what is enterprise reporting, and how do analytical tools work?

Hello Fahd,

There are a number of different definitions for both "enterprise
reporting" and "analytical tools" terms. I will try to provide some
background and then some links that illustrate the scope of these
terems.

Enterprise reporting - generally linked to a well defined business
process to provide the "right information" to the people in the
company (or outside the company) who are authorized and need it. The
idea is to allow the end user to get the information they need and
reduce the time required to get that information. Commercial examples
include:

Peoplesoft - a combination of production reports, ad hoc query, and
analytical tools. They share a common data source, security profile,
and infrastructure.
http://www.peoplesoft.com/corp/en/products/technology/ptools/8.4/dep_report.asp

Enterprise Performance Systems Inc (EPSI) - a variety of defined
reports, graphs, and statements. Uses an integrated database (SQL
Server), security module, and user defined attributes.
http://www.epsiconnect.com/enterprise.asp

A more general description of alternatives can be found at
http://www.dmreview.com/master.cfm?NavID=198&EdID=14

Search phrases to find more information include
 +database "enterprise reporting"

Analytical tools - is a very broad area. They all have the same goal
of making sense of the data that has been collected. Perhaps one way
to describe them is a tool to generate information from data. Some
techniques include change of representation, data mining or
warehousing, "cleaning and scrubbing", as well as the basic analysis
(sorting, selection, sums, averages, regression, etc.). A few
commercial examples include:

Description and links to general business analysis tools from IBM
(about half way down the page).
http://www-3.ibm.com/software/data/busn-intel/about.html

A good description of "Rate, Frequency, and Monetary Value" - a
technique used to evaluate customers.
http://catalogagemag.com/ar/marketing_multiple_analytical_tools/

A good overview of some of the issues and why you want different tools
to evaluate geographical data. (World Map Demonstration)
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/science/projects/worldmap/worldmap/info.htm

Specific application for retirement benefits.
http://www.econsys.com/frbweb.htm

An example that is a little different (protein sequencing) is
described at
http://pir.georgetown.edu/

As you can see - there is quite a bit of variation in analytical
tools. For more sites, a search such as
  +database "analytical tools"
will provide a broad selection of information.

Please let me know if you need clarification on this answer.

  --Maniac

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Request for Answer Clarification by fahd-ga on 12 Sep 2002 12:25 PDT

since the question is in the general area of database-
what is database, and how do I ask a database question?

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Clarification of Answer by maniac-ga on 12 Sep 2002 16:09 PDT

Hello Fahd,

I do not understand your clarification request. Could you please
explain what you want clarified in the answer? Until then, I cannot
determine what needs to be explained more clearly.

Thanks.
  --Maniac

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Request for Answer Clarification by fahd-ga on 13 Sep 2002 12:19 PDT

Thank you Maniac,
I would like to thank you for the information provided.
I basically would like to add to my knowledge the answer to the
following questions:
since the question is in the general area of database- 
what is database, and how do I ask a database question? 

Truly,

Fred

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Clarification of Answer by maniac-ga on 14 Sep 2002 07:00 PDT

Hello Fahd,

Hmm. These look like two new questions, but they are related to the
original topic so I'll answer them.

What is a database?
Type that phrase into google in quotes and you get a number of good
definitions. Basically, the short description is "a structured
collection of data". With reference to the original questions -
enterprise reporting is a way to extract the portion of structured
data relevant to a specific business task. Let me use an example:

  I work for a company that tracks the hours each employee works on a
task so the company can bill the customer. An example of reports that
a manager may want include:
 - time worked for his employees this week, to check on Wednesday to
make sure that records are current and then on Friday to approve
charges for the week.
 - the project manager reviews all charges to "his tasks" and compares
with accomplishments to ensure work is done efficiently.
These are just two examples of different ways to look at the same data
in the database.

How do you ask a database question?
I believe you already know the answer to this question. You ask a
question on a site like this or on one of a variety of newsgroups, and
you will get an answer to your specific question. However, I believe
you are looking for something more valuable - say, expertise on
databases. That is going to be a long process of learning and requires
practice (to hone your skills) as well as just knowledge. I learned
about databases a long time ago through:
 - reading books and other reference materials to gain knowledge
 - doing a few (small and then larger) projects using the Ingres
database to apply what I learned
And then kept up with the industry trends at a lower level of effort.

  --Maniac

Thank you so much for a good and clear answer!!
Fred