Galaxy Knowledge Management System

Transcription

1 Galaxy Knowledge Management System Fact Sheet From UTS Software

2 GALAXY FACT SHEET 2 What does Galaxy do? The Galaxy Knowledge Management System provides a practical method for meeting the challenges of managing and distributing your corporate knowledge including calculations in a secure, efficient, and cost effective manner. Why is it important? Galaxy expands your knowledge management capabilities beyond documents and . With Galaxy, you can easily manage and maintain the calculations that drive your processes and decision making, in addition to sustaining the other items that make up the breadth of your corporate knowledge. Everyday, engineers, analysts and developers use a wide variety of tools to create calculations (based on Excel, TK Solver, etc.). These are simple or complex, for a range of uses both in and outside the company. The challenges of managing these calculations include: Security of intellectual property Users work in complex or inconsistent interfaces Quality assurance Distribution simplifying and managing the process UTS developed the Galaxy Knowledge Management System as a practical way to address these challenges and ensure that your organization obtains the full benefit of its corporate knowledge.

3 GALAXY FACT SHEET 3 The Galaxy Approach to Knowledge Management Galaxy is straightforward and intuitive. Galaxy is used to create calculation based applications. It provides tools for non programmers to rapidly build professional looking Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), providing users with a consistent dashboard, regardless of which tool performs the calculations. Links to supporting documentation can be easily set up company manuals/design guides, drawings, and other items anything that will assist end users when they are using Galaxy applications. The GUI is created using Galaxy Studio, without any programming required. When complete, the application is ready for secure deployment to authorized users. Authorized users need only a web browser to access deployed applications. They work from their computer, within the GUI built in Galaxy, and save their work in Galaxy s central database. Galaxy s search engine makes it easy to quickly locate earlier projects, while other Galaxy facilities make it easy to monitor and maintain applications. Galaxy s Key Concepts Centralized Management At the core is the management and maintenance of calculation models that can come in a variety of formats: Excel, TK Solver, and others. User access is centrally maintained, prohibiting unauthorized users from accessing, editing, or removing calculations from the central server. Enhanced Calculations for Deployment Calculations come in a variety of proprietary formats. Once uploaded into Galaxy, calculations can be given a consistent look and feel by creating a professional looking Graphical User Interface (GUI) without the need for any programming. Tools provided within Galaxy Studio let you do this in minutes! Quality Assurance Galaxy s full version control capability lets you easily manage applications, ensuring that users always work with the correct version. All versions are easily retrieved from the central database, should the need to reference earlier work arise. Only authorized parties are allowed to make changes in the applications residing on the central server. Users can be assured of the integrity and approval status of the applications they are using. Distribution Galaxy can be deployed as either an Intranet or Internet solution. Authorized users need only a web browser to access Galaxy applications, simplifying and streamlining the distribution process.

4 GALAXY FACT SHEET 4 How Galaxy Works: An Overview Galaxy has two components: Development and Deployment. The Development System is used to develop applications and administer the system. You can use it to build a GUI, manage versions, set up and administer users and their access privileges, set up projects, generate management reports, and so on. The Development system is used by subject matter experts who have been given permission to work in specific areas. End users employ the Deployment System to access applications, run calculations, save data and search for previous work. They can only access those applications for which they have been granted permission to use. The Development System Applications Developers use Galaxy to build user friendly GUIs for calculations, based in such engines as Excel or TK Solver. Other executable code, such as.dll or.exe can be incorporated into Galaxy. (Please contact UTS for details). The GUI and the underlying calculation engines are saved as Applications in the Galaxy database. In addition to the GUI, application developers can also define permissible limits for various inputs and outputs, set up WYSIWYG reports, and link to reference materials such as PDF, PowerPoint, AVI or other files. The goal is to prepare an application that is easily usable by a broad base of users without a lot of training. Libraries Libraries are lower-level building blocks that can be used in developing higher-level applications. Galaxy supports life-cycle version management of these libraries, including cross-referencing facilities that manage related libraries and applications. Users In Galaxy, you can manage user access by adding, activating, and deleting individuals or groups of users authorized to access certain applications. In addition to internal users, you can grant selective access to external stakeholders, including customers, consultants, suppliers, or other pertinent individuals. The GUI as seen by external users will have the same look and feel as the one created for internal use. Galaxy also lets you distribute different versions of applications to different users based on their specific needs. For example, you may release a new application to the quality assurance group for testing before it is officially distributed throughout the organization.

5 GALAXY FACT SHEET 5 Technology Export Control Compliance Management Many companies work on sensitive technologies that require approval from the government before providing access to users outside the country. Galaxy s access control and full audit trailing capabilities provide the necessary facilities for implementing and monitoring compliance of export control regulations. For example, the compliance management group can review a newly developed application before its release to a wider group of users. Eliminate Spreadsheet Errors Documents Adding and updating documents in Galaxy is nearly effortless. Word files, PDF documents, CAD drawings, PowerPoint presentations, company reports, or other documents can be easily added, and are immediately available to end users when the application is deployed. Additionally, you can set up customized linking to other documentation management systems, i.e. SharePoint or Documentum. Projects and Customers Galaxy provides facilities for categorizing projects by name, creator, descriptor and date for quick reference and retrieval of data. Similarly, you can link certain calculation runs to specific customers or projects. Hundreds or even thousands of Excel worksheets are used in virtually every organization. The challenges of managing such worksheets include version control and preventing users from making unauthorized or unintentional changes. Galaxy helps you securely distribute Excel spreadsheets to authorized users across your organization, keeping underlying formulas and data intact. The customized GUI eliminates the overwriting of Excel formulas. Galaxy also makes it easy to deploy Excel worksheets: data for each run is saved in a central database and not as individual Excel files.

6 GALAXY FACT SHEET 6 GUI/Galaxy Studio In Galaxy, non-programmers can build a customized GUI in mere minutes, as though it were built by a professional programmer. However, programmers will still feel right at home while using Galaxy Studio. Facilities readily available in Galaxy Studio include the ability to: Define input and output boxes, including pull-down menus, radio buttons, check boxes and combo boxes Select color/font size and positioning Create tabbed or separate forms Include animation, graphics, audio and video, or add web pages Facilities for linking outside graphic files such as GIF, JPG, BMP Embed PDF files Galaxy s transformative abilities are shown below. An Excel file is uploaded and enhanced for deployment using the tools described above. Authorized end users work within the Galaxy interface, created without any programming.

7 GALAXY FACT SHEET 7 The Deployment System Authorized users put applications to work via Galaxy Deployment, by simply opening a web browser and logging in. The ease with which Galaxy distributes applications is among its most useful features. A Dashboard lets users access and work with the applications via the GUI, be it over the network or over the web the calculation engines remain hidden. Galaxy lets the user save data from various runs and create comparison reports. Additionally, the user has access to all the documents associated with the application. Since applications and runs are saved on a central database, you can access them from anywhere and share them with other authorized users. System Requirements Server side operating environment Windows XP Professional server or operating system SQL Server 2005 IIS Server Client side operating environment Windows 2000, XP, or Vista operating system.net 2.0 Framework Web browser Contact Information Contact UTS at or sales@uts.com to set up a free, live, twenty minute demonstration over the Web, or contact our regional offices: Europe: +44 (0) euro@uts.com India: sales_india@uts.com Visit our website: