WIXLIB

BusinessWhite PaperISVs Accelerate Their Applicationswith BIRT and ActuateOneActuate has worked with independent software vendors (ISVs) for more thanten years, helping them leverage Actuate technology in their applications.ActuateOne, built on open source BIRT (Business Information Reporting Tools)technology, empowers users with flexibility and interactivity and adds to basicreport generation new data visualizations and more. ISVs can capitalize on thisfunctionality within their own applications, adding value to those applicationsby introducing the features their customers demand.With Actuate and BIRT, ISVs can improve user agility, time to market and userself-service by integrating ActuateOne’s suite of seamless, powerful BI tools intotheir software offerings. By investing in ActuateOne, developers and professionalservice departments can spend less time meeting and anticipating users’information needs, and focus more on their own core competencies.

Business White Paper: ISVs Accelerate Their Applications with BIRT and ActuateOneOverviewActuate has worked with independent softwarevendors (ISVs) for more than ten years, helping themleverage Actuate technology in their applications.ActuateOne, built on open source BIRT (BusinessInformation Reporting Tools) technology, empowersusers with flexibility and interactivity and adds tobasic report generation new data visualizationsand more. ISVs can capitalize on this functionalitywithin their own applications, adding value tothose applications by introducing the features theircustomers demand.With Actuate and BIRT, ISVs can improve user agility,time to market and user self-service by integratingActuateOne’s suite of seamless, powerful BI tools intotheir software offerings. By investing in ActuateOne,developers and professional service departmentscan spend less time meeting and anticipating users’information needs, and focus more on their own corecompetencies.The Challenge of Evolving User NeedsActuate users and ISV clients increasingly encounterthe challenge of getting optimum data into the righthands on a timely basis. This pursuit is especiallydifficult in today’s fluid business climate whereorganizations are constantly changing, requiringusers to adjust their data-related needs accordingly. Inaddition, users may not know the extent of what theywant from a solution until after they see it in action.These factors can create a disparity between usersand the developers tasked with creating solutionsthat anticipate rapidly evolving data requests.Delivering successful BI solutions in today’s marketis complicated by the increase of users asking forapplications that give immediate answers to timeto-market questions, as waiting weeks or monthsfor a new software release/data solution is no longeran option. Thanks to rich online tools savvy usersare becoming increasingly self-empowered toexplore and use content when and how they need it.These consumers also want similar user experienceenvironments and accessibility from businessapplications built in house or by outside developers.Since most users don’t receive extensive training onhow to get content from intricate data sources, thetools for information presentation and explorationshould be intuitive and manageable. Understandingspecific user requirements up front can also improvethe application development process.Legacy BI Technology: Disparate Toolsfor Multiple ProblemsThe competitive BI landscape is filled with legacysolutions that provide different tools for variousproblems; for example, users must learn one solutionfor slicing and dicing data and another for viewingoperational information with KPIs.In response to this fragmented and generallyunworkable approach, Actuate created a moreuser-centric solution for today’s evolving BI space:ActuateOne, a unified suite of powerful yet accessiblesolutions for multiple users’ needs. ActuateOne’s oneuser experience is built in a seamless environmentthat supports customized data exploration—withoutrequiring users to learn numerous, disparate tools.2

Business White Paper: ISVs Accelerate Their Applications with BIRT and ActuateOneActuateOne:The Integrated Solutionfor ISVsActuateOne is the leading integrated businessintelligence solution for ISVs looking to maximize theirproduct portfolios and meet evolving user needs.Actuate’s premier commercial offering helps improveuser agility, time to market and user self-service (8:22)via its “one user experience”; this key deliverable inthe ActuateOne portfolio features visual, interactive,collaborative and dashboard technology for users ofall experience and interest levels .ActuateOne is based on BIRT, the influential opensource BI initiative co-founded and co-sponsored byActuate and the Eclipse Foundation. BIRT’s growingcommunity includes active users both inside andoutside the firewall such as agents, partners andcustomer end users. With 10 million downloadsand one million plus developers worldwide, BIRT isincreasingly recognized for its accessible web-centricdesign, wide-ranging APIs and ability to simplifycomplex data processes.Rich Visualization CapabilitiesVast amounts of visual information are presentedto users every day via online and televised media,mobile content and more. Regardless of thepresentation or deployment methods, successfulvisual content captures the attention of its intendedaudience. And when it comes to web applications,the most effective data solutions should also: Provide accessible, easy-to-understand visualizations Engage users with rich, compelling visual experiences Feature clear and interesting methods of contentpresentation Offer multiple options for accessing and managingvast quantities of dataAcutateOne features several rich visual capabilitiesfor easy integration into ISV applications. These100% browser-based Flash Objects let usersretrieve, review and share rich visual data withminimal training. Specifically, Flash Objects allowsusers to: Present rich web-based sales summaries thathighlight key metrics Review at-a-glance data via enhanced charts,graphs, meters and more Track timely information on trends, performance andquota progress Create comparative or analytical reports withintuitive drill-down capabilities Discover data hidden within existing reports Craft eye-catching PDFs for print-based presentationThe BIRT library offers more than 260 Flash Objectsthat are easy to customize with individual styles thatmatch the look and feel of existing ISV applications.In addition, the web-centric architecture behindFlash Objects supports all current web standardssuch as cascading style sheets.3

Business White Paper: ISVs Accelerate Their Applications with BIRT and ActuateOneInteractive FunctionalityWith BIRT 360 users can:In addition to their rich visual appeal, BIRT-basedFlash Objects are also highly interactive; these 100%secure, reusable components promote agility andself-sufficiency by empowering users to: Perform rapid, deep analysis of complex data fromvarious sources via the integrated BIRT Data Analyzer Drill down and interact with KPIs and customizevaluable business content, promoting fast, strategicdecision making without IT intervention Generate operational dashboards for high-level, at-aglance content views ,providing options that ideal fortrend monitoring, historical analysis and performanceevaluation Create rich analytic dashboards for ad-hoc dataanalysis, fostering data discovery and allowing usersto apply selector-based content filters to accessspecific information Process and present complex information requests byusing dynamic, drag-and-drop, cross-tab capabilitiesand customized data formatting features Customize key aspects of information deployment andpresentation without the assistance of developers orprofessional service departments Explore data with greater confidence and curiosity,and save content changes Review information with interchangeable top-down/ascending-descending views Create projections and what-if scenarios using tabulargraphics, charts and other dynamic visualizationsInteractive functionality is also built into ActuateOne,resulting in rapid processing that eliminates the needto re-run reports, query databases or access backenddata sources.The browser-based BIRT Data Analyzer is ActuateOne’sinteractive, 64-bit in-memory OLAP (online analyticalprocessing) tool that lets users: Drill down for granular exploration of data withinoperational reports and high-level summaries Change views rapidly within any report via simpledrag-and-drop functionality Apply date, location and other filters for more detaileddata exploration Export live Excel data, complete with its originalformulas and formatting, to single or multi-pageworksheets as pivot tablesActuateOne’s single layout and unified informationdelivery system let users access, analyze and shareinteractive and static content quickly and easily. ForISV’s, integrating ActuateOne into their applications cansignificantly reduce the number of layouts that oftenresult from numerous user customization requests.Engaging Dashboard SolutionsDashboards are popular for aggregating,summarizing and focusing on specific content. Thesedynamic layouts often provide more intuitive, agileand customizable experiences compared to that ofstatic reports and visualizations.The ActuateOne product suite features BIRT 360, adashboard application that ISVs can easily embed intotheir own software and present to users via a flexible,dynamic interface.BIRT dashboard technology also works withindividual, user-added widgets and is Googlestandard, enabling users to use and combine any ofthe numerous Google gadgets available for BI use.ISVs can also share the easily customized and editedBIRT-based dashboards with their user communities.Exposing this information encourages users to createtheir own tools, expanding the number visualizationoptions available in pre-assembled applications.Unified Design TechnologyBIRT Studio is ActuateOne’s intuitive, web-baseddesign tool. This ad-hoc offering can perform complexanalytic processes through the BIRT Data Analyzer,yet it is accessible to users of all levels. BIRT Studiolets users view, explore and save BIRT-based reportsincluding newly created interactive data; developerscan later use BIRT Designer Pro to modify content.BIRT Data Objects are an important part of the BIRTStudio technology; the addition of 64-bit in-memoryenables users to pull and aggregate informationfrom various sources. With BIRT Studio and BIRT DataObjects users can: Access and explore data quickly and easily Design new ad-hoc reports from scratch or based onpredefined templates Deliver dynamic reports with drag-and-drop filters,customized layouts and user-specified formatting4