Actuate updates BI platform

Actuate 9 makes it easier for users to develop reports and reduces the burden on IT staff

Business intelligence (BI) software specialist Actuate will today (26 June) unveil a major update to its enterprise reporting application platform, adding new modules to make it easier for firms to develop and distribute reports.

The company said that Actuate 9 integrates tightly with the firm’s Birt 2.0 open-source reporting toolset and also boasts a new collaborative reporting architecture featuring three new modules to encourage co-operation between report developers and business end-users.

The new Actuate BusinessReports suite allows business analysts to craft their own ad hoc reports, while a new Interactive Viewing tool lets users modify or extend existing reports. Nobby Akiha, vice-president for marketing at Actuate, said the new functionality would reduce demands on the IT department by making it easier for end-users to "manipulate and extend reports… without having to go to anyone else to request changes are made".

Both the modules can be hosted on the new standards-based Actuate iPortal, which the company said would make it easier to quickly distribute reports and make it more cost-effective to provide reporting functionality to small workgroups.

Jeff Morris, director of product marketing at the company, said that the new platform would be available in the third quarter of this year and would make it easier for firms to ensure reports are relevant to the business.

"The collaborative reporting architecture allows end-users to participate during the report generation process," Morris added. "Where you don't have that collaboration the decisions about the report end up with the technical team. But with these products the graphic designer and the business managers get to have input as the report is being formed, meaning confusion over requirements are eradicated and reports are generated faster."