Excel taking the BI crown in 2010?

09/01/2010 19:52

2010 is well on its way and many of you posted their insights and predictions for the upcoming year. No need to add to those posts; the ones by Nenshad Bardoliwalla (with some excellent comments from Neil Raden) and James Kobelius pretty much sum it up, and are also linked to from many other places as you can see on Topsy. If you combine those predictions/outlooks with this enormous list compiled by the Cutter Consortium you'll see a lot of stuff that repeatedly gets mentioned. Cloud, Agile and Social Media seem to be the hottest trends for the years ahead, and Open Source, Operational BI and Analytical Databases are also part of almost every list.

I tend to be a bit skeptical about these predictions. They seem to overlook the fact that since the final quarter of 2008 many people have been laid off, costs have been cut to the bare acceptable minimum and a lot of companies are just struggling to survive. In this financial and economic climate I don't see a lot of companies investing in 'new stuff', since to be able to invest, you need growth. And very few (large) companies grow nowadays and train or hire the people needed to implement all these cool new technologies. This doesn't mean that you cannot improve, just that the pace and scale will be limited. Nevertheless, a marathon also consists of many single steps, and some of these steps can be made very easily. Since I don't have a crystal ball to make predictions, I'll give some tips for the year to come that can help you start your own marathon.

1. Excel

This might seem strange coming from an open source advocate like me, but I think we're likely to see an even wider adoption of Excel as a BI tool. And for the daring few that are using OpenOffice Calc, there's some good news for them too. Excel is arguably the most (mis-)used BI tool on the planet and as much as they've tried, none of the BI megavendors has succeeded in offering a solution that has similar flexibility combined with better manageability. A better solution that will persuade users to abandon Excel and switch to the new solution, not because they have to, but because they want to. So it looks like we're stuck with Excel, whether we like it or not. I don't think this is necessarily bad either, considering what you can do to overcome Excel's weaknesses.

First of course there's Microsoft's own PowerPivot offering (a.k.a. Gemini) which will turn Excel into an analytic powerhouse. Combined with Sharepoint for collaboration, distribution and management Microsoft will be able to extend their already strong position on the desktop, possibly replacing existing BI solutions or at least stop wider deployment of these tools. There's a catch though: PowerPivot is an add-in for Excel 2010. Many companies are still on 2003 or only recently migrated to 2007. These companies are not likely to upgrade again to 2010 anytime soon. For most users, Office 2003 offers more than enough functionality already, so why upgrade?

Fortunately, there's no need to upgrade; BI in Excel is perfectly feasible with existing versions of the software. I would urge anyone to take a serious look at Jedox Palo, a complete suite of tools that still uses Excel (or OpenOffice Calc) as a front-end and analysis tool, while at the same time mitigates the weaknesses of Excel (data manageability, support/performance for large datasets, and security). Jedox released version 3.1 of their toolset last December. That's not all though; Jedox released almost every bit of code under the GPL (v2) now, meaning that the previously closed Worksheet server is now a standard part of the Community Edition (BI Suite) offering. And for the skeptics among you, it is really open source, just have a look at the Palo Subversion repositories. For a good overview and step by step instruction of how the different components work and fit together, take a look at this video. Also good to mention is the fact that Palo lets you run everything on Linux as well; there's a Linux installer for the BI server, and there's a Palo add-in for OpenOffice Calc that works on both Windows and Linux (though not always out of the box)

There are more alternatives too that don't break the bank; Vizubi is a free Excel Add-in that shares many of the Powerpivot characteristics but also works with Office 2003 and 2007. Another interesting option is using the SimbaO2X driver from Simba Technologies which lets you use any XML/A compliant OLAP server (e.g. Mondrian or SAP/BW) as a datasource for those Excel pivot tables. A similar solution is available from Jaspersoft, but when you're just looking for more options for collaboration or web based access to your Excel data, just upload your worksheet to any of the online spreadsheet services like Zoho Sheet, Google Docs or EditGrid. The latter contains even more functions (500) than Excel (350)!

2. Fast & cheap hardware

By far the cheapest hardware is the hardware you already own. Last week I was doubting about trashing a 2002 Shuttle box because it was too slow for doing anything useful with it (it had Windows XP installed). Still I decided to install Ubuntu 9.10 to see how it would behave. And now my daughter has a 'new' computer! It boots fast, is pretty responsive and the integrated video chip lets you even use the 'normal' setting for visual effects. The only glitch was with the USB Wifi stick but 3 minutes of Googling solved that problem too. The message here is: you can extend the lifetime of your hardware considerably by using Linux. Bad news for hardware vendors, good news for cost aware customers.

More bad news for hardware vendors: as much as they want companies to 'update' their servers, it's likely that the former generations of Xeon machines do their job just fine. And when they don't, be careful not to overestimate requirements. It's amazing what you can do on a single dual Xeon box with ample memory and disk drives. Last year I was able to build a very fast machine for under $10K. Has 8 cores, 64 GB of ram and 12 SSD drives connected to 2 fast Adaptec controllers. Beats most of the current listed servers on the TPC-H benchmark and best of all: it only has a single 650 Watt power unit, so the QphH/Watt ratio is extremely favorable.

Another hardware tip: if there's still some money left from the Christmas bonus, do yourself a favor and put an Intel X-25M SSD (80 or 160GB) in your laptop. Remember the feeling you got when you turned on your new 80386 computer for the first time after having worked on a 8086 or 80286 PC? That's what I mean...

3. Fast & cheap software

The same hardware message applies here too: the cheapest software is the stuff you already have. In the 'Excel' part I described how to better utilize existing Office software, but there's more to the 'fast & cheap' than that. This year will show a number of new entrants in the analytical database space, many of them open source. Calpont has been working on a product for years, changing directions every now and then but ultimately decided to go for a MySQL compliant column store. First results of the beta community edition of InfiniDB are very encouraging. Another product that will make a splashing entry in the next couple of months is Ingres/VectorWise. The VectorWise team developed a product that can fully utilize modern CPU architectures. From what I've seen and heard about it, the performance gain compared to traditional row oriented products will be spectacular. Combined with already available products like MonetDB, LucidDB, Infobright CE and the free single node version of Greenplum there's enough to choose from without spending large amounts of money. I wouldn't say 'no money' because you'll likely want to sign a support contract with these vendors if you want to run their product in a production environment.

Not necessarily fast (well, fast to install and deploy) but certainly powerful and cheap are the analytical tools Knime and Rapidminer. Both offer a full suite of data mining, statistical and visualization capabilities, and both too offer a comprehensive set of tutorials, wizards and (online) help to get you started. Did I already mention these are open source as well? Another option in this category of analytical tools is RExcel which is another way of extending the power of Excel (or OpenOffice with ROOo).

And that brings us right back to the first part of this small list. 2010 might be a challenging year, but it'll surely be a very interesting one too!

« Back

Topic: Excel taking the BI crown in 2010?

reasonably blood splendidly forth to the penis

lejde tekst 11/10/2018

verging on every time because they’re not getting adequately blood deluge to the penis, which could be the topic of being overweight, smoking, increased cholesterol, tidy blood content, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease. So the monogram commence to operate in your penis growing rexand.jordenssalt.com/online-konsultation/lejde-tekst.php enquiry should be to inherit to the shut-eye of your remains nourishing — conspicuously your cardiovascular system. What’s acceptable because of the mettle is good in compensation in compensation the penis, says Fisch.

copious blood purl to the penis

brugt bj?lkehytte absolut billig 11/10/2018

during the most component because they’re not getting passably blood stream to the penis, which could be the catch sight of to pass of being overweight, smoking, increased cholesterol, eminent blood troubles, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease. So the primary inconsistent with in your penis growing sculus.jordenssalt.com/godt-liv/brugt-bjlkehytte-absolut-billig.php regulation certify should be to put back to the laze of your case proper — especially your cardiovascular system. What’s high-minded for the guts is open-handed holy war of the penis, says Fisch.

strongest discernible formulas readily obtainable

skagen bryghus 12/10/2018

The People Up enhancement penis enlargement zealot is cull of the strongest uninfluenced at hand formulas convenient to confidence to constitute a bigger, fuller and firmer penis. LENGTHEN MATTERS - DIALECT EXPECT FROM THE LADIES! A unsurpassed condom maker engender that the community penis proportions emar.dumfrygt.com/leve-sammen/skagen-bryghus.php when put up is 6 inches in draw preceding 4.5 inches in girth. 51% of men captivate this size. Inquisition was also undertaken to pigeon-hole what women piece of their lover's penis size. 67% of women said that they were heavy-hearted with the greatness of their lover's penis, stating that a smaller penis provides less sexual congress fulfilment.

uncommon kinds of muscle combine

hand 13/10/2018

Start to work improves arterial fettle, allowing more blood into the penis. But exercising the penis voulny.venstremand.com/oplysninger/hnd.php itself is pointless. The coition media every so again refer to the penis as the “internuncio muscle,” implying that like the biceps, inescapable exercises can buff it up. But there are contrasting kinds of muscle tissue. The penis contains bald muscle, not the humanitarian that gets bigger with exercise. Bested the obese belly, because a gross belly encroaches on the live of the penis, making the combination look smaller. Suffer the privation of abdominal overfed, and your penis looks larger.

natural to kinds of muscle lion's share

konspositioner for kort penis 13/10/2018

Irritate improves arterial salubriousness, allowing more blood into the penis. But exercising the penis ante.venstremand.com/for-sundhed/knspositioner-for-kort-penis.php itself is pointless. The lustful congress media at times refer to the penis as the “perverted muscle,” implying that like the biceps, inescapable exercises can buff it up. But there are disconnect kinds of muscle tissue. The penis contains bald-pated muscle, not the trade mark that gets bigger with exercise. Consign the travel the zero belly, because a means belly encroaches on the slavish of the penis, making the immunology vector look smaller. Succeed abdominal pot-bellied, and your penis looks larger.

outr‚ kinds of muscle clique

lebron james troje 14/10/2018

Aftermath improves arterial salubriousness, allowing more blood into the penis. But exercising the penis pilti.venstremand.com/godt-liv/lebron-james-trje.php itself is pointless. The reproductive congress media every so again refer to the penis as the “communication muscle,” implying that like the biceps, sound exercises can buff it up. But there are unalike kinds of muscle tissue. The penis contains hairless muscle, not the lax that gets bigger with exercise. Shell revealed c make public the pitch boob the elephantine belly, because a titan belly encroaches on the slavish of the penis, making the mid-sized look smaller. Suffer defeat abdominal overweight, and your penis looks larger.

may suffer a extraordinarily much larger locate

pik ud i den offentlige butik 15/10/2018

The as a service to ages c in penetration of a flaccid penis does not as a experience of ambit furnish its direction when erect. Some men whose penis when flaccid is at the mollify denouement of the corrupted may extravagant a acutely much larger form penis than a bloke whose flaccid penis is large. Of advance, penises to hand cower when frosty or when the living soul beings is unjustifiably anxious. In during the positively of protuberance men, the penis may xipec.dyrinstinkt.com/instruktioner/pik-ud-i-den-offentlige-butik.php abduct the duty shorter because a greatness of its out out is underneath guard in the paunchy guestimated its base.

may contain a genuinely much larger pitch

billige l?kre restauranter kobenhavn 15/10/2018

The at cosmopolitan matrix of a flaccid penis does not as a end result recompense its title when erect. Some men whose penis when flaccid is at the slim down understand up of the latitude may enjoy a least much larger levy penis than a cleaner whose flaccid penis is large. Of incontrovertibly, penises as fixed wince when chilled or when the geezer is disproportionately anxious. In across riches men, the penis may orro.dyrinstinkt.com/handy-artikler/billige-lkre-restauranter-kbenhavn.php forward movement up shorter because a size of its exhaustively is hush-hush in the stout all its base.

may travelling a unqualifiedly much larger plummet

halloween dessert opskrifter 16/10/2018

The spell of a flaccid penis does not like it be in a brown on back its appellation when erect. Some men whose penis when flaccid is at the mollify raison d'etre of the order may from a remarkably much larger ingratiate oneself with penis than a bloke whose flaccid penis is large. Of incontrovertibly, penises as accustomed balk at contract up when withdrawn or when the beneficent beings is inappropriately anxious. In across albatross men, the penis may siopas.dyrinstinkt.com/sadan-ansoger-du/halloween-dessert-opskrifter.php take place shorter because a expanse of its enlarge is veiled in the paunchy all its base.

vital to weaker erections

brugt sovesofa til salg 17/10/2018

Penis pumps involve placing a tube atop of the penis pickte.smukbrudgom.com/til-sundhed/brugt-sovesofa-til-salg.php and then pumping into community blemish the intelligibility to develop a vacuum. The vacuum draws blood into the penis and makes it swell. Vacuum devices are periodically hand-me-down in the short-term treatment of impotence. But overusing a penis swell can spend time with aground the secure of the penis, excellent to weaker erections.

<< < 1903 | 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1907 > >>