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Information at handInformation at hand

Questor

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• What is Questor ?• The problem that Questor solves in the organizations • Questor´ users • Functionalities :

– Queries– Reports– Statistics and analytical tools

• OLAP• Data Mining

• Questor Environmental : an application• Architecture• Benefits . Competitive advantages• Technical characteristics

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ContentInformation at hand

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• It is a query and reporting tool, that allows you to access the data kept in several databases simultaneously

What is Questor ?

Using a standard browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.) connected to the intranet or internet

you can do this with ease and flexibility

with powerful statistics and analytical tools, you can gain insight into the information, making better business decisions

the system can be connected to any database you do not need to know the data structure (schema)

the data cannot be altered in any way

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•to generate reports, such as tables,

•to show it in different types of graphics

•to analyze it with other tools

•to send it to other programs

•or to use it as a base for another query

With the data extracted, it is possible

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Questor

The problem that solves

• The organization needs information for executing business decisions– Users in an organization have many different information

needs• the organization must use information resources in a

productive way– Users need to be able to make queries to different

databases and communicate the results in reliable reports, that include graphics, tables, maps, with a simple click of the mouse.

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• Shorter time to execute business decisions : the information is available to the user when he needs it,

– there is no need to programming or knowledge of SQL to use the product

• Faster reporting cycles. Improved end-user productivity

– There is no need to make the same query over and over again, every time you need a new report or a modification of a former one : the system keeps the queries and reports previously made by the user. It is also available for the user, standard or pre defined queries and reports.

QuestorThe problem that solves

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• Flexibility to extract the data– the queries already done can be modified to extract further

information.– the data can be analyzed from many different angles, using more

sophisticated data analysis capabilities– the information generated can be send by email or fax, there is no

need to adapt it first to a certain format.

• Higher quality information, the information you access to is both integrated and validated

QuestorThe problem that solves

As the user can query several databases simultaneously, he has access to global enterprise information: different areas databases, emails , information organised in datawarehouses, etc.

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• How many times happens in an Organization ?• There are more than one database (Excel, emails in each workstation,

Oracle, SQL Server, Informix)

• a program or application for each area of the organization : invoicing, stock management, customers ´ database

• has SAP, JD Edwards, .... Or another ERP

• uses more than one simultaneously

• the organization is merging with another one .... Or is being acquired

• the organization doesn´t trust its internal information

• .... Or all of these taking place at the same time? • Questor allows the organization to:

Questor ... The problem that solves

•Analyze its value chain•cross the information from different areas of the company •have answers in situations where management issues are involved •add value in order to acquire competitive advantages

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Application Package

Application Package

UsersUsers

Custom Application

Custom Application

Custom Application

Custom Application

Custom Application

Custom Application

DB2 xBase Access SQLServer

Excel

Custom Application

Custom Application

In many companies the information is spread in different systems and databases.

Information Environment

QuestorThe problem that solves

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• Everyone that works with information in the organization.

• There are, mainly, three different users :

– Standard users :Supervision personnel. They use pre defined queries (parametrics), usually to control the behaviour of certain variables.

– Advanced :Engineers or data analysts. They know both the meaning of the data and the database structure. Usually they need to execute queries that are written by themselves.

– Administrator : IT personnel. They write queries (probably parametrical ones) from the requirements of the different areas of the company, to which they give support. They know the database structure, but they might not know the meaning of the stored data.

Questor users

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Functionalities: Queries

An Example: Among Products features I want to extract the fields (columns) Price per unit, Product name, Units in existence, that fulfill the following conditions :

Price to be above $100, order by Product name.

The query interface is user friendly. The user is guided by a wizard. It is based in the construction of sentences to indicate which data the user is willing to extract, and wich conditions the information extracted must fulfill.

Questor simplifies the access to information, creating a semantic layer to the database, that can be easily understood by the user.

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Questor ´s powerfull technical capabilities allow the user to easily create complete and attractive reports.

The reports can contain data from several sources and be presented in a variety of styles : cross tables, tables, maps, and OLAP objects.

Functionalities: Reports with wizards

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Analyze the information shown in a list.

Analyze the information in the form of cross tables (grouping variables in an OLAP object)

Analyze the information in a graphic form:

X-YBarBurbleMapTrends

Functionalities

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The business analyst decides:

•Which selection criteria to be used over the database

•Which data to be included in the report

•Which order is the data going to have

•In which way the data is going to be grouped together

Functionalities InformesReports with wizards

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Let´s imagine the following questions, that management could need to ask themselves in a chain of fast food storesWhich are the sales in each branch along the day ? Is it worth to have such a big store ?Does the stores that have car service sell more than those that doesn´t ? And the ones that have parking facilities ?

The technology that allows you to answer these questions is: On line analytical processing (OLAP)

Functionalities OLAP Technology

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The answers to those questions are the result of a process known as

DATA MINING (technique : Decision Tree - shown in

the picture)It is an automatic process that allows

the user to extract interesting and not trivial schemes from data and to discover relations between variables.

The user knows that can find answers to the questions he can ask

himself with OLAP , but...what about those he cannot express?To which clients is it worth to offer this new product? How many chicken orders are we going to have during winter holidays ? Does Cordon Bleu sales influence french fries sales ?

Functionalities Data Mining

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Performs prospective and proactive analysisThe organization uses its resources in more productive targets

•Hidden patterns can be discovered.

•Different processes are applied

untill meaningfull data is discovered.

Requires hardware resources.

Implies algorithms and calculations.Uses, for example :

Predictive Models : Classification (Neural networks, Bayes, Decision trees, K-Neightbours. Regression)Descriptive Models : Association, Basket analysis, Segmentation

Functionalities Data Mining

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• Marketing: Segmentation, campaigns, rentability, loyalty

• Sales: Behaviour shemes, sales habits

• Finance: Investments, portfolio management

• Banks and Insurance: credit allowance and polices

• Security: Fraud detection

• Medicine: Predictions, diagnosis

• Factories: quality control, resource allocation

• Internet: Clicks analysis

Functionalities Data Mining It is used in:

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Environmental Questor Environmental Data Management Made Easy

• Environmental information management system

• From landfill sites to mine sites... from contaminated sites to effluent discharge points... for soil, groundwater, surface water or air

• solves the problem of having multiple sets of numbers scattered throughout different programs. The module:

GIS and Environmental Data (GIS solution for the web)Allows environmental experts to make better decisions through effective management, visualization and analysis.It is a comprehensive, cost-effective and easy-to-use tool used by environmental professionals to, manage, analyze and report on any type of data from environmental monitoring programs.It can handle large volumes of numerical data acquired from environmental sampling done on a discrete or continuous basis, especially air and water quality monitoring.

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QUESTORServer

ORACLEORACLE

SQLServerSQLServer

MySQLMySQL

(otros)(otros)

C:\Mis DocumentosC:\Mis Documentos

Outlook ExpressOutlook Express

Data Source

INTERNET

Architecture

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Questor’s Benefits

Easy access. WEB ApplicationUser Friendly : Intuitive tool. Easy to use.there is no need to know neither HOW to access a database (the technical language, SQL) nor the database structure (schema) to access to the data. It is an answer to the organization information needsTop management obtains the information timely and as required. Business professionals can use their time to analyze the information they need instead of trying to figure out how to ask for it IT do not receive any more requirements with deadlines that are impossible to meet. Productivity increaseTime to generate reports is shorter. Time to execute business decisions is also shorter.

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•Better information quality

User gets better information, faster.

More sophisticated and powerful

capabilities to analyze the information.

The information is based in the

behaviour of real clients. The queries

are multidimensional and based on

reliable data. •Granularity chosen for the data

allows the user to perform complex

operations with the necessary level

of detail. (drill-down). •It allows the performance of an integral analysis of information related to a business fact detected.

Questor’s Benefits

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Technical Advantages :

Maintenance : there is no need for IT

people to mantain or update the

software in the user’s desk.

Connectivity : it can connect to

any relational databases

(ORACLE, SQL Server,

Informix, MySql) or even non

relational databases.

Portability : the system is available in a

wide range of environments (Windows

NT, Linux, Solaris, etc)

Security: it doesn´t alter the database security, it manages its own security system. Access to database is exclusively for reading (there is no way to alter nor corrupt data using this system)..

Questor´s Benefits

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•Facilities of distribution and publication:

It is possible, for example, to distribute

analysis through email during the night.

Automatic programming of reports and

queries. It optimizes the use of resources

(most equipment is iddle during night hours)

•Dynamic reports can be easily

generated

Exception reports

Multilanguage (english / portuguese /spanish)

Questor´s Benefits

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– Server– The applications server is multiplatform and supports the following operative

systems: Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0 , Windows XP, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris and others. The server is based on an open architecture.

- Client

– The client can be executing any operative system. The connection with the server is done through any internet browser that supports HTML 4 (for example Internet Explorer 5, Netscape 4.71, Mozilla, Opera).

– Database – Multiple views of the same database can be defined for different kind of users.

– This system is not a Data Warehouse Management System, nor needs one to be used, although it can use an existing DW as a data source.It is also possible to perform FTS (Full Text Search) queries over groups of documents (for example, Word documents written by the user, or emails received by the user).

– It is possible to define the units of measure that the user would like the information to be reported.

– It can be connected to multiple databases simultaneously.

Questor Technical characteristics

26Questor bridges the gap between the real world and analytical applications, enabling you to make better business decisions.

Better Decisions based on reliable data

Meaningful information ... Timely ... For the end user