SAS Institute Releases SAS Collaborative Server
SAS Institute Inc., a market leader in integrated data warehousing and decision support, has developed a custom interface for its Collaborative Business Intelligence (CBI) solution.
This interface, called the SAS Collaborative Server, version 2.5, integrates collaboration and knowledge management with SAS Institute's business intelligence and data warehouse offerings.
CBI seamlessly unites access to structured business intelligence, such as reports and analyses, with unstructured data, such as e-mail and documents. The Web-enabled SAS Collaborative Server functions as a business intelligence portal, allowing knowledge workers to access, share and re-use information consistently. It ensures direct access to underlying data and reports that allow users to make confident and informed decisions.
Version 2.5 of the SAS Collaborative Server contains many enhancements over the previous version. For instance, it can serve as a personal home page that provides quick access to reports and business intelligence projects. These reports can be either static or dynamic. "Knowledge workers can interact with the information on the screen," said Hillary Freeman, SAS Institute's global strategist for emerging technologies. "They can find reports, make comments on them, and perform further analysis on the data with business intelligence tools in real time."
Knowledge workers in an organization can subscribe to folders that contain information pertinent to their jobs. With the increase in virtual and cross-matrixed teams, it has become exceedingly important for seemingly disparate communities of practice to collaborate on projects. For instance, R&D employees may choose to receive information from the marketing team. Individuals decide how often they are notified by e-mail - immediately, daily or weekly - when new items are posted to a folder. These messages contain hyperlinks to the new information. In addition to e-mail notifications, users can choose to have new items posted to their business intelligence portal immediately.
Irving Tyler, director and chief information officer of Quaker Chemical Corp., was an early adopter of CBI. He sees enormous potential for the SAS Collaborative Server. "We want to use it as a common decision platform, and that's why we're glad it's more than just a knowledge management system," Tyler said. "We're going to link it to our other intranet solutions." Tyler refers to CBI as an "electronic workplace," with the SAS Collaborative Server as the focal point. "It'll be a place you go to start your day, to find out the information you need, to ask questions if you need to ask them, and to contribute back to the collective memory the things that you've learned and experienced that day to help the company. It'll be a workplace for everyone."
The SAS Collaborative Server is the first offering from SAS Institute's family of CBI solutions. "CBI is a foundation strategy for us to deliver business intelligence functionality to a broader audience, and we are actively pursuing other technologies to provide a collaborative layer for the delivery of business intelligence," said Barrett Joyner, president of SAS Institute, North America.
SAS Institute, the world's largest privately held software company, is the leader in decision support and data warehousing, providing integrated information-delivery solutions. Founded in 1976, the Institute markets packaged business solutions for vertical industry and departmental applications, as well as an integrated suite of software tools and consulting services. These allow companies to transform the wide variety of data within their organizations into information that business users and researchers need to make better decisions. SAS software and services are used at more than 33,000 business, government, and university sites in 115 countries. SAS Institute achieved 1998 revenue of $871 million.
Please visit SAS Institute's Web site at http://www.sas.com.