Hyperion Unveils Gadgets for Real-Time BI

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.

Users can access the tool through the Windows interface, Gokulnatha noted.

Bart Klein, vice president and manager of application development at UMB Financial Corp. in Kansas City, Mo., said he hopes that the new software can make BI attractive to more employees at the bank holding company.

“We are really hoping [that] through the use of gadgets we’ll be able to put out some easy interfaces a person could subscribe to ... to make [BI] less intimidating,” Klein said. “It will allow my users to be able to get to certain bits of data that currently exist inside Hyperion very quickly by having the gadget running on the desktop all the time.”

Save and Store

The tool’s ability to save and store instant messages for auditing purposes could help expand the use of BI among the bank’s 300 Hyperion 9 users, Klein noted.

“IM really hasn’t been blessed as a tool within the bank because ... you have to have ways to track it back and log it,” he said. “[Now] we will be able to provide a fully sanctioned IM environment that gives us auditing and allows users to collaborate a little quicker.”

The new Hyperion technology, slated to ship by mid-2007, is designed to give business users easier access to BI data than they have with traditional systems, which can be accessed only through a separate user interface, Gokulnatha said.

The new system also requires less training than older systems, he added.

Gokulnatha said such ease-of-use features will likely make the new tool appealing to many of the 80% of corporate users who don’t use business intelligence today.

Dan Vesset, an analyst at IDC in Framingham, Mass., said Smart Space is different from other BI systems because it injects BI to run directly on Windows instead of requiring that users log onto a separate application or launch a browser to access data.

The gadgets “capture the user very early in the process, when they come to work and turn on their PC,” Vesset said. “The simpler you can make [BI], the more likely people are to start using it.”

In most companies today, only 20% of users who could benefit from BI are accessing the software, he said.