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Ad Hoc Query & Reporting Thread Tool Recommendation

Ad Hoc Query & Reporting Thread Tool Recommendation. Ad Hoc Query & Reporting Thread March 26, 2002. Project Organization. Pre-Programmed Reporting Thread Focused on the manipulation of pre-programmed (canned) reports that are currently generated in IMPAC II Ad Hoc Reporting Thread

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Ad Hoc Query & Reporting Thread Tool Recommendation

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  1. Ad Hoc Query & Reporting Thread Tool Recommendation Ad Hoc Query & Reporting Thread March 26, 2002

  2. Project Organization • Pre-Programmed Reporting Thread Focused on the manipulation of pre-programmed (canned) reports that are currently generated in IMPAC II Ad Hoc Reporting Thread Focused on allowing the NIH user community to query the IMPAC II DB (OLTP & IRDB) to retrieve data on an ad hoc basis. Ad Hoc Reporting

  3. Ad Hoc Q &R Team • Carol Martin, Group Advocate • Krishna Collie, Analyst • Jim Tucker, Analyst Ad Hoc Reporting

  4. Executive Summary • User requirement – provide and support a desktop ad hoc query & reporting tool • Analysis – evaluated 4 COTS tools against stated requirements and tested using pre-defined report and selection criteria. • Result - None of the tested tools met all of the ‘MUST’ criteria. • Recommendation: • Conduct user trial using Oracle Discoverer (recommended for pre-pgm.reports) Ad Hoc Reporting

  5. Objectives • To retrieve data from the IRDB current, history and frozen (PUB) files and/or the OLTP current files on an ad hoc basis • To produce formatted reports • To export data to spreadsheet or ASCII delimited file • To publish reports to the Web Ad Hoc Reporting

  6. Categories of Evaluation Criteria Used • General Criteria – Must, Should, Could • Support and Maintenance Criteria • Security Criteria • Performance Metrics • Other Considerations Ad Hoc Reporting

  7. COSSET Commercial Off-The-Shelf System Selection and Evaluation Technique (COSSET) Ad Hoc Reporting

  8. Functional Requirements • Ease of use by end user • Allow users the ability to craft queries • Allow users ability to save queries • Export report to Excel and/or ASCII delimited file Ad Hoc Reporting

  9. Technical Requirements • Must be easy to configure, use and maintain • Ease of creating/maintaining meta-layer • Scalability across the enterprise • Ability to self-join table more than once and use the self-joined tables Ad Hoc Reporting

  10. Architectural Issues • Integration into eRA enterprise • Installation on Users’ Desktops • Seat Licenses • Web or Client/Server version? Ad Hoc Reporting

  11. Vendor Survey • Market Leaders* • Hummingbird • COGNOS • Business Objects • ORACLE Discoverer *(Gartner Group Survey) Ad Hoc Reporting

  12. Finalists • While none of the tools met all ‘musts’, Discoverer merits careful consideration for following reasons: • Discoverer selected for pre-programmed reports • OER already owns licenses for Discoverer • NCI staff successfully using tool for ad-hoc query • Other new IMPAC II products available to assist ‘power users’: • ICSTORe export custom hit list to Excel; Advanced Query • Pre-pgm. reports for user export/manipulation to be developed. Ad Hoc Reporting

  13. Product Evaluation • Queries: • Complex • Simple • Report Formatting • Multi-lines per record • Headers and Footers • Borders, Colors, Shading, Fonts Ad Hoc Reporting

  14. Sample of Test Report Ad Hoc Reporting

  15. Sample Test Complex Report Ad Hoc Reporting

  16. Hummingbird Difficult to use Cannot sort in the report Must save query separately from report in order to make changes Meta-layer setup difficult Results of Evaluation Ad Hoc Reporting

  17. Cognos Meta-layer setup difficult Can’t self join a table more than 1 time Net80 directory must be on local hard drive After report is formatted, cannot add another data item Results of Evaluation Ad Hoc Reporting

  18. Business Objects Can’t self join a table more than 1 time Not easy to add new data items to formatted report Very cumbersome to format multi-line report When partials results are returned, no way to next batch of results Results of Evaluation Ad Hoc Reporting

  19. Oracle Discoverer Requires careful meta-layer design & maintenance to facilitate ‘user friendliness’ Lacks advanced formatting capabilities Object terminology very confusing End-user training and support essential Results of Evaluation Ad Hoc Reporting

  20. Recommendation • Conduct a “live” demo of Discoverer (IRDBDEV) • Present demo to user groups • RUG • ePUG • ADP/EP • Determine if their needs are satisfied by this tool • Group Advocate to continue evaluating other tools Ad Hoc Reporting

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