Information Builders bolsters portable toolkit

Business intelligence (BI) software specialist Information Builders has today launched an upgraded version of its portable BI solution WebFocus Active Reports, featuring enhanced scalability, tighter integration with Microsoft productivity tools and an improved user interface.

Dave Armstrong, marketing manager at Information Builders, said the upgrades had been made in response to customer feedback in order to enhance the functionality of the toolkit.

Active Reports, which was launched late last year, allows mobile workers to download both business data and analytical functionality in a single file so that they can analyse the data through a BI interface while off line.

"Active Reports compresses a lot of data into a small file," said Armstrong. "You've got the interface in that file so people in the field who can’t get online, perhaps because they are in a plane, can still analyse data and feel as if they are connected."

He added that the new version features beefed up scalability so it can handle more lines of data and deliver analytical reports in three seconds as opposed to the 18 seconds it took using the previous version. The upgrade has also enhanced the user interface to include tool tips and make it possible to export charts and graphs produced in Active Reports into Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel and Word.