ORA users do not have the extensive functionality a data mining or BI reporting tool usually offers, as without extensive training operational users can inadvertently incorrectly interpret  the output and also waste a considerable amount of time experimenting. ORA removes this risk and will therefore increase productivity.

The picture above shows a typical campaign analysis report - clear and easy to understand

Open Reporting Application

ORA (Open Reporting Application) is a flexible web based reporting application for business users. It enables the sharing and printing of data, information, and reports between users - wherever they may be located. ORA enables users - be they retail or wholesale customers, agents, brokers, members, subsidiaries, branches or internal staff - to easily and securely access data and information about their business and marketing campaigns with you.

ORA, a powerful combination of data analysis, reporting, and data management technologies, solves many of the technical and deployment problems of distributing and printing real-time information for users located across multiple offices, regions and countries. As a multi-platform and written for the J2EE technology environment, ORA easily integrates with other systems and allows users to browse, print, create, modify, email and save reports in the popular web formats of HTML (web pages), pdf1 (Acrobat) and csv2 (Excel).

ORA works in a web browser and requires no extra third party software such as ‘plug-ins’ to run. This means that access to and use of ORA by users is guaranteed. ORA consists of two major technology components: a powerful data analysis server used to create, manipulate and transform data, and an end-user interface that enables users to create, modify, print, view and distribute reports without the need to program or to understand data structures.

ORA provides end users with:

• A secure, and fast method to create and distribute reports.

• High quality print format.

• Standard report folders.

• The ability to design, modify and save reports in folders.

• The option to publish reports for the benefit of others.

• National language support.

• Hierarchical data structure.

ORA provides a complete end-to-end information environment by meeting the needs of business users through to the advanced data manipulation needs of data analysts.

Enterprise Reporting

When implemented, ORA can provide reports for unlimited numbers of users with different roles and responsibilities.

For example, company ABC has a head office manager who requires company-wide reporting facilities. Her regional managers, who work in different countries or operating companies, can view local information. Managing Information There is a balance between too much and too little information. ORA is customisable by users to provide the right amount of information. This means that users will find the system informative and effective from day one.

User Types

ORA allows for three types of users: power users, end users and administrators.

Power Users

Power users, such as Management Information workers, are able to create new reports from raw data, connect to new data sources, and create reports on behalf of end users. Once satisfied with a report layout and content, the power user can save the report and publish to specified end users.

End Users

End users are able to browse and modify reports. As well as internal staff, end users can also include customers and suppliers. Like power users, end users can use a design mode to explore report content in more detail and save as a new report. However, they cannot ‘standard reports’ sent to them by a power user.

This ensures end users always have the reports they need but are unable to vary the content. They can, however, create a 3 modification of a standard report and save it as their own.

Administrators

Administrators register users for access to reports, data and setting user names and passwords. Browsing End users can browse reports using a web browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape. Browsing is made easy by giving users the ability to filter reports in order to display only the information required. If a user has a preference for the display of a report, a view may be created and saved for later use. Standard reports are listed in groups as specified by a power user. Each report can be viewed by simply selecting the report name.

Reports are automatically updated and any new reports created by a user can be stored in a new folder unique to a particular user. Printing Users print, save and forward reports as read-only ‘pdf’ format. The ‘pdf format’ produces superior printing, takes account of local print sizes, is supported by all printers, and pagination is automatically taken care of. The ‘pdf’ format is also easy to view on web browsers. Reports created in ‘pdf’ format can be integrated into workflow applications. In addition, electronic signatures can be added if reports need to be signed-off by users.

Graphics

ORA provides a comprehensive graphing capability. Users are able to select any data contained in reports and create the graphs of their choice. Downloading Data End users can download data used in the construction of those reports they can access. Data are downloaded as a csv file and, provided a user has a spreadsheet application such as Excel or a database application such as Access, ORA will open the application automatically. Users can also download the file as raw data without invoking an application. The ability to download data can be protected by applying permission rights.

Performance

ORA has been designed to ensure fast download times for all report formats. The major techniques to ensure fast download times are: Caching of report When users browse reports, these reports can be cached for future use for others. This increases performance dramatically because the content of the report is stored and does not have to be re-created from a database or other data source. Caching of pdf reader The pdf reader is loaded into memory the first time it is used and this ensures that all pdf files are displayed as soon as possible. It is also possible for individual pages of a multi-page document to be viewed during loading. Again, this increases performance.

Please contact Tech4T for more details and request an ORA brochure (PDF format)

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