iCHARTER
Self-Service Analysis | Real Business Intelligence

Self-Service Analysis is Flexible

One of the chief complaints we hear about existing BI and reporting platforms is they are rigid. The complexity of changing what you are measuring within an existing view, makes them difficult to use.  Couple that with the cost per license, and [...]]]>  

iCHARTER
Self-Service Analysis | Real Business Intelligence

Self-Service Analysis is Flexible

One of the chief complaints we hear about existing BI and reporting platforms is they are rigid. The complexity of changing what you are measuring within an existing view, makes them difficult to use.  Couple that with the cost per license, and you have another obstacle to Self-Service Analysis. We see things a little differently. We’d like everyone to take advantage of Business Intelligence, which is why we made iCHARTER easy to work with and affordable.

We have recently fielded some requests that highlight this. It prompted me to jot down some notes about how iCHARTER handles some of these scenarios.

I heard from a client that they were ready to present some information to the board, but they wanted to clean up a chart. They had some filters they wanted to hide. They wanted to change the basic layout of the chart, and they wanted to convert all the units to percentages. The chart in question contained actual activities, and goals for the same. So, we took the existing information and created the necessary units for measurement within the chart.

This is what Self-Service Analysis is all about.

This chart had a redundant filter.

So, we removed that filter. The next request was to get rid of the settings on the screen. All done with the Action Menu drop down.

Next, they wanted the chart to take up more space on the screen.

At iVobis we charge one low price for each install, regardless of the number of potential users. iCHARTER is so easy to use, you won’t need training.

Give us a call. We’ll show you.

 Sales@iVobis.com | 415.240.4692

The Need for Business Intelligence Tools is Universal

We are seeing a definite trend towards acknowledging/embracing Business Intelligence as a core skill or responsibility. Whether connecting on social media sites, reviewing job applicants or meeting people in business and social settings, we are struck with the increase [...]]]> iCHARTER
Self-Service Analysis | Real Business Intelligence

The Need for Business Intelligence Tools is Universal

We are seeing a definite trend towards acknowledging/embracing Business Intelligence as a core skill or responsibility. Whether connecting on social media sites, reviewing job applicants or meeting people in business and social settings, we are struck with the increase in the number of people who identify as having some Business Intelligence inclination. We welcome this as a sign that the BI market is growing and that firms are looking for new ways to get the data discovery tools in the hands of more of their people.

This supports our notion of the increased demand for Self-Service Analysis. We have long held that everyone should have analysis at their fingertips. At iVobis, the mission is quite simple. We want more people to make better decisions in less time.

Most data discovery tools are still too complex and too rigid for wide dissemination. For most firms the cost per license stands in the way. That is why we designed iCHARTER as the sensible approach for Self-Service Analysis.

At iVobis we charge one low price for each install, regardless of the number of potential users. iCHARTER is so easy to use, you won’t need training.

Give us a call:

(415) 240-4692

sales@iVobis.com

Buster Posey: Not Merely Valuable, But Irreplaceable

The MVP for both leagues will be announced later today. In observance of such a momentous occasion, I took a look at the statistics and have my own position on the matter. We decided to limit our discussion to the [...]]]>

iCHARTER
Self-Service Analysis | Real Business Intelligence

Buster Posey: Not Merely Valuable, But Irreplaceable

The MVP for both leagues will be announced later today. In observance of such a momentous occasion, I took a look at the statistics and have my own position on the matter. We decided to limit our discussion to the likely top 3 contenders, as they provide an interesting contrast from a statistical standpoint. However, I don’t think it’s going to be all that close. There have been some lively debates on what exactly constitutes the Most Valuable Player. From the Baseball Writers’ Association of America:

“The rules of the voting remain the same as they were written on the first ballot in 1931:

1. Actual value of a player to his team, that is, strength of offense and defense.
2. Number of games played.
3. General character, disposition, loyalty and effort…”

In the interest of full disclosure; I come from a long line of catchers, my son is a catcher. So, you might say I have skin in the game.  In my book, the National League MP has to be Buster Posey.

Coming off a season shortened by a horrific injury, many hoped the Giants would move him  to first base to protect their young slugger. Posey didn’t want that. He knew he could help his team more behind the plate than he could from the right side of the infield. This speaks volumes to the character, disposition loyalty and effort categories mentioned above. Given his future earning potential, one can see the unselfish position he took as an integral piece of the Giants’ success this season. Yet, without complaining he did play first base when asked to do so. Which provided valuable time off for their young first baseman Brandon Belt as he figured out how to deal with the pitching in the majors, and allowed their young catching prospect Hector Sanchez to get comfortable with a couple of their pitchers, and achieve a small sample of success at the plate. In short, his actions made his teammates better, and increased their overall experience, as well as mental and physical health as they approached the playoffs.

In terms of raw numbers, Posey’s has some really intriguing aspects:

• Posey led the majors in runners thrown out with 38, though not in the percentage of runners caught stealing. This is due to a known deficiency the Giants’ pitching staff has in holding runners on.
• Posey was the first catcher in 70 years to win the NL batting title.
• He also led the league in on-base percentage with 4.08.
• Posey caught a pitching staff that recorded a 3.68 ERA.
• He hit .385 after the All Star Break, while recording an OPS of 1.102.
• Finally, Posey led the Major Leagues in Wins Above Replacement with 7.2.

National League MVP 2012

NL MVP Analysis

Last Argument

Posey was paid $615,000 for this season. That number will go up. But, for fun. Look at how much the measureables cost for each player:

NL MVP Value Comparison

 

 

 

Give us 10 minutes to show you how easy and powerful Self-Service Analysis can be.

Self-Service By Design

At iVobis, we take Self-Service seriously. We built iCHARTERTM with a focus on the end user.  So, every decision we make considers the potential impact to ease of use and clarity.  When you are selecting analysis tools for your extended workforce, it is important to keep [...]]]>

iCHARTER
Self-Service Analysis | Real Business Intelligence

Self-Service By Design

At iVobis, we take Self-Service seriously. We built iCHARTER^TM with a focus on the end user.  So, every decision we make considers the potential impact to ease of use and clarity.  When you are selecting analysis tools for your extended workforce, it is important to keep a fixed eye on usability and cost. Here’s a useful test for you.

Ask how much effort/knowledge it will take to generate your first chart on a topic of your choosing. Don’t accept predefined reports, as they typically do not track your business in the way you would.  If generating the charts requires training, find out how long would it take, if there are any prerequisites and how much they charge for training.

Projects Dashboard (5 minutes, start to finish)

We put this dashboard together in less than 5 minutes using nothing more than a few drop down lists in my default web browser. It really is that easy to get business intelligence started, if you have the right solution.
With iCHARTER^TM, every view and table is charted instantly. You won’t need training or any help from IT. In fact, if you know the name of the table you want to chart, just type it in the end of the url for the iCHARTER^TM homepage. It will come up with all system defaults selected.

Save it. Clone it. Add it to a dashboard.

Low cost, no fuss. That is what Self-Service Analysis is all about.

Ask what it will cost you now and if you were to roll it out to twice as many people. What if you added two more databases to be queried? Another useful question is how much a typical installation costs, and how much of your IT resources would be required. If they can’t get you up and running in a matter of hours, then it’s not Self-Service Analysis.

iCHARTER^TM installs in less than an hour. We always charge one low price regardless of the number of potential users. It’s so easy to use, you won’t need training.  Give us a call. We’ll show you.

Embracing Visual Integration

Increasingly, we are fielding requests to assist clients with data integration strategies. The first thing we do is ask what the term  integration means to them. Typically, it’s loaded with a sense of foreboding and dread. Integration doesn’t have to be a dirty word.  [...]]]>

iCHARTER
Self-Service Analysis | Real Business Intelligence

Embracing Visual Integration

Increasingly, we are fielding requests to assist clients with data integration strategies. The first thing we do is ask what the term  integration means to them. Typically, it’s loaded with a sense of foreboding and dread. Integration doesn’t have to be a dirty word.  We have helped a number of clients take inventory of their assets and challenges by pooling data from multiple systems in one dashboard, without synchronizing or duplicating source data  throughout. We call this Visual Integration. 

iCHARTER™ has proven an invaluable tool as clients look beyond assumptions, adjust to trends and plan their next steps in tackling the torrents of data produced through their processes and applications. Whether in the cloud or on-premise,  Visual Integration  helps organizations get a handle on the volumes of data they encounter in less time and with less effort.

Combining charts and reports from multiple systems of record, our clients make sensible inferences and spot outliers easily, while checking against other relevant data pools. This is especially useful when examining cross-departmental efficiencies and  dependencies. Addressing data visualization prior to implementing synchronization between systems or migrating data from one system to has saved a lot of effort and expense.  Firms can integrate systems without directly matching records, as long as they have the ability to perform ad hoc analysis and quickly assemble dashboards fusing data between multiple sources.

Visual Integration

Self-Service Analysis fosters dynamic collaboration for management and employees. They are now able to access and augment their own analysis —without additional resources or IT investment. iCHARTER™ instantly translates every view or table in your data assets, identifying dates, units and filters, then builds the charts without any instruction.

By extending the value of your data assets with Visual Integration, true Self-Service Analysis markedly reduces the cost and complexity associated with developing decision processes while increasing the speed with which analysis is consumed and decisions are made. 

Give us a call.  We are happy to help.

Self-Service Analysis: Business Intelligence for All

It seems every week there are more software companies banging the drum about Self-Service Analysis and empowering data discovery throughout the enterprise. However, one has to question how committed they are to the mission of bringing Business Intelligence to the masses [...]]]> iCHARTER
Self-Service Analysis | Real Business Intelligence

Self-Service Analysis: Business Intelligence for All

It seems every week there are more software companies banging the drum about Self-Service Analysis and empowering data discovery throughout the enterprise. However, one has to question how committed they are to the mission of bringing Business Intelligence to the masses when they charge license fees for each user. We see that as anathema to the promise of Self-Service Analysis. If you dig a little deeper, you’ll see their applications miss the mark as well. Most are designed for analysts or database administrators, not the typical business person.

At iVobis we charge one low price for each install, regardless of the number of potential users. iCHARTER is so easy to use, you won’t need training.

Give us a call. We’ll show you.

Self-Service Analysis and Intelligent Data Discovery

You hear a lot about data mining in conjunction with business intelligence these days. Of course, the ability to perform data mining can pay big dividends, but at what cost? So, we built the function into every chart in iCHARTER. The [...]]]> iCHARTER
Self-Service Analysis | Real Business Intelligence

Self-Service Analysis and Intelligent Data Discovery

You hear a lot about data mining in conjunction with business intelligence these days. Of course, the ability to perform data mining can pay big dividends, but at what cost? So, we built the function into every chart in iCHARTER. The basic assumption with data discovery is that one approaches the data with an open mind, not knowing what one might find, but also open to new ways of slicing data.

Recently, we were able to go through data discovery with a client for their first time. To set this up properly, we need to consider the entity at hand and how we might learn from the data as it exists by exploding the basic chart out in different directions. The example we will use is well known to most of us; a sales pipeline. The native state of a sales pipeline is rolled up, encompassing all the deals for every sales rep in the company. While this is an important part of analysis, the macro view only provides the summation of everything that is happening. We like to default the sales pipeline to only include open business, and to see the opportunities by stage.

Sales Pipeline

When we choose to mine this data, we can select any filter to ‘Chart By Each’ and present a very different collection of images. In this case, we look at the pipeline by each rep. What is very telling about this is the relative health of a rep’s pipeline is instantly acknowledged. We can easily see who has eggs in one basket, and who is set up for the likeliest successful outcomes.

Pipeline by Each SalesRep

To turn this data in another direction, perhaps for the COO’s benefit or that of product marketing, we can replace the Sales Rep with Family, and we see a far different picture. This feature, which we refer to as the omnibus or panoptic view settles into processes as an initial data mining approach to settle upon what might be useful.

Pipeline by Each Product Family

We have seen it used a number of ways. For instance, in some circumstances the very units being measured are of interest side-by-side. Here is an example of the same chart by each unit. Note how the weighted and potential values differ, as well as the straight count of opportunities. We see the relative health of the pipeline through yet another lens.

Chart By All Units

Chart By Each Unit Selected Sales Rep

The appeal of Self-Service Business Intelligence is that it lightens the load on your IT staff, while providing clarity and dynamic access to data, to help make better decisions in less time. How can you accomplish both? With Visual Integration from iCHARTER.

There you have it: scalable, affordable and fast.

Give us 10 minutes to show you how easy Self-Service Analysis in the cloud can be.

The Survey Says…

I am not enamored of technology surveys that touch on why projects fail or which technology initiatives must be a priority for the coming year. In their broad stroke approach, one can seldom find impetus to take a specific path. Each business or department [...]]]>

iCHARTER
Self-Service Analysis | Real Business Intelligence

The Survey Says…

I am not enamored of technology surveys that touch on why projects fail or which technology initiatives must be a priority for the coming year. In their broad stroke approach, one can seldom find impetus to take a specific path. Each business or department has to do what makes sense for them. Projects are not the problem, it is the technology those projects are saddled with that usually bear most of the blame. The fact that these technology surveys are underwritten by large tech vendors trying to sell something not-with-standing,  I prefer to glance at them for the truths one can glean from them.  I saw one recently that rang particularly true, from the IT perspective. Collectively, they ascertained that BI projects often fail for lack of clarity. The trouble with implementing BI they say is that the users scream like banshees and expect the IT staff to exhibit telepathic powers in discerning their specifications. While humorous, and perhaps too close to home for some of us, it tells you something about finding the right mix of technology and autonomy when dealing with something as personal as data discovery. This isn’t a story about unreasonable   business people, or lazy IT staff. It is about the power of Self-Service Analysis.

Save time, save money. Save Charts the Way You Want them.

Historically, BI and reporting projects have suffered under the 90-10 rule, which follows that 90% of the effort is spent adjusting to the specifications of the key stakeholder, which only accounts for 10% of the budget.  Self-Service Analysis, in the form of iCHARTER, does away with this issue entirely. We realize that everyone may have a different vantage point. So, we made it as easy as the click of the mouse to save and name charts in your own likeness, without inconveniencing anyone else.  Cloning charts with iCHARTER has helped our customers remain autonomous, and removed IT from the hair-pulling and finger-pointing.  It’s just the right way to do it.

Introducing Simplicity

Sales Pipeline

Consider a team-based chart like the Sales Pipeline. While very useful in   summary, it does not specifically address how a Sales Rep is doing with regard to a particular family of products.

In order to get that information, we drill down a bit further, selecting the ‘Hardware’ category. The chart and report both adjust instantly to reflect the new filter.

Hardware Pipeline

Quick Links Menu

By clicking in the Quick Links drop down, and selecting ‘Clone this Chart’, you can create a separate version for your eyes only.

Then name the new chart, and finish with any other filters or settings you want to use.

Name the Clone

No More Guesswork with iCHARTER

Since the early days of business intelligence users have wrestled with certain values being represented by different colors across multiple charts. It can be thoroughly confusing to the eye when a sales region is marked blue in one chart and yellow [...]]]> iCHARTER
Self-Service Analysis | Real Business Intelligence

No More Guesswork with iCHARTER

Since the early days of business intelligence users have wrestled with certain values being represented by different colors across multiple charts. It can be thoroughly confusing to the eye when a sales region is marked blue in one chart and yellow in the next.  To conquer this, we gave iCHARTER a setting we call  “Consistent Colors”. If you want to enable this setting for charts, then the West will always be red, and Jane Smith will always be green.

Predictable color schemes are an important element of Self-Service Analysis. In terms of data discovery, it is critical that users see past the configuration and are able to connect with the data on a deeper level. In the examples that follow, we have adopted the Consistent Colors parameter as it applies to the sales process stages.

Pipeline

Campaign Revenue Analysis

Consistent Color is  just another way that iVobis achieves truly self-service analysis.

And finally, the last example looks at the data in a different way, but with the same comfortable color scheme.

Lead Sources

Give us 10 minutes to show you how easy and powerful Self-Service Analysis can be.

When I was kid, I used to read Mickey Mantle’s “My Favorite Summer” every year in preparation for the coming baseball season. While I never saw [...]]]>

iCHARTER: Self-Service Analysis
Immediate ROI | User-Directed Analysis | Installs in Minutes | Unlimited Users
A Stable of Outfielders Could Make for an Interesting Summer 

When I was kid, I used to read Mickey Mantle’s “My Favorite Summer” every year in preparation for the coming baseball season. While I never saw him play, I was routinely plied with tales about how great those times were with Mickey, Willie and the Duke patrolling the outfield. The Golden Age of Baseball, I was told, had passed. Well, it has been 56 years since the Summer of 1956. So, as we get ready for another All Star Game, we can finally settle the score.

My dad was a huge Mantle fan. What was true then is even more apparent today, comparisons between players of different eras will always include a more generous share of fun than science. But, in many ways, baseball lends itself to wanting to measure against those who came before.

I picked some outfielders from today and compared them to the class of 1956, with some interesting results.Matt Kemp has some gaudy projections, but we won’t bother with him for further analysis as he has been too long on the sidelines. Grabderson has too low a batting average and on-base percentage to consider this go around.

Projected 2012 Hitting

2012 Hitting Grid

It seems the most compelling comparisons between the eras come down to the closest calls.

Stable of Outfielders

Consider the two Giants in the comparison:Willie Mays and Melky Cabrera. Mays had more runs batted in and home runs, whereas Cabrera outdoes Mays in doubles, triples, hits and runs. Who was more valuable to their team? Simply put, Mays was everything to the Giants and clearly the best outfielder in the game. I didn’t expect to see these numbers.

Cabrera Mays Production

Cabrera Mays Production Grid

Cabrera compares favorably to Mays statistically as well, though the stats tell a story all their own. Mays outdoes Cabrera in OPS and slugging while Cabrera’s OBP and average are higher.

Cabrera Mays Comparison Grid

Our next comparison is one I have heard from pundits ever since Josh Hamilton was in a Reds’ uniform. Mantle or Hamilton? You be the judge.Statistically, Mantle owns the competition across the board; outdoing Hamilton in every category including batting average.

Hamilton Mantle Comparison

Hamilton Mantle Comparison Grid

It is interesting to note that Hamilton is projected to best Mantle in only two categories, RBI’s and doubles. Undoubtedly, that is due to Mantle’s approach at the plate. To hear him tell it, Mickey was always swinging for the fences. Hamilton clearly has a more sound approach given what we have learned about Moneyball. 

Hamilton Mantle Production

Hamilton Mantle Production Grid

In the final analysis, we’ll never be able to truly solve the generational biases or answer the questions about juiced balls or differences in the height of the pitcher’s mound. However, it’s clear that these greats all had.have an uncanny knack for hitting the ball and getting kids excited about playing.