In This Issue:

IBIS 2007 Hits the Mark

Hot Solution: Version Manager for BusinessObjects and Crystal in Demand

New Scenario for BusinessObjects Solution Solves Customized Hierarchy Problems

Ask the Expert - Your Business Intelligence Questions Answered

Special Offers for August 2007

BusinessObjects and Crystal Reports Training Specials

Up and Coming Events

September 20:

See the Forest: Business Intelligence for Mid-Sized Organizations

October 3:

Memphis Area Business Objects User Group (MABOUG)

October 15 - 18:

Business Objects Insight Americas 2007

November 8:

Arizona Business Objects and Crystal User Group (AZBOCUG)

IBIS 2007 Hits the Mark

The comprehensive BusinessObjects and Crystal training was a hit! The advanced workshops were a hit! The peer-to-peer networking during meals and social events was a hit! The demonstrations of new BI solutions were a hit! The venue was a hit!

Without a doubt, IBIS 2007 was a series of big hits for the over 100 attendees who left Lake Las Vegas on August 1 with a lot more BusinessObjects and Crystal knowledge than when they arrived.

Paul Grill, President and CEO of InfoSol, opened the proceedings with a fascinating look at the current trends in Business Intelligence and some neat demonstrations of what will be coming in the next year.

Attendees then split out into one of seven workshop seminars, six of which were hands-on with a very effective learn-as-you-do approach.

During the breaks, lunches and evening events, attendees were able to see demonstrations of new BI solutions and talk with some of InfoSol’s Business Intelligence partners like Business Objects, Keyrus, Antivia and Data Mirror.

On the second day, Business Objects presented the key components of their Enterprise Integration Management suite.

The Ritz Carlton resort provided a luxurious venue, with stunning scenery and wonderfully hot weather, allowing attendees to relax each day after exercising their brains to the limit.

Next year’s IBIS will be announced in November giving you plenty of time to plan ahead.

What did you like best about IBIS 2007?

• The undocumented items that were covered in class. The round table discussion was very informative.
  
• The training was excellent! I can't wait to get back to the office and start building dashboards.
  
• The workshops, seminars and courses were valuable, lots of information to take away. The sessions were not fluff or marketing material.
  
• Everything – Shelly Bingham
  
• The quality of the training was terrific and the surroundings were lovely. It's a beautiful setting and this has been a great experience for my first IBIS! – Marji McClain
  
• Everything. The facilities, service and food was wonderful. Meeting people and exchanging tips and experiences in the evening was great. Training was excellent. – Cheri Cavender
  
• The timing of breaks and percentage of time allocated to training, breaks, demos was very comfortable. The setting is absolutely phenomenal. I should have booked some extra nights after the conference!!! The staff at the Ritz was great, food and service was all excellent. – Tamara Aldrich
  
• The classes. I have learned so much from attending the Crystal advanced courses. – Mandy Howe

Hot Solution: Version Manager for BusinessObjects and Crystal in Demand

As more customers move to XI R2, version control is a major concern both from the aspect of assisting in the migration itself and to implement better version management under the new release.

Version Manager was specifically designed for version control in BusinessObjects and natively supports version management and recovery for BusinessObjects, Web Intelligence, Crystal and Desktop Intelligence reports as well as Universes. Its easy-to-use interface for checking reports and universes in and out for modifications, visually comparing versions, and tracking lineage make it ideal for all BusinessObjects and Crystal environments. In addition, its tight integration with BusinessObjects allows you to utilize it seamlessly while creating or modifying universes or reports.

The powerful version compare feature provides easy color coding to differentiate between additions, deletions and modifications, and can also be used for comparing reports and universes from different releases making it ideal for validation testing when migrating to XI R2.

The best news of all is that for the remainder of 2007, InfoSol is offering dramatically discounted startup packages to allow customers to start using Version Manager now at a very affordable price. There are special Startup packages for both BusinessObjects users and Crystal users. InfoSol also offers free dedicated web casts and free 30-day trials of Version Manager so that you can try before you buy.

For more information on Version Manager and the special startup packages Click Here.

For a free Web Cast or Trial Click Here.

New Scenario for BusinessObjects Solution Solves Customized Hierarchy Problems

One of the most frustrating problems that many BusinessObjects users encounter is the need to modify reports to accurately reflect the way their business or institution is managed. While most data tends to be grouped in logical categories and hierarchies like regions, states, cities or products, brands, items there are nearly always exceptions in real world business. For example, a Regional Bank Manager may have responsibility for all the branches in California, except for San Francisco, which is handled by the Regional Bank Manager for Oregon. The BusinessObjects reports that summarize the total revenues for each Regional Manager allocate the revenues of the San Francisco branches to the California Manager, instead of the Oregon Manager, due to the logical set up of the hierarchy. What many customers do in these situations is to export the report into Excel and create their own customized derived reports.

With Scenario that is no longer necessary. Scenario allows a user to easily customize any hierarchy through a simple drag-and-drop action. In the above example, the user could just move San Francisco from California into Oregon and the report would instantly show the correct revenues for each Regional Bank Manager. This created scenario could then be saved and shared with other users to apply to other reports. The scenario does not change the underlying data so it would not affect other users or reports who may want to use the original hierarchy – maybe to look at revenues by State for example.

Scenario also enables you to easily look at different “what if?” situations: "What if we moved the Oakland branches under the Oregon Manager also – how would that effect his or her revenue?"

Scenario allows users to view reports the way they manage their business without requiring I.T. and database specialists to become involved in changing data structures and views (universes). It automatically creates an audit trail showing all the changes made for each scenario so changes can be easily tracked and managed.

With its information-centric approach, Scenario provides a lot of additional capability to the business end-user and drives BI back out to the users and away from I.T. which is where everyone wants it and where it belongs.

Scenario is available through InfoSol.

For more information on Scenario or for a free Web Cast or Trial Click Here.

Ask the Expert - Your Business Intelligence Questions Answered

BusinessObjects Q&A

QUESTION:
Using context, I can highlight the revenue amount relating to the highest grossing revenue year. Now that I have this, how do I know which year the revenue relates to?

ANSWER:
First create a query returning Year, State and Sales Revenue.

Click here to view full tech tip...

Crystal Reports Q&A

QUESTION:
I have a report that shows a group header and detail records. I only want to show the most recent 5 records, how can I suppress all the records after the first five?

ANSWER:
First, make sure that your data is sorted in such a way as to ensure that the data that you want to see will be the first 5 values displayed. Next, you will need to create two formulas.

Click here to view full tech tip...

Submit your questions to the InfoSol expert by e-mailing infosol@infosol.com. Also, check out our BusinessObjects and Crystal Reports technical tips by visiting our web site.

Special Offers for August 2007

BusinessObjects and Crystal Reports Training Specials

InfoSol is offering some special, last-minute discounts for the following BusinessObjects and Crystal Reports public training classes in Phoenix for the month of August.

Three Attendees for the Price of Two!

Send 3 people to the Universe Design course held at the InfoSol Training Center in Phoenix, Arizona, in the month of August and one person attends for free.

September 20, 2007

See the Forest: Business Intelligence for Mid-Sized Organizations

Join InfoSol for a Complimentary Breakfast at the InfoSol Seminar Center on September 20, 2007.
Details and Registration will be available on the InfoSol web site shortly.

October 3, 2007

Memphis Area Business Objects User Group (MABOUG)
Agenda and details will be available on the InfoSol web site when they become available.

October 15 - 18, 2007

Business Objects Insight Americas 2007 User Conference

Orange County Convention Center - October 15-18, 2007
Orlando, Florida
Click here for full details or to register.

InfoSol will be participating as a Silver Sponsor.

November 8, 2007

Arizona Business Objects and Crystal User Group (AZBOCUG)
Agenda and details will be provided when they become available.

InfoSol Inc.
1831 W. Rose Garden Lane, Suite 8
Phoenix, Arizona  85027
623.707.7600