formatting in the Layout Canvas
* Configuration of global preferences and default values for things, such as record limits or choosing to remove functionality
WebFOCUS Activity Monitor and Magnify Search: Visibility Into What Is Happening
WebFOCUS Activity Monitor provides visibility into automated business processes by integrating business activity monitoring (BAM) and business intelligence. This BI/BAM solution captures end-to-end transaction and workflow data across multiple applications and business units, summarizing and displaying trading partner metrics to help managers make informed decisions. Using a multitude of iWay adapters, WebFOCUS Activity Monitor can now channel real-time events, like cash register transactions, directly to an in-memory database. There they connect to display and analysis facilities as well as to the Information Builders performance management console for real-time KPI comparison with prior data.
Enabling users to query, report, analyze, deliver, and display electronic trading data in any way they choose, WebFOCUS Activity Monitor delivers dashboards with embedded BI capabilities to help administrators quickly troubleshoot problems, detect anomalies, and conduct capacity planning exercises. WebFOCUS Activity Monitor can alert individuals to changes and exceptions that may require action, as well as provide aggregated insight for strategic planning.
WebFOCUS Magnify(TM) the industry’s first search navigation tool that dynamically categorizes search results and supplements them with analysis and reporting capabilities has been updated with new features designed to enhance both usability and security. Highlights include:
* Collections, enabling users to select a collection that narrows their search to a specific part of the index, prior to their submission
* Magnify iWay Wizard, helping users to quickly set up a Magnify environment, instructing them how to handle each field when transforming a record into a search result
* New security features including single sign-on integration, multiple credential support, the ability to hide entire results and parts of results, and present alternate-result rendering as well as a security API
WebFOCUS RStat: Predicting What Will Happen
WebFOCUS RStat is the first BI platform to enable data miners, statisticians, BI developers, and analysts to collaboratively build predictive applications for field and operational employees. Now shipping with WebFOCUS, RStat extends the value and accessibility of predictive analytics in production BI applications across the enterprise. RStat now offers even more predictive models and robust statistical sampling routines, including random and stratified sampling with user-defined strata. Its easy and intuitive user interface also includes a built-in calculator for sample sizes. RStat allows data miners and BI developers to work collaboratively with the same tools to access, manipulate, or transform data; develop predictive models; and create and deploy Web applications to any worker within their organization.
All new product features and functionality are being showcased at Information Builders Annual Summit User Conference, held this week in Nashville, TN. For more information, visit www.informationbuilders.com/summit.
About Information Builders
Information Builders’ award-winning combination of business intelligence and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions to more than 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the world’s most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides the security, scalability, and flexibility needed at every level of global extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical, and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users. Information Builders’ iWay Software suite provides state of the art, multi-purpose, pre-built integration components that address all SOA, application, data and information management requirements. Its integration adapters have been adopted by the leading software platform providers. Together, these products give Information Builders’ customers the ability to grow and innovate according to their needs.
Information Builders’ customers include most of the Fortune 100 and U.S. federal government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,450 people and has more than 350 business partners.
Source: Information Builders
Information Builders Presents Customers With Awards of Distinction for Exceptional Business Intelligence and Integration Implementations
Columbus City Schools, Ford, New York Public Library, US TRANSCOM, and TNT Recognized at Annual User Conference
NASHVILLE, TN (June 08, 2009) –
Information Builders, an independent leader in business intelligence (BI) solutions, and iWay Software, an Information Builders company and an innovator of enterprise integration solutions, today announced the winners of the annual Awards of Distinction for original and innovative use of BI and integration technology. Information Builders is honoring the winners at its 2009 Summit User Conference, which highlights successful customer implementations from around the world along with contributions from leading industry analysts and pundits.
Featuring more than 100 customer-led sessions addressing relevant business issues, this year’s Information Builders Summit also showcases new products and features throughout the event.
The honored customers are deploying BI and integration solutions for a variety of business issues – from improving patient care to becoming more efficient organizations. The companies that are receiving awards exemplify the Summit theme of expanding the scope of business intelligence as these organizations are continually finding innovative applications for BI and integration technologies.
“The companies receiving awards have all found new and exciting ways to leverage Information Builders technology,” said Information Builders Founder and CEO Gerald Cohen. “By identifying new uses for BI and expanding the number of BI users, these companies are getting the maximum value for their BI investment. Through BI and integration technology, the award winners are more productive and are improving decision-making throughout their organizations.”
The following Information Builders customers are being recognized with Awards of Distinction:
* Best Enterprise BI Application – Ford
While the automotive industry is facing tough challenges, Ford Motor Company found a way to save money through BI. With Information Builders’ Web-based reporting system deployed across 9,000 dealerships, dealers can compare their performance on warranty costs with peers. The system enables dealers to identify anomalies and isolate problems, saving Ford $40 to $60 million per year in covered warranty expenses.
* Most Innovative BI Implementation – New York Public Library
The library created a BI system called Metrics On Demand (MOD) that allows employees to effectively track visitor traffic, borrowing habits, and other key metrics. This information helps library personnel make judicious decisions about which library resources and services are most important to the general public. These capabilities have become extremely important in the face of recent budget cuts. The library faces budget reductions from both public and private sources, which means managers need to make tough, strategic choices about where money is spent. Personnel at 91 locations use MOD to analyze many facets of the library operation, helping personnel track traffic patterns, use of materials, and inventory to preserve the services people care about most. The dashboard-driven environment empowers hundreds of employees to share information and create customized reports.
* Most Humanitarian Use of BI – Nationwide Insurance and Columbus City Schools
Columbus City Schools is bringing greater insight and accountability to the education of more than 55,000 students at 130 schools in central Ohio. Nationwide Insurance, which is headquartered in Columbus, developed a tool with the school district using BI technology that helps administrators analyze student data. The resulting environment connects 4,000 teachers and administrators to student assessment data, attendance data, and discipline data with the overall goal of improving student achievement.
* Best Use of BI in the Public Sector – US TRANSCOM
A critical function of the United States Transportation Command (US TRANSCOM) is patient evacuation, a complex, logistical challenge where speed is essential. BI technology is helping US TRANSCOM devise optimal patient-movement plans based on urgent medical needs, available facilities, in-transit visibility, and enterprise-wide cost and performance analytics. Thanks to an operational BI system, the military’s evacuation and patient movement activities in places like Iraq and Afghanistan are more efficient – boosting overall patient care.
* Best Use of iWay Software – TNT
TNT meets the mail and express delivery needs of customers worldwide. With high volumes of data in multiple locations, in a variety of languages, and on several platforms, the company brought in iWay integration solutions to help. Integrating with legacy systems, iWay’s service-oriented architecture (SOA) solutions allow business units to access the data they need, when they need it for improved decision-making.
About iWay Software
iWay Software’s integration methodology is simple: it uses a single, integrated set of graphical design tools to assemble powerful pre-built components for enterprise-class business-to-business (B2B) integration, business process automation (BPA), or enterprise information management (EIM) integration scenarios – without the use of custom code. Integration configurations can be deployed in a stand-alone manner to any environment supporting a JVM – or to Web application servers from any vendor. iWay delivers the fastest, most cost-effective, and simplest way to integrate and streamline critical business processes. iWay Software’s vendor-, platform-, and protocol-neutral solutions achieve the promise of SOA: true reusability. For more information visit: www.iwaysoftware.com
About Information Builders
Information Builders’ award-winning combination of business intelligence and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions to more than 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the world’s most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides the security, scalability and flexibility needed at every level of global extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical, and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users. Information Builders’ iWay Software suite provides state of the art, multi-purpose, pre-built integration components that address all SOA, application, data and information management requirements. Its integration adapters have been adopted by the leading software platform providers. Together, these products give Information Builders’ customers the ability to grow and innovate according to their needs.
Information Builders’ customers include most of the Fortune 100 and U.S. federal government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,450 people and has more than 350 business partners.
Source: Information Builders
Information Builders Customer US TRANSCOM Wins at Computerworld Honors Awards Celebration
New York Public Library and Columbus City Schools are Named Finalists for Innovative Use of BI Technology
WASHINGTON, DC (June 04, 2009) –
Information Builders, an independent leader in business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced that its customer, United States Transportation Command (US TRANSCOM), was declared a winner at the 2009 Computerworld Honors Awards ceremony in Washington DC. US TRANSCOM was recognized for utilizing BI technology to benefit society. Two additional Information Builders customers, New York Public Library and Columbus City Schools, were honored as finalists for their innovative use of BI technology.
Other Information Builders clients honored included the Erlanger, Kentucky Police Department, the engineering department of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, the Federal Student Aid Office of the Federal Department of Education, Prince George’s County Police Department, and Spain’s Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigracion (Ministry of Immigration).
The United States Transportation Command (US TRANSCOM) developed TRAC2ES, a Web-based BI system that transports sick or injured personnel and coordinates their movement throughout the U.S. military’s worldwide network of healthcare facilities. TRAC2ES also provides critical reporting capabilities to more than 2,500 users, from senior command officers to the President and Congress, including data such as the number of patients and movements, number of missions, and costs. Detailed reports follow the status of patients from the beginning of transport to the outcome of treatment. TRAC2ES supported operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom by providing 100 percent patient in-transit visibility for more than 11,500 patients. This system improves efficiency in medical transport and access to advanced care for wounded troops, patient movement from the battlefield, and operational decision support.
The New York Public Library created a BI system called Metrics On Demand (MOD) that allows employees to effectively track visitor traffic, borrowing habits, and other key metrics. This information helps library personnel make judicious decisions about which library resources and services are most important to the general public. These capabilities have become extremely important in the face of recent budget shortfalls. The library faces budget reductions from both public and private sources, which means managers need to make tough, strategic choices about where money is spent. Personnel at 91 locations use MOD to analyze many facets of the library operation, helping personnel track traffic patterns, use of materials, and inventory to preserve the services people care about most. The dashboard-driven environment empowers hundreds of employees to share information and create customized reports.
Columbus City Schools and Nationwide Insurance are bringing greater insight and accountability to the education of more than 55,000 students at 130 schools in central Ohio. Nationwide Insurance, which is headquartered in Columbus, developed a tool with the school district using BI technology that helps administrators analyze student data. The resulting environment connects 4,000 teachers and administrators to student assessment data, attendance data, and discipline data with the overall goal of improving student achievement.
The Erlanger, Kentucky Police Department created an operational business intelligence system with integrated search capabilities that combines data from 19 government agencies to link information about suspects, incidents, arrests, and crimes. The BI environment helps patrol officers and supervisors respond more knowledgeably to calls and provide better services to Northern Kentucky citizens.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway created a Maintenance Excellence Dashboard to monitor its infrastructure of tracks, signals, and structures, which improved safety, limited train delays, and minimized revenue loss.
The Federal Student Aid Office of the Federal Department of Education created the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) tool to improve assistance to students completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). ISIR enhances verification efforts and ensures that the right students are receiving the aid they need to achieve their higher education goals. The tool has helped more than 150 schools identify discrepancies of more than $600 million in FAFSA applications.
Prince George’s County Police Department developed the Active Crime Reporting dashboard to display statistics on calls for service such as robbery, homicide, car theft, and auto accidents, helping police officers lower crime within the county.
Spain’s Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigracion (Ministry of Immigration) implemented Project Lince, a BI environment that enforces immigration requirements by improving information integrity. A new BI portal streamlines access to information and enforces immigration rules for the entire staff.
About the Computerworld Honors Program
Founded by International Data Group (IDG) in 1988, the Computerworld Honors Program is governed by the not-for-profit Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation. In its 21st year, Computerworld Honors is the longest running global program to honor individuals and organizations that use information technology to benefit society.
About Information Builders
Information Builders’ award-winning combination of business intelligence and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions to more than 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the world’s most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides the security, scalability and flexibility needed at every level of global extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical, and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users. Information Builders’ iWay Software suite provides state of the art, multi-purpose, pre-built integration components that address all SOA, application, data and information management requirements. Its integration adapters have been adopted by the leading software platform providers. Together, these products give Information Builders’ customers the ability to grow and innovate according to their needs.
Information Builders’ customers include most of the Fortune 100 and U.S. federal government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,450 people and has more than 350 business partners.
Source: Information Builders
Safelite AutoGlass Selects Kronos
Nationâ??s largest provider of auto glass repair and replacement services purchases latest version of Workforce Central® suite
CHELMSFORD, Mass. (June 03, 2009) –
Safelite AutoGlass, a long-time Kronos® Incorporated customer, has upgraded to version 6.1 of the Kronos Workforce Central® suite. The workforce management solution will be used by 8,000 Safelite AutoGlass employees in 395 locations in all 50 states.
News Facts
* Safelite AutoGlass previously used a legacy Kronos time and attendance solution for a portion of its workforce.
* Safelite AutoGlass recently purchased time and attendance and absence management applications from Kronos for use across the entire workforce including employees at its corporate facility, call center, and factory, as well as glass installers who work in the field.
* By using the Kronos time and attendance application across all departments and locations, Safelite AutoGlass will gain control of labor costs and improve workforce productivity by consistently applying work rules and reducing manual and timely administrative tasks.
* The Kronos absence management application will enable Safelite AutoGlass to minimize compliance risk by managing employee absence and consistently complying with government regulations such as the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and state leave laws.
* Workforce Central 6.1, which became available in February, includes hundreds of features and ease-of-use enhancements that enable complete automation of workforce management business processes.
* The auto glass services provider plans to use the Kronos Workforce Integration Manager(TM) integration tool to interface Kronos applications to its existing human resources and payroll applications.
Supporting Quotes
* Barbara Mason, payroll director, Safelite AutoGlass
* “Kronos clearly emerged as the technology partner of choice for us. We were impressed with the capabilities that Kronos added in version 6.1, and equally impressed with the company’s philosophy about not having to trade functionality for simplicity. And from past experiences, we know that Kronos delivers on its promises.”
* Gregg Gordon, senior director, manufacturing industry marketing, Kronos
“Safelite AutoGlass’ needs were much simpler when it first selected Kronos: manage time and attendance for 1,600 employees. Now, eight years later, we’re pleased to see the organization extend its relationship with Kronos to achieve complete automation of workforce management business processes.”
Supporting Resources
* About Safelite AutoGlass
About Kronos Incorporated
Kronos is the global leader in workforce management solutions that enable organizations to control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve workforce productivity. Tens of thousands of organizations in 60 countries — including more than half of the Fortune 1000® — use Kronos time and attendance, scheduling, absence management, HR and payroll, hiring, and labor analytics applications. To learn how Kronos uniquely delivers complete automation and high-quality information in an easy-to-use solution, visit www.kronos.com.
© 2009 Kronos Incorporated.Kronos and Workforce Central are registered trademarks and Workforce Integration Manager is a trademark of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Source: Kronos
MicroStrategy Selected by Media Capital for Improved Financial and Operations Reporting
MicroStrategy Chosen to Provide Reports and Dashboards from Data Stored in SAP BW Environment
McLean, VA, (June 03, 2009) –
MicroStrategy® Incorporated (Nasdaq: MSTR), a leading worldwide provider of business intelligence (BI) software, today announced that it was selected by Grupo Media Capital for improved financial and operations reporting. Media Capital is a leader in the production and broadcasting of television programs and content in Portugal.
Media Capital uses SAP BW to store its financial and operations data and provide reports for its Executive Directors, CEOs, and Business Unit Controllers. The business users at Media Capital determined that its BI environment did not present data in a highly visual or interactive manner for decision makers. Media Capital evaluated several BI products to identify a versatile solution that offered rapid implementation and integration with SAP BW, as well as improved data analysis and visualization tools.
MicroStrategy was selected for its easy-to-use Web interface, intuitive information dashboards, and seamless access to the SAP BW system. The new MicroStrategy-based BI application, which is used in seven business units and Media Capital’s holding company, has streamlined business processes. Media Capital management is able to quickly compare and analyze business results in a single dashboard for improved insights and enhanced decision making.
“We considered many BI products and found that MicroStrategy’s platform easily integrated with our SAP BW system,” said Luis Sanches, Controller, Grupo Media Capital. “Our objective was not to create a new database, but to use the existing data and ensure the reliability of the information.”
“The MicroStrategy platform has streamlined the management of business information for us, improving data comprehension and providing immediate access to information by month, product, and/or business unit, with a simple click of the mouse,” said Roberto Costa, Director of Control Management, Grupo Media Capital.
“MicroStrategy complements the SAP operational environment by providing rapid report development and outstanding query performance,” said Sanju Bansal, MicroStrategy’s COO. “We are finding an increasing number of SAP customers are turning to MicroStrategy to enhance their reporting and analytic capabilities.”
About Grupo Media Capital
Media Capital is the leading media group in Portugal, with a strong presence in most media sectors, audiovisual production, and entertainment. It owns TVI – the audience leader free-to-air TV channel, TVI24 – a news TV channel, and Plural Entertainment – the largest media production company in Portugal. With international operations overseas, Media Capital also has significant market positions and operations in radio, music edition, cinema, and video distribution, as well as a presence in the Internet through the IOL network.
About MicroStrategy
Founded in 1989, MicroStrategy is a global leader in business intelligence (BI) technology. MicroStrategy provides integrated reporting, analysis, and monitoring software that helps leading organizations worldwide make better business decisions every day. Companies choose MicroStrategy for its advanced technical capabilities, sophisticated analytics, and superior data and user scalability. More information about MicroStrategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) is available at www.microstrategy.com.
MicroStrategy, MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform are either trademarks or registered trademarks of MicroStrategy Incorporated in the United States and certain other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Wende Cover
MicroStrategy, Incorporated
1-703-770-1646
wcover@microstrategy.com
Source: MicroStrategy