IBM Software Group Welcome DB2 Information Management Software Vanessa Chan Software Group IBM China/Hong Kong Limited
Agenda Who is Alphablox What is Alphablox Architecture Current Alphablox Customers Summary
Alphablox Acquisition July 2004 What is Alphablox 60+ person company in Mountain View, California Offices: United States, United Kingdom Distributor: Australia Develops & sells a platform for building customized analytic applications Strong sales into OLAP applications
Why Did IBM Acquire Alphablox To extend DB2 data warehouse solutions with J2EE infrastructure tools Accelerates time-to-value of DB2 Cube Views in applications Marketing & Lab is working on future plans for Alphablox in DWE To provide business intelligence libraries to Rational, WebSphere Portal, Lotus Workplace, & WBI Extend BI to other Brands
The Evolution of the Analytics Landscape High Embedded Analytics Impact on Business Customized Analytic Applications Pre-packaged Analytic Applications Ad-hoc Query & Analysis Low Reporting BI Market Maturity
Alphablox Differentiator: Component-Based Architecture Pre-built components for analytic and alerting functionality Coarse-grained and fine-grained components for efficient customization Rapid and open application development platform
Alphablox Categories (Analytics) Grid Blox Chart Blox Present Blox Reporting Blox Presentation & Manipulation Spreadsheet Blox Forms Blox Page Blox Toolbar Blox Data Access Data Blox MDBQuery Blox Stored procedures Blox Infrastructure Status Blox Repository Blox
Blox in Action ToolbarBlox ToolbarBlox PageBlox DataLayoutBlox GridBlox ChartBlox
Customization to ensure Adoption
Dashboard Example
Collaboration through Comments
Operational BI Applications Analytic Applications Financial Planning and Analysis Operational Analysis Dashboards Portal KPIs Profitability Analysis
Analytic Needs Mapped to Types of Users Executives Dashboards, KPI s Embedded into portals Alphablox Power Users (e.g. Analysts ) Ad Hoc Queries, Report Writers Other IBM BI partners Front Line Users Easy-to-Use Analytics Alphablox Population size
Why You Need a Platform to Build Analytic Applications Presentation Domain Expertise Data Access Analytic Infrastructure No Yes No No
Why You Need a Platform to Build Analytic Applications and that s why a platform focuses on the other three Presentation What an Analytic Platform Provides: Powerful components Intuitive & extensible UI Full interactivity Domain Expertise Data Access Analytic Infrastructure Access to multiple data sources (relational and OLAP) Custom calculations Write back capabilities Collaboration, including annotations Personalization via a Repository Rich Server Side Programming Model Integration with your IT infrastructure
Customized: Uniquely Incorporates YOUR Domain Expertise Only YOU understand your business well enough to know what you want to accomplish and how to measure it. Customization enabled through: Lego-like approach Extensibility Reusable components Programmable business logic Flexible data access
IBM Software Group DB2 Data Management Software Personalized: By Making Info Relevant, You Ensure It s Used Analytics that get used add value You can personalize everything! Interactivity Write back Collaboration User interface Views
Integrated Partner Strategy Analytics to Manage Consulting Practices Basel II Risk Management Solutions and Profitability Analysis and Performance Measurement Real-time Performance Management Solutions Spend Analysis and Supplier Scorecards Product Distribution and Fulfillment Analytics Call Center Analytics Profit and Revenue Optimization Automotive Dealer Management Sales, Marketing, Finance and Operations Analytics
Typical DB2 Alphablox Architecture sbase script & MDX Mart DB2 Alphablox Analytics DB2 OLAP SQL Mart Enterprise Data Warehouse DB2 Information Integrator Database Support OLAP: DB2 OLAP 8.1,8.2 Essbase 6.5,7,7.1 MS Analysis Server Relational: DB2 7.1+ Oracle 8i+ MS SQL 2000+ Sybase XML DBMS Operational systems Content Systems
DB2 Cube Views & Alphablox Employees & partners BI Tools Power User J2EE Application With Blox rows & columns WebSphere (J2EE Server)
A Platform for OLAP An integrated approach to OLAP Middleware New OLAP Architecture inside DB2 Enable our customers and partners to build OLAP solutions based on DB2. DB2 becomes OLAP aware Dimensional Meta data Efficient Multidimensional Data Storage Materialized Query Tables Optimization tools Interfaces Web Services Office Connect DB2 OLAP Server QMF for Windo
DB2 Cube Views Model Based Advisor Administrator Cube Model OLAP Metadata Catalog Tables Base Tables Time & Space constraints Access Patterns Model Information Statistics Data Samples MQT's
DB2 Alphablox Architecture data App Server apps WebSphere Portal Dashboard, Scorecards, KPI reports Analytical Applications Embedded Analytics WebSphere Application Server (and other J2EE servers) relational olap cube views federation
Alphablox J2EE Architecture J2EE Application Server Database & Legacy Systems Business Tier Alphablox Business Tier Alphablox Analysis Server Alphablox Application Server Adapter Stand Alone Adapter Web Sphere Adapter Web Tier Alphablox Analytic Applications Alphablox Server Applications Alphablox Admin Applications Non Alphablox Applications JSP, Servlets,tag libraries, Alphablox,Java Beans,XML J2EE Security Model HTTP HTTP Server HTTP HTTP Client Machine Browser
Industry Leaders Rely on Alphablox
Alphablox Solutions in Financial Services Focus on retail branch performance, portfolio analysis, and customer profitability Bank One Retail Division saved $3.8Billion over two years Web-based P&L management analysis was a critical factor enabling them to move to a branch profitability-based management model Royal Bank of Canada Product portfolio analysis application (includes loans, deposits and mortgages) to improve portfolio management and to easily identify cross selling opportunities Australia New Zealand Bank Investment Bank Reduced cycle time for end-of-month data from 14 days to 3 days while enhancing interactive access to the information. Credit risk analysis, market risk analysis, and customer profitability.
Branch Profitability Large US Bank Custom Formatting and Layout (interactive)
Financial Performance International Bank
Balanced Scorecard - Insurance Customized Look and Feel
Alphablox Solutions in Retail Focus on store performance analysis, merchandising and product mix analysis Neiman Marcus Month end reporting cut from two weeks to one day and now is also interactive Web-based merchandise planning and analysis used to manage and balance intra-store inventories in real time Toys R Us Europe Deployed without need to train hundreds of end users eliminated a huge training cost. Sales analysis allows field managers to make real-time inventory decisions based on financial status of the regions. Wendy s Product mix analysis allows the Brand Managers to find out which products sell best, and to analyze pricing.
Store Operations - Retailer Mixing Analytics and Operational Data
Alphablox Solutions in Manufacturing Focus on operational & financial planning, expense analysis, business activity monitoring Cisco Field Support group financial portal used to identify and manage their most profitable customers GE Operational analysis yielded a reduction of their fiscal close from 17 days to 3 Seagate Global spending analysis improved profits by managing their manufacturing inventory levels Merck Saved millions in first year through on-line expense analysis Mentor Graphics Enterprise-wide financial planning and forecasting reduced their financial planning process by 3 months and saved $200k/yr
Financial Portal Hi Tech Manufacturer Presentation of Multiple Data Sources
Alphablox Quick Facts Strong integration with Essbase/DB2 OLAP Server Version 5.6 Internationalized / localized for English, German, French and Japanese Supports clustered servers PDF Printing Write back to multidimensional and relational data sources XML rendering Reports using JSPs Enhanced interactive HTML thin client DB2, Oracle, & Sybase stored procedure support
Summary of key points A B C D E CUSTOMIZED Analytic components EMBEDDED Into existing business processes and web applications AlphaBlox allows you to create Customized analytic components that are broadly Deployed by Embedding them into business processes.
Thank You! Questions? niel Graham/Somers/IBM