Hyperion Unveils Gadgets for Real-Time BI

December 11, 2006 (Computerworld) — Hyperion Solutions Corp. has unveiled software that it says can split its business intelligence and performance management products into small, customized applications that provide real-time data feeds to desktop systems. The new Hyperion System 9 Smart Space tool, introduced on Nov. 30, can create small, single-purpose applications called “gadgets” or “widgets” that sit on the desktop and continuously feed customized BI data to users, according to Hyperion. Smart Space, based on a service-oriented architecture, runs on Microsoft Windows XP and Vista and will allow users — without the intervention of IT — to link multiple gadgets to access data from various sources, said Srikant Gokulnatha, Hyperion’s senior director of product marketing.

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Metadata Management & Enterprise Architecture: Understanding Data Governance and Stewardship, Part 2

Data stewardship is the function that instantiates and controls the execution of a data governance program. Data stewards are those individuals charged with the careful and responsible management of metadata and data entrusted to their care. Stewards are not the owners of the data; they are responsible for ensuring that the data and its metadata are accurate, accessible, usable and current. The data steward acts as the conduit between IT and the business. The data steward (which is often not just one person, but a collection of people) aligns the business needs with the IT systems providing both decision and operational support. The data steward has the challenge of guaranteeing that one of the corporation’s most critical assets – its data – is used to its fullest capacity.

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Opening the Business Intelligence Software Stack

Understanding how interdependence, interoperability and modularity help define BI software stacks can simplify the process of incorporating open source components and reduce the overall cost of managing all enterprise BI components.When describing a set of systems as a “stack,” one assumes that the components of the stack are interdependent, interoperable and modular. When it comes to business intelligence (BI) stacks, however, the waters become murkier – but looking at business intelligence applications as solution stacks can simplify managing projects across the enterprise as well as highlight areas where open source (or commercial) software could improve the bottom line.When the goal of business intelligence is to enable end users to use any and all corporate data to create actionable knowledge and generate competitive advantage, theoretically any software used within the enterprise will become business intelligence software. Consider that business intelligence applications draw data from corporate systems ranging from accounting to human resources to sales to supply chain management. That data may be used in a multitude of packaged and custom end-user applications associated with business intelligence, such as dashboard, business projection, analytics, custom reporting – but also incorporated into generic office productivity applications such as word processing, presentations and spreadsheets.

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