Implementing Business Intelligence (BI) using the Adabas SQL Gateway Patrick Gould Natural Conference 2006.

Implementing Business Intelligence (BI) using the Adabas SQL Gateway

Patrick GouldNatural Conference 2006

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Why we need Business Intelligence?

Business Intelligence enables organizations to make well informed business decisions and thus can be the source of competitive advantages

The ultimate objective of business intelligence is to

improve the timeliness and quality of information

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Why we need Business Intelligence?

Business intelligence reveals to you: The position of your firm as in comparison to its competitors Changes in customer behavior and spending patterns The capabilities of your firm Market conditions, future trends, demographic and economic

information The social, regulatory, and political environment What the other firms in the market are doing You can then deduce from the information gathered what adjustments

need to be made Businesses realize that in this very competitive, fast paced, and ever-

changing business environment, a key competitive quantity is how quickly they respond and adapt to change

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Benefits of Business Intelligence

BI provides many benefits to companies utilizing it. It can eliminate a lot of the guesswork within an organization, enhance communication among departments while coordinating activities, and enable companies to respond quickly to changes in financial conditions, customer preferences, and supply chain operations. BI improves the overall performance of the company using it

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Benefits of Business Intelligence

Information is often regarded as the second most important resource a company has (a company's most valuable assets are its people)

When a company can make decisions based on timely and accurate information, the company can improve its performance

BI also expedites decision-making, as acting quickly and correctly on information before competing businesses do can often result in competitively superior performance

It can also improve customer experience, allowing for the timely and appropriate response to customer problems and priorities

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Software AG’s answer to helping with Business Intelligence

This Presentation and Demo session will highlight how the Adabas SQL Gateway (ACE) can help with integrating Adabas Data into Business Intelligence Tools

Presentation will cover product overview, customer references and details on the personnel trial copy of the software

Demo will cover all the options for integrating Adabas Data into your sites client toolsets with both Java and Microsoft IDE’s, Query and Business Intelligence tools etc

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CUSTOMER PAIN: Have SQL-based applications that need to access data

managed in Adabas Perception that Adabas systems are closed and proprietary –

but daunting cost, risk and time that would be involved in trying to replace these systems

Heterogeneous application and DBMS landscape and integration projects are typically costly and time intensive

Business analysts need access to Adabas using desktop applications

SOLUTIONS: Adabas SQL Gateway SQL Gateways for other DBMS

Adabas Openness & InteroperabilityCustomer Pain and Solutions

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ADVANTAGE: Use industry standards Access by business analysts using desktop applications Developers do not need to know Adabas Direct access to Adabas data with minimal coding compared to complex

integration strategies

GAIN: Increased Productivity Meet business demands more quickly and with lower cost Increase the return on years of investment in Adabas Count on the reliability, performance, ease of use and low TCO for

Adabas well into the future Reduces burden on IT

Adabas Openness and InteroperabilityCore Value Proposition

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Why do we need ACE ?

Provides SQL access to ADABAS Industry/ANSI standard SQL No new programming language for programmers to learn

ACE translates SQL calls to ADABAS calls

For example: Can access ADABAS data directly from Microsoft EXCEL Use embedded SQL in a COBOL program

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Adabas SQL Gateway Architecture - ODBC/JDBC

Data Dictionary

Adabas SQL GatewayServer

z/OS, VSE, Unix, LINUX, Win Windows,Unix,LINUX

Adabas SQLGateway

Client

ODBC

(Windows)

TCP/IP

Desktop Apps:Crystal Reports,Business Objectsand access from ADO.NET and OLE DB environments

Java Programswith embeddedSQL statements

Data Dictionary

(Windows)

AdabasGateway

Client

JDBC

JDBC Server

TCP/IP

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Adabas SQL Gateway Sample Configuration

Data Dictionary

Adabas SQLGatewayServer

ODBC

(Windows)

TCP/ IP

Windows

Adabas SQLGateway

Client

ODBC

TCP/ IP

Windows

Adabas SQL GatewayServer

Z/OS

TC

P/IP

LicenseServer

Desktop Apps:Crystal Reports,Business Objectsand access from ADO.NET and OLE DB environments

Adabas SQLGatewayAdministrator

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Adabas SQL Gateway Implementation Options

Direct access to Adabas data from client applications

Use concept of virtual database like Microsoft Access to bring down specific data when needed and use virtual database as source to Business Intelligence

Use together with Event Replicator for Adabas and allow direct access to replicated Adabas data from client applications

Success Stories and Solution Scenarios

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Business Problem: Washington State University needed to enable newer systems written in ASP, JSP, VB, JAVA and C to issue SQL queries against Adabas data

Product: Adabas SQL Gateway

Solution: Implemented the Adabas SQL Gateway campus wide to support the following systems: Student Prospect Tracking System, Housing Reservation, On-line Transcript Order, Registrar's Office

Other Details: Fully referenceable, happy customer since 1985 Adabas SQL Gateway dislodged a competitor product

which the customer was very unhappy with What closed the sale?

• Lower cost of ownership for SQL access to Adabas• Lower resource utilization, increased performance

Adabas SQL Gateway Sales Stories Washington State University

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Business Problem: Bauer had several home-made systems for reporting and Ad-hoc query which were inflexible

Product: Adabas SQL Gateway

Solution: By replacing their in-house system with the Adabas SQL Gateway, Bauer realized the following benefits: More flexible and faster access to critical

business data on Adabas Standard SQL Access to Adabas via Business

Intelligence tools No more individual programming efforts for

reports and ad-hoc analysis More insight into business data and better

analysis results

Other details: Fully referenceable customer

Adabas SQL Gateway Sales Stories Baur Versand GmbH and CO. KG

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Business Problem: Customers and agents had to undergo a laborious process to access data, such as oil sample analysis for cargo ships. The process involved IT running queries through Natural and then posting, scanning and fax/email to the intended recipient

Products: Adabas SQL Gateway, Natural Productivity Pack

Solution: The Adabas SQL Gateway allows reports to be

created by end users using Business Objects of 3rd party SQL apps in near real time

Natural Reporter from NPP provides a means to automatically format and email the standard reports produced from the system

Other details: BP views the revitalized system as a springboard

to providing a wider range of info services to customers

Adabas SQL Gateway Sales Stories BP Marine Ltd.

Product Roadmap

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General Availability Date – April 13, 2006

Platforms: Server on z/OS, z/VSE, HP-UX, Solaris, AIX, Linux Intel Client on:

AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Linux (Intel)

Internationalization Processing business data Support Adabas UES Unicode support for meta data Support Arabic (LamAlef)

Supports DDL Create/drop table/column with Adabas 5.1 for Open

Systems

Adabas SQL Gateway v651

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Optimization Super-Descriptors in MU/PE End-of-query processing

Adabas SQL Server (ESQ) Migration Data type Support – LA, MU, subfield Information Schema Mainframe support – 1. Step Embedded SQL

• Cobol pre-compiler on mainframe

• C pre-compiler on Unix, Linux

Data Types Long-alpha fields W-fields

Adabas SQL Gateway v651

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New Platform Support of Linux on zSeries (64-bit)

• It has the following base components, as per other server platforms supported by the Adabas SQL Gateway:

– JDBC Server (32-bit)

– ODBC Client (unix ODBC)

– Embedded SQL

– ACEINT command line query tool

• Customers migrating applications to Adabas on on z/Linux will have easy access to Adabas data through standard SQL based applications

Adabas SQL Gateway v652

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Performance Improvements Multiple Descriptor searches

• Usage of Multilple Descriptors, when descriptor columns are contained in a WHERE clause. The ‘S1’ command is now used. In previous versions it was an ‘L3’ command

• Benefit: Faster and more efficient processing of SQL statements when the WHERE Clause is invoked

Changes to record update command processing

• Improved processing of INSERT and UPDATE statements.

• SQL statements that add or update records will run faster

Improved use of Adabas Direct calls

Adabas SQL Gateway v652

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Target Release Date – 4Q 2006

Final step for ESQ Migration Next step of internationalization Large object support Enhanced metadata support (Predict) BS2000 native support SQL Optimization

Adabas SQL Gateway v661

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Adabas SQL Gateway

Demo using:

Microsoft Excel, JAVA, Crystal Reports, .NET,

Infonaut, Adabas SQL Gateway Dictionary

Adabas SQL Gateway - Demo

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Why is it better? No knowledge of Adabas required by programmers Avoid costly and time-intensive integration projects Traditional ‘mainframe class’ stability and service Simple installation and configuration Close integration with Adabas

What’s in it for the customer? Increased productivity Keeps costs down Reduced training requirements Agility and open access

Openness and interoperability with minimal resource usage

Key Takeaways: Adabas SQL Gateway

New Developer Copy of theAdabas SQL Gateway

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Adabas SQL Gateway Developer’s Edition

Why use the Adabas SQL Gateway Version 6.5.1 Developer's Edition? See for yourself how easy it is to access Adabas Data? Easy to install with step by step installation and configuration

manual

Pick up a copy of the CD as you leave the session

Thanks for listening and enjoy the rest of the conference

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