Business Intelligence in the heads of people

Last post on this blog

2011-11-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

Hello all - this is my last post on this blog - my new blog can be found at http://michaeltarallo.com.

Thanks

Mike T

"We haven't really thought about that"

2011-10-04T05:39:00.001-07:00

If you have been dealing with BI related sales activities or are searching for that "right" BI tool, you will find that most organizations:

* Use manual tasks, including desktop query and reporting tools, to answer their business questions.

* Have "something" in place that they are not happy with or is costing them too much money.

* Have data in multiple silos that they need to access, consolidate and optimize.

Hence, they are usually looking for a low cost BI alternative that can provide them with the answers to their business questions, as well as ease of use and functionality within their budget.

Don't believe me? Join the many BI groups available in LinkedIn and other social networking type sites and you will see the barrage of questions from those looking for recommendations on BI tools.

So...I was on a call yesterday with a well known organization where the "prospect" stated: "We need basic reporting with the ability to access all of our data without moving it or massaging it."

"Okay? That is absolutely possible, however do you understand the pros and cons that are associated with that?" I replied.

[...] Silence...not only can you hear crickets on their phone, but you could hear them in the next conference room over. I took the proverbial saying "Silence is Golden" to another level. It became so uncomfortable that the Account Rep felt he should interject. I interrupted promptly to allow them to answer the question. After about a minute of what appeared to be hours of silence, they responded, "We haven't really thought about that." - BINGO! Case closed! Next!

Hmm... "We haven't really thought about that."

That's the problem, no one is taking the time to be proactive and think about what it is they need and are rather just reacting. "Let's see a demo." "I just need Reporting". "We need Dashboards." If that is the case, I would recommend you watch a video demonstration which may intrigue you to start thinking about what you really need. Then come talk to me when you have more criteria that will support your BI initiative. :-)

So I digress...in turn, I took this as an opportunity to educate by asking pointed questions that would help them see what it is they actually need vs. what they thought they needed.

Is the data you need to access all in one location? - No
Does the data you have support a majority of questions that will be asked of it? - Don't know
Would you like answers to questions that occur on a regular basis? - Yes
Would you like your users to answer their own questions on a random basis? - Yes
Would you like your users to explore and discover answers to questions they did not think to ask? - Yes
Do you have a predefined set of KPIs to manage and track business performance? - Yes
Would you like your executives to see an at a glance view of those KPIs? - Yes
Would you like to be aware of "something" when a defined threshold is met? - Yes

Alright, now we are getting somewhere. Each of those questions and responses clearly identifies that their needs are more than just simple reporting as originally desired. They require a solution that encompasses both Data Integration and Content Delivery. (ETL, Reporting, Analysis and Dashboards)

I further probed as to why they wanted to access all of the data "without moving it or massaging it". They replied: "Because building a Data Warehouse takes too much time and costs too much money."

Wow! Clearly a response most likely seeded by a competitor whom believes they can access all of the data where it sits, without building a DW. Which may be true for some of the competition out there. However they usually leave out the fact that they are still "moving and massaging" the data - they just don't call it ETL or refer to their process as Data Integration or even use the words "Data Warehousing".

I further explained that Data Integration (ETL) does not have to be about building an EDW, Enterprise Data Warehouse. It can be about building operational data stores that are refreshed periodically to support questions that the business users want to ask. It can involve federated queries where the data is accessed from the source without having to stage the data. It can also be about normalizing data in to a small data mart that supports speed of thought analytics for the power users.

Upon those points I provided a demonstration of Pentaho's "Agile BI" capabilities which involves a rapid, collaborative and iterative approach to building BI applications. At completion of the presentation, the prospect was amazed and pleased. They stated: "This is exactly what we need." Music to my ears.

People, you cannot throw a BI tool in your organization and expect it to stick without asking some important questions. It is those answers that will help guide you to the right solution. And most importantly, you cannot put a BI tool on top of all as-is data without knowing what questions are going to be asked of it. It is impossible to know every question that may be asked, but at least have those that are important to tracking your business performance.

On the majority of calls that I participate in, it seems that organizations don't have the time to properly plan and discuss the criteria needed to implement a decision support system. Why? Because everyone is doing more with less these days and researching a BI tool is usually an ancillary responsibility for them. If that is the case, allow us to help you with your research and we will ask those question you haven't really thought about.

Regards,

Michael Tarallo
Director of Enterprise Solutions

Pentaho

Using Pentaho to Be Aware, Analyze, Take Action and Protect

2011-09-25T07:38:00.001-07:00

Be Aware

Denial of Service attacking (DoS), IP Spoofing, Comment Spamming and Malware programming... are malicious activities designed to disrupt services used by many people and organizations. If you are taking advantage of the internet to run your business, create an awareness of a product or service or simply keep in touch with friends and family, your systems are at risk at becoming a target.

Successful internet "intrusions" can cost you money and even steal your identity. DoS attacks can prevent internet sites from running efficiently and in most cases can take them down. IP Spoofing, frequently used in DoS attacks, is a means to "forge" the IP address and make it appear that the internet request or "attack" is coming from some other machine or location. And Comment Spamming, oh brother...where programs or people flood your site with random nonsense comments and links with an attempt to raise their site's search engine ranking or increase internet traffic to their sites:

"Nice informations for me. Your posts is been helpful. I wish to has valuable posts like yours in my blog. How do you find these posts? Check mind out [link here]"

Huh? - LOL

You may already have defensive measures in place to address some if not all of these things. There are programs, filters and services that you can use to look up, track and prevent this sort of activity. However, with the continuous stream of unique and newly produced malware, those programs and services are only as good as the latest "malicious" activity that is captured. No matter what, it will eventually cause headaches for many people and organizations around the globe. Being able to monitor when something is "just not right" is a great step in the right direction.

Analyze

In September of 2010, I introduced the Pentaho Evaluation Sandbox. It was designed as a tool to assist with Pentaho evaluations as well as showcase many examples of what Pentaho can do. There have been numerous unique visitors to this site, both legitimate and some as I soon discovered...not. Prior to the site's launch, using Pentaho's Reporting, Dashboard and Analysis capabilities, I created a simplistic Web Analytic Dashboard that would highlight metrics and dimensions of the Sandbox's internet traffic. It was a great example to demonstrate Pentaho Web Analytics embedded in a hosted application. Upon my daily review of the Site Activity dashboard which includes a real-time visit strip chart monitor, I noticed an unusually large spike in page views that occurred within a 1 minute time-frame.

Now that spike can be normal, providing a number of different people are surfing the site at the same time. However it caught my attention as "unusual" due to what I knew was normal. The dashboard quickly alerted me of something I should possibly take action on. So I clicked on the point at the peak to drill-down into the page visit detail at that time. The detail report revealed that who or whatever was accessing the Sandbox was rapidly traversing the site's page map and directories looking for holes in the system. I also notice that all the page views were accessed by the same IP address within under 1 minute. Hmmm, I thought. "That could be a shared IP, a person or even a bot ignoring my robots.txt rules." But..as I scrolled down I further discovered there were attempts to access the .htaccess and passwd files that protect the site. I immediately clicked on the IP address data value in the detail report (in my admin version of the report) which linked me to an IP Address Blacklist look-up service. The Blacklist Look-up program informed me that the IP address has been previously reported and was listed as suspicious for malicious activity. BINGO! Goodbye whoever you are!

Take Action

I quickly took action on my findings by banning the IP address from the system to prevent any further attempts to access the site. I then began to think of some random questions I needed to ask of the data. I switched gears and turned to Pentaho Analysis. Upon further analysis of the site's data using Pentaho Analyzer Report - I was able to see evidence of IP Spoofing and even Comment Spamming coming form certain IP address ranges. The action I took next was to block certain IP address ranges that have been accessing the site in this manner. In addition I created a contact page for those who may be accessing the site legitimately but may have gotten blocked if their IP falls in that range.

Wow, talk about taking action on your data huh?

It is not a question of if, but when an unwarranted attempt will occur on your systems. Make sure you take the appropriate steps to protect them by using the appropriate software and services that will make you aware of problems. My experience may be an oversimplification but it is a great example of how I used Pentaho to make me aware of a problem and take that raw data and turn it into actionable information.

Special thanks to Marc Batchelor, Chief Engineer and Co-Founder of Pentaho for helping me explore the corrective actions to take to protect the Pentaho Evaluation Sandbox.

Regards,

Michael Tarallo
Director of Enterprise Solutions
Pentaho

The right tool for the right job - Part 1

2011-09-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

All too Common

You have questions. How do you get your answers? The methods and the tools used to help get those answers to business questions will vary per organization. For those without established BI solutions; using desktop database query and spreadsheet tools are...all too common. And...If there is a BI tool in place, usage and its longevity are dependent on its capabilities, costs to maintain it and ease of use for both development staff and business users. Decreased BI tool adoption, due to rising costs, lack of functionality and complexity may increase dependencies on technical resources and other home grown solutions to get answers. IT departments have numerous responsibilities. Running queries and creating reports may be ancillary, which can result in information not getting out in a timely manner, questions going unanswered and decisions being delayed. Therefore, the organization may not be leveraging its BI investment for what it was originally designed to do...empower business user to create actionable information.

(Read the similar experiences of Pentaho customer Kiva.org here at Marketwire: http://www.sys-con.com/node/1971384)

Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other

The BI market is saturated with BI tools, from the well known proprietary vendors to the established commercial open source leaders and niche players. There are choices that include the "Cloud", on premise, hosted (SaaS) and even embedded. Let's face it and not complicate things...most, if not all, of the BI tools out there can do the same thing in some form or fashion. They are designed to access, optimize and visualize data that will aid in the answering of questions and tracking of business performance. Dashboards, Reporting and Analysis fall under a category I refer as "Content Delivery". These methods of delivering information are the foundation of a typical BI solution. They provide the most common means for tracking performance and identifying problems that need attention. But..did you know, there is usually some sort of prep work to be done, before that chart or traffic light is displayed on your screen or printed in that report. That prep work can range from simple ETL scripting to provisioning more robust Data Warehouse and Metadata Repositories.

Data Integration

Content Delivery should begin first with some sort of Data Integration. In my 15 years in the BI space I have not seen one customer or prospect challenge me on this. They all have "data" in multiple silos. They all have a "need" to access it, consolidate it, extrapolate it and make it available for analysis and reporting applications. Whether they use it already as second-hand data, loaded into an Enterprise Data Warehouse for historical purposes, or produce Operational Data Stores, they are using Data Integration. Whether they are writing code to access and move the data, using a proprietary utility or even some ETL tool, they are using Data Integration. It is important to realize that not all data needs to be "optimized" out of the gate, as it is not only the data that is important. It is how it will be used in the day to day activities supporting the questions that will be asked. This requires careful planning and consideration of the overall objectives that the BI tools will be supporting.

Well, How do I know what tools to use? - Stay Tuned

With so many tools available, how will you know what is right for the organization? Thorough investigation of the tools through RFIs, RFPs, self evaluation and POCs are a good start. However, make sure you are selecting tools based on the ability to solve your specific current AND future needs and not solely because it looks cool and provides only the "sex and sizzle" the executives are after. The typical need is always Reporting, Analysis, Dashboards. Little realize that there is a lot more to it than those three little words. In the next part of this article I will cover a few of the most common "BI Profiles" that are in almost every organization. In each profile I will cover the Pains, Symptoms and Impacts that plague organizations today as well as the solution strategies and limitations you should be aware of when looking at Pentaho.

Stay tuned!

Regards,

Michael Tarallo
Director of Enterprise Solutions
Pentaho

Are you hungry for some Pentaho ETL? Check out the Data Integration Cookbook

2011-09-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well? Are you? If so, you will want to pick up the Pentaho Data Integration 4 Cookbook by Adrian Sergio Pulvirenti and Maria Carina Roldan published by PACKT Publishing. You may know Mari from Webdetails as well as from her previous book, Pentaho 3.2 Data Integration: Beginner's Guide published in April 2010.

In the PDI 4 Cookbook you will find over 70 "recipes" that will not only answer the most common ETL questions, when working with Pentaho Data Integration, but also guide you through each exercise. Whether you are new to ETL or new to Pentaho, you will find that the Pentaho Data Integration 4 Cookbook accommodates many skill sets, from the novice to the expert. It is a great addition to the growing series of Pentaho books published by PACKT and Wiley.

Chapter 1 introduces you to working with databases and covers step by step how to connect PDI to your data so you can begin extracting, transforming and loading with ease. The chapter even shows you how to work with parameters...a very powerful feature of PDI.

Each section in the book clearly identifies the steps taken to perform the tasks with headers marked "Getting Ready", "How to do it" and then follows up with "How it Works". Very nice for those who need to understand what is happening inside the PDI ETL engine and behind the scenes.

The book continues with topics on working with files, XML, using Lookups, Data Flows, Jobs and goes into integrating Pentaho Data Integration transformations and jobs with the rest of the Pentaho BI Suite, leveraging such things as Pentaho Reports, Pentaho Action Sequences and the Community Dashboard Framework. I especially like the topics that are covered in Chapter 8; using Pentaho Data Integration with CDA (Community Data Access) and CDE (Community Dashboard Editor). This topic depicts greater extensibility of the Pentaho software by working with powerful Pentaho plug-ins contributed by Webdetails.

The book concludes with Chapter 9, which helps you get the most out of Pentaho Data Integration, by explaining how to work with PDI logging, JSON, custom programs and sample data generators.

If you are exploring the world of Pentaho, I would highly suggest picking up this book. It is great for beginners and for those experts (myself included) who thought they knew everything there was to know about Pentaho Data Integration and were pleasantly surprised by the additional knowledge gained.

Get started and download Pentaho today.

Read more about the authors at blog.pentaho.com

Recipe for a lower TCO and Higher ROI:

Gather needs and requirements
Take 1 Pentaho Installation
Add your data
Add Training
Can substitute: Pentaho Sales Engineering, Consulting or a Pentaho Certified Network Partner
Prepare a Scope of Work
Communicate Effectively
Execute Accordingly
Sit back and enjoy your lower TCO

Regards,

Michael Tarallo

Director of Enterprise Solutions

Pentaho

I want you! We need a bright, creative Business Intelligence Sales Engineer

2011-09-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

Please contact me!

http://sandbox.pentaho.com/contact-us/

Growing, Growing and....Growing!

Position
Sr. Sales Engineer

Location
Orlando, FL or San Francisco, CA

Company
Pentaho has established itself as the clear leader in commercial open source business intelligence and is growing its bookings, customer base, and team rapidly in a challenging economy. Because Pentaho's commercial open source model provides a lower-cost alternative for enterprise-class BI, Pentaho is getting attention from leading analyst firms like Gartner, and racking up public wins over traditional players like Business Objects (SAP), Cognos (IBM), Microstrategy, Hyperion (Oracle), QlikTech, Informatica and Microsoft. With an experienced team of BI and open source veterans, Pentaho is well-positioned for continued growth in the BI market, with presence in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America, supplemented by a Global Reseller network. Finally, Pentaho is a fast-moving, fun start-up where employees at all levels and in all departments can make a difference, develop new skills, and enjoy the pace and excitement of disrupting a major enterprise software market by delivering better value for customers.

Description

Sales Engineers are the stage performers of the IT world: immensely capable, adaptable, confident, excellent communicators who are equally cool in front of large crowds and intimate groups. Sales Engineers work closely with Pentaho Account Managers to demonstrate the breadth and depth of Pentaho products and services. These individuals are customer-oriented and capable of answering a wide variety of questions related to business intelligence and data integration.

Responsibilities

Providing general product information, installation and configuration support to evaluators
Interviewing prospects to determine business and technical requirements
Creating POCs and demonstrating features and solutions that link to prospect requirements
Contributing knowledge on a regular basis, both internally and via Pentaho's public communication channels
Creative troubleshooting of issues that require solutions or innovative work-a-rounds
Demonstrating the entire BI suite

Required Skills/Experience

Excellent communication skills including the ability to deliver compelling presentations
Customer-focused work habits and attention to detail
Open and proactive approach to interpersonal communication
Ability to quickly learn new Pentaho products and technical environments
Ability to systematically assess and accurately diagnose software-related problems
Creativity and Imagination – the ability to think out-side the box
Excellent time-management skills
Business intelligence or data integration background (prefer both)
Minimum of two year's experience supporting the sale of enterprise software
Prior experience (3+ years) installing, administering and maintaining computer systems and applications in an enterprise IT environment
Solid knowledge of core infrastructure technologies including operating systems (Linux, Windows, UNIX), Java application servers (e.g. Tomcat, JBoss), relational databases (e.g. Oracle, MySQL) and networking (HTTP/SSL)
An understanding of the architecture of Java-based applications
Practical working knowledge of web application development tools and components such as PHP, Perl, Python, XML, CSS, JSP, HTML, JDBC, JavaScript, .NET, SQL and shell scripting
Experience with security systems and LDAP a plus
B.A. or B.S. Degree from an accredited university (may substitute an Associate degree plus 4 additional years of experience)
Major or minor in computer science or MIS a plus

We offer a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package which includes medical and dental coverage, life insurance, and 401 (K) plan.

Please forward cover letter, resume and salary requirements to resumes@pentaho.com

http://www.pentaho.com/careers/sr-sales-engineer.php

Pentaho Sandbox Unleashed

2011-08-26T03:56:00.000-07:00

The Architecture

The following information is useful for anyone that wants to embed or integrate Pentaho technologies into their own applications.

The diagram (Fig 1) depicts the high-level architecture of the Pentaho Evaluation Sandbox. The Evaluation Sandbox is built upon a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) stack. The core presentation layer component is based on the popular open source content management system (CMS) Wordpress, which uses PHP and MySQL as its operating infrastructure. Connected to the Apache HTTP server which is configured with PHP and other modules, there is a connector to route requests to the popular Java Application Server, Apache Tomcat where the Pentaho BI Platform and Data Integration server components have been installed. Pentaho software is Java based, so the server side components require a Java container to execute the programs.

What is happening?

As visitors access the site, data is... want to read more? - Visit the original article here: http://sandbox.pentaho.com/powered-by-pentaho-2/

Regards,

Michael Tarallo
Director of Enterprise Solutions
Pentaho

C*Tools Training - Coming to Pentaho HQ in Orlando

2011-07-28T18:44:00.000-07:00

Webdetails is pleased to inform us that they are planning to conduct the CTools Training in the U.S., next month from August 22-24. The purpose is to teach you how to design custom Pentaho Dashboards taking full advantage of the community tools offered commonly known as CDF, CDE, CCC, CDA and CST ( the CTools). As the lead developer of the CTools, Pedro Alves will be conducting the three day training in Orlando. Click here for the Training Outline.

Pentaho Data Integration and the Facebook Graph API

2011-07-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

Social Networking Data

Recently, I have been asked about Pentaho's product interaction with social network providers such as Twitter and Facebook. The data stored deep within these "social graphs" can provide its owners with critical metrics around their content. By analyzing trends within user growth and demographics, and consumption and creation of content, owners and developers are better equipped to improve their business with Facebook and Twitter. Social networking data can be viewed and analyzed utilizing existing tools such as FB Insights or even purchasable 3rd party software packages created for this specific purpose. Now...Pentaho Data Integration in its traditional sense is an ETL (Extract Transform Load) tool. It can be used to extract and extrapolate data from these services and merge or consolidate it with other relative company data. However, it can also be used to automatically push information about a company's product or service to the social network platforms. You see this in action if you have ever used Facebook and "Liked" something. At regular intervals, you will note unsolicited product offers and advertisements posted to your wall or news feed from those companies. A great way to get the word out.

Interacting with these systems is possible because they provide an API. (Application Programming Interface) To keep it simple, a developer can write a program in "some language" to run on one machine which communicates with the social networking system on another machine. The API can leverage a 3GL such as Java or JavaScript or even simpler RESTful services. At times, software developers will write connectors in the native API that can be distributed and used in many software applications. These connectors offer a quicker and easier approach than writing code alone. It may be possible within the next release of Pentaho Data Integration, that a Facebook and/or Twitter transformation step is developed - but until then the RESTful APIs provided work just fine with the HTTP POST step.

The Facebook Graph API

Both Facebook and Twitter provide a number of APIs, one worth mentioning is the Facebook Graph API (don't worry Twitter, I'll get back to you in my next blog entry).

The Graph API is a RESTful service that returns a JSON response. Simply stated an HTTP request can initiate a connection with the FB systems and publish / return data that can then be parsed with a programming language or even better yet - without programing using Pentaho Data Integration and its JSON input step.

Since the FB Graph API provides both data access and publish capabilities across a number of objects (photos, events, statuses, people pages) supported in the FB Social graph, once can leverage both automated push and pull capabilities.

Tutorial: Publishing content to a Facebook Wall Using Pentaho Data Integration

The following is an example of a reference implementation to walk you through the steps to be able to have Pentaho Data Integration automatically post content to a FB Wall.

It is broken down into the following steps:

Create a new FB Account

Create a new unique FB user name

Create a new FB application

Obtain permanent OAUTH access token

Create PDI transformation

Step 1: Created a new FB account

http://www.facebook.com

Step 2: Follow Instructions to setup your unique username

http://www.facebook.com/username/

Add your own - or accept the defaults.

Example: facebook.com/mpentaho

Step 3: Create a FB Application

http://www.facebook.com/developers/createapp.php

Allow "Developer" access to your basic information.

After you allow access to the Developer App - go back here: https://www.facebook.com/developers/createapp.php if it does not redirect you.

Create Application

Security Check

Verify Information

Click Web Site

Note your application ID and Application Secret

Examples:

Application ID: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Application Secret: yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Enter your Site URL and Site Domain, this can be pretty much anything, but attempt to use your real information if available.

Note Settings, App ID, API Key and App Secret

Note: From here you can follow the link below for a detail tutorial on setting up permanent OAUTH access:

http://liquid9.tv/blog/2011/may/12/obtaining-permanent-facebook-oauth-access-token/

Below summarizes those steps:

Step 4: Obtain Permanent OAUTH Access Token:

Create and execute the below URL in your browser: Modify the below URL to use your client_id and redirect_uri - see notes in blog post link above set permission values accordingly. (http://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/permissions/)

Your client_id is your App ID and the redirect_uri can be anything.

Sample URL:

https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/authorize?client_id=...&redirect_uri=http://wordsofthefamily.com/&scope=read_insights,offline_access,publish_stream,create_event

Constructed URL:

https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/authorize?client_id=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx&redirect_uri=http://wordsofthefamily.com/&scope=read_insights,offline_access, publish_stream,create_event,rsvp_event,sms,publish_checkins,manage_friendlists,read_stream,read_requests,user_status,user_about_me

You will get the following screen - yours might be different depending on what permissions you selected - make sure at least that "Post to my Wall" is there.
If not verify your permissions based of off the permission link in the blog post.

Click Allow

Now note the URL that was created in the browser address bar and that you were redirected to your page that you placed in the redirect_url.

You need the code value.

The code parameter will be a very lengthy string of random characters. Copy this value and hang on to it for the construction of a new URL.

This URL will turn the generated code into a valid access token for your application.

Sample of what is returned:

http://wordsofthefamily.com/?code=fdfdfdfdfdfeereghyjj.eyJpdiI6IjczU2YwUVJmaUJocXJjM1plOUdzVVEifQ.psncSCrwu-1659AZCHd7UBpUdBYdKCmvwXSu2-WxLcxfRt6wtwKzcjYkblwshjbnRX0EhcSrbG_U83AOv9pDrfomcLB8SY3gH1VW083oM997NqM28czfeaWpd8uv6sjE

CODE Example:

fdfdfdfdfrert-8Qoj7wFkUqoCKWSEk89aCwd2zM.eyJpdiI6IjczU2YwUVJmaUJocXJjM1plOUdzVVEifQ.psncSCrwu-1659AZCHd7UBpUdBYdKCmvwXSu2-WxLcxfRt6wtwKzcjYkblwshjbnRX0EhcSrbG_U83AOv9pDrfomcLB8SY3gH1VW083oM997NqM28czfxxxrrer

Now Create the Following:

https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?client_id=...&client_secret=...&redirect_uri=http://liquid9.tv/&code=...

Fill in your application ID, application secret, redirect uri, and the code we just copied. Again, ours looks like this:

Constructed:

https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?client_id=xxxxxxxxx&client_secret=yyyyyyyyyyyyyyy&redirect_uri=http://wordsofthefamily.com/&code=xxxxxxxxxxx9_A-8Qoj7wFkUqoCKWSEk89aCwd2zM.eyJpdiI6IjczU2YwUVJmaUJocXJjM1plOUdzVVEifQ.psncSCrwu-1659AZCHd7UBpUdBYdKCmvwXSu2-WxLcxfRt6wtwKzcjYkblwshjbnRX0EhcSrbG_U83AOv9pDrfomcLB8SY3gH1VW083oM997NqM2xxxxxxxxxx

You will get back an access token:

access_token=1111111332444877557776746ghhg758d8f970bd1cbc17.1-100002640151006|d9WWkjxODcel0ZVIZfMEv5YKc10

Now you should be able to use PDI and the HTTP POST step using the various FB GRAPH APIs to do things: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/api/ such as posting content to the FB wall / news feed and etc.

Step 5: Created a PDI Transformation using the HTTP POST step and the FB Graph API with /PROFILE_ID/feed

Create a new Transformation

Use a Generate Rows Step (found under Input) to set the various Facebook parameter names that can be found here
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/api/post/

Make sure to use the access_token parameter and value you got from the steps above

Add HTTP Post step (found under Lookup) and connect hop from Generate Rows

Configure the HTTP Post step to use the feed RESTful service https://graph.facebook.com/mpentaho/feed
Refer to http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/api/ Publishing section for list of methods
Replace mpentaho with your unique user name you set up earlier

Jump to the Fields tab and click "Get Fields" under the "Query parameter" panel

Click OK, Save and right click on the HTTP Post Step and select Preview, then Quick Launch

In a few seconds a panel should come up displaying your data

Check the result column (at the end) and look for a return code such as:
Example: {"id":"100002640151006_100565053374833"}

Check your newly created Facebook account wall and you should see

If not check your FB account security and application privacy settings to ensure the application has access.

Regards,

Michael Tarallo
Director of Enterprise Solutions
Pentaho

Why we love James Dixon - Chief Geek and CTO - Pentaho

2011-07-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

As much as try (I repeat try) not to kiss James Dixon's butt, it is hard not to like the guy. LOL - His passion and approach to discussing Commercial Open Source Software speaks volumes. Read his latest entry here on his blog and you will see what I mean.

http://jamesdixon.wordpress.com/2011/06/29/using-open-source-software-is-not-a-sin-we-encourage-it/

Pentaho Report Bursting with Pentaho Data Integration

2011-06-27T12:25:00.001-07:00

Originally posted on the Pentaho Evaluation Sandbox

Report bursting is the process of sending personalized formatted results derived from one or more queries to multiple destinations. Destinations can be file systems, email distribution lists, network printers or even FTP hosts. Allowing a greater method of distribution. Usually, the end result will display information pertinent to the recipient or location; therefore each recipient only sees their own data. Below is a brief example of how Pentaho Report Bursting can be achieved with Pentaho Data Integration 4.2. By leveraging Pentaho Data Integration's new Pentaho Reporting Output step, once can create a simple tasks that executes and renders multiple reports from a single Pentaho Report template. This is a truly powerful example of how Pentaho Data Integration can be used for more than just ETL.

Special thanks to Wayne Johnson, Senior Sales Engineer for providing the sample and setup document.

How To document and sample here

Configuring Pentaho to use LDAP

2011-05-31T04:29:00.000-07:00

Before you Begin

The following tutorial should be used to setup a simple reference implementation of the Pentaho BI Server configured with LDAP authentication. The prerequisites needed in order to be successful with this tutorial include an existing installation and usage of the Pentaho BI Server and Enterprise Console, a simple understanding of LDAP and the ability to follow standard installation procedures using install wizards. The tutorial is represented from a Windows operating system perspective, but is applicable across multiple platforms. It is recommended that you get the reference implementation working successfully before configuring your Pentaho BI Server to use your own LDAP configuration.

The rest can be found here at the Pentaho Evaluation Sandbox.

http://sandbox.pentaho.com/2011/05/configuring-pentaho-to-use-ldap/

Spatial Reporting with Pentaho and Google Maps

2011-05-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

Pentaho Experience Level: Medium to Advanced

Spatial or also known as Geographical Reporting, is a great way to answer the question: "Where are my....(fill in the blank here)?" It is a great way to visualize the spatial or location component of your data (Latitude, Longitude, Country, County, Region, City, State, Zip Code etc). It can also tell you where the lowest or highest concentration of a desired metric may lie with the use of color gradients or conditionally styled points. The ability to drill in even deeper, allows you to eliminate the surrounding areas and focus your attention on the areas that may need it most. The Pentaho BI Platform can take advantage of 3rd party visualization solutions such as the Google Maps API and integrate it as a component that can be used with the Pentaho User Console.

Read more and come see and example in action here: http://sandbox.pentaho.com/samples-and-examples/samples-and-examples/dynamic-google-maps-widget/

Regards,

Michael Tarallo
Director of Sales Engineering
Pentaho

Unlocking Non-Relational Data with Ease

2011-05-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

Pentaho Reporting can easily access data from many different sources; sources such as your traditional RDBMS, and even more advanced sources such as Java, XML, OLAP and our own Pentaho Data Integration transformations. Download these brief instructions (.doc) or watch the Techcast to learn how easily you can use a Pentaho Data Integration Transformation as a data source within the Pentaho Report Designer to unlock the power of non-relational data.

View the Techcast here.

Download document AND sample .ktr and .prpt files here.

To use the sample:

Unzip *.zip file

Copy Files to temporary folder

Use Report Designer and Open the PRPT file (the .ktr is already embedded in it)

Preview

Publish to Pentaho User Console as you would with any other Pentaho Report

Optional: Import .ktr file into PDI to see the simple transformation

Contributed by,

Wayne Johnson
Senior Sales Engineer
Pentaho

Originally posted on the Pentaho Evaluation Sandbox:

http://sandbox.pentaho.com/2011/05/unlocking-non-relational-data-with-ease/

High Availability and Scalability with Pentaho Data Integration

2011-03-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

Data

“Experts often possess more data than judgment.” - Colin Powell. Perhaps because they did not have a highly scalable Business Intelligence solution in place to assist them with their judgment. :-)

Data is everywhere! The amount of data being collected by organizations today is experiencing explosive growth. In general, ETL (Extract Transform Load) tools have been designed to move, cleanse, integrate, normalize and enrich raw data to make it meaningful and available for potential decision makers. Once data has been "optimized", it can then be turned into "actionable" information using the appropriate business applications or Business Intelligence software. Significant information could then be used to discover how to increase profits, reduce costs or even suggest what your next movie rental on Netflix should be. The ability to pre-process this raw-data before making it available to the masses, becomes increasingly vital to organizations that must collect, merge and create a centralized repository containing "one version of the truth". Having an ETL solution that is always available, extensible, flexible and highly scalable is an integral part of processing this data.

Read more here at the Pentaho Evaluation Sandbox:
http://sandbox.pentaho.com/2011/03/high-availability-and-scalability-with-pentaho-data-integration/

Regards,

Michael Tarallo
Senior Director of Sales Engineering
Pentaho

Guided Ad hoc 2.0 with Pentaho 3.x

2011-01-22T22:58:00.000-08:00

A barrier that may be encountered when adopting a Business Intelligence tool is...ease of use. If the BI tool is too difficult for business users to use or understand, they may resort back to using antiquated desktop databases and spreadsheets. If the new BI tool is not being used to the best of its abilities, then the organization is not leveraging their BI investment. Therefore its dreams of consolidating information and delivering one version of the truth just went out the window. **CRASH** Sure training, mentorship and education can help with this barrier, however there are many individuals that are simply resistant to change. What if there was another way to provide robust reporting capabilities without a steep learning curve? Possibly with the creation of templates designed for a specific purpose? Let's leave the Dashboards, Ad hoc query and OLAP tools for the experts and provide a simpler way for the technically challenged to run and create reports.

Read more about it here and watch the tutorial and download the sample:
http://sandbox.pentaho.com/guided-ad-hoc-with-pentaho-reporting/

Pentaho Reporting and Pentaho Analysis

2011-01-12T07:42:00.000-08:00

The Pentaho BI Suite consists of the following BI modules: Reporting, Analysis, Data Integration, Dashboards and Data Mining. The modules can be deployed as an entire package or as individual components that can be integrated and embedded. Traditionally, each module is used in conjunction with a specific business need. The focus of this article will be to highlight the differences and similarities between Pentaho Reporting and Pentaho Analysis. Most organizations already have some form of Operational Reporting and Analysis tools. These tools are used for tracking business performance, trends and uncovering potential problems that require action. Business questions usually fall into a few categories. Questions that are asked on a regular basis for certain time periods (years, quarters,months, weeks) and questions that are asked for a purpose - usually random in nature, posed to uncover potential problems or outliers and can be commonly referred to as Ad hoc queries or OLAP Analysis.

Read more here: http://sandbox.pentaho.com/2011/01/pentaho-reporting-and-pentaho-analysis/

See you in San Francisco at the Pentaho Global Partner Summit

2011-01-06T10:51:00.000-08:00

It is only the 6th of January and already this has been a crazy month.

"Crazy" as in crazy busy. I'm sure you have heard the phrase before, but then again it depends on what industry you are in. A down economy has certainly not affected the Commercial Open Source space, I can tell you that.

To add to all the excitement, on January 19th and 20th is our Global Partner Summit in San Francisco at the Presido Golden Gate Club.

CTOs, architects, product managers, business executives and partner-facing staff from System Integrators and Resellers should attend this event. You can register and find out more here: Global Partner Summit

There will be technology tracks, business tracks, Q&A discussion panels and more for all to take part in. This year I am honored to join the team to present a couple of topics that surely should not be missed.

Sales Engineering will be holding sessions that will show you how you can brand and customize the default Pentaho User Console. I will also present how adding "Guided Ad hoc" to your applications can provide business value to those who are not so accepting of the out-of-the-box tools.

You can view the full agenda here

I look forward to speaking with many of you as well as, once again ,visiting my home away from home...San Francisco.

See you there.

Michael Tarallo
Director of Sales Engineering
Pentaho

Pretty is not a decision maker

2011-01-05T08:35:00.000-08:00

"Beauty is only skin deep." "Physical beauty is superficial." Blah, Blah, yeah I know, I am sure you've heard it all before.... and "No" they are not phrases coined by some "ugly duckling" in an attempt to make it feel better about itself. However, physical characteristics will always play a part in how we as humans are initially captivated and intrigued. It's true for how most of us consider our mates... it is even true for how some organizations consider BI software.

When I was with a proprietary BI vendor (before the explosive disruptive model of Commercial Open Source BI), I spent 3 weeks on site with a prospect conducting a POC (Proof of Concept). It was well received for both its data integration and information delivery functionality. However, even though we had specific data integration capabilities that surpassed the competition, we still lost because the business users liked the competition's "Prettier Dashboards". The first thing out of the IT Director's mouth was... "Well, we went with "Vendor B", their dashboards just looked better." Completely disregarding the specific EDI integration that we brought to the table. Huh..I pondered for a few minutes...scratching my head with a puzzled look. Cocking my head slightly to one side I rebutted, "That's disappointing, since when did 'Pretty' become a decision maker?" The Sales Rep looked over at me and smiled. That was over 5 years ago.

More recently, inspired by a colleague of mine, Gabriel Fuchs and his web post Data Visualization – Cool is Not a Key Driver! - I am still overwhelmingly surprised how much emphasis organizations put on the importance of "having nice looking dashboards" without really knowing what is involved under the covers. Further more they have a tendency to not know what charts or visualizations should "go" with "what" data. (You'll be surprised at how many simple line charts are used incorrectly or when to use or not use a pie chart) I have heard so many colorful descriptions I had to wonder if they really understood the business value behind a BI solution at all. From dashboards that are "Nice and Friendly" to those that are "Fancy, Sexy, Sizzle and In your face". At times I was wondering if they were describing their ideal mate or the latest and greatest automobile.

All too often, IT or the occasional business user will start researching BI solutions and stumble upon a software package that appears to do what they need. Perhaps they were able to get a "Fancy" dashboard up and running quickly. Soon they may find that the proposed solution is either too costly, not scalable, only runs on Windows, cannot access all their data easily or perhaps only provides dashboards and lacks other critical BI functionality. They may have been initially captivated by the Siren's music but soon realize that the "Fancy" dashboard was just skin deep. 1 out of every 10 calls that I am on reveals that the prospects are only looking for just dashboards. When further discovery takes place, it is also learned that the "dashboard only" deployment is usually for just a few users and localized departmental data, not exactly an Enterprise wide solution. The rest of the prospective calls are looking for Dashboards as well as Reporting, Analysis and more often than not, Data Integration. I mention Data Integration as well because these organizations have disparate data sources on many different platforms. They are looking to easily access, optimize and visualize this data that will be able to answer today's questions as well as tomorrow's questions, perhaps across the entire data set - not just a small slice.

Here are some important facts to remember:

Most business users do not understand the value of BI
It is important to show how BI can help knowledge workers do a better job
IT cannot just throw a BI application at the wall of business users and hope it sticks
BI is NOT a technology tool
BI involves specific business processes
BI applications can both drive revenue growth and can also reduce costs to optimize profits
Do NOT assume that Subject Matter experts understand BI and its potential

Here are some key questions an organization should ask before they begin the process of finding a BI solution provider:

What is your definition of a successful evaluation?
What data is needed in order to…..?
Where is the data I need in order to….?
How easily can I access all that data?
Do I have the proper skill sets to deploy a BI Application?
Do I want my business users to ask Ad hoc questions?
What questions do I or my business users want to ask of the data?
Do I need Operational reporting including schedule and distribution?
What have I found from my existing BI application(s)?
What actions do I want to take from my findings?

I hope you now realize that there is a lot more involved than just that "Pretty Dashboard".

Dynamic Pentaho User Console Logos

2010-12-28T14:07:00.000-08:00

The following topic covers how the Pentaho User Console logo can change based on the user id or role of the user that logs in.

This is performed by adding the UrlRewriteFilter Java Web filter to the Pentaho BI Server installation.

Learn how here: http://sandbox.pentaho.com/2010/09/demonstrating-a-user-group-defined-logo/

Regards,

Michael Tarallo
Sales Engineering Director
Pentaho

Dynamic Step Metadata with PDI

2010-12-27T11:34:00.000-08:00

Did you know that Pentaho Data Integration includes Experimental Transformation steps? Experimental steps encourage proactive testing and critical feedback from the user community. The reported results are used to harden the product for the next revision. You can always provide your feedback, suggest new features and report issues here on our tracking site for any of Pentaho's product offerings.

One of the experimental steps available in PDI version 4.1 is the ETL Metadata Injection step. This Transformation step is used to dynamically set another transformation's step metadata, i.e the actual editable properties of a step.

Transformation steps already ........ read more of this topic and download a working sample here at the Pentaho Evaluation Sandbox.

Pentaho Sales Engineering Live Techcasts

2010-12-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

Greetings Everyone. Pentaho Sales Engineering is introducing live weekly Techcasts starting this Monday December 13th at 11 AM EST. The weekly Techcasts will cover a variety of topics ranging from installation and configuration of the Pentaho BI Server, to development, best practices and tips and techniques with the desktop and web based design tools. Anyone can join and take advantage of this valuable free education presented directly by the experts. Weekly events and descriptions will be posted in the Upcoming Events section on the homepage of the Pentaho Sandbox on the right-hand side. Click the link to join on the day of the even or download the latest calendar invite from the "Download" link below.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Michael Tarallo
Director of Sales Engineering
Pentaho

Click here for more information: http://sandbox.pentaho.com/2010/12/sales-engineering-live-techcasts/

"Drilling" in to the detail with Pentaho

2010-11-30T06:04:00.000-08:00

"Drilling".....(with respect to Business Intelligence applications and Information Technology). Where did that word come from? What does it mean? What can it mean? I am sure you have heard the phrase "Drill down to detail" before, but you may have also heard "Drill Up", "Drill Out", "Drill Across", "Drill In" and "Drill Through" and don't forget "Drill Anywhere". In general, it means to simply move from summary level information to underlying detail data, either within its current data set or even outside to another data set. Its main purpose is to allow one to easily view summarized information in the form of a chart, table or some graphical visualization with the added ability to "click" on a value, series or region and "drill in" to the next level of detail or out to some other dimension. "Drilling" allows business users to make informed decisions quickly without having to page through sheets of raw data. For example, summarized sales revenue for the year 2010 is $200K, but upon drilling down we see that $175K was brought in by 3 out of 4 regions, leaving 1 region with very low numbers. This now exposes a single region as being an outlier or a entity that needs focused attention. The power of Business Intelligence applications at work, turning raw data into actionable information.

The Pentaho BI Suite can provide "Drilling" in a number of ways depending on which module you deploy. We will explore each of these in this article..........read more about it here at the Pentaho Evaluation Sandbox.

http://sandbox.pentaho.com/2010/11/drilling-in-to-the-details-with-pentaho/

Regards,

Michael Tarallo
Director of Sales Engineering
Pentaho

Pentaho Data Integration Reporting Plug-in

2010-10-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

I was recently invited, by Matt Casters (Pentaho Data Integration’s Chief Architect and founder of the Kettle Project) to test out a new plug-in for Pentaho Data Integration version 4.1 RC1. The Pentaho Reporting Plug-in, is a new transformation step entry that allows the execution of a Pentaho Reporting object (*.PRPT) to be rendered and saved to a desired location on a file system. With the included efforts of Thomas Morgner (Chief Architect and founder of Pentaho Reporting formerly JFree Report), Matt was ale to develop this plug-in in a very short time period due to the tight integration between both of the products; a “couple of evenings” to be exact. This plug-in can serve a number of use cases, from including additional reporting capabilities in to the actual flow of an ETL job to more advanced EII, EAI type work-flow processes. ork-flow. One of the most powerful differentiators of Pentaho Data Integration is that it is not just used for ETL. Along with the Pentaho BI Platform and Pentaho Reporting – real-time data access, data federation and data virtualization can be achieved.

Check it out and give it a try here: http://sandbox.pentaho.com/Pentaho-Data-Integration-Reporting-Plug-in/

Pentaho Data Access and 3.7 New Features

2010-10-21T19:08:00.001-07:00

Come see a brief tutorial of the new features available in Pentaho 3.7 as well as how easily one can prototype their data with the new Data Access and thin client model editor.

http://sandbox.pentaho.com/tutorial-extra-pentaho-data-access-and-new-features/

The Pentaho Pre-Sales Sandbox

2010-10-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

Quick Bit About Pentaho

Pentaho has been all about building and delivering a scalable, complete end-to-end BI Suite from day one. From making the software "possible" during those humble beginnings to making it "available" and now "easy". You will find that Pentaho has an extensive offering that is both flexible and intuitive. Pentaho software has been targeted as the Commercial Open Source BI alternative by System Integrators, Consultancies, Enterprises, OEMs and SMBs. It has been deployed worldwide in a variety of industries; supporting mission critical applications which encompass both data integration and information delivery, all provided by "one" vendor, Pentaho.

The Pentaho Pre-Sales Sandbox

The Pre-Sales Sandbox is a resource that will streamline the effectiveness of the Evaluation/Selection process. With this resource at hand, you will be able to make an informed decision as quickly and efficiently as possible. Examples, tutorials, consolidated information are staged here to view and download to assist you in your evaluation process. Please be aware that the collateral available on this site can be posted on a moments notice and is intended to serve the masses as quickly as possible. Therefore the content downloaded may be a work in progress, a draft, incomplete, or limited in detail. Please see our website at www.pentaho.com for more information about our products and value added services.

Who should use this resource

This resource is primarily for those who are actively evaluating the Pentaho BI suite. It is not a replacement for our FREE evaluation support offering or the Pentaho Knowledge Base. It has been designed for those who are intending on exploring the power, flexibility and extensibility of the software. They have a basic understanding of Business Intelligence applications including information delivery and data integration. They are familiar with concepts of accessing data sources, creating and publishing reports as well as understand the fundamentals of ETL (Extract Transfer Load). They understand terminology such as metric, measure, dimension and have a general understanding of data modeling. Professional documentation for the Pentaho BI suite, including Administration and Security guides are located in the Knowledge Base.

If you are evaluating Pentaho, or are simply a bit curious come check out the Pentaho Pre-Sales Sandbox here: http://sandbox.pentaho.com/

I hope to speak with you in person.

Michael Tarallo
Pre-Sales Director
Pentaho

Part 3: Easily prototyping your data

2010-07-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Starting with Part 3 of the Pentaho Video Tutorial series, I will now be using wordpress.com to exclusively post future video tutorials covering the Pentaho BI Suite. The videos available from Wordpress are of a higher quality and are also shareable and download-able directly from the embedded video viewer.

So please navigate here to view Part 3 and Part 4 of this series.

http://michaeltarallo.wordpress.com/

Part 2: Configuring Server Side Data Connections - even easier!

2010-07-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Part 2 of the Pentaho Video Tutorial Series. In Part 1, we covered the installation of the Pentaho BI Suite on an Ubuntu Linux O/S using the Pentaho BI Suite Installer. Many have already experienced how easy it was to download and install, thanks for your comments. (You can obtain the installer from the Pentaho KB or from http://www.pentaho.com/download/.) In this part we will cover configuring Pentaho server side data connections that can access your traditional RDBMS data sources. In this example I demonstrate adding connections to Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server 2008. It is important to note that the Pentaho design tools, such as Report Designer, Schema Workbench, Data Integration and the Metadata Editor can publish content using these server side data source connections that have been configured. (We will cover this in Part 3 of the series) To prepare for this configuration, please have the appropriate vendor specific JDBC Type 4 driver available for the data source you want to connect to. You can obtain them from the database vendor's web site, your DBA, or perhaps the installation location of the RDBMS.

You can view the video inline in this blog, or download the higher quality .wmv (Windows Media Video) to your workstation for local viewing.

Para ver esta entrada en español chasque aquí here (Google Translation)
Pour regarder cette entrée en français cliquez sur ici (Google Translation)
Um diese Eintragung auf deutsch anzusehen klicken Sie hier (Google Translation)

Part 1: Installing Pentaho Enterprise Edition 3.6GA - it's that easy

2010-07-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

That's right, I said it. It's that easy. I am creating a series of Pentaho related tutorial type videos published exclusively on my blog. This is part 1 of an N part series that will showcase the power, flexibility and extensibility of the Pentaho BI Suite. My goal is to help you evaluate the Pentaho BI Suite with as little frustration as possible. In this 15 min video you will watch me go through the process, of downloading, installing and testing the Pentaho BI Suite Enterprise Edition on an Ubuntu Linux operating system. From start to finish, you will see it is just that easy. The next entry will focus on configuring data sources to be used for content creation. Enjoy!

Para ver esta entrada en español chasque aquí here (Google Translation)
Pour regarder cette entrée en français cliquez sur ici (Google Translation)
Um diese Eintragung auf deutsch anzusehen klicken Sie hier (Google Translation)

You can download the high quality .wmv (Windows Media) here

Choices - The Best of Both Worlds - Pentaho On-Demand or On Premise

2010-06-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah I did it again. If you are reading this, I roped you in with one of my wacky eye catching titles.

Today Pentaho announced its On-Demand BI Subscription. - Press Release - On-Demand BI Subscription, you say? What exactly does that mean? Simply stated, choices. Choices for those who want to "implement" or even "evaluate" a Pentaho BI solution easily.

In addition to the traditional means of an "on premise" or "in the cloud" installation approach, prospects and customers now have the option to choose dedicated hardware and software resources. This enables them to "choose" and combine the infrastructure management and professional services they need while maintaining the option to expand or contract services as business needs change. This not only makes Pentaho BI Solutions available to those with limited budgets, but also allows those with non-existent or poorly skilled IT resources to play in the BI space as well. Believe me, in my career I have seen many evaluations go south simply because the individuals involved couldn't even spell BI let alone evaluate it. See prior article here.

Let's face it. When it comes to evaluating BI Solutions, it can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. There are needs and wants and hopefully a scope surrounding those objectives you want to prove. If you have the resources, time, money and are a control freak then maybe Pentaho On-demand is not for you at first. No big deal. You can use the Pentaho software in the traditional approach, work with our evaluation support team and evaluate in the comfort of your own infrastrcuture. However if you are resource constrained (who isn't these days), lack the time to focus specifically on just evaluating BI and possibly don't have the proper data structures in place to support BI (you know who you are - OLTP or Pseudo DW guys) perhaps the 72 Hour Challenge is the way to go. - 72 Hour Challenge details - Business champions can get rapid reusable results without IT involvement and even showcase the results internally to achieve further buy-in. This gives others in the organization the opportunity to preview a preliminary Pentaho solution while reducing the risk of wasting additional resources from the vendor and the prospect.

For additional details on this topic, please follow the links embedded in this blog. As you can see, prospects and customers are truly getting the best of both worlds,...hmmm kind of like Hanna Montana (yes, my kids watch the Disney channel, so shut up :-) ).

Pentaho Harnesses Apache Hadoop to Deliver Big Data Analytics

2010-05-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

Pentaho First Major BI Vendor to Announce Support for Apache Hadoop

Orlando, FL – May 19, 2010 – Pentaho Corporation, the open source business intelligence (BI) leader, today announced plans to deliver the industry’s first complete end-to-end data integration and business intelligence platform to support Apache Hadoop. The Pentaho BI Suite features a single visual development environment that dramatically simplifies the creation of applications for analyzing the massive volumes of information currently being collected by enterprises. This will widen the appeal of Apache Hadoop by enabling developers and business analysts to more quickly and easily access and analyze data.

Hadoop is rapidly becoming a technology of choice for enterprises that need to effectively collect, store and process large amounts of structured and complex data, including many of the world’s leading consumer websites and financial services organizations. Hadoop, in its raw form, lacks easy-to-use interfaces for timely and cost-effective analysis. The Pentaho Enterprise BI Suite delivers a unified visual design environment for ETL, report design, analytics and dashboards, providing an enterprise friendly environment for using Apache Hadoop. Pentaho is enabling more organizations to reap the benefits of Hadoop by making it easier and faster to create BI applications.

The first deliverable in this initiative is the enhancement of Pentaho Data Integration (PDI) to be the visual design environment for ETL processes that include the manipulation of Apache Hadoop files and the execution of Hadoop tasks. This enables the design and execution of ETL processes that involve both Hadoop and non-Hadoop tasks. This deliverable also includes an embedded ETL engine for Hadoop. Soon, Hadoop users will be able to transform, manipulate, and aggregate files and data using the full functionality of a robust graphical designer and powerful ETL engine. The next set of deliverables, to follow soon after, will enable reporting, dashboards and analysis directly against data stored in Hadoop.
NEWS SUMMARY

* The Pentaho BI Suite offers comprehensive data integration, reporting and analytical capabilities that enable Hadoop developers and business analysts to quickly and easily create BI applications without coding.
* Pentaho Data Integration (also known as Kettle) is a natural technology fit and data integration solution for Hadoop given its rich design tools, scalable architecture, open source distribution and adoption at a large number of Hadoop sites.
* Pentaho is the first full-function BI vendor to announce support for the Hadoop platform, further cementing the open source provider’s status as an innovation leader in the BI industry.
* Pentaho’s support of Hadoop marks another key milestone in the company’s Agile BI initiative, aimed at simplifying the use of BI for a much wider set of users across the enterprise, resulting in faster time to value and increased ROI.
* The Pentaho BI Suite offers unmatched deployment flexibility as the same full-feature platform can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud or embedded in custom applications.
* Apache Hadoop, a top-level Apache project, is built by a vibrant community of developers around the world. It is a Java software framework that supports data-intensive, distributed applications, allowing them to work with thousands of nodes and petabytes of data.

QUOTES AND MULTIMEDIA

“Five years ago, few people anticipated the common need to perform analytics on tens of terabytes of data, but we’ve blown past that threshold,” said Richard Daley, founder and CEO of Pentaho. “Organizations of all sizes are facing a massive influx of both structured and unstructured data. Pentaho is helping them to cost-effectively maximize the benefit they obtain from the information they collect.”

"The demanding pressure to apply Analytics to deliver insight for business continues to grow as the volumes of data exponentially grow," said Mark Smith, CEO & EVP Research at Ventana Research. "Pentaho is stepping up to lead the integration of data for Hadoop and provide the BI platform and tools to generate the Analytics and deliver a broad range of capabilities for business and IT."

“We use Hadoop simply because we hit the wall with traditional RDBMS based on our impression volume,” said Naghi Prasad, Vice President of Engineering at Offerpal. “The combination of Hadoop and Pentaho will give us the opportunity to easily and cost effectively take our ‘big data’ analysis to an entirely new level and gain insights never before possible.”

“Attributor’s Guardian™ monitoring service scans more than 40 billion pages daily; consequently, our data needs are significant,” said Adrian McDermott, CTO of Attributor. “We are committed to both Hadoop and Pentaho, and this integration is a huge win for us.”

Visit www.pentaho.com/hadoop to:

* Watch a demonstration of Pentaho Enterprise integration with Hadoop.
* Read the blog “Big Data Shouldn’t Mean Big Costs” by Pentaho Founder and CEO Richard Daley.
* Reserve your place in the beta program.

About Pentaho Corporation

Pentaho Corporation is the open source business intelligence leader. Thousands of global organizations deploy Pentaho software to make faster and better business decisions that positively impact their bottom lines. Pentaho provides a comprehensive BI suite that includes capabilities for data integration/ETL, modeling, data mining, analysis, reporting and dashboards. The Pentaho BI suite supports the company’s Agile BI initiative, which enables organizations to build BI applications more quickly, respond to business changes more easily and expedite time-to-value for up to 90% less cost than traditional BI vendors. Pentaho was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Orlando, FL, USA. For more information, visit www.pentaho.com.
Pentaho Media Contact
Eastwick Communications
650 480-4054
Pentaho@eastwick.com

Being "Agile" with Pentaho Business Intelligence - Letting "Agile" help you decide

2010-04-20T06:06:00.001-07:00

There are still numerous organizations that have not yet standardized nor adopted a Business Intelligence strategy. For example, I have heard so many "spreadmart" horror stories, they can be used as a basis for a white paper on how "not" to implement BI solutions. Most of the time these "spreadmarts" are the fallback due to too little time, too little money and slow development of a proper BI solution. Daily, I consult with multiple prospects on how the Pentaho software can soothe all types of "pain". These discussions reveal a "need" to reshape their business. They want to reduce costs, increase profits, offer competitive products and services, as well as consolidate raw data from multiple silos. All at the same time they want to "do it" as cost effectively as possible. Because they are looking at a Commercial Open Source solution that provides significant cost savings, they also want to understand what other value Pentaho delivers versus a proprietary BI vendor.

However you want to slice it, the offerings provided by most BI vendors generally perform and look the same. Especially on the surface. So, what differentiating criteria can help one make that informed decision when evaluating BI software? First of all, it is my practice that the decision should not be influenced by an unnecessary feature or a function. Output to PPT for example has never been a deal breaker for us. Instead, I recommend that one looks deeper for a complete BI stack built on an "integrated" modern architecture. An architecture that allows for setup both on-premise and in the cloud. Factors including "Agile" development, ease of use and scalability also should contribute to the decision. Other points can include differences around services, support, collateral and training. Think about it, what is the sense of deploying a "sexy" dashboard if it can only run on one platform, can only be created by IT, is hard to discern information from and can't scale to multiple users? Oh, and did I mention that there may be a charge for each dashboard user? (sorry, had to throw that one in there) As you can see, there is simply much more to consider when deciding on what BI solution can meet your objectives, not just what is on the surface. Quoting the phrase, "Beauty is only skin deep" comes to mind.

Let's break a few terms down to identify the bigger picture.

First, Business Intelligence.

In general, the term "business intelligence" is not new. It has been around for years, even before I was born. BI is neither a product nor a system. It should be thought of as an activity not a project. It is a term that combines architectures, applications, and databases and the action taken when using them. In a 1958 article, IBM researcher Hans Peter Luhn used the term business intelligence. He defined it as:"the ability to apprehend the interrelationships of presented facts in such a way as to guide action towards a desired goal." In 1989 Howard Dresner (later a Gartner Group analyst) proposed BI as an umbrella term to describe "concepts and methods to improve business decision making by using fact-based support systems." It was not until the late 1990s that this usage was widespread. Almost 20 years later, in today’s modern world the application of Business Intelligence technology is now becoming more popular day by day.

Now let's look at the term "Agile", as a noun and then as an adjective.

"Agile" software development refers to a group of software methodologies based on iterative development where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between IT and the business users or other cross functional teams.

"Agile" as an adjective can be simply described as moving quickly with what appears to be little effort.

Now let's combine the two. Agile Business Intelligence can be described as the activity of quickly, easily and iteratively developing Business Intelligence applications, while collaborating with the users who will be consuming them.

Pentaho Agile BI will allow "more" developers of varying skill sets to become "more" responsive to the growing needs of those users. It will also ensure that the information to be consumed and the way it is consumed is correct in less time reducing the need to "fallback" to spreadmarts and at the same time standardizing on a BI solution. Pentaho Agile BI brings together ETL (data movement and transformation), visualization (visualizing the data) and data modeling (building the business layer) under one integrated development environment that will serve as the foundation for this activity. Applying this methodology will ensure greater success for both parties involved and ultimate success for the organization. Take a look below (click the thumbnail) to get a quick preview of Pentaho Data Integration 4.0 and Pentaho Agile BI in action.

Business Intelligence and Agile development are not new concepts. However when combined they offer an organization a powerful approach in delivering BI applications that will help it meet it's objectives.

Let's Talk about Guided Ad hoc

2010-04-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

Click here to see the Pentaho Community Technical WebEx

One of us is goin' down

2010-03-28T21:05:00.001-07:00

Just having some fun

Pre-Sales Engineer San Francisco Office

2010-03-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

The Sales Engineer is responsible for pre-sales activities across multiple sales territories. The SE will work closely with multiple sales teams, in both the SMB and Enterprise markets, to drive sales by effectively presenting and demonstrating Pentaho’s business intelligence suite. The candidate must have a broad technical and sales background and should be familiar with open source technologies, with a strong understanding of business intelligence.

Looking for Java Developers - Pentaho Open Source BI

2010-03-18T16:59:00.001-07:00

Looking for Java Developers in the Orlando area to be a part of the Pentaho Open Source Business Intelligence team, please contact me if you are interested.

Pentaho Shines at TDWI Bake-Off

2010-02-26T14:08:00.000-08:00

Pentaho Agile Business Intelligence Outperforms SAP and IBM in several critical areas

Orlando, Fla., February 26, 2010 – Pentaho, the commercial open source alternative for business intelligence (BI), went toe to toe with IBM and SAP at this week’s “Developing Your BI Tool Strategy and BI Bake-Off” at TDWI World Conference Las Vegas, and garnered the audience’s popular vote in the categories of best dashboard, best reporting, and best “Cool Stuff.” With this recognition, Pentaho takes its rightful seat at the enterprise table, showing that it provides the preferred BI Suite with a full spectrum of innovative capabilities all at a fraction of the cost of proprietary offerings.
Highlights

* Pentaho Agile BI: Pentaho won the audience vote in the “Cool Stuff” category. Attendees gained a sneak peek at development products that will soon be announced as part of Pentaho’s recently unveiled Agile BI initiative. Pentaho Agile BI, launched in November of last year, has forever changed the way people build and deploy applications, setting the standard for the rest of the industry to follow. Pentaho presents a radically different, integrated environment that collapses all of the steps from developer to end user, from data integration through end user visualization, so developers can work more closely with users to get value from business intelligence. With Agile BI, both novice and expert BI professionals are now empowered to rapidly create and use rich BI applications.
* Pentaho Dashboards: Pentaho’s bake-off demonstration of its industry leading dashboard capabilities won audience approval for speed and simplicity to design and deploy. Pentaho provides immediate insight into individual, departmental, or enterprise performance. Dashboards are the best way to present and interact with information to business users, and Pentaho raised the bar for delivering key metrics in an attractive and intuitive visual interface, giving business users the critical information they need to understand and improve organizational performance.
* Pentaho Reporting: Pentaho won the audience vote for best reporting. Reporting has long been considered the core business intelligence need and is typically the first BI application deployed. Until now, BI heavyweights got most of the attention for reporting, but the bake-off audiences were wowed by how easily the lightweight contender Pentaho Reporting allows organizations to access, format, and distribute information to employees, customers, and partners.

Quote

“For years, the BI giants have had customers up against the ropes with high priced, complex BI offerings that are difficult to develop and even more difficult to use. The resounding support for Pentaho at this year’s TDWI event is evidence that smart companies see Pentaho as the next BI champion. Over five million people have downloaded Pentaho in our short five years in the market, and we don’t expect that momentum to stop any time soon.”
– Richard Daley, CEO of Pentaho Corporation

Preview of the Pentaho Agile BI Initiative

2009-11-10T10:27:00.000-08:00

The following is a preview of Pentaho's new approach to building and delivering Business Intelligence solutions. Watch how you can quickly deliver self-service reporting and analysis all while iterating through the development process rapidly. This process ensures accurate results to your business users as well as provides a uniformed development process all from one tool.

Guided Ad hoc with Pentaho Report Designer 3.5

2009-11-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

Many of you remember the advanced technique I created in order to create a dynamic SQL query and Pentaho report layout using the Pentaho Report Designer version 3.0. It was a method that demonstrated advanced parameterized reporting for Enterprise and Operational type reports. I called this technique Guided Ad hoc. With the release of Pentaho Report Designer 3.5 there have been some enhanced functions and capabilities that make creating Guided Ad hoc reports even easier. Please review this video to see that functionality in action with Report Designer 3.5.

Recovery: A good time to read, Pentaho Reporting (not just) for Java Developers

2009-10-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well guys I just had some minor surgery. As I am relaxing in bed, I figured this would be a good time to catch up on some reading. No, I did not grab a Tom Clancy espionage thriller, but in fact a Will Gorman original. Will Gorman is an Engineering Team Lead at Pentaho, a fantastic talent, a friend and colleague as well as the author of Pentaho Reporting 3.5 for Java Developers. I received a complimentary copy of the book from PACKT Publishing and have been meaning to write some brief reviews. I will be expanding in more detail in future blog entries. (This is just a quick reminder for all those following me on Twitter and my blog. If you are evaluating or using Pentaho, you "need" to pick up this book, it covers almost anything and everything you wanted to know about Pentaho in the most desirable way possible.) It can be found here.

Now, keep in mind that this book is not only for Java Developers, but for information technologists and anyone who is interested in Business Intelligence and building reporting applications. The book is clearly written and steps you through setting up your examples, both from the Report Designer perspective (GUI) and from the Java Developer perspective (code).
Within a matter of minutes I was able to have my first Pentaho Reporting Java Swing Application running and then follow that up with a deployment to an enterprise web application. I am extremely proud of this accomplishment because it was so easy "even the technical sales guy could do it"! This only empowers me to speak and demonstrate with even more conviction on my sales calls in regards to the embedded capabilities of Pentaho.

To give you a bit more depth and breadth into the Pentaho Reporting Capabilities which can be called via the methods mentioned in this book, there is a Pentaho Reporting 3.5 Tutorial I created located on our Pre-Sales Tools page. This tutorial covers some of the fundamentals used when creating reports with the Pentaho 3.5 Report Designer. Give it a look in your spare time and I am sure you will be excited to engage with us and want to know more.

http://www.pentaho.com/products/demos/presales_tools.php

Great job Will and team..as I continue to read I will post additional comments. Thanks for creating such a valuable addition to the Pentaho documentation stack.

Now, off to sleep.

Pentaho Analyzer is here - Imagine that!

2009-10-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

Imagine non-technical business users easily creating meaningful, attractive and interactive web based reports and charts with only a few mouse clicks. Imagine putting intuitive, analytical capabilities in to the hands of your knowledge workers without the usual complexities of traditional Business Intelligence applications and with little to no training. Imagine turning that raw data into actionable information that someone can actually use. Now... Imagine having all this capability and more without the costs of exorbitant software license fees. Well imagine no longer. Along with Pentaho's other innovative technologies, we introduce to you Pentaho Analyzer. Available soon in Pentaho 3.5 Enterprise Edition. Here is a sneak peek of our new web based analytics tool. Please note that existing Pentaho Enterprise Edition subscription customers will be able to take advantage of this new offering without any upgrade or migration pricing. Imagine the possibilities.

To learn more, please contact us a www.pentaho.com.

Great Article on Self Service BI

2009-09-30T04:42:00.000-07:00

The following is a great article on Self Service BI. Click here to view the article.

Pentaho goes to the Movies - Data Integration and Citrus Report Designer

2009-07-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

Yep, once again I roped you in with one of my wacky blog titles. Seriously though, the point of this blog entry is to share some powerful capabilities in the Pentaho BI Suite as well as to preview a feature in the up and coming release of the new Pentaho Report Designer, version 3.5

I have always stated that a powerful technology differentiator within the Pentaho BI Suite, when compared to traditional proprietary BI software or even other commercial open source reporting, is that the Pentaho architecture brilliantly brings together data integration and content delivery under one common BI platform from one vendor. A good example of this is seen below in this brief 15 minute video. It will demonstrate using Pentaho Data Integration 3.2 to create a transformation which accesses a public movie listing web service (WSDL)...then transform the response from the web service to make the columns and data available to a Pentaho Report created with the new Pentaho Report Designer.

Now..., this was always possible with the current release of Pentaho but only during run time of the report. (there is a document in the KB that explains this process) However, with the new Pentaho (Citrus) Report Designer 3.5 we have added many more data access components, one of them being Pentaho Data Integration. This means you are now able to access the Pentaho Data Integration transformation (.ktr) as a data source during design time to create your BI content. Your report or BI content now has a real-time or near real-time data access method.

So whether it is input from a web service, salesforce.com CRM, or even our new Google Analytics step, you have increased the possibilities of creating more robust and real-time or near real-time types of applications.

Imagine the possibilities and take a look at the video below, please provide your comments if you wish.

You can view the Pentaho TechCast here.

Pentaho and the Google Visualization API

2009-06-21T21:14:00.001-07:00

There a number of times on a sales call when I am asked, "How does Pentaho integrate with other 'packages'?". Now 'integrate' and 'packages' can mean a number of different things. It can cover anything in the realm of application frameworks, extension points, plug-in architectures, data access, data integration, content delivery, distribution, ETL, SOAs, APIs, portals, etc. However, upon narrowing it down, a common request is one where a developer wants to know how Pentaho can use other 3rd party visualizations. Those visualizations that are provided by a number of vendors, both open source and proprietary.

In short, the Pentaho BI Platform is built on open standards. Java and XML to name a few of them. Its architecture can utilize the Pentaho Action Sequence technology (.xaction) to orchestrate and perform such a request. Many 3rd party visualizations, whether it is a Flash / Flex based charting engine or a JavaScript API based widget, have some means of accepting and processing data input. For example, those components may process data that is in the format of XML, JSON or even a JavaScript API. With a Pentaho Action Sequence, you are able to query and access almost any data source, traverse/iterate and dynamically format the result set into one of those means. Parameterization in the Action Sequence only enhances this capability and provides non-technical users an easy way to provide input as well as customize the visualization the way they want to.

Watch this video below, to see how I use Pentaho and and the Google Visualization API to create enhanced interactive visuals that can be easily added to a Pentaho Dashboard using the Pentaho Dashboard Designer.

Just another example of the power and flexibility of the Pentaho BI Platform. With Pentaho you are not only able to provide point solutions for the here and now problems..., you are able to evolve with it to also meet your future needs.

Pentaho: "Guided Ad hoc" , "Structured Ad hoc" , Parameterized Reporting...which one already!

2009-04-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

(This is how it would be done in Pentaho 3.0. With the introduction of 3.5 and the new Pentaho Report Designer, there are even easier ways to achieve this. )

This blog entry is an introduction to a video which highlights the fundamentals of creating a Pentaho "Guided Ad hoc", "Structured Ad hoc" or parameterized report using the Pentaho Report Designer and Pentaho Design Studio. Here you will find a Pentaho Wiki entry which has a bit more detail and also demonstrates a slightly older example.

One of the biggest barriers in adopting a Business Intelligence tool is ease of use. It is possible that if the BI tools are too difficult to use, then most business users will not use them and may resort back to the way they used to do things, MS Access and Excel. ;-) No really...if the tools are not being used to the best of their abilities, then the organization is not leveraging their investment in BI. Therefore they are not going to realize a return on investment for that solution.

So...enters:

"Guided Ad hoc", "Structured Ad hoc", advanced parameterized reporting...whatever you want to name it, it is a simple way for non-technical business users to create numerous combinations of reports, without the need to involve the IT department. It not only provides the ability to limit the desired result set, but can have added functionality to re-structure sort groups, change measures and even add user defined drill down paths. Oh, and if you are using the Pentaho BI Suite, then you even have the ability to add components for on demand distribution, alerting, collaboration, scheduling and more. All this integrated under one platform, designed on open standards, reducing IT dependency and providing complete flexibility and end user empowerment.

I like the term "Guided Ad hoc". I used the term when demonstrating similar functionality with my old company's software. I believe the terminology accurately describes the meaning of the tool quite well. "Guided", because it "guides" the business user to the answer they are looking for. "Ad hoc", because the tool is usually used "for a purpose". It makes report generation easy without sacrificing functionality and again, without IT involvement.

"Guided Ad hoc" is really nothing more than a fancy term for parameterized reporting. The concept is to provide an easy to use, familiar user interface for users to interact with. If the business users are familiar with the web and have used eBay or either a banking or social networking web site; or better yet have shopped on-line, then they are already familiar with the concept of "Guided Ad hoc". They have seen the common form controls like text boxes and radio buttons, drop down lists, sliders, folder trees and pick lists. Using a combination of these form controls while providing them a simple navigation interface, allows them to simply pick what they want and how they want it. Almost 80% of reporting needs can be satisfied in this manner while at the same time requiring little to no training to use and understand.

The below video briefly demonstrates some simple fundamentals when creating a "Guided Ad hoc" report with the Pentaho Report Designer and Pentaho Design Studio. It also quickly demonstrates a completed version that I have built using the new Community Dashboard Framework which is now integrated with Pentaho 3.0

Just remember this, whether you call it "Guided Ad hoc", "Structured Ad hoc" or parameterized reporting, the result is always the same; it is easy to use and can be delivered using the Pentaho BI Suite.

The Continuation of the Unmatched Power and Flexibility of Pentaho

2009-04-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

Continuing my blog post in regards to the Unmatched Power and Flexibility of the Pentaho BI Suite, I wanted to share another powerful component that I have been working on. I know you might be thinking this is a shameful attempt of Pentaho publicity, but sincerely it isn't. I am truly passionate about my job and I love to share what is possible so others can benefit from it. The Pentaho BI Suite allows a level of flexibility and customization that surpasses many BI frameworks simply because of its Action Sequence architecture. The Pentaho BI Platform architecture allows easy integration with many 3rd party components and frameworks. It allows you to step outside of the box while still utilizing open standards and common skill sets, something that may be hard to achieve with proprietary BI software.

Please note that this is one possible way of how something can be represented.

There are a few ways you can visualize change of data over time, but most commonly used for this is the Line Graph. A Line Graph can be described as a visual representation of connecting data points or sets of data points that have been collected over a period of time. The most useful benefits to a Line Graph are recognizing trends over time as well as observing the rate of change (slope) more clearly. Whether you are plotting sales figures or unique page views, what a Line Graph can tell you depends on the individual reading it. However, when wanting to view this data over long periods of time there are some creative ways that it can be represented.

I have chosen to represent large amounts of data over time by integrating the LGPL 2.1 Chronoscope Timepedia widget into the Pentaho BI Platform. I created a reusable, customizable component that can be easily added to Pentaho Dashboards by non-technical users. This dynamic widget can visually represent metrics over large periods of time in an interactive, browser only, Time Series Line Graph.

The idea was introduced to me by a colleague, Zachary Zeus from Sydney Australia. Originally it was structured as a JSP page which would execute a Pentaho Action Sequence and generate a JSON data string to feed the Timepedia Chronoscope Widget. This was a great idea, but I needed to enhance the capability to make it easy to use, include and modify.

Utilizing the flexible nature of the Pentaho architecture, I was able to reconstruct the example to be completely self contained in the Pentaho Solution Repository. This eliminated the need to setup a separate web application path, JSPs and any external web references needed by the component. It can be easily executed from the Pentaho User Console and added as a component to the Pentaho Dashboard Designer with full parametrization. With the added parametrization capability in the Pentaho Dashboard Designer, all filters and metric variables can be exposed so a non-technical user can customize the component to meet their need.

Because this component is utilizing the Pentaho architecture, my data can be retrieved from almost any data source. I could use a SQL query, RDBMS stored procedure, Pentaho Metadata Query, Mondrian Analysis MDX statement, XQuery, or even a call to Pentaho Data Integration (ETL) with no changes to my underlying application.

Here is a short list of the Value and Benefits to this component -

LGPL 2.1
No software licensing fees (had to get that in there)
Can be added to a Pentaho Dashboard
Can be executed from the Pentaho Solution Browser
Completely Pentaho Solution Repository based
Reusable
Easily customizable
Provides Parametrization for changing metrics, date range filters, vertical and horizontal ranges

For information about the TimePedia Chronoscope Widget itself see the links below:

http://timepedia.org/chronoscope/
http://timepedia.org/chronoscope/license/

Please note that I am working with Pentaho Product Management to get all the samples I create included in to the Pentaho BI Platform. If you are interested in becoming a Pentaho Subscription customer, or just want to know about what is possible with Pentaho, please feel free to contact me.

Pentaho: Unmatched Power and Flexibility

2009-04-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

With each passing day I am continually amazed at the power and flexibility of the Pentaho BI Suite and its architecture. With the Pentaho Dashboard Designer, found in the new Pentaho Enterprise Edition 3.0, I was able to add the capability for even the non-technical business user to utilize "dynamic" Google mapping mash-ups. "Dynamic" meaning that the map displayed and its points, are based off of what the user selects from the input screen. These dynamic Google Map objects can be created as parameterized templates for the business users to add, layout and interact with - in their own Pentaho Dashboards.

Google Maps has a powerful Geocoding service that Pentaho can seamlessly pass data to without any coding. I have always stated that one of the differentiators in our stack is the ability to easily integrate results from Pentaho Data Integration in to Pentaho Reporting, Analysis and Dashboards. This holds true even when using Google Maps. With Pentaho Data Integration and its HTTP transformation entry, I am able to pass user input such as address, city and state to the Google Maps Geocoder web service and return the appropriate coordinates to be mapped. This PDI transformation can be called from one of Pentaho's work-flow objects and pass back the results to another component without any coding. Now I am sure there maybe a number of ways that this can be achieved with other methods, but the differentiator here is that there wasn't any hard-coded complex coding involved. Due to the fact that our BI Platform is nicely integrated with Pentaho Data Integration, the approach is reusable for and callable from other applications and objects with little to no modifications per application. Using open standards is a key when creating any type of application. Another differentiator in the Pentaho architecture. I believe the founders of the Pentaho BI Platform and those of Data Integration (formerly Kettle) have much to be proud of when their decision to merge the two together came forth.

From just "one" parameterized Pentaho Action Sequence (a core Pentaho work-flow object) I am able to get the user's input, get the required data to be mapped (from almost any data source), send a call to the Geocoder service via PDI, and display the appropriate Google Maps center area along with the associated plotted data points. With Pentaho's service based architecture, I am able to easily change my data source and/or query on the fly without having to change any other layers in my application, which is a must when quickly deploying BI applications to the masses.

See the brief demonstration YouTube video here on the Pentaho YouTube channel that I created. YouTube's normal resolution can be a bit hard to see, so make sure to view the video in HD mode and select full screen to see the example fully. Just another example of many showing unmatched power and flexibility.

To learn more about Pentaho and see an "Introduction to the Pentaho Enterprise Edition" come see our new 5 minute introductory video on our home page at www.pentaho.com.

Evaluations and implementations fail because of people, not the software - (usually)

2009-03-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

At one time, Open Source software had a stigma about being poorly documented. In my opinion, I believe that has changed for the most part. While working for Pentaho, a Commercial Open Source BI company, I have taken part in tasks that help create awareness around our software. It involves many resources made available to understand it, use it, explore it, modify it and even evolve it. Whether it is creating Wiki pages, video tutorials, tech tips, and blog entries or working with documentation services, I have come to find that having a successful implementations or evaluations really comes down to two things. Not only is the (1) content as good as the people that "write it" but it is also depends heavily on the aptitude of the (2) person who CONSUMES IT.

The new Pentaho Knowledgebase is one of those excellent resources. It is made available to paid subscription customers and trial evaluators and contains professional documentation, technical tips and more. Our documentation services team has been exceptional in getting information out there as quickly as possible and to those who need it most.

Those who depend on the vendor to provide support and those who care to be successful when using the software to meet their objectives. Sometimes, they are also the ones that sign up for training, whether it be at a customer site, at the Pentaho HQ or over the web. (You don't have to be a customer to get training.) These are the people that are the most successful with the software, any software. In addition to the KB, there is also a wiki page that I maintain in the community for non subscription customers and evaluators. This is an additional resource that allows me to quickly post information at a moments notice which can help others. This resource also creates an awareness and makes me become more scalable.

However, as with any vendor's collateral, if you don't use it, read it or care to learn it and at the same time expect someone to hold your hand, your chances of becoming successful are low. It is that simple. If you are one of those people, there isn't anything wrong with that, (ala Seinfeld) just make sure you hire the proper talent to get the job done and expect to pay. (Keep in mind that with Pentaho, you are not paying for software license fees, you are paying for people's knowledge and expertise to help you meet your objectives as well as the other things covered in a subscription- additional features, IP indemnification etc. )

Of course, there is always an expectation of vendor support, but when one does not take the time to review the collateral and expects to get a POC, CRM, EDW or ERP system up an running with a push of a button, they are in for a rude awakening. These are the same type of people that blame the vendor for their failures.

(These are not exact quotations - but I think you get the point I am trying to make)

"I called your customer support and expected to learn all your tools."
"I have unlimited support and the project still failed. I only opened 4 cases ,that were resolved to my satisfaction, but I never called you for more help. So your support did not help me."
"I want to test your software. I want for you to help me create a POC,. I do not have budget or a time line or a defined project in place, and there is no guarantee that I will become a customer, can you help me?"

Please be aware that there is a difference between development assistance and training. There is also a difference between kicking tires and having clearly defined project criteria. Can you imagine if I called Microsoft, and asked them to walk me through creating a DB application in MS Access, at no cost? Have you even seen their support guide lines? HERE it's a mile long.

In closing, this is just another example that supports my prior blog claim (in regards to BI) that BI (or an application that use any software for that matter) is truly in the heads of people that know the software best. See entry here.

It is up to you to work with those people and get the help you need. It is a theory that makes sense not just with BI but with anything that is new to anyone. If you are new to sky diving would you go it alone the first time? Wouldn't you research it first, or at least jump tandem? In fact unless you have your own plane I don't even think you can go it alone without some sort of training or knowledge awareness. Whether you "SOLICIT" , "CONSUME" and "APPLY" that awareness is up to you. Remember, it is not just the vendor that can assist, but it is you as well. You can help make anything successful if applied correctly.

Teamwork, with each party doing their part can create successful evaluations and implementations.

Pentaho 3.0 the Community and the Cloud - WOW

2009-03-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

Commercial Open Source Business Intelligence company Pentaho is joining the roster of applications available via Amazon.com Inc.'s EC2 Web hosting service.

Companies will be able to "rent" the new release of Pentaho, Version 3.0, via EC2. That arrangement should lower the upfront start-up costs of using Pentaho -- though those costs were already low to begin with. ;-) A Pentaho subscription is a fraction of what a proprietary vendor would charge you for software licenses alone.

In fact many well known companies are saving money and subscribe to Pentaho to receive development assistance as well as the Enterprise Edition certified build. EE is Q/A'd, updated and maintained on a regular basis which also includes a host of features and functionality that are not available in the Community Edition.

Other new features in Pentaho 3.0 include redesigned dashboards that incorporate Adobe Flash technology for enhanced visuals and are now easy enough for most business end users to build themselves using the Pentaho Dashboard Designer.

Another great accolade is the integration of the Community Dashboard Framework project, initiated by Pedro Alves and Ingo Klose. For even the most novice developer who wants to go outside of the box, Pentaho now includes the Community Dashboard Framework. CDF is built upon the superior Pentaho architecture. Imagine creating more of your own rich and interactive content with very little development. In fact even "cut and paste" programmers can benefit from this easy to use framework. With complete documentation, samples and cut and paste markup, customizing Pentaho content is easier than ever. Pentaho's open-source community includes 40,000 registered members and "hundreds of active contributors."

Pentaho Commercial Open Source Business Intelligence, user friendly, cloud ready and community powered.

www.pentaho.com

2009-03-05T15:34:00.000-08:00

Pentaho Named as One of the Best Open Source Software Projects by Network World Blogger

Enough said!

Tremendous Commerical Open Source BI Advantages

2008-11-08T06:24:00.000-08:00

From time to time, I'll get the following question from individuals whom are not quite familiar with Open Source BI Software or the Commercial Open Source business model. Sometimes they can be resistant or unaware of its many advantages and benefits such as:

* No Software Licensing Fees
* Lower TCO
* Higher ROI
* A better cost structure investment of its revenue
* A less risky alternative
* The same functionality when compared to most proprietray offerings
* Community contributions (reviewed, certified and controlled of course)
* Real world tested, instead of Black Box tested
* Rapid fix delivery
* Released early and often
* Excellent customer support from those who know it best which includes the engineers who designed it

Overcoming someone’s resistance to open source in your organization means that you probably need to educate them, given that they use open source every day without thinking about it. It’s in everything from cars to cell phones, as well as almost all the commercial BI tools shipping today. More likely, they are resistant because they (a) are threatened in some way by the change you propose, (b) face organizational obstacles like educating the legal department about licenses or (c) face political consequences you aren’t aware of. It’s often their personal situation that is the biggest factor, given that most objections are easily refuted as myths. Check this link out for more information about demystifying Open Source BI.

So,

What are some other advantages of an Commercial Open Source BI solution over a proprietary one?

As I usually do, I will explain it from my company's perspective. This response is aside from the fact that Commercial Open Source BI solutions, such as Pentaho Open Source Business Intelligence, can provide a very compelling BI solution matching the likes of proprietary BI without having to pay expensive software license fees. Commercial Open Source companies such as Pentaho provide the expert services to help you meet your objectives.

Legacy System Integration

Almost every BI solution requires some kind of interfacing with legacy systems. Pentaho has specifically designed its BI Platform to be integrated into existing environments. It makes no difference if we are interfacing with 20 year old ERP systems or 10 year old BI applications. Obviously, it is not possible to account for every situation in advance and that is where having access to the source code is a tremendous advantage. In most cases, the integration can be done by writing a plug-in using a few dozen lines of code. Many engagements in the proprietary world have some sort of implementation where you have to create a batch process or have someone manually run a report from a legacy system, save it to a file system, parse it and load it into the BI tool because there is some incompatibility that needed to be overcome externally to the software.

User Feedback

Another tremendous advantage with Open Source BI in general is the speed at which we get user feedback. By allowing users to participate in the development process, and releasing "early and often" we get critical feedback very early in the process. With a proprietary model, there is a deliberate structure to isolate developers from end users. Product Management talks to the users about requirements, support talks to users about problems, this information filters down to the developers in the form of bug reports and requirements. Changes get scheduled for a release, code gets written over a period of time until all the changes are in, the release is made, maybe a beta program happens but by the time an end user gets to try it out, it may be 6 months or more down the road. If there are design defects with a feature, they may not get addressed until the next release. With commercial open source, as changes go in, interested users have the option to try it out in the latest nightly build and provide instant feedback in a forum that the developer has direct access.

Just a couple more of those "little" Commercial Open Source BI advantages.

Business Intelligence - A Bigger Picture

2008-09-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

Recently, some "anonymous" poster left an angry toned comment on one of my blog entries. The entry I am speaking of was about how Business Intelligence is actually in the heads of people and not the software. It also discussed a topic around standard and non-standard software skill sets that can be involved as part of a Business Intelligence implementation. You can read the entry here and see the comment and my response if you are interested.

My curiosity got the best of me. By looking at my blog stats, I noticed that the date of the comment and the specific hit on my blog came from the Ottawa Canada area. I also noticed that the same stat showed a specific search on my name which provided a hit to that entry. I could only assume that the comment was from an employee who worked at Cognos. You can make of it what you wish. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. However, if you are going to make a negative statement or opinion, please think twice before trying to discredit someone. It will only make you look ignorant. I guess that is why it was an anonymous post, huh? Open Source companies including Pentaho, are really making themselves known and disrupting proprietary markets as you know them today. I can understand that other proprietary software employees, who have not thought things through, could be agitated and ready to post negative comments.

One of the things that caught my attention in the comment was that he/she stated a particular software package, Axiant, that I mentioned "was not part of the IBM / Cognos BI Platform". (Keep in mind that I never said it was, nor implied that specifically) He/she continued that it was outdated and not actively sold. I found that humorous because that comment only further supported my argument instead of discrediting me, which seem to be the motive of the comment.

This blog entry is not about Axiant or what is or isn't part of a BI Platform; it is about how Business Intelligence is part of a bigger picture and not just a particular software package. BI in general involves many different factors in order to be successful no matter what software or skill set is being used. It requires the knowledge and expertise of the individuals who know it best. This includes the customer knowing what problems they have or want to prevent, as well as the software vendor and/or consultants who know how to provide solutions for those problems.

Analogy 1: Imagine you want to hang a picture. You have some screws but no tools. You go to the hardware store and say, "I need a hammer", because you think that is the proper tool to get the job done. The proper response would be for the salesperson to ask you, "What do you need the hammer for?" or "What project will the hammer help you with?". When he finds out that you want to hang a picture and all you have are screws, the salesperson may suggest a screwdriver instead of the hammer or perhaps give you nails and a hammer. Even better yet, he may offer something that is even easier to use or costs less like those new gravity hooks. You see, the salesperson needs to ask the proper questions to help the customer with the proper solutions. He may even offer a better solution to which the customer had no idea about. The salesperson was the expert who provided the knowledge for the proper solution or alternative.

BI not only involves helping the customer with existing problems but also involves helping them to see problems that they many not know exist.

Analogy 2: Imagine having a piece of food on your lip and not knowing it. Your friend says, "Hey, you got something on your lip!", and points it out to you. You then take the appropriate action to resolve that problem by wiping it away with a napkin. The napkin was the tool, you wiping it away was the action you took from the knowledge and direction provided by your friend. Your friend helped you discover a problem you didn't know was there.

It is clear and easy to see that these two analogies provide support that Business Intelligence is about collaboration, communication, discovery, knowledge, insight, direction and action to just name a few. These factors along with the proper software and services can provide an organization with a successful BI implementation. The software can be part of a specific BI Platform or simply an application development environment used to create any sort of business applications that can provide knowledge on data. Business Intelligence is not just about collecting data and reporting, it is a methodology in which experts can provide assistance. If you would like your organization to succeed, it is extremely important to understand the factors of BI and learn how to analyze and use the data created by this methodology.

Thank you for your comment "anonymous" poster, you helped me anchor how BI is part of a bigger picture, in the heads of people and not just in a software stack.

Pre-Sales What I've Learned - P-prepare, R-Respond, E-execute - Revisited

2008-08-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

The Pre-Sales Engineer

The Pre-Sales Engineer, A.K.A Systems Engineer or Sales Consultant, is the stage performer of the IT world: immensely capable, confident, an excellent communicator who is equally comfortable in front of large crowds as well as small groups. They are Sales Reps in sheep's clothing. Able to build and nurture relationships throughout the sales process, while maintaining an already established level of trust. Pre-Sales Engineers not only demonstrate the breadth and depth of their company's products, but they also work closely with sales Account Managers to aid in the sales process and help close business. From 1st calls to technical support to demonstrations; the Pre-Sales engineer is there to make the prospect feel at ease, to paint a vision on how the products will meet a specific need. Their knowledge of the products and services being positioned to solve the business problem are invaluable. It is exactly this knowledge and skill that should be valued by the sales organization and it's management team. SE's should never be treated like tools or just "technical resources" . Anyone who believes otherwise has a huge character flaw, judges people immediately and demoralizes those whom they manage or work with. I am truly happy to express that my Sales Director and EVP of Sales view the Pre-Sales engineering department, which I manage, as a valuable component to the sales process and the sales team. Pentaho has a very talented SE staff and I am very proud they are on my team. After being in a prior organization where SEs were treated like "tools" and expected to answer either "yes" or "no" on a sales call, I can truly speak with conviction, that was the wrong way to treat the people that helped close business for the company.

Sharing a recent quote from one of network partners in the midwest:

"The Pentaho SEs are the smartest(breadth of experience and depth of expertise) we have met in several years of doing BI consulting sales. Their ability to quickly understand the client problem and devise several innovative approaches (incl thinking well outside the box) makes them fun to work with on accounts. We feel like our clients get the best possible solution – one that fits them and not one that fits the vendor product functionality. One recent experience involved spending several hours with various vendors (incl. Cognos, Oracle etc) explaining a complex client problem and investigating the different solution approaches. The end of those discussions resulted in no clear solution path. The Pentaho SEs were a pleasant surprise - they understood the problem within a few minutes and developed 3 different methods that could be used to tackle the problem – all in an hour phone conversation!”.

The Prospect's Expectations

Depending on the selling company's business model, Pre-Sales activity can take many different forms. Whatever that activity may be, it is important to keep the prospect's expectations into consideration. During the discovery phase of the sales cycle, a Pre-Sales engineer listens and identifies a fit for its company's offered solutions. He also sets expectations for the prospect on how the solutions will work for them. With knowledge of failed promises from many software/service companies or poor interactions with sales people, prospects are becoming more guarded and demanding when they engage with sales professionals. Specific "needs" to be addressed, justification of the value of any purchase, reviewing several alternatives before making any decisions to ensure the correct fit. In order to set the correct expectations surrounding those items, the sales/pre-sales process must fully uncover the business issues described along with there causes and effects. The process to identify a fit and understand a customer's expectations should be no different whether you are positioning a physical product or a software solution. The key is to listen and understand what is being said, as well as identify what is "not" being said. For example, I recently was on a call with a major retailer where they were initially kicking tires and stated that they did not have any "specific" business problems. Further discussion revealed key targeted pain points that Pentaho Open Source Business Intelligence Suite could remedy with its software and services. One won't be able to show a solution to someone who doesn’t perceive they have a problem. The first step when presenting is to help them understand that they have a problem – and that the problem is both important and can be solved. Also, the sales professionals should speak to the prospect as if "they" were the prospect. "That way the prospect is "not" forced to go through a constant mental exercise of morphing what the sales rep is saying into something that's meaningful to them. On top of all this, most importantly, keep it conversational.

On sites, events, giveaways are they providing any real value?

As stated earlier, the pre-sales process takes different forms depending on the business model of the selling company. For example, many of the recently consolidated proprietary BI vendors (Oracle, Business Objects, Cognos, SAP) and even some of the independents, (MicroStrategy, Actuate and Information Builders) have no problem wining and dining their prospects in the form of expensive lunch and learns, golf outings or even iPod giveaway promos because they know they will recover those costs from the software licensing fees they charge their customers. Speaking from experience, even sending pre-sales engineers all over the United States (or world for that matter) for simple discovery calls, white boarding sessions and demos can add up to $2500/month per engineer (depending on location and means of travel). I remember numerous times eating out in the finest restaurants and staying in 5 star hotels just to do a demo the next morning that could have easily been done over the web. Please note that I understand the importance of human interaction so don't get me wrong, there is a time and place to shake a hand, but it has to be managed carefully or you will just continue to waste money and downsize your company, similar to what is happening at my former company. I just heard of more layoffs and more seasoned SE's leaving to find more fruitful and fulfilling jobs.

With the Open Source Business Model the pre-sales process is very similar in regards to any sales process but not so extravagant when it comes to the travel or promotions. There are more web meetings and conference calls with an even higher quality pre-sales engineer(s) who has the experience to back up their company's claims. This can result in a solution that compares to the proprietary guys but with a lower TCO and a higher ROI.

Opposition, is it Pre-vent Sales?

There is a little joke in the pre-sales circle that the "pre" in pre-sales stands for "prevent". This can commonly be heard from the account managers in sales organizations due to the level of push back they may receive by the Pre-Sales department. First off the interpretation is silly because the company's success rides on qualified engagements. Why would anyone want to hinder their company's performance for little or no reason. However, there are plenty of reasons for pre-sales to push back. One of them may be, not following the defined pre-sales process. A sales person's job is not only to represent his company but to "get" as much information as possible so he can accurately position the products and services. It is our recommendation that this "discovery" should be done with the pre-sales engineer in order to achieve the most accuracy and again, set the proper expectations. If this information is not received by pre-sales, pre-sales can't accurately paint a vision or present a solution if they don't even know "why" they are being engaged. A requirement such as, "I want to see dashboards and reporting and analysis", is not really too descriptive of what the "drivers" are for "wanting" to see these things. Doing a demonstration without knowing anything is a "Show Up and Throw Up" with HOPEs that the propsect will find something of interest. I don't see "Hope" as a phase in the sales cycle. Please refer to this link to get a more in depth view of what I mean. Pete Cohan's Stunningly Awful Demos has been a great resource. Other oppositions one may encounter are related to the personal styles of the individuals one may be working with. Some may be used to the way things were done previously in another company, where there possibly wasn't a process or the business model was different. Some may be reactive and used to saying yes without drilling in further. Some may not want to bother with the pre-sales process and think they can do it all on their own. Whatever the reason may be pre-sales needs to identify the styles of these individuals and learn how to work with each and every one so it is productive for the prospect and the selling company. I prefer to think of the "pre" in pre-sales to stand for: P-prepare, R-respond, E-execute. Those actions will make for shorter sales cycles, proper customer expectations and improved sales. Happy selling.

Relax, It's Just Another Chicken Sandwich - Pentaho Open Source BI

2008-08-13T19:54:00.001-07:00

Did I get your attention? Hopefully because you were intrigued enough to see what this post was about and not because you were hungry. Unless you are hungry for Pentaho Open Source Business Intelligence that is! OK, that was lame.

It's obvious that I like to relate some of what I see around me in everyday life to Pentaho, the people I speak with and their issues and concerns. This blog entry came to me last night when watching the Olympics (Go USA!) and a commercial came on that was advertising the Kentucky Fried Chicken Cravin' Fillet sandwich. It showed a piece of chicken on a bun with 2 pickles. This seemed rather familiar to me because only a month or two ago McDonald's new Southern Chicken Sandwich debuted; "a breaded chicken breast garnished with 2 pickles." (pictured on left). Another day I saw a Wendy's commercial talking about its version of a, yep you guessed it, home-style chicken sandwich, again with those 2 darn pickles. So, what am I getting at here folks? It's the same damn thing only from a different vendor. It may have a slightly different look, it may taste a bit different, costs a bit more or less or even come with a side. Whatever the differences may be, it still solves the same problem, satisfying your hunger! Oh and not to mention that it's nothing new either, it has been around since 1967 as a Chik-Fil-A signature. So now that you are locked in to reading this, you are probably wondering, "So Mike, how does this relate to the Open Source Business Model or better yet, Pentaho Open Source Business Intelligence?" Well I am glad you asked that, you see when it comes down to it, Pentaho is just another chicken sandwich in this competitive BI landscape. Pentaho is the "all white meat chicken breast" while the other consolidate proprietary BI vendors are a mix of parts (literally), by-products, fillers and additives. Pentaho's software and services are on the value menu while the other guys are just super sized.

The Game Theory

One of my colleagues and closest friends Wayne Johnson enlightened me about the "game theory". The blog entry he mentions it in can be found here. The game theory basically states that as long as you mimic what your competitors are doing you will remain in the same spot, so if you are ahead and always mimic them strategically, you will always stay ahead, so on and so forth. Take this game theory and apply it to Pentaho Open Source BI. Pentaho can deliver what you would expect from a proprietary BI vendor. Pentaho can deliver a complete end to end BI solution at a lower (TCO) total cost of ownership with a higher (ROI) return on investment. These two facts in relation to the game theory put Pentaho ahead of the curve. I think the real challenge is to demystify the Open Source Business model. Once a company gets the information they need about Pentaho Open Source BI and they are comfortable with what it has to offer, they should begin evaluating and take into consideration the many benefits that go along with the Open Source Business model. ( see this, you might have to fill out a form)

Whether you are evaluating proprietary BI or Pentaho Open source BI, you will find that we are all very similar. I don't care if you are Oracle, Business Objects, Cognos, Information Builders, MicroStrategy etc. We all have our repositories, we all have our metadata, we all have our dashboards, analysis, data mining, data integration and ad hoc query. However, the popular open standard architecture, the growing and active community and the open source business model that provides more value for the buck are the huge differentiators. (The white meat)

So please relax, enjoy and take a bite; Pentaho may be another chicken sandwich on your menu of BI evaluations. However, this chicken sandwich will not only satisfy your hunger pains but it will save you money too!

Pentaho Selected as Top 10 Technology Startup

2008-08-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

This blog and this link, enough said:

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Pentaho-Corporation-888610.html

Pentaho Open BI Suite Recognized as the Best

2008-08-04T11:23:00.001-07:00

The Pentaho Open Business Intelligence Suite received recognition from the InfoWorld BOSSIE awards for having the Best Open Source Business Intelligence Suite under the "Best of open source enterprise applications" category. InfoWorld's annual BOSSIES recognize the best free and open source software the world has to offer to businesses, IT professionals, and productive individuals who rely on computers to get work done. The 2008 BOSSIE winners include 60 products in eight categories covering business and productivity applications, development tools, middleware, networking, security, and storage.

You can read more about it here: http://www.infoworld.com/slideshow/2008/08/168-best_of_open_so-9.html

Business Intelligence, in the heads of people, not the software

2008-07-24T03:26:00.000-07:00

Many times I've been asked, whether it be at an event or on a call, "What skill sets are needed to use your tool?". These questions usually come from the IT departments of businesses as well as prospective partners. All within their rights, its understandable that they want to have a general idea of what talent they may need to hire or have to learn in order to deliver a successful BI implementation. (The following information, in general, can be used for most BI related topics but it will be positioned from the Pentaho Open Source BI angle.) The information within really does relate to the fact that Business Intelligence is in the heads of people, not the software. The software itself is a commodity, a bunch of 1's and 0's. However, without the proper skills or expertise a BI implementation is bound to fail no matter what software you use.

Usually in response before answering the question directly, I would delve in deeper to understand who asked it and why it was asked. It's important to understand the roles of the individuals. One person/department might be responsible for creating a data warehouse or using data integration/ETL tools; another may be responsible for creating reports, templates and dashboards; and another might be a casual user or a business analyst who will be the consumer of what is developed and offered. These are all very important roles in a BI implementation. Depending on the role, my initial response would be to ask what skill sets are currently available as well as what technologies are already being used and are familiar to the business.

Based off that response I am better prepared to position the software and services accordingly. For both development types and user types, the Pentaho Open BI suite has flexible development and deployment options that offer simple tools and interfaces that can accommodate the novice to the most advanced skill sets. Of course, it would be assumed that a general BI skill set is available. One that understands the terminology of metrics, measures, dimensions, reporting, ETL, etc. One that understands the concepts of BI and why it is important for a business.

At a minimum, for all user types, I would recommend taking the appropriate Pentaho on-site or web-based training. It is a great way to get familiar with the technology and understand the tools.

What is very compelling about the Pentaho Open Source BI suite and its modern architecture is that it is built with open standards such as Java, XML, AJAX, SQL, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc . It incorporates all the data integration and content delivery elements that you would see in a proprietary BI tool, without the monolithic stack of mess acquired from BI vendor consolidation. This allows even those with little or no web authoring skills to create flexible and extensible types of BI applications quickly and easily without any migration issues, from one software stack.
For those with more advanced skill sets, all or just pieces of the software can be embedded into your own web, desktop and even mobile based applications. The application programming interfaces (APIs) available are those that are familiar to developers already. There isn't any proprietary no-standard 4GL to learn and struggle with. (I speak from experience) Depending on the business application need, no matter what software you use, one way or another you will hit a wall with the provided GUI and will have to drop into the code. Cognos scripting language or even the older Powerhouse (Quasar Corporation) Axiant 4GL (IDE that helps "minimize" 4GL coding)- , SAP's ABAP, Oracle and PL/SQL, IBM and the Informix 4GL, SAS and Base SAS, SQR, and Information Builders FOCUS, all are some sort of 4GL to perform tasks that a GUI/IDE cannot do alone. So depending on the need of the BI initiative, would you rather learn another language, in addition to what you already know? Why not use a skill set that is based on an open standard and is widely available in the job market as opposed to some that may have experts (that are few and far between) that are approaching retiring age?

I think the bigger question here is not "what skill set is needed" but rather "what skill sets are 'in demand' in today's market, as well as, which are the skills to have for tomorrow"?

Let's not forget to point out that being there isn't any proprietary BI vendor software license and rising maintenance fees with Open Source software, more of your dollars can go towards the expertise and proper skill sets in the form of services, to ensure the success of your BI implementation.

As you can see, Business Intelligence will always be in the heads of people, not the software.

Pentaho goes Mobile with the iPhone

2008-07-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

The engineering talent that exists at Pentaho is truly amazing, not even at my veteran former employer, have I seen such passion, desire, commitment and rapid development of features and functionality. Just to give you a brief example, below you can review the Pentaho iPhone extension which enables access to Pentaho Open BI Server solutions via the iPhone. The best part about this is that it is available for free and can be setup in minutes. The Pentaho engineers are definitely builders of information access.

Check it out.

Proprietary BI - Is it really worth it?

2008-07-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

A business looking for BI should always consider the alternatives when evaluating a Business Intelligence solution. From my experience, I have found that Open Source BI, including Pentaho Open Source Business Intelligence, offers what you would expect from a proprietary BI vendor. I can say this with much conviction and confidence because I worked for a proprietary BI vendor for 9 years, Information Builders.

In comparison to proprietary BI vendors, there are significant differences in the software tools, architecture and licensing but the resulting solutions are always very similar. We all have our dashboards, repositories, metadata, reporting and etc.

The sales process is very similar as well, except that Open Source software is free and is based on standard Open Source licensing. There aren't any Jedi Mind Tricks in the negotiation process. There usually aren't any excessive pre-sales costs in terms of customer schmoozing (golf outings & fancy dining) and travel expenses. The same prospect that is looking for a true BI solution and wants to provide value to their organization, carefully considers all the options and does not fall victim to all the marketing hub-bub. In fact he may know that in reality he or his company will be paying for that golf outing one way or another.

Just to give you a brief example of the difference between an Open Source BI solution and other proprietary BI vendors tools, I have compiled an estimate of what I have seen so far in this competitive landscape.

This is an estimate of what a small implementation of a proprietary BI Vendor's tools can cost. Notice that I used the word "tools", because that's just what you'll be getting for the absurd amount of software licensing fees you'll be charged. Business Intelligence is being sold as a commodity when it shouldn't be. Business Intelligence is in the heads of people and not the software. It takes expertise to meet the specific objectives to solve the business problem. It is this expertise that Open Source companies offer as a service to help meet those objectives.

Keep this in mind when comparing proprietary BI with Open Source BI.

The Estimated Summary:

A proprietary BI vendor’s data integration and reporting tools can cost approx $220,000(+ -) based on the below scenario. Keeping in mind that this cost is paid without an actual BI solution in place. This is just for the software licensing, that says "you" can use the software as well as 20% maintenance. (Keep in mind that this maintenance cost is rising due to many conditions, including the current enconomy.) On top of this costs which may or may not include education, you may need to tack on additional consulting or services fees. Check out this link to support my claim.

Broken Down:

For a basic 2 CPU windows machine (some vendors consider this a 1 dual core CPU)

-Data adapters -- to access data
-Reporting and Analysis Engine - to execute requests
-Certain # of users for a web based ad hoc reporting
-ETL (additional copies extra)
-Developer tools (additional copies extra)

The Myth:

We have seen that Open Source BI is becoming a name in the competitive landscape. However there are many misconceptions of Open Source software. I have actually had someone tell me, "People think that because its Open Source, its crap and Open Source will not win". This is coming from a number of uneducated individuals I would imagine. Hmm, let me see, MySQL, Linux, Apache, Tomcat, SugarCRM, Liferay, Alfresco, Openbravo to just name a few. I guess these are all crap huh?

The funny thing is, that individual failed to realize that many proprietary BI vendors include Open Source technologies in its own suite:

-Apache Tomcat Application Server
-Apache Lucene Search Engine
-Eclipse Framework

There have also been a number of announcements found on the web:

-"Proprietary BI Vendor" Elbows In With Predictive Analytics using Open Source project
-"Proprietary BI Vendor" Joins Eclipse Open Source Community
-"Proprietary BI Vendor" Data Integration leverages Open Source Eclipse Framework

To further support this, a proprietary BI vendor rep said that integrating open source search technology from the Apache Lucene project, will open up more development opportunities. "Tying into the Google Search Appliance has allowed us to deliver complete package without third-party issues," he said. "But it can get complex and expensive when searching across millions or transactions. Lucene engine's gives us more search programmability."

So how is Open Source crap, come again?

Please keep all this in mind, including the recent BI vendor consolidation. Here is where expensive software is just getting more expensive.

Along with the state of the current economy, Open Source alternatives are looking a lot more attractive. The bottom line is that they provide core and similar BI features and functionality with a higher ROI and lower TCO.

So with this knowledge in hand, you tell me, is proprietary BI really worth it? Don't get me wrong, proprietary BI may have its place. Just keep in mind that every business must take careful consideration to identify if they are that place.

Budget cuts? Do more and go farther with less money.

2008-07-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

At this time where we are on the verge of a recession, it only seems common to cut costs in order to save more of your hard earned income. Heck, my family and I have even made some changes in our lifestyle in order to offset the rising costs of, ...well everything. The current economy has caused me to evaluate other "options" where I can save money and stretch my dollar further. Maybe I'll shop at Walmart or buy paper goods in bulk at Sam's Club. An opportunity to get the same and if not more, for less. You can easily compare our actions to the way an organization would have to evaluate their budgets in order to reduce costs and increase profits.

What is very promising though, is that there still seems to be a need for Business Intelligence. Companies not only want to know about what and how their employees/customers are doing but also why. BI can help empower them to understand why they need to reduce costs, or why they need to make certain decisions in order to remain cash flow positive. BI can help them predict the outcomes of specific scenarios. OEMs and ISVs, want to provide BI capabilities in the software and services that they provide. They want to do all of this smarter and not harder and save money at the same time. Their goals are to lower the TCO and receive a higher ROI on the BI solution they choose.

There is an alternative to "proprietary" BI, its Pentaho Open Source Business Intelligence.

The Pentaho Open BI Suite, is a analyst recognized, comprehensive BI platform that offers what you would expect from a "proprietary" BI vendor. It offers the best value, less risk Business Intelligence solution with no vendor lock-in and a transparent road map. It provides highly scalable, extensible and flexible functionality to the widest spectrum of organizations with proven results. The Pentaho Corporation provides the value added services to help make the organization successful by meeting its BI objectives.

Now that you know there is an alternative to help solve your BI needs, start evaluating. Hope to meet you on the next discovery call.

Truth Happens: Open Source BI

2008-06-04T04:20:00.000-07:00

Open Source software is software where the source code, the language programmers use to make computers do their jobs, is available to everyone. Anyone can see how the code works and can change it if they want to make it work differently. This is usually regulated under some sort of Open Source licensing, but that is beyond the scope of this blog entry. To anchor what I am talking about, below is a awesome 3 minute promotional video clip for redhat , the world's most trusted provider of Linux and Open Source technology. (Versions of the Linux operating system compete with the popular Microsoft Windows operating system) Throughout history, new technology has been resisted by those who said it couldn't be done. Yet despite opposition, time and again the impossible is made possible by those with determination and vision. redhat and Pentaho believes open source is a better way. A better way of developing technology and a better way of making it accessible. And while there are those who have ignored open source or claimed it wouldn't work or wouldn't last, redhat and Pentaho believe that truth happens.

Despite Opposition - Truth Happens

Pentaho can be compared to redhat in many ways. Pentaho is a services company pioneered by BI veterans from many proprietary BI companies. We have created and acquired Open Source Business Intelligence software and make it available to use without any obligations or licensing fees. However if you require support or consulting, for a fee we will provide the value added services to make businesses successful when deploying a Pentaho BI Solution. We call this value added service a Subscription. The Open Source Business model has been around for sometime and is very similar to the way redhat operates with it's Linux operating system and how MySQL operates with its database offering. (MySQL and Open Source database vendor, was recently purchased by Sun Microsystems for $1B.) Pentaho creates the primary source code that goes into the Open Source and Subscription BI products. Pentaho does accept contributions from community members, but strict guidelines and certification processes are followed before the contribution is ever implemented into our software.
Now, the opposite of open source is closed source or what is also known as proprietary code, where the source code is not available to everyone. BI vendors like Information Builders, Oracle, Business Objects, Cognos and Microstrategy provide similar BI software tools under a closed source proprietary model. Pentaho provides it's software free under an open source business model and standard Open Source licenses. What this means is that someone can download and use Pentaho BI software without having to pay any licensing, maintenance costs, or have any obligation to Pentaho. In order to use a proprietary vendor's software I would have to pay ridiculous licensing and maintenance fees to achieve similar results. In this age of consolidation of expensive BI vendors such as, (SAP/BO) (IBM/Cognos), (Oracle/Hyperion), (Informatica / ?) company budget cuts and a need for BI, Pentaho Open Source Business Intelligence is becoming more and more favorable in many organizations looking for robust BI capabilities with a lower total cost of ownership.

What is Business Intelligence

2008-06-04T04:19:00.001-07:00

Business Intelligence, commonly referred to as BI, provides historical, current, and predictive views of business operations, most often using data that has been gathered into a data warehouse or a data mart as well as operational data. The software elements of BI support reporting, interactive "slice-and-dice" pivot-table analyses, visualization, and statistical data mining. It is these capabilities that the Pentaho software provides on a freely distributable basis based on standard Open Source Licenses without the absurd cost of licensing fees. Software license costs are very common with many BI vendors, a.k.a. our competition. ( more on this later )
Every time you interact with an organization, data is being captured. Sales transactions, bank deposits, stock trades, doctor visits, blood tests, educational test scores, sports stats and more are all collected in some sort of fashion. These transactions, or data, are entered into a transactional computer system of databases. In order to view this data so that it provides useful information for decision making, a number of processes and methodologies can be followed. Usually the information is extracted into another database form, such as a data warehouse, that is fit for reporting. Reports are then created to fill a need to know something more about this data that was entered. For example, if I wanted to know what were the total sales, profits and costs of a particular item I was selling in my business, I would use BI software to figure that out. I could then analyses this report to make a decisions on what to sell or not to sell in the future.

You might be using some sort of BI today in your very own homes. If you are using Microsoft Money or Quicken, for example, you are storing transactional data about your banking, credit cards and spending habits. You then can review a chart or report on which items you have spent the most on in the past month. (If it's anything like ours its usually the mortgage and then groceries.) Simply by looking at the report, I know that there isn't much I can do about my mortgage except maybe refinance. As far as my grocery spending, I could cut coupons or shop at Sam's Club to try and lower my grocery bills. I wouldn't know to take these actions without looking at these reports. So therefore I took the raw data, my spending transactions, and created a report which told me where my spending was the highest. This in turn made me take action to adjust my spending by finding another location to shop that might be cheaper or to start cutting coupons. BI transforms data into information and that information into action. This happens everyday and in many industries. One of the problems facing these industries is that they don't have sufficient BI today. An additional problem is that most proprietary BI vendors are being bought out by larger companies such as IBM, Oracle and SAP. What does that means for businesses who need BI software? Expense software just got more expensive. That is were Open Source software and the Open Source Business model comes in.

The Grass "is" Greener

2008-06-04T04:16:00.001-07:00

Ahhh..that familiar adage, "The grass isn't always greener." This proverb is most commonly heard when someone wants to put FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) in your mind. You may have decided on something that you feel is right. However someone else may think it's not. It is possible he/she truly wants to protect you and ensure you thought things through. Most of the time though, its said for selfish reasons. For example, there may be a desire for you to fail, or maybe your decision affects them or their plan in some way. Whatever the reason may be, you will never know if the grass "is" greener unless you carefully consider your options.

18 months ago I made the decision to leave a long time senior position for a similar position with another company. That is when I was told, "You know Mike, the grass isn't always greener". This being said from the same individual who was working for a company that was full of weeds. When contemplating my decision, I wanted to give my current company a chance, because I enjoyed working for it and was 'comfortable'. That is when I remembered Dr. Farrah Grey. I saw an interview with him on 20/20 and was influenced by his achievements and one of his quotes, "Comfort is the enemy of achievement". This helped me decide to move on to a company that had tremendous potential as well as a positive career path for myself. I knew there would be fear and challenges ahead of me, but these would only help me grow and become the best I can be. The move has proven to be excellent for my family and I. With the vision of my current company, I know we'll be fine for time to come. Always remember to evaluate your current situation. "Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old". Sometimes, decisions can become clear when the current grass is filled with weeds. One thing for sure, the grass is always greener when it comes up from concrete.