Information Builders works to enhance BI usability

BI specialist hopes that new search module will help non-technical users to make more use of BI reports

Business Intelligence (BI) software specialist Information Builders is tomorrow expected to make a series of announcements about its flagship WebFOCUS BI suite. At its annual user conference in Las Vegas, the company is set to unveil a range of enhancements to the suite that are designed to make it easier for users to exploit its reporting functionality.

Kevin Quinn, vice president of product marketing at Information Builders, said that WebFOCUS 7.6.1 will feature a range of new modules - including enhanced enterprise search capabilities, tighter integration with Microsoft Excel and a new real time alert engine - that will make BI reports and functionality more accessible to non-technical users.

Quinn added that the availability of Information Builders' new WebFOCUS Magnify search capability, in particular, will help non-technical business users to make more use of BI reports. "Integrating with enterprise search tools means that if a user searches for a customer they can then immediately get BI reports detailing that customer's behaviour and history," he explained. "It simplifies the way people interact with BI."

Similarly, Quinn argued that a new module called WebFOCUS Quick Data for Excel will allow users to build WebFOCUS reports from within the Excel environment, while an extension to the vendor's Active Reports product will extend support for BI functionality on mobile devices.

The vendor is also expected to announce tightened integration between WebFOCUS and the enterprise service bus product from its subsidiary iWay. Quinn said the move will offer firms an alert engine that will allow firms to set certain business or compliance rules and then automatically alert users to compliance breaches or other anomalous events.

"The integration with WebFOCUS means firms can automatically report on and highlight any compliance breaches as they happen," Quinn added.