New Release of MITS Report Expands Database Support, Improves Usability and Integration Capabilities

MITS ®, leading provider of reporting and business intelligence solutions, today announced a major new release of its popular operational reporting solution, MITS Report .
Eighteen months in the making, MITS Report 2.0 includes complete integration with a wide range of MultiValue and relational databases, giving customers more consistent and powerful reporting capabilities in today's multi-platform computing environments. The release also constitutes a major step forward in usability, with a new look and dozens of data access, presentation and integration features.

Enhanced MultiValue and Relational Database Support

With version 2.0, all MITS report functions can be used with nine additional databases. Support has expanded to a combination of MultiValue and relational platforms, including: TigerLogic D3 ™, OpenQM , Northgate Reality , Microsoft SQL Server®, MySQL® database management system, PostgreSQL, InterSystems UniVerse ® and UniData ® platforms.

"It is not uncommon for companies to utilize more than one database platform," says Gary Owen, MITS Vice President of Software Operations. "Because MITS Report supports multiple databases, users can create reports while remaining in a single, familiar environment and interface."

Easier Integration, Excel Connectivity, and PDF

The new release also adds a range of new Web application programming interfaces (APIs) which enable software solution vendors to more thoroughly embed MITS Report within their own applications. Thanks to complete integration capabilities, end users may use MITS Report within a third party solution without ever realizing it.

"This new, Web services-based integration is important to end users as well as software providers," adds Owen. "Now any application, wherever it was developed, can be integrated with MITS Report via Web services." While Internet-based applications are a great fit for the new interoperability features, MITS has successfully integrated MITS Report with .NET applications as well.

The new release helps users set up dynamic connections to MITS Report from within Excel workbooks. "Now users can connect to a report from within any Excel document," explains Owen, "similar to the way Excel connects to a database." Once connected, a spreadsheet can be automatically updated as the underlying data presented by the report changes. Excel power users will appreciate the ability to integrate the filtering, summarizing, and formatting capabilities of MITS Report with consolidation, pivot tables, and other advanced Excel features.

Because Excel isn't the only way users share data, MITS has added PDF export capability to MITS Report . End users will enjoy the functionality improvements associated with creating and distributing reports via email directly through the MITS Report interface.

Usability and Reporting Features

Every end user will immediately notice the new look of MITS Report . "Everything just fits together more cleanly," says Owen. "We've also made countless refinements to the user interface, so the solution works more intuitively."

In one subtle but powerful example, clicking on the "last updated" date on a report results in an immediate option to refresh the underlying report data for up to the minute results. In another, users can jump instantly to a specified page instead of scrolling through a report.

Both IT professionals and end users will appreciate the new prompting features, which allow report authors to set up contextual menu-based prompt lists for filtering reports. "Giving users choices simplifies their experience while enabling IT to limit the kinds of queries users submit," says Owen. The feature also allows a single report to replace many in cases where the only difference across reports is, for example, a date range, department identifiers or other easily selected data.

Subtotal and total lines – or rows on summarized reports – can now present averages as well as sums for any column. Summarized reports are easier to use, too, now that users can choose to expand any subtotal into its component details without expanding detail throughout the report.

Even more powerful is the ability to hyperlink a report column to Web content or specific application function. A user checking an inventory report, for example, can see an unusual stock level, click on that column and row, and instantly call up a related vendor or item screen in another application. "Operational reports are meant to be actionable," explains Owen. "This lets people see a report item and instantly click to the relevant part of another application or Web site so they can do something about it."

Simplified Maintenance, Improved Performance

MITS included powerful new performance enhancements and tools to assist internal and external support staff in the new release. In the new Support Console, administrators can review commands and notifications for faster, easier problem-solving. "Administrators can also use this feature to boost performance by identifying opportunities to refine queries and other operations," explains Owen.

Administrators can now manage report source updates – the tasks in which reporting data are pulled from operational databases – more precisely, thanks to new incremental updating options. They can now also enjoy email notification when report source updates are completed.

"We focused considerable effort on performance improvement," reports Owen, "especially regarding complex and ultra-large datasets."

With thousands of hours invested in the development and testing of this release, there is no doubt that MITS Report 2.0 will go above and beyond—satisfying the operational reporting needs of independent software vendors and end users alike.

MITS

Located in SEATTLE WA.

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