25/03/2010 - IBM Certified Cognos Training Centre
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ProStrategy Colman - Certified IBM Cognos Training Centre
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 ProStrategy Colman
Certified IBM Cognos Training Centre
ProStrategy Colman - Ireland's leading IBM Cognos partner, provides a comprehensive range of training around IBM Cognos Business Intelligence & IBM Cognos Planning
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Accelerate your success and return on investment in your IBM Cognos solution with Certified IBM Cognos training by enabling your Cognos users with the knowledge and skills they need.
Through our Certified IBM Cognos training centre, ProStrategy Colman deliver Cognos Training Courses across Cognos BI and Planning applications. All course material is developed by IBM Cognos and is provided to the course attendee to take away.
We offer comprehensive role-based curricula that enable you to quickly master the Cognos skills needed to productively work in your environment, while minimising training time. Alternatively, we can design custom training courses that can be delivered either on your premises or in our training centre.
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20/11/2009 - ProStrategy and Colman Computer Services announce news of our merger completion on Friday 20th of November
ProStrategy and Colman Computer Services are pleased to announce news of our merger that was completed on Friday 20th of November. The combined entity will be known as ProStrategy-Colman and will offer our customers a strong team of professionals that can deliver dependable solutions for the operation, control and management of the business process.
ProStrategy-Colman provides customer focused solutions servicing the Business Intelligence, ERP and IBM iSeries marketplace countrywide in Ireland. Our combined strengths and experience in providing comprehensive solutions around Business Operations, Management Information and Decision Support Systems places us in a position to be the partner of choice to companies that wish to manage their operations and resources more effectively.
ProStrategy-Colman is now a leading supplier of business solutions in Ireland with over 150 customers that include some of Ireland’s leading companies such as C&C Group, Britvic Ireland, Slendertone (BMR), Hibernian Insurance, Johnson Brothers and Topaz Energy.
Colman Computer Services (www.colman.ie) has been in business since 1985 and has developed a reputation for delivering quality IT services and solutions to a blue chip customer base throughout the island of Ireland. Working in partnership with their clients they have consistently provided technology solutions and services that have helped them to manage and grow their business. Colman delivers solutions based on the IBM iSeries, IBM Cognos Business Intelligence and Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP and Microsoft Sharepoint.
ProStrategy (www.prostrategy.com) has been providing leading Irish companies with end-to-end business software solutions since 1988. They are recognised as a leader in the provision of ERP and Business Intelligence solutions and their partnership approach with their clients has positioned them to be a resource that companies can rely on in the provision of business critical software solutions.
18/09/2009 - Record Retention Made Easy for Microsoft Dynamics
BY David Guilbault, Director, Customer and ISV Development for ImageTag
>PUBLISHED:
September 14, 2009
Of all the important tasks associated with managing our business, we rarely focus on business records. Despite all the published guidelines or programs, we tend to keep every invoice, PO and sales order. Over time, the file cabinets fill and the off-site storage grows. We want to throw something away, but we're hesitant or more likely too busy to even consider
what to throw away. And for those businesses that haven't initiated a records retention program, they could experience unnecessary costs, compliance issues or worse.
So let's start with some basics. What is a record? A record can be defined as any information that is generated or communicated as part of conducting business. This includes paper invoices, emails, and even faxes. For defining a records retention program, I will lean on John McAdams, who wrote an article for ShredNations (appropriate name, huh?), "A records retention program provides for the systematic review, retention and destruction of documents received or created in the course of business. A records retention program will identify documents that need to be maintained and contain guidelines for how long certain documents should be kept and how they should be destroyed." These programs also classify records, define the process for maintaining them, and determine regulatory and legal requirements.
What's pushing me to implement a records retention program?
In a word, it's regulation. Federal, state and industry requirements drive the guidelines for records keeping and retention. The core reason your business has a Microsoft Dynamics GP, NAV or AX System is the need for record keeping. Like your ERP system, there are many benefits to a records retention program, which I come to...
17/09/2009 - Competition for Qlikview from IBM Cognos!?
There is a lot of buzz around the release of IBM Cognos Express. It came across my twitter accounts here and here quite a few times and when I released a search in tweetdeck for IBM Cognos Express it appeared 65 times. You can read the press release from IBM here. IBM Cognos Express is the affordable, all-in-one BI suite which can be deployed and installed very fast targeted at small to medium business with 100-999 users.
Cognos Express is IBM’s answer to the success of Qlikview in SMB market, but also to compete against Microsoft (Gemini), SAP’s Business Objects Edge series and any other player in this under served market. Cognos has long been absent in this market and sure has lost quite some market share to especially Microsoft and Qlikview.
I do think that Cognos Express has some answers and chances to win here: Microsoft ped it’s future development for performance point server where Cognos now comes with the Advisor module with planning and forecasting, Cognos has a chance to win here. And where Qlikview wins a lot with their in memory technology and of course their ease of use, Cognos comes with in memory technology from Applix TM1, an in-memory analysis product Cognos acquired shortly before it was purchased by IBM. All data available with Xcelerator an excel front-end for advanced Olap query.
Cognos Express will consist of three products and licensing starts from $12,500 for one of the products with 5 named users. The products are:
- IBM Cognos Express Xcelerator
- IBM Cognos Express Advisor – is the forecasting and what-if tool
- IBM Cognos Express Reporter
Cognos Express Xcelerator effectively turns a user’s Excel spreadsheet into an interface for running advanced OLAP queries. The software lets users analyze their data and perform “what if” modeling from the comfort of Excel, which is probably what they were previously using for analyzing their numbers. There is also a Web-based interface for Xcelerator.
Cognos Express Advisor is the most advanced component of the suite, and delivers the most powerful interface to the underlying TM1 OLAP server. This software lets users slice and dice and drill down into their data. It also delivers more advanced data “visualizations” than the other two modules
Cognos Express Reporter is a Web-based ad hoc query and reporting tool that can be used against an organization’s existing relational or flat-file data store, or against the Cognos Express suite’s underlying OLAP data store. Reporter comes with canned reports and dashboards–delivered in the user’s choice of Web browser, PDF, Excel, e-mail, or Web portal formats–that are easy enough for novices to learn quickly, IBM says.
Intelligent Enterprise comments here quoting Anderson of Gartner Data Quest:
“there was a lot of hope and interest in PerformancePoint, and there was a sense of disappointment when Microsoft decided not to go forward with it… My sense is that there’s a latent market of interest in tying performance management to BI, but there have not been any properly scaled, affordable solutions for midsize companies.”
And:
“QlikTech also offers reporting, but they don’t have a BI stack that includes data integration and data quality software or aspirations to address performance management.”
Search Data Management comments here focusing primarily on the predefined datamodels with some nice comments on the pricing:
“I think it is affordable to what I call the upper tier of the midmarket,” Harmon said. “It has the potential to still be on the expensive side if you’re going to be using all those modules.”
Cognos Express starts at $12,500 per module, Plummer said. Customers that qualify can also finance the purchase, as well as pay in installments that IBM says can be as low as $25 per user, per month.
Gartner’s Anderson has a different take. “What [IBM] said is you can have upwards of 50 users for under 100 grand. From my perspective, that’s a very aggressive price point,” Anderson said. “It should be really attractive to midmarket companies.”
Other comments can be found here and here.
The IBM Cognos Express products are expected to ship within days, and a free trial edition will be made available as a download on September 29.
17/09/2009 - New Express offerings for Fall 2009
We at IBM have been presenting our view of a smarter planet for several months, and now those visions are starting to become reality. A smarter planet doesn't just benefit big companies; it works for midsized businesses as well. We hope you are ready to reap the benefits of this work and help us continue it.
Find out more about how we are making our visions and ideas real with:
- Fresh insight and thought leadership
- New offerings focused on what you need – business intelligence, smarter processes, new delivery models and more
- Expert assistance from IBM and IBM Business Partners worldwide
For Fall 2009, we have many important new offerings that leverage the idea of a smarter planet to help you drive results.
Smart work
Midsize companies face new business and process requirements, and ever-more demanding customers. Smart work turns insight into action to generate business value. Building an agile business optimized for change can help drive better business outcomes, deliver value more quickly and improve competitiveness.
IBM Mashup Center
An enterprise mashup builder that provides rich data and Web page assembly without coding effort. Allows end users to work smarter by creating ad hoc business applications to respond quickly to business needs.
IBM LotusLive Engage
An integrated suite of collaboration tools that combine your social network with Web conferencing and collaboration capabilities like file storing and sharing, instant messaging and activity management.
Learn more about collaboration
Learn more about information infrastructure
New intelligence
Get a handle on the exploding volume of information and turn it into insight that can help optimize performance and drive smarter business outcomes. Business intelligence yields knowledge, and knowledge is power. This deeper understanding can help differentiate your business in both good times and bad.
IBM Cognos Express
Cognos Express is the first and only integrated reporting, analysis, planning, budgeting and forecasting solution purpose-built and priced for midsize companies.
Learn more about business intelligence
Dynamic infrastructure
Insight does no good unless it can be integrated it into day–to-day life. Put new intelligence to work with a dynamic infrastructure that can help integrate information and deliver superior business and IT services with speed and agility–all while reducing costs.
IBM Storage Optimization and Integration Services — transformation strategy — rapid
Ensure valuable information is readily available in an optimized way.
IBM System Storage DS5020
Business intelligence and analytics require robust, reliable, high-performance data storage. This is a next generation mid-tier disk system with industry leading 8 Gbps FC host connect for infrastructure simplification.
IBM SurePOS 500 Express
A solution that enables retailers to capture new insights that drive effective customer service initiatives and help ensure the right merchandise is in stock at the right time.
Learn more about business continuity
17/09/2009 - QlikView Partners Deliver On-Demand, Interactive Analytics in the Cloud
QlikView Partners Deliver On-Demand, Interactive Analytics in the Cloud
Radnor, PA – September 2, 2009 – QlikTech, the world’s fastest-growing Business Intelligence (BI) software company, today announced that Axis Group, Centerstance and Sports Data Hub are among the partners leveraging QlikView’s recently released Cloud offering to deliver dynamic data with interactive dashboards and visual analysis. A cost-effective solution that can deployed to users in 15 minutes, QlikView in the Cloud offers customers elastic scalability and platform neutrality with zero infrastructure cost. Partners report that in today’s economy, companies are looking for access to powerful and intuitive BI solutions without the burden and expense of managing the underlying infrastructure.
“Deployments of the dashboard are completed in weeks and clients are thrilled with the newfound freedom to see and navigate their information,” said Mike Mahaney, Project & Portfolio Solutions Director, AXIS Group. “The same capabilities would take several man-years to develop in traditional BI tools and the user experience would still not be matched.”
Partners are delivering value for both enterprise and consumer users with affordable access to software that analyzes real-time data for answers to questions ranging from “How can I analyze my Salesforce.com data” to “How can we move and replenish inventory faster?” and “Who is the best draft pick for my fantasy football team?”. QlikView is now the only BI solution that can be deployed on premise, in the cloud, or on a laptop or mobile device.
Axis Group, a global leader in BI and Project and Portfolio Solutions, offers clients an innovative dashboard for visibility into Project & Portfolio Management tools like CA Clarity, HP PPM and MS Project Office. Combining the ease-of-use and powerful analytic capabilities of QlikView with the convenience and affordability of a Cloud deployment on the Amazon Web Services platform, the dashboard delivers Project, Resource and Financial information with vibrant data visualization and intuitive clickable key metrics.
Centerstance, a leading expert in Cloud Computing in the Pacific Northwest, utilizes expertise in technical and business solutions to help clients migrate to a cloud environment with the assistance of best-in class providers such as QlikView, Salesforce.com, Amazon Web Services, and Google. Centerstance utilizes QlikView in the Cloud as a demo and development environment, making it easy to rapidly deploy cost-effective applications for clients. In a recent implementation of QlikView, within three days Centerstance’s client gained unprecedented access to analytics enabling them to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in their sales pipeline and create forecasts across multiple sales regions, teams, and product lines.
A consumer version of a cloud deployment is SportsDataHub.com, who provides interactive football data for enthusiastic sports fans and fantasy football players. With QlikView point-and-click visualization tools the company offers a comprehensive database of every pass, run, catch, kick and punt in the NFL since 2004. The site leverages QlikView in the cloud to make football data analysis easy, convenient, fun, flexible, and more productive. As Sports Data Hub’s user base steadily climbs, moving QlikView applications to the cloud has enabled the company to more easily support the web traffic at a lower cost.
“With QlikView in the cloud, partners are able to offer customers the ability to quickly test and scale deployments,” said Anthony Deighton, Senior Vice President of Products at QlikTech. “From QlikView-powered web solutions to faster enterprise BI implementations, our partners are delivering meaningful analysis and immediate answers at a time when such visibility has never been more important.”
About QlikTech
QlikTech is the world’s fastest-growing Business Intelligence (BI) company. Its flagship QlikView product delivers instant business answers, enabling users to easily explore their data without limits. Unlike traditional BI, QlikView delivers immediate value with payback measured in days or weeks rather than months, years, or not at all. It is the only BI offering that can be deployed on premise, in the cloud, or on a laptop or mobile device—from a single user to the largest global enterprise.
Through QlikView’s disruptive, in-memory associative approach, business users have experienced unprecedented success and satisfaction, backed by its unique 30-day money-back guarantee. QlikTech has more than 11,100 customers in 95 countries and over 800 partners worldwide. For more information, please visit www.qlikview.com
17/09/2009 - Bliss Spa Optimizes Payroll Spend and Delivers On-Demand Business Answers with QlikView Analysis
Bliss Spa Optimizes Payroll Spend and Delivers On-Demand Business Answers with QlikView Analysis
International body and skincare retailer significantly reduces spa employee costs; Cuts sales and inventory reporting time from two days to minutes
Radnor, PA – August 6, 2009 – QlikTech, the world’s fastest-growing Business Intelligence (BI) software company, today announced that Bliss, a leading body and skincare retailer and spa services provider, has successfully deployed QlikView for a unified view of financial and operational analysis. Using QlikView, in less than two weeks Bliss was able to achieve increased efficiencies across the enterprise by turning the invaluable data that was locked in three different ERP systems into actionable information. In only two months of use, its schedule optimizer application is on track to save significant staffing costs. Bliss has also reduced sales and inventory reporting time from two days to a matter of minutes.
Like many multi-channel retailers that have grown organically, Bliss uses a variety of enterprise software for each of its distribution channels, including business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), and point-of-sale for spa sales and services. To eliminate the ongoing problem of manual, time-consuming data consolidation and reporting, Bliss decided to implement a BI system and enlisted the help of Allegro BI, a NYC-based QlikView implementation partner. Working closely together to deploy QlikView, Bliss merged data from all three systems in only three days and was producing consolidated financial reports in less than two weeks.
“Users love QlikView and how they can instantly access data for planning new campaigns or running inventive sales promotions,” said Mohit Govani, Director of IT for Bliss. “With QlikView, employees are now more accountable for performance and truly empowered with the visibility to make the best business decisions possible at that moment in time.”
Bliss is using QlikView analysis across the enterprise — Executive Management, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Merchandising, Supply Chain, Finance and HR — to improve decision making in key areas, such as:
Sales & Financial Performance — With QlikView reporting applications used by employees from the Executive office to the front line, Bliss can analyze targets and sales in real time across multiple dimensions — by channel, territory, technician and products. This dynamic view provides analysis needed in delivering immediate and measurable improvements to the bottom line.
Spa Staffing Optimization — Managers are able to predict how many of each type of service is forecasted by day-part, day of week, and even season of the year intervals to optimize the spa staffing schedules. In only two months of use, the schedule optimizer application is on track to save Bliss approximately 30-40% in staffing costs — which will directly improve the company’s bottom line.
Reporting Efficiency — QlikView has enabled Bliss to increase sales, marketing and inventory performance. With an integrated interface to access data from all three ERP systems, users can analyze trends (e.g., customer affinity analysis and conversion rates), verify inventory (e.g., product sell-through, inbound and on-hand inventory), and access accurate and timely information to enable personalized cross and up-sell offerings for top customers.
QlikView delivers unprecedented ability to unlock information trapped in enterprise systems and put it into the hands of those who can take best advantage of it — in dashboards, analysis, and reports — with drill-down details for full transparency in just a few clicks.
“In today’s challenging business environment, companies are relying on business intelligence to cut costs and meet operational goals in the most efficient way possible,” said Les Bonney, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales. “QlikView is offering Bliss employees at all levels an enterprise view of critical information from multiple systems for fast analysis and decision making — from the boardroom to the warehouse, all the way through to the customer-facing spa reception desk.”
About Bliss Spas
Founded in 1996, bliss was spotted by beauty-obsessed buzz-makers and quickly massaged its way to the top. There are currently 16 bliss spas worldwide: bliss soho, bliss57 and bliss49 (at W New York) in Manhattan, bliss san francisco (at W San Francisco), bliss chicago (at W Chicago-Lakeshore), bliss los angeles (at W Los Angeles – Westwood), bliss dallas (at W Dallas – Victory), bliss atlanta (at W Atlanta – Midtown and at W Atlanta – Downtown), bliss scottsdale (at W Scottsdale), bliss hoboken (at W Hoboken), bliss fort lauderdale (at W Fort Lauderdale) bliss washington dc (at W Washington DC), bliss london in the UK, bliss hong kong (at W Hong Kong), and bliss doha (at W Doha). Upcoming spas include bliss south beach (at W South Beach), bliss barcelona (at W Barcelona), and bliss boston (at W Boston). Bliss bath, body and skincare amenities can be found in room at W Hotels nationwide. Bliss retails its bath, body and skincare lines through its bliss catalog, blissworld.com web site and at international retailers including Bloomingdale's, Bluemercury, Harrod's, Harvey Nichols, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora, and Ulta.
About Allegro Business Intelligence
Allegro BI is solely focused on providing QlikView consulting and implementation services to clients throughout the United States and Canada. They are resellers for the entire QlikTech product line and specialize in building QlikView applications, dashboards, scorecards and analytical models. Allegro consultants have years of experience with the QlikView platform and combine technical excellence with business savvy. Allegro has experience in multiple industry segments including manufacturing, retail, financial services, transportation and logistics and state and local government. Its offices are in New York City and New Jersey. For more information, please visit www.allegro-bi.com.
About QlikTech
QlikTech is the world’s fastest-growing Business Intelligence (BI) company. Its flagship QlikView product delivers instant business answers, enabling users to easily explore their data without limits. Unlike traditional BI, QlikView delivers immediate value with payback measured in days or weeks rather than months, years, or not at all. It is the only BI offering that can be deployed on premise, in the cloud, or on a laptop or mobile device—from a single user to the largest global enterprise. Through QlikView’s disruptive, in-memory associative approach, business users have experienced unprecedented success and satisfaction, backed by its unique 30-day money-back guarantee. QlikTech has more than 11,100 customers in 95 countries and over 800 partners worldwide. For more information, please visit www.qlikview.com
17/09/2009 - Microsoft Dynamics events and webcasts
Microsoft Dynamics events and webcasts
Whether you're a customer, a Microsoft partner, or an industry expert, our conferences and events are created specifically to bring you together with your business community to learn more about the technology solutions and business processes that work best for your people and your company. Here you’ll find events and webcasts to help you improve your business skills and success.
Events
- Convergence
Convergence is the premier Microsoft Dynamics event, bringing customers, partners, team members, and industry experts together in an environment created for you to discuss solutions, address business needs, and establish a true community that can be leveraged throughout the year.
- Microsoft events
Every month, hundreds of Microsoft events occur throughout the United States and all over the world. Visit the Microsoft Events site to find the right event for you.
Microsoft Dynamics webcasts
- See how Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online can transform your business
This Microsoft-hosted solution offers you advanced customer relationship management capabilities without a major investment in IT and staffing. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online webcast can help you learn more.
- Professional basketball team expands customer base with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Join Microsoft, Peppers & Rogers, and the Portland Trail Blazers for an on-demand webcast and learn how you can create customer relations by using Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
- Enterprise resource planning: Accelerate your business toward profit
Learn how Microsoft Dynamics enterprise resource planning (ERP) products and services can make it easier for you to do business with your customers, vendors, and partners. Take part in this free webcast series and interact with technology experts to help you make more-profitable decisions and accelerate your business's growth.
- CRM: Focus on the customer
Tune in and learn how you can help increase sales success, deliver superior customer service, and make informed, agile business decisions with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Whether your organization is currently using Microsoft Dynamics CRM or considering it, this webcast series offers demos and interaction with customer relationship management (CRM) experts that you won't want to miss.
- Interactive Microsoft Dynamics webcast calendar
Quickly find live webcasts that fit your schedule, as well as on-demand webcasts to view at your convenience. Choose your time zone and filter the list by audience, webcast series, product or topic, and presenter.
Microsoft Momentum webcasts
- Cost-cutting solutions with Microsoft technology
Control costs, improve security and availability, and adapt to change. Join the latest cost-savings webcast series or tune in to a podcast to learn how Microsoft technology can help you achieve your unique business goals. Research from industry analysts indicates that roughly 80 percent of the typical IT budget is spent on operations and maintenance, leaving only 20 percent for the IT optimization that can drive business value. Budget for innovation may be squeezed even more in the current economy, but that doesn’t mean it has to stop. From the desktop to the data center, in branch offices or at headquarters, your company can thrive during these tough times by transforming IT into a strategic asset. Join us as we show you how.
- Microsoft Momentum: Drive your business forward
Get expert advice, tips, and techniques to drive your growing small or midsize organization forward. Tune in as field experts discuss technology strategies to transform your business and impact your bottom line. We explore ways to secure your systems, increase productivity, improve customer relationship management, and obtain the solutions you need.
- Interactive Momentum webcast calendar
Quickly find live webcasts that fit your schedule, as well as on-demand webcasts to view at your convenience. Choose your time zone and filter the list by audience, webcast series, product or topic, and presenter
17/07/2008 - ProStrategy help Builders gain strategic competitive advantage
ProStrategy have now released their integrated Project Cost Management solution with familiar Microsoft’s Dynamics NAV functionality.
This meets the needs of Construction, Engineering and Service companies.
Key is providing decision-makers with accurate and timely information that enable them to foresee cost overruns, resource weak points and empowers them to plan strategically.
With Added vertical functionality ProStrategy's vertical industry solution enables building, engineering & service companies to
• Manage projects and contracts effectively
• Automate office operations
• Streamline internal communications
• Integrate business operations
• Enable mobile solutions
• Streamline the supply chain
Managing resources & costs while improving decision making means having key Finance, QS and Purchasing people all working in collaboration.
We at ProStrategy have the tools and skills to assist you to deliver cost efficiency through improved decision making.
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News Archive
01/10/2008 - ProStrategy announces a new partnership agreement with Informatica
08/08/2008 - Data Electronics Announces €3m Partnership Deal with ProStrategy
12/03/2008 - ProStrategy implements new Support Centre
29/08/2007 - ProStrategy launches NilexPlus in Ireland
02/02/2007 - Johnson Brothers go live with Microsoft Dynamics Navision (NAV) from ProStrategy
14/12/2006 - Alltracel plc have chosen Microsoft Dynamics Navision from ProStrategy
31/10/2006 - BioVerda Navision from ProStrategy
11/10/2006 - Storefit choose Navision from ProStrategy
28/07/2006 - ProStrategy achieve Microsoft Gold Certified Partner status
06/06/2006 - MAJOR Grascare cut to the chase with Microsoft Dynamics NAV from ProStrategy
18/05/2006 - CityJet use COGNOS from ProStrategy
05/05/2006 - Johnson Brothers choose Targit B.I. from ProStrategy
04/05/2006 - Greenstar choose COGNOS
24/04/2006 - Masonry Fixings Services Limited
21/04/2006 - Labplan choose ProStrategy to implement MS Dynamics CRM 3.0