arcplan dynasight business intelligence · product report 5 december 2002 arcplan dynasight...

GartnerEntire contents © 2002 Gartner, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to bereliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretationsthereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

DPRO-111908Alan Tiedrich

Product Report5 December 2002

Arcplan dynaSight Business Intelligence

Summary

dynaSight, a platform for developing and deploying BI applications to the Web, features inSight, anobject/component-based, graphical (no programming required) rapid application developmentenvironment.

Note

Arcplan’s content repository, Arcplan Bridges, is planned for release by year-end 2002. This repositorywill help accelerate development in two ways. First, it will provide examples that help developersunderstand what can be developed and will illustrate how to build application components andapplications. Second, selected content may be downloaded and reused in the customer’s development.The repository will be free to current Arcplan customers and active partners.

Table of Contents

Overview

Analysis

Pricing

Competitors

Strengths

Limitations

Recommended Gartner Research

Insight

List Of Tables

Table 1: Overview: dynaSight

Table 2: System Requirements: dynaSight

Table 3: Features and Functions: dynaSight

Table 4: Features and Functions: dynaSight (Continued)


Table 6: Price List: dynaSight 3.5

List Of Figures

Figure 1: dynaSight Architecture

Figure 2: Working With Objects


Copyright 2002DPRO-1119085 December 2002 2

Corporate Headquarters

arcplan Information Services AG

Elisabeth-Selbert-Str. 5

40764 Langenfeld

Düsseldorf, Germany

Tel: +49 2173 1676—0

Fax: +49 2173 1676—100

U.S. Headquarters

arcplan, Inc.

West Valley Business Center

900 West Valley Road, Suite 204

Wayne, PA 19087, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 610 902 0688

Fax: +1 610 902 0689

Internet: www.arcplan.com

Overview


Version 3.5

Product Type dynaSight is a Business Intelligence (BI) platform for developing and deploying BI

applications.

End-User

Interface/Client

Platforms

Web browser—2 versions: Java-compliant and Dynamic Hypertext Markup

Language (DHTML)

Relational

Databases

Supported

• Native interfaces to:

—Oracle8i and 9i (from both Unix and Windows)

—Sybase Warehouse Studio

—inSight database

• Other relational databases available through Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)

or Object Linking and Embedding Database (OLE DB) interface




Online Analytical

Processing (OLAP)

Servers Supported


—SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) (via SAP BW BAPI or OLE DB for

OLAP [ODBO])

—Hyperion Essbase (via application programming interface [API])

—MicroStrategy 7i data sources (via MicroStrategy Multidimensional Expressions

[MDX] language Adapter using ODBO)

—IBM Database 2 (DB2) OLAP Server (via API)

—Informix Metacube

—Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) Server 2000 Analysis Services (via

OLE DB for OLAP)

—Applix TM1 (via API or OLE DB for OLAP)

—Oracle Express

• OLAP servers compliant with OLE DB for OLAP

Application Data

Sources Supported


—SAP Strategic Enterprise Management (SEM), SAP R/3 (for example, SAP EIS,

CO-PA, PCA, EC-MC), SAP R/3 Data Extractor (SAP Query), SAP Open

Information Warehouse (SAP OIW)

—Hyperion Enterprise

—Hyperion Financial Management

— MIKsolution (Management Information Kommunikation [MIK]-OLAP and MIK-Info

via API)

—MIS Alea

Extensible Markup

Language (XML)

Support

• XML (See “XML Support” for details.)

• XML for Analysis support planned for the next release

Date Released 12 September 2002

Base Price (US$) • Server—$19,500 for Windows; $19,500 plus 25 percent for Unix

• Client:

—$2,900 per developer seat

—$1,580 per concurrent user

Number of

Installations

1,500 customers and over 200,000 users

Target Markets Automotive, Chemical, Consumer Products, Energy, Food and Beverage,

Healthcare, High Tech, Insurance & Financial Services, Pharmaceutical, Public

Sector, Retail, Services, Telecommunications, Utilities


dynaSight Server • Operating System—Windows XP, NT 4.0, 2000, Sun Solaris 7 and 8, IBM AIX 4.3

• 450MHz processor (minimum requirement)

• 128MB RAM (minimum requirement)

• 512MB RAM recommended

• 200MB free disk space

• Web server (Windows XP, NT 4.0, 2000 or Unix) that can be installed on the same

or a separate computer.




dynaSight

Administrator and

inSight Development

Environment

• Operating System—Windows XP, NT 4.0, 2000, ME, 98, 95

• 200MHz processor (minimum requirement)

• 64MB RAM (minimum requirement)

• 128MB RAM recommended

• 100MB free disk space

dynaSight Client Java- or DHTML-capable browser, for example, Microsoft Internet Explorer or

Netscape Navigator for Windows, Unix or Macintosh


Components • dynaSight Server

• inSight development environment

• Client viewers

• Administrator

• Connectors

dynaSight Server

Overview • Provides database connectivity

• Stores applications (dynaSight documents)

• Runs applications

XML Support • dynaSight offers two types of XML interfaces, the direct online interface

XMLOnline and the XML data import interface.

• The XMLOnline interface allows direct access to XML documents as a data

source:

—In queries, the corresponding XML file is accessed online.

• The XML data import interface allows access to XML documents as data source:

—Data is transferred from XML documents into a relational ODBC data source.

—Via the dynaSight ODBC interface, developers can access the ODBC data source

in order to create an application.

Load Balancing • Integrates diverse dynaSight servers into a group of servers.

• Shares load for scalable applications deployment and usage.

• Load balancing enables dynaSight to address up to three Web servers.

• Transparent to users.

• Failover.

• After a dynaSight application has been installed on the master server, the

application is transferred to the other dynaSight servers automatically.

Master Data • All Master data concerning individual dynaSight applications, the tasks to be

executed, uniform resource locators (URLs) or analyzed data of Web sites, are

stored by the dynaSight server in an internal ODBC data source:

—A Microsoft Access database is used by default.

Internet Analyzer • A special interface for access to the Internet.

• Interrogates Web pages for changes of information content in defined time

intervals with the help of Dynamic Net Watch.

• Queries are defined in objects using the special dynaSight functions:

—HTML pages can be queried for text, tables, hyperlinks or graphics and edited or

dynamically embedded in the dynaSight applications.

• Two main features are Dynamic Netwatch and Active Information.




Dynamic Netwatch

• Monitors, retrieves and condenses data from selected Internet sources such as

databases, Web sites and knowledge bases.

• Recognizes dynamically the changes to information content and creates a list of

the modified Web pages.

• Tasks are defined which specify the time interval and to what depth a Web site

should be checked for changes.

Active Information

• Import Web page contents.

• Allows user to access the contents of Web pages and carry out further work on

them in dynaSight applications.

• Individual elements of an HTML page can be accessed directly.

dynaSight

Application

• Consists of multiple inSight documents, an inSight start document and an HTML

start page.

• The inSight documents contain the actual application.

• Objects and functions are created in the documents to access the data sources.

• inSight documents may contain a number of objects.

• The objects are used for:

—the presentation of information from data sources

—user navigation

—the execution of events and functions

• Object examples: table objects, menu objects, hierarchy objects, button objects,

graphics and picture objects.

• The Formula window of inSight is used to define calculation functions or events for

the objects and documents.

• Once created, objects can be stored centrally in a library and made available for

various documents or applications.

Printing Documents • Via the dynaSight server on an available network printer.

• dynaSight allows definition of print reports and printing via the PRINT function in

the Java applet.

• Portable Document Format (PDF) is supported.

• Standard browser printing of DHTML documents is available in the HTML viewer.

Ad Hoc Analysis • dynaSight provides ad hoc OLAP analysis via pre-defined report catalogs

(“interactive queries”) that allow end users to browse and navigate to data points

within a data source.

• Interactive queries are available as a standard component with dynaSight and do

not require any development effort.

• End users select an available cube and any of the available templates (from

standard table-oriented visualization to combined table/graphic views) for Web-

based ad hoc analysis.

• The dynaSight development environment allows adding templates or enhancing

the delivered components.




Interactive Query Ad hoc OLAP analysis using pre-defined standardized reports allows users to

analyze data cubes without inSight development:

• Microsoft Analysis Services

• Applix TM1

• MIS Alea

• SAP BW

• Hyperion Essbase

• IBM DB2 OLAP Server

Shared Queries • Shared Queries allow caching of time-consuming database queries, which all

users of a dynaSight application execute identically.

• Designed to increase the performance of dynaSight applications.

Linking Documents • Documents can be linked to one another:

—Objects are identified in the combination of document name and object number.

—Any object can reference any other object in any document or library.

• For example, if a result set needs to be loaded and used on multiple screens and

is shared identically across all users, it could be used as a shared query and held in

the dynaSight applications server.

• Navigation between documents controls process logic and workflow in an

application (for example, drill-down sequence between screens).

Linking to Portals Applications can be integrated with Portals (for example, SAP Portals, Oracle

Portal, IBM WebSphere portlets or ColdFusion with the Deloitte & Touche CFO

Portal and others):

• dynaSight is used in this context as the analytical engine in conjunction with other

Portal content.

• The integration depends on the specific environment and requirements.

Linking to Third-

Party Applications

• dynaSight can call an executable program (Dynamic Link Library [DLL]) and

exchange parameters between this program and dynaSight, which allows dynaSight

to interactively use the external functionality, effectively making it an integrated part

of the dynaSight application environment and application itself.

• A dynaSight application can be called (as Java or DHTML) in any Active Server

Page (ASP), Java Server Page (JSP) or other Web pages and can interact and

exchange information with other HTML documents or applications (for example, via

GETUSERPARAM, GETWEBSERVERVARIABLE, data exchange via database

transfer, XML or the available export functions).

• The LINK and OPENLINK functions can be used to navigate to other URLs from

within an applet.


inSight

Overview Graphical, object-oriented application development environment for dynaSight.




inSight

inSight Uses • Ad hoc OLAP queries.

• Develop BI applications.

• inSight documents can be directly accessed by multiple users over an Internet

server.

• Inputting new data and editing existing data (given read/write permission):

—inSight provides tools to build basic data entry screens or formatted display

sheets.

User Interface Description of the visual appearance of the interface:

• Buttons, menu selections and drill-down navigation.

• Flexible definition of screen and object content.

• Event-dependent navigation.

• Graphical presentation of data.

Types of Data

Analysis

• Multitable calculations.

• Hierarchical data.

• Time consolidations.

• Analysis from multiple perspectives (dimensions).

• Statistical and financial analysis.

• Asynchronous views (display content for independent queries).

• Dashboard graphics.

• Interactive maps and other graphical visualization.

• Selection and sort criteria.

• Time-series analysis.

• TopN queries.

• Exception reporting and highlighting—threshold definition.

Application Types dynaSight is a platform for developing multiple types of applications, for example:

• What-if analysis

• Scorecarding

• Predictive modeling

• Budgeting

• Sales analysis and forecasting




inSight

Application

Development

• Graphical Development:

—Graphical user interface.

—Programming not required (and not available), but control and calculation

functions are available which control the content of objects and the processing and

application flow.

—Establishing connections between objects and data sources.

—Querying of the data sources is generated automatically by inSight (not the end

user).

—Supports developing BI applications, which includes reports that can be used for

ad hoc OLAP querying.

• Object/component-based development:

—Every inSight worksheet consists of multiple objects.

—Objects can be graphs, data lists, tables, buttons and other items.

—Objects can be combined and positioned together to create a worksheet.

• Create multitier systems.

• Individual libraries:

—In designing new applications, developers can use objects that they or other

developers have already created.

—All objects, formats and documents are stored in libraries.

—These objects will already have a formatted appearance, and they contain the

desired queried data from the database.

—By creating a corporate library on a server, users and designers can access the

same objects, creating a de facto corporate style guide.

—Centrally administers library objects, so that changes can be made in different

applications throughout a system with a single central change.

—Reusability—already tested items and commands that are stored in a library can

be reused in different worksheets and applications.

—Multiuser capability.

—Team development capability.

• dynaSight enables developers to extend the functionality of their analytical

applications with Java and HTML by using the DLL function or by leveraging other

application functionality by using available inSight/dynaSight functions.

• Multiple language support.




inSight

Database Functions • Create connections to data sources.

• Real-time database access:

—An online connection is established and utilized throughout a session.

• Utilizes database master records and server functionality:

—Tight integration with and utilization of server functionality, including support of

server-based security profiles, general master data (for example, hierarchies,

variables and other data), utilization of database language capabilities (for example,

select, joins, topN queries, conditions and clauses, ranking and sorting and other

capabilities).

• Database design—Create and edit tables—in addition to being able to modify and

insert data into existing tables, inSight can be used to create and dynamically

modify tables and indexes, that is, to input and edit data.

• Simultaneously access heterogeneous databases.

• Combine data from multiple data sources and manipulate the results in inSight

documents.

• Store data locally in a variety of database formats.

• Make local calculations with query results.

• Use inSight’s local database to store summarized data.

• Writeback.

• Batch load data into an existing table.

Database Queries • The contents of data sources can be queried via the Database window of inSight

and can be displayed in the document using objects.

• The left part of the database window shows the data sources, the right part shows

their elements.

• For OLAP databases, the left side of the database window displays the cubes, the

right side displays the dimensions and hierarchies:

—Depending on the data source, the hierarchy levels are also displayed.

• Database queries are created by drag-and-drop of the database window elements

into a document object:

—Can move either the content of an element or its name into an object.

• In order to address a data source, the appropriate interface is required. (See

supported database systems—there are inSight interfaces available for these.)

Reporting • Reporting paradigm is primarily on-screen.

• Text, pictures, graphs, data and calculations can be combined on one worksheet.

• Dynamic OLAP reports can be created:

—By switching a menu cell from one customer (product or other item) to another,

the information is linked to that menu cell.

• Business graphics are dynamically tied to the most recent data:

—A variety of graphic display options and the ability to combine different graphs into

a single display object.




inSight

Objects • All the elements of a document are defined as objects.

• Objects facilitate editing and displaying information in a custom format in an

inSight document.

• Selection and formatting options.

• inSight’s object orientation permits a flexible filling, formatting and positioning of

tables, images, graphics, texts, drop-down lists or buttons.

• OLAP database contents can be displayed with hierarchy objects.

• The most common properties (there are additional properties) of objects enable

them to be:

—arranged

—formatted

—filled with content, either manually, with a function, from a data source, or through

an event

—positioned

—resized

—aligned

• A document can contain whatever number of objects is needed.

• Relationships between objects can be defined via connections or formula

references.

• The size, contents, formatting or other details of an object are defined one time

and can be dynamically changed based on user action or can be data driven.

• Objects can be saved in object libraries, which makes them available for multiple

use in more than one document and ensures a uniform appearance.

Every object type has special properties, designed to meet its tasks, with the

following individual object types having unique formatting capabilities:

• Table Object

• Column Object

• Row Object

• Cell Object

• Menu Object

• Radio Button Object

• Check Box Object

• Button Object

• Switch Object

• Text Object

• Picture Object

• Chart Object

• OLE Object

• Internet Object

• Hierarchy Objects




inSight

Graphical Data

Manipulation

• Fill document objects with attributes and values from a database.

• When filling an object with table contents, the structure elements from a table are

handled uniquely as required by their attributes.

• Column headings, column contents, conditions and dependencies are dragged

and dropped, with no need to have any query language knowledge:

—Column titles and column contents are dragged from the Database window and

dropped on to the appropriate document object.

• Conditional and calculation equations are created using general functions:

—Conditional functions in objects provide a condition (or conditions) that must be

met for data to be displayed, and they also affect the data that is then called up in

linked objects.

—Conditions can contain a comparison operator, and they can also contain logical

and arithmetic operators.

• Dependencies between objects in the same document are defined by pulling an

arrow from one object to the dependent object.

• After filling objects with column contents, column titles and conditions, these

objects can be linked to each other and to other objects:

—Connections determine the entries that are displayed in the dependent objects

(for example, a table object linked to the column object will list values for customers

in the Customer column).

—By combining various hierarchical and dependency relationships, complex

queries are graphically created.

• Objects in a document can contain data from multiple data source tables:

—inSight tries to combine the tables using commonly named columns, otherwise

the developer manually provides an alias.

• The Sort button of the Dependencies toolbar enables sort operations within inSight

document displays:

—Objects that are filled with column contents can be sorted.

Hierarchies • inSight objects can be used to query various types of hierarchies:

—inSight offers several types of hierarchy objects that can be used to query

dimensions from OLAP databases.

—inSight also offers the possibility of joining multiple OLAP hierarchies to form a

multidimensional hierarchy.

• Hierarchical queries can be created for relational databases by joining several

columns:

—By joining several nonhierarchical structures, such as columns from relational

data sources or characteristics from SAP reports, hierarchical queries can be

created with inSight.




inSight

OLAP Hierarchies • By dragging the content icon of a hierarchy from the Database window into a

hierarchy object, all levels and elements can be queried:

—The query sequence can be defined with the hierarchy formatting option or

dynamically via other dependencies.

—This capability is essential, as larger hierarchies are typically not completely

queried, with only relevant sections being queried and made available.

• The default setting of inSight initially shows only the top hierarchy level in an

object:

—All other hierarchy levels can be opened by specific drill-down.

—The levels of hierarchies can be compressed or expanded (drill-down) by mouse

click or by using the DRILLDOWN control function.

• With some database systems, two or more hierarchies of different dimensions can

be dragged into a hierarchy object:

—By joining several dimensions from OLAP data sources in this manner, a

multidimensional hierarchy is obtained in which all elements of one dimension are

assigned to each item of the other dimension.

Relational

Hierarchies

• In inSight, hierarchies can be created by joining several nonhierarchical

dimensions:

—Such dimensions could be columns from relational databases, characteristics

from SAP reports, or nonhierarchical dimensions from OLAP databases.

—inSight column and row objects can be filled with two or more columns of a

relational database or with two or more characteristics of a SAP report, making it

possible to create any desired hierarchies whose values can be displayed in

associated table objects.

—Joining two or more columns from relational databases creates relational

hierarchies in which only those elements for which values exist are assigned to

each item.

Control and

Calculation

Functions

• In addition to inSight’s query functions, there are approximately 200 functions

available to perform local data manipulations with query results.

• There also are functions that enable navigating through inSight applications.

• Functions can be used in control and calculation formulas.

• Functions can be executed individually or combined into multiple-function

formulas.

• Calculation functions calculate values that are to be displayed in an object or that

perform logical operations.

• Functions that calculate or check values can usually be applied as document or

database formulas.

• Control expressions permit the execution of multiple functions one after the other:

—Control functions trigger an action when a certain event or condition has been

fulfilled, for example, changing the selected attribute in a menu object.

• An object can contain a calculation function and multiple control functions, which

are set to execute for different results.

• The selection window is used to define when a calculation will be executed, that is,

the function will only be executed when a condition is met (for example, After

Update, On Input, On Commit, On Mouse click, Cursor inside or Cursor outside).




inSight

Time Dimensions • OLAP databases usually contain special time dimensions, which are supported by

inSight.

• When working with the ODBC interface, or with the inSight database, inSight

allows interpreting any possible table column format as a time column.

• If the time mode used in the data source table does not correspond to the viewing

wishes of the end user, the user can choose the display format used for the time

attributes in that column:

—This supports accumulating and manipulating data records based on the existing

time format and the time format the end user wants to display (daily, weekly,

monthly, yearly).

• If a time column is already defined as a Date column (either in the database itself

or through the ODBC connection), it can be used as a time column without any

additional definition:

—inSight can automatically recognize that the attributes in this column are time

attributes, so the only action needed is to set the display format.

—If, however, the time column is defined with another format, the user must define

that column as an inSight time column.

—If the database has the values for individual periods in separate table columns,

the time information must be defined for each individual column.

• inSight is equipped with a number of functions that perform time and time-interval

calculations.

Libraries • Objects can be stored in a central object library or in distributed object libraries.

• There are two storage possibilities offered by the object library:

—The object will be stored in the object library with global properties.

—The object will be stored in the object library with local properties only.

• Global properties:

—The object in the document is directly linked to the object in the library.

—A change made to a global property library object need only be made once, and

the other occurrences of that object will automatically be changed, even if

occurrences of that object are in different worksheets, or on different computers.

• Local properties:

—The object in the document is not linked to the object in the library.

—A change to the library object will have no effect on the individual document

objects.

• An entire document can be used as a layout for other documents:

—When creating additional documents, users have the choice of copying a global

layout (where a change in one document is transferred to all the linked documents),

or simply copying the base document, whereby changes made in this document or

in other documents have no effect on each other.




inSight

Designing Models inSight makes it possible to create, configure, maintain and document BI

applications:

• Because external APIs can be incorporated into the program, the standard

functions can be expanded to include the features and formulas of other standard or

in-house software programs.

• Various configuration functions enable the customer to custom define the use and

appearance of menu objects, the toolbars, as well as the status bar texts related to

individual objects.

Developer

Mode/User Mode

• If a developer has developed an application equipped with data validity controls,

calculation and data display features, and functional navigation commands (so that

it is unnecessary to access menu commands to make entries, or to move from

document to document within the application), the application can be made

available to users in the user mode:

—User mode protects the model against unauthorized changes and limits the user’s

options to those defined directly in the documents.

—A limited selection of menu commands and toolbar buttons is also available.

—All other necessary functions must be defined in the document through control

functions.

• Runtime versions of inSight operate only in user mode.

• Password protection:

—inSight can open, when started in developer mode, any available inSight

document, from any computer in the network if the user is authorized to view it.

—Deployed applications have a built-in protection feature restricting the documents

available to end users.

• inSight integrates itself into the built-in protection mechanisms of the customer’s

network system:

—If access to document files is limited by the network system, these limitations also

apply for the inSight program.

Time-Triggered

Control Functions

• Selected tasks can be automated and executed according to a developer-defined

time schedule.

• Maintenance and data control routines can also be automated and set to execute

at regular time intervals.

• These so-called “agents” are defined in inSight task documents or on the

dynaSight server.

• Basic one-time and repetitive scheduling is provided.




inSight

Personalized User

Interfaces

• inSight allows the developer to define personalized user environments for

individual users.

• Individual startup documents can be defined.

• Individual menus and toolbars can be placed in inSight documents.

• Developers can define specific functions to the individualized menus and toolbars,

which can be different for different users.

• inSight makes it possible to assign different menus and toolbars to different

documents as well.

• inSight provides the ability to define the text displayed in the status bar for different

objects.

• Menus and submenus can be individually configured just like the toolbar:

—Menus, submenus and menu items can be appended, inserted or deleted, and

they can be used to trigger the execution of any control function or series of

functions.

—The same is true for buttons in the toolbar, and there is an additional option of

assigning the picture that is displayed on the button, along with the related text that

is listed in the status bar.

• Because the functions used to define the custom interfaces, like all control

functions, are triggered by events, developers are able to insert, append or delete

menus and toolbar buttons by clicking a button or by changing the selection in a

menu object.

Multiuser Safety

Mechanisms

• With inSight, it is possible for multiple users to simultaneously work with the same

documents and libraries:

—Changes can only be made by one user at a time; other users are blocked from

making changes until the last user to make a change has saved the document.

—Changes to a document include shifting an object, creating new objects,

formatting objects and defining new object contents.

• Switching menu selections and manually inputting object entries can be done

simultaneously by multiple users:

—The entries made by the first user will be saved. inSight does not check to see

whether the same entry is input by different users (database management systems

usually prevent this).

—If a user attempts to edit a document after another user has already made

changes, the user will be informed that the document is currently in use and can not

be changed.

• If, during the session, a user has changed and saved a document that another

user is attempting to change, the second user will be informed that another user has

already changed the document and will also be asked if he or she still wants to

update the document.




inSight

Script and Protocol

Files

• inSight provides numerous functions for automatically creating scripts and tracing

the program flow.

There are three types of scripts:

• A document script contains all the information for a document and its objects,

including, for example, all formatting information, object properties (including

position and size) and functions.

• A repository script contains all the information for the database connection as filed

in the repository file.

• A convert script contains all information for the database queries in a document:

—Changes in the system, the database connection or database contents can be

automatically adjusted by using convert scripts.

—A convert script shows the previous values on the left side and the new values on

the right side.

• inSight has the capability to trace the program flow and database accesses:

—By using the protocol files, errors in the application flow can be found.


dynaSight Administrator

Overview • Used for management of the dynaSight Servers as well as the applications.

• Manages:

—Accounts

—Server tasks

—Server objects (logged-on users, dynaSight applications, up to three Web servers

and the registered printers)

—Load balancing

Security • Single SignOn allows integration into the SAP enterprise applications via the SAP

portal.

• In dynaSight there are no accounts defined for the individual user:

—dynaSight adopts the security of the Web server and the databases used in the

applications as the user’s access privilege.

• Two types of account permissions—access to the dynaSight Administrator and

access to the ODBC data source.

Other Architecture Components

Viewers • dynaSight Java Viewer

• dynaSight HTML Viewer:

—Uses dynamic HTML.

—Requires Internet Explorer 5 or Netscape 6.

Web Server • To access applications, a Web server such as Microsoft Internet Information

Server is required.

• To enable the end user to run the dynaSight applications, the current dynaSight

Java classes, the dynaSight-Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and the HTML start

pages for the applications must be installed on or accessible to at least one of the

supported Web servers.



Analysis

dynaSight comprises three main components—the dynaSight Server, the dynaSight Administrator andinSight. There are also Connectors, which are interfaces to numerous data sources, and Viewers. Thedevelopment environment, inSight, is used to create custom applications, which can be based on anumber of popular data sources, including relational databases, OLAP servers and enterprise applicationsdata sources.

Figure 1: dynaSight Architecture

Source: Arcplan, Inc.

The inSight development environment is used to create and maintain dynaSight documents, whichcontain logic and are, in essence, BI applications. inSight also can be used to create documents that canbe saved and reused to perform ad hoc OLAP queries, albeit with pre-defined documents and queries(inSight/dynaSight is not a “traditional” relational query tool or reporting tool). Documents are theinteractive framework for the end-user interface and can contain multiple objects, which can be graphs,data lists, tables, buttons, graphs and others. dynaSight enables developers to graphically create BIapplications without programming and, in fact, explicit programming by the developer within the inSightdevelopment environment is not supported.



Via third-party APIs, dynaSight leverages functionality already available in the back-end system and addsnavigation, visualization and calculation capabilities, as well as analysis and workflow capabilities to theinformation retrieved. It provides a highly complementary and integrated toolset for analytical applicationdevelopment using these back ends, with the ability to access multiple data sources in one application.Support for and use of the functionality of back-end systems includes such features as securitycapabilities, server-specific functions (for example, 9 out of 10 Essbase functions required for Platinumcertification, and SAP R/3 and BW functions required for certification) and database communicationsprotocols (for example, SQL and MDX for query and calculation). inSight offers approximately 200functions for calculation and control, which can be combined to create more complex logic and can alsobe used in combination with events to control the behavior, content and appearance of objects and thusof applications. It is possible to extend applications by using DLLs that interface to non-dynaSightapplications. dynaSight applications also can be embedded in ASPs, JSPs, portlets or Portal solutions,but are not dependent on these.

Developers use inSight via a Windows Desktop program and can use objects that they or otherdevelopers have already created, which are stored in libraries. To develop applications, developers dragand drop column headings, column contents, conditions and dependencies onto the appropriatedocument object. After so filling the objects, these can be linked to each other. In addition, an object cancontain calculation functions and multiple control functions. Conditional functions in objects provide acondition (or conditions) that must be met for data to be displayed, and they also affect the data that isthen called up in linked objects. Conditional and calculation expressions are created using generalfunctions. Control functions trigger an action when a certain event or condition has been fulfilled, forexample, changing the selected attribute in a menu object. Control expressions permit the execution ofmultiple functions one after the other. Querying of the data sources is generated automatically by inSight(not the end user). By combining various hierarchical and dependency relationships, complex queries canbe graphically created. OLAP hierarchies and functionality, such as drill-down, are supported. In inSight,hierarchies can be created by joining nonhierarchical dimensions, such as columns from relationaldatabase tables or nonhierarchical dimensions from OLAP databases.

Figure 2: Working With Objects



Source: Arcplan, Inc.

The applications, tailored for users’ specific needs, are deployed to the dynaSight Server. The deployedapplications thus run in a multitier environment, with the viewers as the client tier, the dynaSight Server asthe middle-tier and the data sources as the back-end tier. The dynaSight Server, which is the heart of thedeployment infrastructure, supports Web users in accessing their applications. The dynaSight Serverscan be clustered, so that load balancing and failover are supported. The Administrator is used to managethe environment and to maintain the storage of applications on the dynaSight Server. dynaSightConnectors provide native access to relational, OLAP and enterprise applications data sources.

The end-user Client is a graphical user interface that runs in a browser and comes in two forms, onebeing an HTML interface and the other a Java-based interface. All end-user interaction and viewing isdone via these browsers. The browser loads the dynaSight Java applet (if Java-based deployment isused) or Java script (if DHTML deployment is used), which communicate with the dynaSight Service viadynaCGI. The Service starts the application and reads the data from the corresponding data sources(internal, external or Internet). The dynaSight documents containing these data results are then displayedin the browser on the end user’s computer. The application logic runs on the dynaSight Server.

Pricing


Product Description Price (US$)

dynaSight Server Windows 19,500

Unix Windows price (19,500)

plus 25 percent




Product Description Price (US$)

inSight (Admin Developer) • Per developer seat

• Referred to as Admin

Developer on the price list

• Includes Administrator

2,900

Connectors Per connector per server 6,900

Client Per concurrent user 1,580

GSA Pricing

No.

Competitors

The BI platforms market includes a variety of types of vendors and products. These include, for example,DBMS/OLAP Sever vendors (Microsoft, Oracle and Hyperion), enterprise applications vendors who haveBI-focused data warehouses and offer BI applications (SAP and PeopleSoft) and other vendors who alsoprovide BI application development environments (Arcplan, Crystal Decisions and ProClarity). Anothervendor, SAS Institute, offers products spanning many of the products offered by the foregoing vendors.Some of the Enterprise Business Intelligence Suite (EBIS) vendors, like Business Objects and Cognos,offer BI applications (corporate performance management) that are based on their BI tools andinfrastructures and in some situations, their applications do compete with dynaSight. The lattercompetition highlights a transformation that is taking place in this market, from using BI platforms tocreate custom applications to buying pre-built application packages. Finally, MicroStrategy plays in boththe EBIS and BI platform markets.

Arcplan’s approach is to complement third-party, back-end databases and leverage their infrastructureand server functionality, enabling development of applications that use these systems. This approach,also focused on reusing pre-built components and applying a rapid-application-development-without-programming paradigm, offers customers an alternative to both prepackaged applications and “traditional”custom development (that requires programming or scripting). Some of the vendors listed above could beor could become Arcplan’s competitors (see data sources listed in the Overview section), becauseArcplan uses their data sources to build applications. However, few of these vendors support the breadthof data sources and the ability to create applications without programming. In many cases, these vendorsare Arcplan’s partners. For example, Microsoft, whose SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services is a dynaSightdata source, has tools (for example, Visual Basic) to develop BI applications around Analysis Services,but does not offer as comprehensive or easy-to-use an application development, management anddeployment environment as does dynaSight. At least for now, Microsoft views these smaller vendors aspartners rather than competitors and vice versa.

Thus, the most noteworthy dynaSight competitor is ProClarity Analytic Platform, which offers acomponent-based rapid application development paradigm that is of the same genre as Arcplan’s. Incontrast to Arcplan, ProClarity is focused solely on the Microsoft Windows platform, and Microsoft SQLServer 2000 Analysis Services is ProClarity’s sole data source. ProClarity is a viable competitor insituations involving Microsoft platforms and has been having market success. As contrasted to theprogramming-free dynaSight, ProClarity embeds Visual Basic as its scripting tool. Both dynaSight andProClarity are not print oriented.



MicroStrategy supports embedding MicroStrategy functionality into custom applications or integrating thisfunctionality with third-party applications, but this requires programming in Java or JavaScript, VisualBasic, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) or Visual C++. As a result, MicroStrategy is primarily a partnerfor Arcplan rather than a competitor, because dynaSight can access MicroStrategy data sources. CrystalDecisions’ Crystal Analysis Professional also is a competitor, but in a very narrow range, being focusedsolely on OLAP data sources (Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services, Microsoft SQL Server 2000Analysis Services, SAP BW [2.0 and 3.0] and Crystal Decisions Holos [8.0 and 8.5]).

With its focus on rapid development of BI applications, Arcplan is not a competitor to BI query andreporting vendors like Cognos, Crystal Decisions and Business Objects, but dynaSight/inSight doessupport ad hoc OLAP querying from pre-defined reports. Although vendors wouldn’t buy dynaSightspecifically to do “traditional” ad hoc querying and reporting (they would buy it to develop/deploy BIapplications), their users could perform “ad hoc” querying against OLAP data sources.

Strengths

Rapid Graphical Development Paradigm

inSight is an object-oriented development environment, which supports rapid development through thereuse of pre-created and tested objects, including pre-built user interfaces. Programming and scripting arenot required. inSight’s coding-free graphical development functionality generates script automaticallybased on the developer’s graphical actions.

Native Gateways for Popular Data Sources

dynaSight offers integration via Arcplan gateways with a sizable number of popular data sources,including relational database management systems (RDBMSs), OLAP data sources and application datasources. Arcplan claims to be the only interface partner for SAP BAPI and SEM as well as HyperionEnterprise and Hyperion Financial Management. dynaSight can simultaneously access heterogeneousdatabases and can combine data from multiple data sources in inSight documents.

End-User Ease of Use

End users access all data sources and applications via a browser, either with HTML or Java applets. Onlydevelopers and administrators are required to use the Microsoft Windows Desktop.

Writeback Capabilities

dynaSight can write back to data sources, which is a requirement for financial applications like budgeting,forecasting and financial consolidations.

Limitations

Unix Support

dynaSight supports Unix, but not HP-UX (planned for next versions). Also, Mac OS X and Linux areplanned for the near future.

Media Output Optimization Required

Most Arcplan customers use dynaSight for on-screen reporting of data accessed in real time forinteractive analysis. A layout for screen presentation as optimized for this output media usually producessuboptimal results for print output. As screen resolution and layout is different from print formats, printreports have to be created differently in dynaSight. Thus, the developer will have to create printed reportsby using dynaSight functions and controls to create the necessary processes and layouts. Some other



reporting products, which focus on hard-copy production printing, have certain built-in functions thatsupport such printing. Dedicated dynaSight “print-reports” can be triggered by user action (for example,print button) or be event or time driven.

User-Defined Functions (UDFs)

Developers can’t add their own UDFs to the dynaSight function library. However, developers can add theirown functionality in the form of DLLs.

LDAP as an Interface

The current version of dynaSight doesn’t support Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), but plansare to include this support in version 4.0.

Web Client for Developers and Administrators

Developers and administrators do not have Web support, but must use the Desktop, which runs onMicrosoft Windows.

Linking Documents to Portals

Although dynaSight documents can be linked to portals, dynaSight doesn’t provide out-of-the-box supportfor any portals. The integration depends on the specific environment and requirements, but additionalconfiguration and in some cases, programming, may be required to effect the interface.

inSight Wireless Support

Wireless applications are supported; however, the wireless device currently must support either Java orDHTML.

Recommended Gartner Research

Business Intelligence Magic Quadrants: Turbulent Waters, M-17-6578.

Insight

dynaSight and its inSight development environment offer interesting technology for developing anddeploying BI applications. A completely graphical, programming-free development environment, inSightuses a component-based approach that provides reusability of tested components to rapidly build multitierdistributed Web applications. dynaSight complements supported back-end systems with its rapid-development paradigm for creating applications that can leverage the functionality of these systems. ThedynaSight Server supports load balancing and can access the most popular data sources, includingRDBMSs, OLAP servers and enterprise and BI applications data sources. All end-user functionality,including OLAP, is available via standard Web browsers. However, developers and administrators do nothave Web support, but must use the Desktop, which runs on Microsoft Windows. Output is visuallyoriented, with support for tables, graphs, buttons and other visual aids, so “conventional” printed reportingis not a major feature, although supported. Although it is a small company, Arcplan has attracted a core oflarge customers, so the product is worth careful consideration if it meets a company’s needs.