From: Shariar Jahromi <Shariar_Jahromi@mentorg.com>
Subject: Help wanted - reporting tool
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d7
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 18:16:17 GMT
X-Xxdate: Wed, 30 Sep 92 08:16:55 GMT
X-Xxmessage-Id: <A6EF12F78A01820D@bvpc_013.mentorg.com>
Organization: Mentor Graphics (Netherlands) B.V.

I have a couple of questions regarding Management reporting tool(s) and
4D databases. First the story:

We are currently in the process of implementing a 3rd party Sales
management tool, developed in 4D, across Europe.

The tool which is targeted at "all" levels of our European Sales
organisations, automates the sales processes such as maintaining info
about company/prospect/contacts, creating quotations, creating forecasts,
performing mass mailing, printing address labels, organising agenda's (To
do lists, etc.) and last but not least management reporting.

The software house that developed the packet proudly boasts about it
being the biggest 4D application on god's earth and I can well believe
that.

And now the questions:
I am very well aware that the success of the product, both at the
country's level and at the European level, hinges on its capability of
getting the right info. (i.e. what are we going to sell in the coming
months, when we are going to sell it and how) in a timely fashion and in
readable format to the "decision makers" within our organisation. These
are the European board of management (European vice president, European
financial directors, European marketing director, etc.) and the country
managers.

At the moment there are some standard reports built in to the product, at
our request, that, "more or less", gives us the info. that we want. 

Unfortunately, in many cases this proves to be less rather than more.
This prompts me to go back to the software house with new requests about
reports. It may take anywhere between 1 week to 1 month before these are
implemented, depending on the going priorities.

So, regarding management reports, I want to grow "completely independent"
of our software house. I want to design the reports the way I want them
(with 3 dimensional pie charts, bar charts, etc.), when I want them.and
have them ready in the shortest possible time.

At the same time, I do not want to program the sources. I have neither
the time nor the resources for that, especially if you are talking about
8 MB 4D source line which is what our product is.

1- The question is, how can I achieve my objective????

I do realise that we, within our organisation, need to have an in-depth
knowledge of the product tables and the way they are linked together. But
hopefully that does not mean programming.

2- How should I negotiate with the software (what should I ask for)????
Is the structure of the database (the way tables are linked) enough???

3- Very important...what management tool should I consider ??? I have
heard some good remarks about "Power Play" but have very little
information on it. I know that it is pretty good working with ASCII files
and can create impressive graphics. In 4D, you can export ASCII files.
Does anyone have more info.????

Looking logically at the whole issue, I don't think I am asking for the
moon on a silver plate.

The fact is that, using our 3rd party software, we are rapidly gathering
an immense amount of forecasting info. from all over Europe in the
database. The only question is the presentation of the info in the best
possible form, to the right people at the right time. 

The question is how????