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OVERVIEW |
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1.
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Is
Speedminer able to provide improved access of data from many
databases within the organization?
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2.
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Is
it able to retrieve data that is required?
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3.
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Does
it allow more time to analyze and act on data than spending
time on compiling data from disparate systems?
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4.
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Is
it able to quickly answer a series of questions, based on
the answer to the previous answer?
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5.
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Does
it support reduction in paper reporting and administration?
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6.
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Does
it support general financial analysis for the organization
easily?
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7.
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Is
minimal amount of administrative labor needed to maintain
the Data Warehouse?
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8.
|
Does
it support both strategic and tactical or 'active' decision
support?
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9.
|
Does
it provide a single enterprise view of business to allow previously
hidden insights to emerge, enabling consistent decision making
across the enterprise?
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10.
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Does
it serve as a historical store of strategic information, with
the history relating to either the data or its relationships?
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ETL |
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11.
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Is
it able to interface to popular databases and text files
for loading of data?
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12.
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Does
it support multiple ETL servers to allow load sharing and
all data will be consolidated to a centralized data warehouse
(OLAP database) server?
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13.
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Does
it support less time spent on data reconciliation and problem
resolution?
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14.
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Is
it able to perform fast ETL especially on loading Text File
(Please indicate the performance of loading 1 million records
from Text File, each record at 1 kb and indicate the hardware
including RAM, processor speed and hard disk specs)?
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15.
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Is
it able to support incremental delta load using Ascending
Index and Custom Log and Full Log methods?
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16.
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Does
it support pre and post ETL cleansing?
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17.
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Is
it able to support real time or near real time Data Warehouse?
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18.
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Will
user be able to use the Data Warehouse system while ETL job
is in process?
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19.
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Does
it have automatic support of Slowly Changing Dimension without
any coding?
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20.
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Does
it support auto consolidation of multiple sites of same database
structure into a single consolidated structure without coding?
|
|
21.
|
Does
it provide characteristic calls for a modeling technique that
easily supports incorporation of history?
|
|
22.
|
Does
it provide characteristic calls for a modeling technique that
support subject-orientation and provide the flexibility to
integrate data from additional sources over time.
|
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23.
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Does
it serve as the source of information that is subsequently
delivered to the data marts? The data marts in question may
be used for exploration, data mining, managed queries or online
analytical processing
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OLAP |
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24.
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Is
the data warehouse CUBE based?
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25.
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Explain
the structure of data storage.
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26.
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Does
Speedminer need to build and maintain FACT tables and DIMENSION
tables?
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27.
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Is
Speedminer an OLAP client?
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28.
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What
is the performance for storing 1,000,000 records of 200 kb
each (total of about 200 MB) on a normal Pentium IV PC with
EIDE hard disk?
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29.
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Is
the OLAP database able to scale up to Penta Byte (1024 Giga
Bytes) of data?
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30.
|
Is
it able to support multi-tier architecture where a centralized
database is connected to multiple business servers, and the
client will only be connected to business server and not database
server directly?
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31.
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Is
it able to support distributed database where the OLAP database
is broken into multiple smaller database distributed between
multiple OLAP database servers for load balancing purpose.
The distributed databases are mapped to each other to form
the complete OLAP database.
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32.
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Is
it able to provide data retrieval facility whereby this function
can identify and obtain only the changed date to be transferred
from operational systems to the OLAP database?
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33.
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Able
to support real time data warehouse update.
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34.
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Easily
accommodates changes to the business rules that includes new
data elements, shifts in hierarchical relationships or changes
to relationships.
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BUSINESS
TERMINOLOGY SETUP |
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35.
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Able
to support Snowflakes, and Many-to-Many data relationship. |
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36.
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Does
it skip missing levels (support ragged dimensions)?
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MULTIDIMENSIONAL
VIEWING/DETAIL LISTING |
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37.
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Is
it able to perform "Slice and Dice" data? This shall
include the capability to quickly and easily view data along
multiple dimensions.
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38.
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Is
it able to "Drill Down", which allows the user to
view greater levels of detail? The user should also able to
navigate from summary level to detail that makes up the summary
level.
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39.
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From
detail level, is it able to traverse to related records, to
traverse to parent record, or to list the entire child records
according to the operation data architecture?
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40.
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Is
it able to support export of charts to vector graphics like
SVG?
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41.
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Is
it able to print all charts with the option to save to clipboard
or to file in various windows format including BMP and direct
the chart to printer?
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42.
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Is
it able to support pictures and attach pictures to records?
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ANALYZER/CHARTING/QUERY |
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43.
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Is
it able to support exception data highlighting, aggregate
function customization, zero suppression for row and/or column,
null replacement, charts formatting etc?
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44.
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Is
it able to produce various chart type including bar chart,
Gantt chart, line chart, pie chart, Area chart, curve chart,
cube chart?
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45.
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Does
it have web interface for analysis and reports?
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46.
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Is
it able to cater for the formatting of currencies, number,
and various date format (long date, medium date, detail date,
short date format)?
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47.
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Is
it able to support Top/Bottom records based on any measure
and provide option to group remainder records into "Others"
category?
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48.
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Is
it able to provide Grand Total, Overall Average and many more
Statistical Functions for columns and rows?
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49.
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Does
it support analytical functionalities, bubble-up exceptions,
ranking, sorting, restriction result by data range, drag and
drop, attach note cells?
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50.
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Does
it allow users to define temporary measures and computation
for a particular report or analysis and will the result of
the calculation be performed upon execution?
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51.
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Is
it able to apply resolution of rounding differences?
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52.
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Is
it able to merge analysis from different subject area?
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53.
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Does
it have the capability to save commonly used queries for quick
retrieval and execution?
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54.
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Is
it able to toggle between charts and cross tabs easily?
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55.
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Does
it allow single row, single column or multi-dimensional data
charting?
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56.
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Is
it able to support Outcomes Analysis, Cross Selling Analysis,
Time Series Analysis, Trend Analysis etc.?
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57.
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Is
it able to support user defined formula for calculation?
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58.
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Is
it able to perform forecasting using moving average, trend
adjusted exponential smoothing and custom written algorithm?
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59.
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Is
it able to perform statistical calculations like variance,
standard deviation, percentage etc?
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60.
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Is
it able to perform summary functions like sum, average, minimum,
maximum, count, etc.?
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61.
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Is
it able to extend the summary and statistical calculations
with custom written mathematical functions?
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62.
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Is
the formula able to incorporate 'if-else' logic to produce
results based on conditions and allow the establishment of
conditions to determine when a formula will be applied and
will the store and share formula be able to incorporate 'for-loop'
logic to facilitate repetition operation?
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63.
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Is
it able to provide support for ad-hoc queries and reports
with average of not more than 2 seconds response time
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64.
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Is
it able to support VB scripting.
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65.
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Is
it able to return text? (e.g. if value above 90 returns as
'excellent').
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66.
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Include
impact analysis-objects impacted by change?
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OFFICE
AUTOMATION SUPPORT |
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67.
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Is
it able to transfer all query results and detail listing into
a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, with the support of template
and the option to export (or not to export) the column header?
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68.
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Is
it able to export the report to PDF with support of chart
and pictures?
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69.
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Is
it able to export query results and detail listing to MS Word?
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70.
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Does
it interface to generate E-Mail?
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WORKFLOW |
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71.
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Is
it able to support slide presentation showing OLAP analysis
and reports dynamically.
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SCHEDULER |
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72.
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Schedule
process can run overnight?
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DIMENSIONS
AND MEASURES |
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73.
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Is
it able to define various time dimensions to store data based
on units of time frame - year, quarter, year-quarter, month,
year-month (period), week count, days of week, and day.
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74.
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Is
it able to create views ("Abstract Dimension") from
query and able to mix and use view with dimension in queries?
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75.
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Is
it able to group numeric and date/time items into range (e.g.
'below 1000', '1000 to 2000' with the option to include or
exclude the boundary values.
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76.
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Is
it able to setup dimension like YTD (year to date), MTD (month
to date) based on another time/date dimension and when analysed
with such dimension only records that fall into YTD or MTD
will be listed?
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77.
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Is
it able to arbitrary time span (e.g. date brackets like 30
days, 60-90 days, 1 to 2 years) dimension?
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78.
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How
is the performance of query on date bracket dimensions (arbitrary
time span) as compared to query on normal dimension?
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ENTERPRISE
REPORTER |
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79.
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Does
Enterprise Reporter support analysis reports (BI reports)
as well as normal reports (listing)?
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80.
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Is
it able to provide a common shared repository whereby users
can access the shared repository for reports and queries at
anywhere, anytime?
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81.
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Is
it able to provide reporting in a variety of flexible formats
like MS Excel, MS Word, delimitered text file, PDF, and HTML?
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82.
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Is
it able to support export reports to vector graphics like
SVG?
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83.
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Is
it able to support export reports to XML format?
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84.
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Is
it able to save reports and queries at any point in time?
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85.
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Is
it able to support mix Multi-dimensional Queries and Standard
SQL in a single report of analysis?
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86.
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Portal
generation that includes HTML report?
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Provide
details of data models and interfaces that can be used for
external reporting and warehousing of data.
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88.
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Describe
the tools/methods used for persistently storing reporting
data.
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89.
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Describe
the tools/methods used to allow external reporting/analysis
tools (e.g. Crystal Reports) to access reporting data.
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90.
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Describe
the tools/methods used to access real time reporting data.
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SEARCH
ENGINE AND EXTENDED DATA CAPTURING |
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91.
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Is
it able to create custom form to search for information in
Operation Data Store (ODS) using Dimension as filter?
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92.
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Is
it able to create custom form to capture extended data not
available from the data source?
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93.
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Does
it allow report authors to intuitively incorporate several
sub-reports within a main report?
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DASHBOARD
/ VISUALIZER |
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94.
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Is
it able to support dashboard, and support frame (HTML frame
like) to show dashboard within another dashboard?
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95.
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Is
it able to support Speedometer, pie, bar and many other chart
types, images and pictures, many other common windows web-based
components like list box, text box, radio buttons etc?
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96.
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Is
it able to show reports and analysis of results on the dashboard
and allow drill down of the report?
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97.
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Is
it able to display Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the
form of text, speedometer, as well as images according to
the performance level?
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98.
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Does
it allow display of Hyperlinks to web sites or windows files
on dashboard?
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INTELLIGENCE
ALERT AND SCORECARD |
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99.
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Is
it able to automatically and intelligently create alerts to
user based on KPI threshold value?
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100.
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Is
it able to setup Key Performance Indicator as well as color,
font, alignment and image representation for different value
ranges?
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101.
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Does
it support drill down of KPI into the lower components (e.g.
From Country Sales down to State Performance to identify the
major contribution of the performance), even down to the detail
transaction records level?
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102.
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Is
it able to support Balance Scorecard with integration to Dashboards?
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SECURITY
AND TRANSLATION |
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103.
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Does
it support multilevel security for restricted data access?
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104.
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Is
it able to control user access security down to record level
(which record is accessible) and field level?
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105.
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Is
it able to create a subset of data for the access of different
user group?
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106.
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Is
there security and restriction on detail listing record to
be displayed for user group access?
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107.
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Does
the Dashboard show only objects accessible by the user, and
hide other objects that require higher access level than that,
which is assigned to the user?
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108.
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Will
the user be given access right to delete/create/modify objects
stored in folders, which include dashboards, KPIs, and reports?
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109.
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Is
it able to support Translation and Unicode (e.g. Bahasa Malaysia/French
/Thai /Arabic version etc.)?
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110.
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Does
it support password scans by company, by department/division,
menu, function (e.g. view, add, change, delete) by dimension,
by level and by cell?
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111.
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Is
it able to organize reports under folders, and able to attach
security to folders?
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USER
FRIENDLINESS |
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112.
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What
is the Front-end tool -Is it User friendly?
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TRAINING |
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113.
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Is
it simple, initiative interface with minimal training to effectively
utilize the system?
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SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS |
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114.
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What
is the infrastructure that is required to install the tool,
i.e. hardware requirements, OS versions and upgrade compatibility?
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115.
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What
is the capability of handling real time data? If the tool
is capable of handling real time, specify the volume and the
technology used to handle real time, i.e. bi-indexing.
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DEVELOPMENT
TOOLS |
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116.
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What
are the development tools used to build application?
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SMS |
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117.
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Can the
system support SMS?
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OTHERS |
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118.
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Is
Speedminer API enabled, web based for the entire application,
support .NET web services and JAVA web services?
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119.
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Does
the system support document management, web mail and BLOG?
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120.
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Can
the result of analysis be placed on the map according to location?
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121.
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Can
the system support creation of Venn diagram from queries?
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ANSOWERS |
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1.
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Is
Speedminer able to provide improved access of data from
many databases within the organization?
Yes, Speedminer consolidates information from various data
source, various platform and format to form the Operation
Data Store (ODS). ODS represent the single version of truth
for the entire organization and all reports and analysis
can be easily retrieved from here using very user friendly
tools like Speed Analyzer and Speed Visualizer.
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2.
|
Is
it able to retrieve data that is required?
Yes, unlike traditional
reporting where IT department has to provide data to managers,
and managers will be restricted to the information given to
make a day to day decision, Speedminer gives managers an easy
way to retrieve the data they need/want, and display it in
whatever format desired.
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3.
|
Does
it allow more time to analyze and act on data than spending
time on compiling data from disparate systems?
Yes, the most complex and
tedious work of integration will be handled by Speedminer
to produce the Operation Data Store (ODS) and users will not
need to worry about the accuracy of the data, or how to integrate
the information, instead they can go ahead to analyze the
information.
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4.
|
Is
it able to quickly answer a series of questions, based on
the answer to the previous answer?
Yes, Speedminer has the
most complete Drill Down range of option from common drill
down to drill component and drill report, which is only available
in Speedminer. All these options will allow users to get answers
quicker, easier and accurately from the system.
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5.
|
Does
it support reduction in paper reporting and administration?
Yes, traditional reporting
emphasizes printing on paper and further queries by the user
may end up in the generation of additional reports and printing.
Speedminer allows ad-hoc query and generation of reports on
the fly, and allows saving of report when it satisfies the
requirement. Reports can be viewed on-line and shared with
other user group within the organization, thus reducing paper
reporting and administration.
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|
6.
|
Does
it support general financial analysis for the organization
easily?
Yes, Speedminer comes with
many analysis including forecasting, calculation of mean,
medium, variance, and many statistical functions.
|
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7.
|
Is
minimal amount of administrative labor needed to maintain
the Data Warehouse?
Yes, Speedminer allows administrator
to manage the Data Warehouse from anywhere, anytime. However,
most Speedminer sites show that it requires minimum maintenance
from the users.
|
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8.
|
Does
it support both strategic and tactical or 'active' decision
support?
Yes, Speedminer supports
strategic analysis as well as tactical analysis
|
|
9.
|
Does
it provide a single enterprise view of business to allow previously
hidden insights to emerge, enabling consistent decision making
across the enterprise.
Yes, Speedminer consolidates
various data sources to form an Enterprise Database (ODS),
which provide a single enterprise view (single version of
truth) of the business to easily and quickly identify previously
hidden insights. As all are using same data source (ODS) and
with centralized computation and formulas, it will be a consistent
decision making across the enterprise.
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10.
|
Does
it serve as a historical store of strategic information, with
the history relating to either the data or its relationships?
Yes, Speedminer not only
serves as a historical store for information, users can also
create inquiry screen to quickly search for historical records/information.
Speedminer can also be used as a search engine for current
and historical record/information.
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|
11.
|
Is
it able to interface to popular databases and text files for
loading of data?
Yes, it supports all databases via ODBC (all popular databases
will have ODBC connectivity) and text file.
|
|
12.
|
Does
it support multiple ETL servers to allow load sharing and
all data will be consolidated to a centralized data warehouse
(OLAP database) server?
Yes, Speedminer supports multiple ETL servers and the loaded
data will be written directly to the centralized OLAP server.
|
|
13.
|
Does
it support less time spent on data reconciliation and problem
resolution?
Speedminer ETL cleansing rules allows system to automatically
report on problem area, thus making data reconciliation simple
to fix. As the cleansing rules can be saved into the system,
subsequent loading of data automatically fixes the problem
without needing manual intervention.
|
|
14.
|
Is
it able to perform fast ETL especially on loading Text File
(Please indicate the performance of loading 1 million records
from Text File, each record at 1 kb and indicate the hardware
including RAM, processor speed and hard disk specs)?
On Pentium Xeon dual processors, 4 GIG RAM, 15K rpm hard disk,
loading of 1 million records will be completed below 100 seconds.
|
|
15.
|
Is
it able to support incremental delta load using Ascending
Index and Custom Log and Full Log methods?
Speedminer supports all these delta load mechanism. In fact,
if new application development is done on Object database
platform, Speedminer can be updated real time with 0 second
lag via Inheritance mechanism (Speedminer is the only Data
Warehouse to support Inheritance)
|
|
16.
|
Does
it support pre and post ETL cleansing?
The post ETL cleansing can be performed at Business Terminology
Setup and it shows a report analysis to compare all data before
after cleansing.
|
|
17.
|
Is
it able to support real time or near real time Data Warehouse?
With the delta load, the data warehouse can be updated concurrently
with the load and thus achieve real time or near real time
data warehouse.
|
|
18.
|
Will
user be able to use the Data Warehouse system while ETL
job is in process?
As records are inserted or updated, each refresh may update
with latest available data.
|
|
19.
|
Does
it have automatic support of Slowly Changing Dimension without
any coding?
Yes, Slowly Changing Dimension is supported as a standard
feature in Speed ETL. No coding is required for SCD by date,
date/time and by version.
|
|
20.
|
Does
it support auto consolidation of multiple sites of same database
structure into a single consolidated structure without coding?
Yes, customer can setup many multi-sites to consolidate tables
of different database/platform into a single class. Additional
keys will be created automatically to identify the source
of data (Site ID).
|
|
21.
|
Does
it provide characteristic calls for a modeling technique that
easily supports incorporation of history?
Yes, Speedminer provides multi-sites, multi-databases, which
easily enables incorporation of historical data with current
data.
|
|
22.
|
Does
it provide characteristic calls for a modeling technique that
support subject-orientation and provide the flexibility to
integrate data from additional sources over time.
Yes, Speed ETL provides wizard for easy loading of data source
anytime (even additional sources over time), the integration
is easy and can be done anytime by drag and drop.
|
|
23.
|
Does
it serve as the source of information that is subsequently
delivered to the data marts? The data marts in question may
be used for exploration, data mining, managed queries or online
analytical processing
Yes, Speedminer ETL creates the Operation Data Source (ODS),
which will serve as the source information for all data marts/subject
areas.
|
|
24.
|
Is
the data warehouse CUBE based?
No. Speedminer is not CUBE
based, thus it performs very much faster than CUBE based ROLAP
solution. CUBE-less architecture also enables easier
implementation and simple maintenance.
|
|
25.
|
Explain
the structure of data storage.
Speedminer does not store
data in cube. This is because the database technology behind
Speedminer - Caché is already an object and multi-dimensional
architecture database, thus eliminating the need to build
cube (Cachè makes 2-Dimensional RDBMS look multi-dimensional
- Cube).
When ETL moves the data to OLAP database, though the table
architecture and ODBC tools seem similar to the normal RDBMS
database, in actuality, the data is already in multi-dimensional
structure. With our multi-dimensional indexing, bitmap indexing
processing, index compression technology and our special processing
for OLAP query, the statistics can be obtained in split second.
Since there is no need to build cube, the setup becomes extremely
easy and user friendly. Users will see OLAP database in the
same architecture and same table relationship, in fact even
fields and every other part will be identical as their operation
database. User would just need to select the fields required
for analysis.
|
|
26.
|
Does
Speedminer need to build and maintain FACT tables and DIMENSION
tables?
No. Speedminer does not
require building of FACT tables and DIMENSION tables. Users
just need to click and mark the fields to be used for analysis.
|
|
27.
|
Is
Speedminer an OLAP client?
Speedminer uses a combination
of OLAP, Object OLAP, HOLAP and ROLAP.
|
|
28.
|
What
is the performance for storing 1,000,000 records of 200 kb
each (total of about 200 MB) on a normal Pentium IV PC with
EIDE hard disk?
Below 100 seconds.
|
|
29.
|
Is
the OLAP database able to scale up to Penta Byte (1024 Giga
Bytes) of data?
Yes, Speedminer is able
to support up to penta bytes of data. Selayang Hospital
which has source data of more than 380 GB, loaded into Speedminer
server with the specifications of Pentium Xeon 3.0 Dual
Processors, 2 GB RAM, 10K rpm 850 GB Hard disk.
|
|
30.
|
Is
it able to support multi-tier architecture where a centralized
database is connected to multiple business servers, and the
client will only be connected to business server and not database
server directly.
Speedminer supports true
multi-tiers as per described.
|
|
31.
|
Is
it able to support distributed database where the OLAP database
is broken into multiple smaller database distributed between
multiple OLAP database servers for load balancing purpose.
The distributed databases are mapped to each other to form
the complete OLAP database.
Speedminer supports distributed
database across multiple servers and mapping between the databases.
|
|
32.
|
Is
it able to provide data retrieval facility whereby this function
can identify and obtain only the changed date to be transferred
from operational systems to the OLAP database?
Speedminer makes use of
the filter operator based on source columns that allow the
identification of changes, i.e., to reduce the selection.
The source has to keep track of data changes (e.g. through
a date-updated column in the table).
|
|
33.
|
Able
to support real time data warehouse update.
Yes. Speedminer supports
real time data warehouse update.
|
|
34.
|
Easily
accommodates changes to the business rules that includes new
data elements, shifts in hierarchical relationships or changes
to relationships.
Speedminer is the only data
warehouse that performs fast even with OLTP architecture.
Most data warehouse will require design of OLAP, which is
different from OLTP.
As the architecture changes in the data source, Speedminer
provides "modify structure" to load the new structure
and allows user to click to include new fields, remove fields
or define new key or define new relationship. All these can
be done with minimal impact on the data warehouse setup previously
done.
|
|
35.
|
Able
to support Snowflakes, and Many-to-Many data relationship.
Yes
|
|
36.
|
Does
it skip missing levels (support ragged dimensions)?
Yes
|
|
37.
|
Is
it able to perform "Slice and Dice" data? This shall
include the capability to quickly and easily view data along
multiple dimensions.
Yes. Speedminer allows "Slicing
and Dicing" of data, and easy view of data of multiple
dimensions.
|
|
38.
|
Is it able to "Drill Down", which allow the user
to view greater levels of detail? The user should also able
to navigate from summary level to detail that makes up the
summary level.
Yes, Speedminer supports
drill down and drill through to detail level. The user will
also be able to navigate form summary level to detail that
make up the summary level.
|
|
39.
|
From
detail level, is it able to traverse to related records, to
traverse to parent record, or to list the entire child records
according to the operation data architecture?
Speedminer supports traversing
of data between records according to the setup in the Business
Terminology Setup.
|
|
40.
|
Is
it able to support export of charts to vector graphics like
SVG?
All charts and Speedometers
in Speedminer are designed in SVG and can be saved and edited
using any SVG tools like Adobe Illustrator 10.
|
|
41.
|
Is
it able to print all charts with the option to save to clipboard
or to file in various windows format including BMP and direct
the chart to printer?
Yes, it enables charts to
be saved to clipboard or file as BMP, Windows Meta Files or
Enhanced Meta File formats. There is also option available
for direct printing to printer.
|
|
42.
|
Is
it able to support pictures and attach pictures to records?
Yes, Speedminer supports
pictures on record level.
|
|
43.
|
Is
it able to support exception data highlighting, aggregate
function customization, zero suppression for row and/or column,
null replacement, charts formatting etc?
Yes, using font/colors or
bitmap replacement, exception data can be highlighted. Aggregate
function can be customized using VB script or Object Script.
Zero suppression, null replacement and chart formatting are
all supported
|
|
44.
|
Is
it able to produce various chart type including bar chart,
Gantt chart, line chart, pie chart, Area chart, curve chart,
cube chart?
Yes, Speedminer supports
Bar Chart, Line Chart, Curve Chart, Area Chart, Scatter Chart,
Gantt Chart, Cube Chart, Coordinate Chart, Pie Chart, Doughnut
Chart, Open High-Low, High-Low Close and Pyramids.
|
|
45.
|
Does
it have web interface for analysis and reports?
Yes, Speedminer comes in
complete web version for all modules including the analysis
and reporting.
|
|
46.
|
Is
it able to cater for the formatting of currencies, number,
and various date format (long date, medium date, detail date,
short date format)?
Yes, Speedminer supports
format of currency, numeric, string, time, and various date
format (long date, medium date, detail date, short date format).
|
|
47.
|
Is
it able to support Top/Bottom records based on any measure
and provide option to group remainder records into "Others"
category?
Ranking option including
specifying which column information (any measure) to rank
by, total rows to display and grouping of "others".
|
|
48.
|
Is
it able to provide Grand Total, Overall Average and many more
Statistical Functions for columns and rows?
Speedminer supports statistical
functions like Grand Total, Average, Median, Percentage, Standard
Deviation, G-Test, Pearson's Chi Square (Likelihood Test)
and many other functions.
|
|
49.
|
Does
it support analytical functionalities, bubble-up exceptions,
ranking, sorting, restriction result by data range, drag and
drop, attach note cells?
Yes, ranking can be performed
on any specified column. Sorting can be done by simply clicking
on the row header for ascending or descending order on any
column.
|
|
50.
|
Does
it allow users to define temporary measures and computation
for a particular report or analysis and will the result of
the calculation be performed upon execution?
Yes, users can create/delete/edit
any measure or computation for a report or analysis and such
temporary measure/computation will not be shared between reports
or users.
|
|
51.
|
Is
it able to apply resolution of rounding differences?
Yes, Speedminer allows you
to specify a desired decimal precision. Rounding can be truncate
or round to nearest decimal specified.
.
|
|
52.
|
Is
it able to merge analysis from different subject area?
Yes, Speedminer Analyzer
supports Column Link and Union Report, which allows many analysis
from any subject area to be merged by column or by row.
|
|
53.
|
Does
it have the capability to save commonly used queries for quick
retrieval and execution?
Yes, Speedminer Compound
Members allow any query be saved and be given a name for future
quick retrieval and execution (similar to View, but run at
extremely fast performance). Compound members can be used
in other queries that in turn be saved as another Compound
Member.
|
|
54.
|
Is
it able to toggle between charts and cross tabs easily?
Yes, toggle for chart and
cross tab can be done through a single mouse click on the
toggle button.
|
|
55.
|
Does
it allow single row, single column or multi-dimensional data
charting?
Yes, Speedminer supports
Row or Column charting, or charting on the entire cross tab
(multi-dimensional). User can even choose to hide columns
not to be shown in chart.
|
|
56.
|
Is
it able to support Outcomes Analysis, Cross Selling Analysis,
Time Series Analysis, Trend Analysis etc.?
Yes, all these analysis
are supported.
|
|
57.
|
Is
it able to support user defined formula for calculation?
Yes, user defined formula can be programmed using VB script
or Object Script and can be easily attached to the system.
|
|
58.
|
Is
it able to perform forecasting using moving average, trend
adjusted exponential smoothing and custom written algorithm?
Yes, Speedminer supports
moving average, exponential smoothing as well as trend adjusted
exponential smoothing. Custom algorithm can be written using
VB script or Object script.
|
|
59.
|
Is
it able to perform statistical calculations like variance,
standard deviation, percentage etc?
Yes, all these statistical
calculations are supported.
|
|
60.
|
Is
it able to perform summary functions like sum, average, minimum,
maximum, count, etc.?
Yes, all these summary functions
are supported.
|
|
61.
|
Is
it able to extend the summary and statistical calculations
with custom written mathematical functions?
Yes, custom mathematical functions can be written in VB
script or Object script and easily be integrated to the system.
|
|
62.
|
Is
the formula able to incorporate 'if-else' logic to produce
results based on conditions and allow the establishment
of conditions to determine when a formula will be applied
and will the store and share formula be able to incorporate
'for-loop' logic to facilitate repetition operation?
Yes, 'If-else', 'for-loop','do-while' and many other
complex programming logic can be incorporated in places
where formula is supported.
|
|
63.
|
Is
it able to provide support for ad-hoc queries and reports
with average of not more than 2 seconds response time
Yes, Speedminer supports
ad-hoc queries and reports and more than 80% of responds being
less than 2 seconds.
|
|
64.
|
Is
it able to support VB scripting.
Speedminer support SQL,
VB scripts as well as Object script.
|
|
65.
|
Is
it able to return text? (e.g. if value above 90 returns as
'excellent').
Yes.
|
|
66.
|
Include
impact analysis-objects impacted by change?
Yes.
|
|
67.
|
Is
it able to transfer all query results and detail listing into
a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, with the support of template
and the option to export (or not to export) the column header?
Yes, all query results and
detail listing can be exported to MS Excel with or without
column header. Windows version of Speedminer supports template
for MS excels. It is also able to transfer data to report
writer, pivot table, HTML, PDF, Power Point and XML.
|
|
68.
|
Is
it able to export the report to PDF with support of chart
and pictures?
Yes, Speedminer supports
the design of report with the option to include chart and
picture, and the report can be exported to PDF format.
|
|
69.
|
Is
it able to export query results and detail listing to MS Word?
Yes, Speedminer supports
export to MS Word document.
|
|
70.
|
Does
it interface to generate E-Mail?
Yes, Speedminer Detail Listing
can be exported to e-mail directly. Speedminer also has web
based e-mail modules, allowing all users to use Speedminer
as their web based e-mail solution even for external e-mail.
Performance notification via e-mail is also supported.
|
|
71.
|
Is
it able to support slide presentation showing OLAP analysis
and reports dynamically.
Yes, Speed Workflow supports
slides presentation using dynamically refreshed dashboards.
|
|
72.
|
Schedule
process can run overnight?
Yes.
|
|
73.
|
Is
it able to define various time dimensions to store data based
on units of time frame - year, quarter, year-quarter, month,
year-month (period), week count, days of week, and day.
Yes, all date fields will
automatically be stored in units of year, quarter, year-quarter,
month, period (year-month), week number (week count), days
of week and day. Time dimension will be grouped into hours
e.g. 01:00-02:00.
|
|
74.
|
Is
it able to create views ("Abstract Dimension") from
query and able to mix and use view with dimension in queries?
Yes, Speedminer supports
creation of compound members, which serves as views or abstract
dimension. Compound members can be mixed in queries.
|
|
75.
|
Is
it able to group numeric and date/time items into range (e.g.
'below 1000', '1000 to 2000' with the option to include or
exclude the boundary values.
Yes, Speedminer supports
Ranges, which may specify if the boundary value is included.
|
|
76.
|
Is
it able to setup dimension like YTD (year to date), MTD (month
to date) based on another time/date dimension and when analysed
with such dimension only records that fall into YTD or MTD
will be listed?
Yes, Speedminer supports
Compound Members (dynamic dimension), which may include variables
like today, this minute, or current week/month/quarter to
facilitate YTD, MTD and other dynamic dimension.
|
|
77.
|
Is
it able to arbitrary time span (e.g. date brackets like 30
days, 60-90 days, 1 to 2 years) dimension?
Yes, Speedminer support
arbitrary time span via Compound Members and variables.
|
|
78.
|
How
is the performance of query on date bracket dimensions (arbitrary
time span) as compared to query on normal dimension?
Same performance. As Speedminer
uses dynamic calculation and not summary, the performance
is consistent. This type of query will generally return almost
immediately
|
|
79.
|
Does
Enterprise Reporter support analysis reports (BI reports)
as well as normal reports (listing)?
Yes, Speed Enterprise Reporter
supports reports on cross tab (BI reports), as well as reports
linking to tables in Operation Data Store or external databases.
|
|
80.
|
Is
it able to provide a common shared repository whereby users
can access the shared repository for reports and queries at
anywhere, anytime?
Yes, reports/queries can
be stored in centralized repository and shared.
|
|
81.
|
Is
it able to provide reporting in a variety of flexible formats
like MS Excel, MS Word, delimitered text file, PDF, and HTML?
Yes, Speedminer is able
to export reports/cross tab in MS Excel, MS Word, PDF, delimitered
text file, HTML and XSL-FO (XML print format).
|
|
82.
|
Is
it able to support export reports to vector graphics like
SVG?
Yes, all charts and speedometer
can be exported to SVG format.
|
|
83.
|
Is
it able to support export reports to XML format?
Yes, all reports can be
exported to PDF or XSL-FO, which is XML standard for printing
document.
|
|
84.
|
Is
it able to save reports and queries at any point in time?
Yes, Speedminer allows users
to save reports and queries at any point in time.
|
|
85.
|
Is
it able to support mix Multi-dimensional Queries and Standard
SQL in a single report of analysis?
Yes, Speedminer supports
OLAP query (Multi-dimensional Queries) to quickly retrieve
the result set from huge database, and pass it to SQL to produce
final output to cross tab through the Hybrid SQL feature.
|
|
86.
|
Portal
generation that includes HTML report?
Yes.
|
|
87.
|
Provide
details of data models and interfaces that can be used for
external reporting and warehousing of data.
The external reporting can
be done via ODBC, JDBC, OCX, and many other interfaces supported
by Caché database. Speedminer does not require building
of Cube, Fact Tables and Dimension Tables and thus we maintain
exactly same architecture between OLAP and your operation
database.
|
|
88.
|
Describe
the tools/methods used for persistently storing reporting
data.
Reports from Speed Analyzer
can be saved as Static or Dynamic (Dynamic by default). Static
reports (snapshot) will have the output saved within the database
for subsequent retrieval. Speed Enterprise Reporter also allows
output of the report to be stored permanently in formats like
PDF and it allows subsequent retrieval.
|
|
89.
|
Describe
the tools/methods used to allow external reporting/analysis
tools (e.g. Crystal Reports) to access reporting data.
External tools can access
OLAP data via ODBC link. Speedminer allows access of OLAP
database as Operation Data Store (ODS) or via OLAP indexes
for fast return of results.
|
|
90.
|
Describe
the tools/methods used to access real time reporting data.
For software that is running
on Caché object database, we recommend the operation
database to be shadowed to a backup server. Speedminer will
map to the backup server database and thus remove any need
to ETL. The OLAP processing browses through the data via mapping
and creates necessary structure and indexes. Using the Custom
Log method Speedminer is able to deliver near real time (we
estimate less than 3 minutes delay, and many vendor consider
this as real time) data availability and all these are done
via a secure, proven and inexpensive way. Since the data is
near real time, the report will also be real time.
|
|
91.
|
Is
it able to create custom form to search for information in
Operation Data Store (ODS) using Dimension as filter?
Yes, Speedminer custom form allows building of custom
search form to search the records in ODS based on filter criteria.
|
|
92.
|
Is
it able to create custom form to capture extended data not
available from the data source?
Yes, Speedminer allows text field (text box), date field
(date object) and Boolean field (check box) to be created
dynamically to hold additional/extended data not available
from the data source.
|
|
93.
|
Does
it allow report authors to intuitively incorporate several
sub-reports within a main report?
Yes, Speedminer allows reports to be placed within another
report.
|
|
94.
|
Is
it able to support dashboard, and support frame (HTML frame
like) to show dashboard within another dashboard?
Yes, Speedminer supports dashboard and frame, and creation
of EIS via dashboard.
|
|
95.
|
Is
it able to support Speedometer, pie, bar and many other chart
types, images and pictures, many other common windows web-based
components like list box, text box, radio buttons etc?
Yes, Speedminer supports all these controls and components.
|
|
96.
|
Is
it able to show reports and analysis of results on the dashboard
and allow drill down of the report?
Yes, reports/cross tabs can be placed on the dashboard
directly and drill down is supported
|
|
97.
|
Is
it able to display Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the
form of text, speedometer, as well as images according to
the performance level?
Yes, Speedminer supports KPI shown in label (text), speedometer
or image according to performance level.
|
|
98.
|
Does
it allow display of Hyperlinks to web sites or windows files
on dashboard?
Yes, Speedminer allows post click event of labels and
many controls to trigger hyperlink to other web sites, open
another dashboard, or open windows files.
|
|
99.
|
Is
it able to automatically and intelligently create alerts to
user based on KPI threshold value?
Yes, Speedminer is able to create alert based on KPI threshold
value.
|
|
100.
|
Is
it able to setup Key Performance Indicator as well as color,
font, alignment and image representation for different value
ranges?
Yes, Speedminer KPI supports features like foreground
and background color, font, alignment, image based on performance.
|
|
101.
|
Does
it support drill down of KPI into the lower components (e.g.
From Country Sales down to State Performance to identify the
major contribution of the performance), even down to the detail
transaction records level?
Yes, KPI allows drill down to components that make up
the values in pictorial form. Detail listing is also supported
to list out all detail transaction making up the value shown.
|
|
102.
|
Is
it able to support Balance Scorecard with integration to Dashboards?
Yes, Speedminer supports creation of multiple Balance
Scorecards using Cross Tabs, and can be placed on the dashboard
with ability to apply dynamic filter.
|
|
103.
|
Does
it support multilevel security for restricted data access?
Yes, Speedminer allows Role and User level of security,
each Dashboard and Table can also have further restriction
by Role/User, the security even down to record level and 2
person of different permission may view same report but sees
different information. Speedminer also provide Audit Trail
to track all access to information.
|
|
104.
|
Is
it able to control user access security down to record level
(which record is accessible) and field level?
Yes, Speedminer support record level security for user
access.
|
|
105.
|
Is
it able to create a subset of data for the access of different
user group?
Yes, Speedminer support creation of subset data for user
group's access.
|
|
106.
|
Is
there security and restriction on detail listing record to
be displayed for user group access?
Yes, Speedminer supports user group control on what column
of information to display in detail listing.
|
|
107.
|
Does
the Dashboard show only objects accessible by the user, and
hide other objects that require higher access level than that,
which is assigned to the user?
Yes, Dashboard components can be given security level
where the components will not be visible to users of lower
security level.
|
|
108.
|
Will
the user be given access right to delete/create/modify objects
stored in folders, which include dashboards, KPIs, and reports?
Yes, Speedminer uses folder concept for object storage
security and base on the user access right, he/she might be
able to delete/create/modify the objects stored in the folder
like dashboards, KPIs, and reports.
|
|
109.
|
Is
it able to support Translation and Unicode (e.g. Bahasa Malaysia/French
/Thai /Arabic version etc.)?
Yes. Multi-lingual language translation is supported.
Speedminer supports Unicode. The system comes by default in
English and Chinese language; other languages can be supported
via user translation.
|
|
110.
|
Does
it support password scans by company, by department/division,
menu, function (e.g. view, add, change, delete) by dimension,
by level and by cell?
Yes.
|
|
111.
|
Is
it able to organize reports under folders, and able to attach
security to folders?
Yes, Speedminer reports can be stored into any folders
created. Speedminer uses folder concept for object storage
security and base on the user access right, he/she might be
able to delete/create/modify the objects stored in the folder
like dashboards, KPIs, and reports.
|
|
112.
|
What
is the Front-end tool -Is it User friendly?
Speedminer comes with OLAP engine, and Business Intelligence
System, and our users have always commended it to be user
friendly.
|
|
113.
|
Is
it simple, initiative interface with minimal training to effectively
utilize the system?
Yes, our experience is 2 days training and the power users
will be able to build complex reports, dashboards, KPI/Speedometers
etc.
|
|
114.
|
What
is the infrastructure that is required to install the tool,
i.e. hardware requirements, OS versions and upgrade compatibility?
Precisely explain all components involved, i.e. ETL, database
server.
For below 20 users, the recommended hardware configuration
will be as follows,
i. Speedminer Server - Pentium IV 1.6 GHz, 1 Gig RAM. Depending
on your source data size, if it is above 50 GB, more RAM
(e.g. 2 Gig) would be recommended for better performance.
Hard disk size is generally 3X your source data size, but
it is recommended at least 5X the size of your operation
database.
ii. Servers would include Windows NT/2000 Advance Server/XP
for OS, which is for the ease of management and lower maintenance
cost, otherwise Linux, and Unix environment would be perfectly
fine.
iii. Workstations would need Windows (for running Windows
version), or a machine running Internet Explorer (for web
version). Client's machine should have at least 128 MB RAM
(prefer 256 Mb) to have the data warehouse to run smoothly.
Speedminer supports Windows 98/NT/2000/XP/2003, Linux and
Unix.
iv. For web version, you will require a separate setup of
web server, firewall etc, which will be provided if needed
as we have our own firewall product and internet security
experts.
ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) requires your database to
provide a mechanism for us to access data, either through
ODBC, text file, or other open architecture mechanism. It
will be run on the Speedminer Server.
|
|
115.
|
What
is the capability of handling real time data? If the tool
is capable of handling real time, specify the volume and the
technology used to handle real time, i.e. bi-indexing.
Speedminer handles real time data update, this may incur
slight overhead on the operation system, as a low priority
process will be run on Speedminer Server constantly checks
the availability of newly updated data. The important thing
to note for this feature would be:
i. The required hard disk size will be larger (estimate
7X of the source data size) and this may vary depending
on the relationship between the tables used in Speedminer,
and the distribution of code table data.
ii. The table in source data must have either Last_Update_Date_Time
or equivalent field to track such information, or an audit
trail table, which allow Speedminer to check for newly updated
records.
iii. The interval of fetching data will determine how "real
time" is your data warehouse, short interval tends
to burden the operation system more, but a long interval
will cause data warehouse to be "less real time".
Complete real time with minimum overhead can be achieved
if the operation system is also running on the same object
and multi-dimensional database Caché.
iv. Speedminer ETL can also draw data from the mirror server
of the source database (thus freeing the load of your operation
system), but this may impact the "real time" of
Speedminer due to the time interval taken by mirror server
to be updated.
The technology used for keeping real time is multi-dimensional
indexing and bitmap indexing for all our data storage. No
binary or other indexing method is required, as our indexing
method has been well tested to suit OLAP environment best.
|
|
116.
|
What
are the development tools used to build application?
Cachè database, VB, HTML, SVG, XML, JAVA
|
|
117.
|
Can
the system support SMS?
Yes, Speed SMS sends a text message to an alphanumeric
pager or digital phone with SMS (Short Message Service) support
using GSM (Global System for Mobile communication).
|
|
118.
|
Is
Speedminer API enabled, web based for the entire application,
support .NET web services and JAVA web services?
Yes
|
|
119.
|
Does
the system support document management, web mail and BLOG?
Yes, Speed Office in Speedminer supports document management
system, web mail and BLOG, which are tightly integrated
with the rest of the Speedmimer modules.
|
|
120.
|
Can
the result of analysis be placed on the map according to location?
Yes, Speed GIS in Speedminer enables users, not only to view
the result of analysis on the map, but also to zoom in closer
to view the performance i.e. state in the country.
|
|
121.
|
Can
the system support creation of Venn diagram from queries?
Yes, Speed Venn in Speedminer has the capabilities and it
supports up to 3 queries and allows Drill down function.
|