Implementing%20Business%20Intelligence%20(BI)%20using%20the%20Adabas%20SQL%20Gateway

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Implementing Business Intelligence (BI) using
the Adabas SQL Gateway

• Patrick Gould
• Natural Conference 2006

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Why we need Business Intelligence?

• Business Intelligence enables organizations to
  make well informed business decisions and thus
  can be the source of competitive advantages
• The ultimate objective of business intelligence
  is to improve the timeliness and quality of
  information

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Why we need Business Intelligence?

• Business intelligence reveals to you
• The position of your firm as in comparison to its
  competitors
• Changes in customer behavior and spending
  patterns
• The capabilities of your firm
• Market conditions, future trends, demographic and
  economic information
• The social, regulatory, and political environment
  
• What the other firms in the market are doing
• You can then deduce from the information gathered
  what adjustments need to be made
• Businesses realize that in this very competitive,
  fast paced, and ever-changing business
  environment, a key competitive quantity is how
  quickly they respond and adapt to change

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Benefits of Business Intelligence

• BI provides many benefits to companies utilizing
  it. It can eliminate a lot of the guesswork
  within an organization, enhance communication
  among departments while coordinating activities,
  and enable companies to respond quickly to
  changes in financial conditions, customer
  preferences, and supply chain operations. BI
  improves the overall performance of the company
  using it

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Benefits of Business Intelligence

• Information is often regarded as the second most
  important resource a company has (a company's
  most valuable assets are its people)
• When a company can make decisions based on timely
  and accurate information, the company can improve
  its performance
• BI also expedites decision-making, as acting
  quickly and correctly on information before
  competing businesses do can often result in
  competitively superior performance
• It can also improve customer experience, allowing
  for the timely and appropriate response to
  customer problems and priorities

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Software AGs answer to helping with Business
Intelligence

• This Presentation and Demo session will highlight
  how the Adabas SQL Gateway (ACE) can help with
  integrating Adabas Data into Business
  Intelligence Tools
• Presentation will cover product overview,
  customer references and details on the personnel
  trial copy of the software
• Demo will cover all the options for integrating
  Adabas Data into your sites client toolsets with
  both Java and Microsoft IDEs, Query and Business
  Intelligence tools etc

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Adabas Openness InteroperabilityCustomer Pain
and Solutions

• CUSTOMER PAIN
• Have SQL-based applications that need to access
  data managed in Adabas
• Perception that Adabas systems are closed and
  proprietary but daunting cost, risk and time
  that would be involved in trying to replace these
  systems
• Heterogeneous application and DBMS landscape and
  integration projects are typically costly and
  time intensive
• Business analysts need access to Adabas using
  desktop applications
• SOLUTIONS
• Adabas SQL Gateway
• SQL Gateways for other DBMS

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Adabas Openness and InteroperabilityCore Value
Proposition

• ADVANTAGE
• Use industry standards
• Access by business analysts using desktop
  applications
• Developers do not need to know Adabas
• Direct access to Adabas data with minimal coding
  compared to complex integration strategies
• GAIN
• Increased Productivity
• Meet business demands more quickly and with lower
  cost
• Increase the return on years of investment in
  Adabas
• Count on the reliability, performance, ease of
  use and low TCO for Adabas well into the future
• Reduces burden on IT

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Why do we need ACE ?

• Provides SQL access to ADABAS
• Industry/ANSI standard SQL
• No new programming language for programmers to
  learn
• ACE translates SQL calls to ADABAS calls
• For example
• Can access ADABAS data directly from Microsoft
  EXCEL
• Use embedded SQL in a COBOL program

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Adabas SQL Gateway Architecture - ODBC/JDBC
Windows,Unix,LINUX
z/OS, VSE, Unix, LINUX, Win
O D B C
Adabas SQL Gateway Client
Adabas SQL Gateway Server
TCP/IP
Desktop Apps Crystal Reports, Business
Objects and access from ADO.NET and OLE DB
environments
Data Dictionary
(Windows)
JDBC Server
J D B C
Adabas Gateway Client
TCP/IP
Java Programs with embedded SQL statements
Data Dictionary
(Windows)
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Adabas SQL Gateway Sample Configuration
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Adabas SQL Gateway Implementation Options

• Direct access to Adabas data from client
  applications
• Use concept of virtual database like Microsoft
  Access to bring down specific data when needed
  and use virtual database as source to Business
  Intelligence
• Use together with Event Replicator for Adabas and
  allow direct access to replicated Adabas data
  from client applications

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Success Stories and Solution Scenarios
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Adabas SQL Gateway Sales Stories Washington
State University

• Business Problem Washington State University
  needed to enable newer systems written in ASP,
  JSP, VB, JAVA and C to issue SQL queries against
  Adabas data
• Product Adabas SQL Gateway
• Solution Implemented the Adabas SQL Gateway
  campus wide to support the following systems
  Student Prospect Tracking System, Housing
  Reservation, On-line Transcript Order,
  Registrar's Office
• Other Details
• Fully referenceable, happy customer since 1985
• Adabas SQL Gateway dislodged a competitor product
  which the customer was very unhappy with
• What closed the sale?
• Lower cost of ownership for SQL access to Adabas
• Lower resource utilization, increased performance

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Adabas SQL Gateway Sales Stories Baur Versand
GmbH and CO. KG

• Business Problem Bauer had several home-made
  systems for reporting and Ad-hoc query which were
  inflexible
• Product Adabas SQL Gateway
• Solution By replacing their in-house system with
  the Adabas SQL Gateway, Bauer realized the
  following benefits
• More flexible and faster access to critical
  business data on Adabas
• Standard SQL Access to Adabas via Business
  Intelligence tools
• No more individual programming efforts for
  reports and ad-hoc analysis
• More insight into business data and better
  analysis results
• Other details
• Fully referenceable customer

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Adabas SQL Gateway Sales Stories BP Marine Ltd.

• Business Problem Customers and agents had to
  undergo a laborious process to access data, such
  as oil sample analysis for cargo ships. The
  process involved IT running queries through
  Natural and then posting, scanning and fax/email
  to the intended recipient
• Products Adabas SQL Gateway, Natural
  Productivity Pack
• Solution
• The Adabas SQL Gateway allows reports to be
  created by end users using Business Objects of
  3rd party SQL apps in near real time
• Natural Reporter from NPP provides a means to
  automatically format and email the standard
  reports produced from the system
• Other details
• BP views the revitalized system as a springboard
  to providing a wider range of info services to
  customers

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Product Roadmap
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Adabas SQL Gateway v651

• General Availability Date April 13, 2006
• Platforms
• Server on
• z/OS, z/VSE, HP-UX, Solaris, AIX, Linux Intel
• Client on
• AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Linux (Intel)
• Internationalization
• Processing business data
• Support Adabas UES
• Unicode support for meta data
• Support Arabic (LamAlef)
• Supports DDL
• Create/drop table/column with Adabas 5.1 for Open
  Systems

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Adabas SQL Gateway v651

• Optimization
• Super-Descriptors in MU/PE
• End-of-query processing
• Adabas SQL Server (ESQ) Migration
• Data type Support LA, MU, subfield
• Information Schema
• Mainframe support 1. Step
• Embedded SQL
• Cobol pre-compiler on mainframe
• C pre-compiler on Unix, Linux
• Data Types
• Long-alpha fields
• W-fields

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Adabas SQL Gateway v652

• New Platform
• Support of Linux on zSeries (64-bit)
• It has the following base components, as per
  other server platforms supported by the Adabas
  SQL Gateway
• JDBC Server (32-bit)
• ODBC Client (unix ODBC)
• Embedded SQL
• ACEINT command line query tool
• Customers migrating applications to Adabas on on
  z/Linux will have easy access to Adabas data
  through standard SQL based applications

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Adabas SQL Gateway v652

• Performance Improvements
• Multiple Descriptor searches
• Usage of Multilple Descriptors, when descriptor
  columns are contained in a WHERE clause. The
  S1 command is now used. In previous versions
  it was an L3 command
• Benefit Faster and more efficient processing of
  SQL statements when the WHERE Clause is invoked
• Changes to record update command processing
• Improved processing of INSERT and UPDATE
  statements.
• SQL statements that add or update records will
  run faster
• Improved use of Adabas Direct calls

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Adabas SQL Gateway v661

• Target Release Date 4Q 2006
• Final step for ESQ Migration
• Next step of internationalization
• Large object support
• Enhanced metadata support (Predict)
• BS2000 native support
• SQL Optimization

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Adabas SQL Gateway - Demo

• Adabas SQL Gateway
• Demo using
• Microsoft Excel, JAVA, Crystal Reports, .NET,
• Infonaut, Adabas SQL Gateway Dictionary

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Key Takeaways Adabas SQL Gateway
Openness and interoperability with minimal
resource usage

• Why is it better?
• No knowledge of Adabas required by programmers
• Avoid costly and time-intensive integration
  projects
• Traditional mainframe class stability and
  service
• Simple installation and configuration
• Close integration with Adabas
• Whats in it for the customer?
• Increased productivity
• Keeps costs down
• Reduced training requirements
• Agility and open access

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New Developer Copy of theAdabas SQL Gateway
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Adabas SQL Gateway Developers Edition

• Why use the Adabas SQL Gateway Version 6.5.1
  Developer's Edition?
• See for yourself how easy it is to access Adabas
  Data?
• Easy to install with step by step installation
  and configuration manual
• Pick up a copy of the CD as you leave the session
• Thanks for listening and enjoy the rest of the
  conference

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