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Prometheus Business Intelligence - Advantages
High Performance
The Prometheus BI system provides an exceptionally high level of
performance, with responses to even the most complex queries returned
to the user in moments.
Rapid Deployment
A common complaint with most BI systems is that they require long
and expensive consultancies to implement. The Prometheus BI system has been
designed specifically to facilitate rapid and cost-effective deployment
of a customised solution across the enterprise. This allows the
customer to receive a return on investment sooner.
Complex Business Logic
The appropriate data loading and business logic for a vertical market
segment is encapsulated in a high-level software module called a
Business Logic Module (BLM). With only a modest level of consultancy
service this industry specific BLM can be customised to the precise
requirements of each individual company. This costs the client less
and gets the client up and running much faster.
Other BI systems require lengthy programming and configuration
to implement the correct data loading and business logic for each
client.
Powerful Data Linking
Linking data from disparate sources is a weak area in most BI systems.
The Prometheus BI system is able to link data in powerful and complex ways.
It is also able to apply complex algorithms across multiple sources
of data.
Unlimited Metadata
Prometheus BI has an extensive capability to store unlimited metadata
- 'data about the data' - for all elements in the system. This information
is readily available to users at all times. Prometheus BI also has
the capacity to activate 'triggers' in specific cases to make users
aware of specific information about certain datasets, data elements,
calculations or certain breakdowns of particular datasets so that
users are fully informed about caveats or concerns associated with
the use of that data.
Flexible Dissemination
Prometheus BI provides a wide range of distribution options:
- the Prometheus Desktop Client can run stand-alone, reading
its data directly from a CD-ROM or from a local hard drive
- Prometheus Desktop Clients can communicate with a Prometheus
Network Server across a Local Area Network (LAN)
- Prometheus Middle-tier Servers can be deployed across a Wide
Area Network (WAN) to provide fast and effective access to a centralised
Prometheus Network Server
- Prometheus BI Web Access can work with most standard Windows
and Linux webservers to allow users to explore the data using
a standard Web browser across the Internet
Classification Systems
Most BI systems have limited abilities to store and manipulate groupings
and re-codings of data items. The need for extensive classification
systems is clear when you consider the various ways of grouping
and comparing geographic areas across Australia, or consider the
varying ways that a company might want to classify its range of
products. The potential advantage from classification systems can
be appreciated, for example, when you imagine classifying statistical
local areas across Australia according to the average socioeconomic
status of their residents, and then analysing your company's market
penetration in each of these areas.
The design of the Prometheus BI system recognises the need for
extensive and integrated classification systems and has an entire
storage and retrieval sub-system devoted to handling complex classification
systems. Prometheus BI classification systems are defined and stored
independently of any particular table of data. Prometheus BI classification
systems are then simply linked to the relevant fields in the data.
Extensions or revisions to the classification systems are thus instantly
available across all the data collections.
Integrated Analysis Environment
The Prometheus Desktop Client has a particularly powerful graphical
analysis environment where the user can design complex queries through
a simple menu system, and view results as tables, maps, graphs and
charts. The environment is particularly designed to allow the user
to rapidly modify designs and views to facilitate the extensive
exploration, mining and analysis of the data.
Statistical Analysis
The Prometheus BI system is designed from the ground up to perform valuable
complex statistical calculations that span multiple sources of stored
data. Such calculations are necessary for meaningful comparisons
of, say, market penetration in Sydney versus Melbourne allowing
for the differences in the population profiles of the two areas.
The Prometheus Desktop Client can perform a full range of complex
calculations including forward projections and 'budget vs actual'
analysis. The Prometheus Desktop Client performs these calculations
'on the fly' using the relevant data collections consistent with
the design selected by the user. This kind of statistical capability
cannot be bolted on top of a common BI system. It has to be built
into the underlying storage and retrieval engine.
Other BI systems have no, or very limited, capacity to do statistical
calculations on the stored data. For the most part they simply 'add
up' stored numbers.
Efficient Data Storage
The Prometheus BI system stores and maintains its transformed data
using highly efficient compression techniques. The compressed data
is typically eighty to ninety percent smaller than the same data
stored in standard database formats. Prometheus BI achieves this
efficiency whilst remaining one of the fastest retrieval systems
on the market today. This means that a standard server with stock
hardware components can run a Prometheus BI system handling a volume
of data that would otherwise require terabytes of storage and specialist
hardware. This provides substantial savings to an organisation in
terms of hardware and maintenance costs.
The compressed Prometheus BI data format also means that a single
CD-ROM can hold Prometheus BI data that would otherwise require
a stack of CDs. This makes it practical for an organisation to distribute
key corporate data on CD-ROM, using the Prometheus BI system, to
users who do not have network or Internet access to the central
corporate data holdings. Distributing data on CD-ROM using the Prometheus
BI system is particularly effective because the Prometheus Desktop
Client performs well even when reading data directly from CD-ROM.
Other BI systems actually expand the storage requirements of the
incoming data when they transform the data into their internal format
and add in aggregation information.
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