Self-Service Reporting

As an IT executive, you’ll recognize the following report distribution challenges that are difficult to manage in a resource-constrained environment:

Frustrated end-users complain that they don’t get the reports that they need on time, the reports are out of date or contain errors.
Administrators lack centralized control over access to report data and report destinations.
Users continue to request on-demand reporting capabilities for mobile devices.
Increasing demand for new reports or variants requires incremental staffing, which may not be an option.
Users simply want more control – they want updated business intelligence available at their convenience, not yours.

You need to provide a self-service reporting solution for end-users, partners and customers that enables on-demand access to business intelligence assets and unmatched ease-of-use on any computing device. And such a solution must operate within constraints defined by enterprise security policies.

Simplicity

The reporting portal hides application and data complexity from end-users, so training is minimal or unnecessary.

At the same time, the web-based portal maintains a high degree of flexibility by offering runtime parameters selected by end-users. Populating those parameters dynamically from external data sources is an option for supporting dependencies across systems.

The KISS principle governs the user interface, easy to learn, easy to use.

Real-Time KPI Dashboards

Real-time business intelligence dashboards & KPI dashboard software is in very high demand. Technological advances enable them to supplant more traditional forms of reporting, which in turn makes them useful for solving an extraordinary number of business challenges. But they are particularly important for organizations to use a systemic approach to enterprise management because it requires real-time process monitoring and rigorous use of key performance indicators.

The popularity of dashboards is challenging IT organizations in unprecedented ways:

For some end-users, scheduled and on-demand reports aren’t enough. They want real-time views of their world with easy-to-digest data visualizations that allow drill-downs to underlying details.
End-users want those up-to-the-moment views to be available on any platform, including mobile devices.
Dashboard tools embedded in popular business applications are often too complex or require too much training. End-users don’t want to be involved with creating the solution – they just want the result.
Resources to work on dashboards may be unavailable; an incremental headcount may be very difficult to justify.

Self-service BI & KPI dashboard software allow users to get to the right numbers, to identify trends and then drill down into the details to get to the root causes of problems or to isolate specific opportunities. Choosing the right technologies and, if needed, reliable external consulting partners is critical when responding to this need.

Automated Report Distribution

As an IT executive, you’ll recognize the following report distribution challenges that are difficult to manage in a resource-constrained environment.

Frustrated end-users complain that they don’t get the reports that they need on time, or the reports are out of date or contain errors.
You don’t have a central mechanism to manage and distribute reports generated by dozens or hundreds of discrete applications.
IT analysts spend too much time outside of normal business hours triggering period reports, maintaining scripts and fixing batch files.
The IT organization spends too much time at month-end or quarter-end fixing problems with application interfaces and process breakdowns caused by human errors.
You’ve been asked to drastically scale up your reporting infrastructure to support the extended enterprise: partners, suppliers, and customers, yet you can’t scale your headcount proportionally.
You need a single, enterprise-wide solution that addresses all report distribution needs.
You may already use one or more report writers (e.g. Crystal Reports, SQL Server Reporting Services) in your company. You don’t want to replace them—you simply want incremental capabilities to address the distribution management gaps.

You need an automated report scheduling and distribution solution that can handle the unique complexities of your business, is easy to manage, is robust and can simply be set and forgotten.

Scheduling Automation & Distribution

Unparalleled flexibility to define fixed, dynamic, data-driven, bursting and event-driven schedules for individual reports or groups of reports.
Combine these dimensions to match your business requirements precisely. Because change is constant, the administrative interface facilitates easy alterations.
For Standalone report automation tools, check out CRD for Crystal Reports or SQL-RD for SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)

Example Use Cases

Here are some use cases ChristianSteven Software encounters frequently:

Create comprehensive, start-of-the-day reports for hospital surgeons that contain schedules, patients, locations, equipment lists and other details for a productive workday
Manage extreme report distribution volumes (e.g., 80,000 per day) for a global telecommunications enterprise, its partners, and its customers
Provide extraordinary ﬂexibility for delivery methods, report customizations and output formats in complex manufacturing environments that practice ongoing process optimization

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