Strong .NET Analytics helps to develop effective business intelligence applications

An important pre-requisite for developing sophisticated business intelligence applications on Microsoft Silverlight, Windows Forms and ASP.NET is some sort of a .NET analytics component (or framework) that works with multidimensional data and has these key capabilities:

   - Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) capabilities
   - Data visualization that works with multidimensional data
   - Built-in support for commonly used analytics operations

Let’s briefly look at each one of these to better understand how GrapeCity ActiveAnalysis meets these requirements.

The ActiveAnalysis pivot view supports OLAP from the ground-up

OLAP is best described as a technique (or a way) to get fast answers to multidimensional data queries. The ActiveAnalysis pivot view uses these OLAP compatible features:

   - An OLAP compatible pivot grid that handles OLAP data
   - Support for multidimensional expressions (MDX) and local cubes as data sources
   - Data cards or data panes that help design the multidimensional data view
   - Data shelfs to host measures and dimensions for the pivot view

Also see ActiveAnalysis as a .NET/Silverlight OLAP client for Microsoft Analysis Services (SSAS).

ActiveAnalysis data visualization works with multidimensional data

ActiveAnalysis comes with built-in charts and data visualization features that are designed for multidimensional data from the ground up. They include:

   - Flexible Charting options and the ability to instantly switch between text views and chart views
   - Visually differentiating multiple data elements in the same view
   - Creating multiple views (business dashboards) for the same data
   - Plotting trend lines in both discrete and continuous modes
   - Animating timeline graphs to uncover hidden trends in data
   - Ability to select individual data points for more analysis
   - Drag and drop user interface for maximum ease of use

ActiveAnalysis implements commonly used analytics tasks

ActiveAnalysis has built-in support for common analytics tasks that include:

   - Quickly filtering data with pre-defined filters
   - Drilling down and up the data
   - Performing top down and bottom up analysis
   - Displaying summary and aggregate information
   - Ranking and sorting data
   - Undoing changes made to the analysis view
   - Exporting to Microsoft Excel for offline sharing
   - Printing and sharing of analysis results

Conclusion

GrapeCity ActiveAnalysis provides everything you need from a Microsoft Silverlight, Windows Forms and ASP.NET analytics component to help you develop complete business intelligence solutions with business dashboards, database analytics and more, with very little effort.

Using ActiveAnalysis as an OLAP Client for Microsoft Analysis Services

GrapeCity ActiveAnalysis for Silverlight, Windows Forms and ASP.NET supports Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) OLAP cubes via the built-in MDX Data Source control.

That means you can embed ActiveAnalysis in your Silverlight and .NET applications as a rich, interactive drag and drop OLAP and Data Visualization client for Microsoft Analysis Services (SSAS). If bound to an OLAP (MDX) data source, ActiveAnalysis delegates all data management and calculations to the server and this greatly increases application performance for large datasets.


Analyzing a Microsoft Analysis Services Cube or a Perspective
You can either connect to Cubes or optionally, any perspectives created within these cubes by using Microsoft Analysis Services. Perspectives are viewpoints that narrow down the amount of data available in the entire data cube to present only relevant attributes, measures, KPIs, and named sets.

Analyzing KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
The KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) list contains fields that measure progress toward a goal for the organization. These are created in Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services using MDX (multidimensional expressions) and calculated members. ActiveAnalysis interprets KPIs as simple measure values and if the default rendering theme is selected, it will display them as dark khaki color so they are easily distinguished from blue attributes and green measures.

Working with Named Sets
ActiveAnalysis recognizes the Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services Named Sets list. A Named Set can either be an expression or a set of dimension members. They are created in Microsoft Analysis Services using cube data, arithmetic operators, numbers, and functions to make complex set definitions reusable.

When you drag a Named Set and drop it onto an ActiveAnalysis Column or Row shelf, with the default theme, it appears in blue, like an attribute, and adds a field to the Filters shelf.

Benefit of using ActiveAnalysis with Microsoft Analysis Services (SSAS)
ActiveAnalysis can be used as a Microsoft Analysis Services (SSAS) /SQL OLAP client in Silverlight and .NET to allow end users to leverage actionable information effortlessly from all Microsoft SQL Server relational and cube data sources. Cross-tab grid views, graphs, dashboards that combine multiple views – for comprehensive business intelligence (BI) – are all available to end users via simple drag and drop actions.

For more information, see:
How to use Perspectives, KPIs, Named Sets
How to connect to a Microsoft Analysis Services MDX data source

What is a Dashboard and how to build a dashboard report

What is a dashboard report?

Stephen Few offers the most pragmatic definition of a dashboard that cuts through the marketing hype.

A dashboard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives; consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the information can be monitored at a glance. This is the fundamental nature of dashboards.

In addition, a dashboard can have these supporting attributes to do its job effectively.

• High-level summaries.
• Concise, clear, and intuitive display mechanisms.
• Customized for a given person, group or function.

Other items that are mentioned when discussing dashboards such as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), real time displays and use of the web browser for viewing the dashboard - are nice to have but not pre-requisites for a dashboard to be useful.

What are the different types of dashboard reports?

At a very basic level, dashboards can be divided into three types:

• Dashboards that show data snapshots, with alerts and milestones highlighted.
• Dashboards that look like scorecards showing trends and performance over time.
• Dashboards that are a combination of the two.

Using ActiveReports to build a dashboard report

The following screenshot is a good example of how you can use ActiveReports by GrapeCity or your existing .NET reporting tool to present data in a dashboard format. This particular sample is taken from a healthcare reporting application developed using ActiveReports. It uses lists, bar charts, line charts and surface charts to show both snapshot data and trends in the data.

Dashboard report with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Data Dynamics Reports is a .NET business reporting tool by GrapeCity for Windows Forms and ASP.NET. It includes built-in Key Performance Indicator (KPI) controls such as spark lines and bullet graphs that give users an instantaneous view of how a KPI or other statistic is currently doing—all in a space-saving display. Data Dynamics Reports can be used to custom develop Windows Forms dashboards and ASP.NET dashboards.

The dashboard samples below use bullet graphs and spark lines and other elements. Learn more about Bullet Graphs and Spark lines or watch a video on how to develop a dashboard.

Dashboards that use data visualization

Unlike most OLAP and analysis products that are either primarily pivot tables or primarily charts, GrapeCity ActiveAnalysis grasps data at its fundamental level and offers a wide array of OLAP, data visualization and business intelligence capabilities. With the click of a button, you can turn a cross-tab pivot table into a trellis display of feature-rich charts and turn it back with another click.

The dashboard sample below is developed using ActiveAnalysis.

Another benefit of using ActiveAnalysis is that you can develop Silverlight dashboards, Windows Forms dashboards and ASP.NET dashboards using just one component.

See the code walkthrough and Learn how to develop this dashboard.

Happy dashboarding!

GrapeCity Announces ActiveAnalysis 2 for OLAP, Data Visualization and Business Intelligence Development in Microsoft Silverlight and .NET Framework - GrapeCity, inc. - pitchengine.com

GrapeCity Announces ActiveAnalysis 2 for OLAP, Data Visualization and Business Intelligence Development in Microsoft Silverlight and .NET Framework - GrapeCity, inc. - pitchengine.com

ActiveAnalysis 2 for OLAP, Data Visualization and BI on .NET and Silverlight

The GrapeCity PowerTools team today announced the release of ActiveAnalysis 2.

The most powerful aspect of ActiveAnalysis is that it not only provides out-of-the-box OLAP, data visualization and business intelligence features, but it also supports all three Microsoft development platforms - Silverlight, Windows Forms and ASP.NET, in one easy to use component.

The latest version of ActiveAnalysis also adds Micrsoft Excel export capabilities, and this combined with a flexible data binding model makes it easy to build BI applications that offer a consistent, rich user experience on both Windows and on the web.

Where to look for more information on the web site:
Check out the new Overview page, the Features page, and the brand new Gallery page to get a feel of the power that is packed into this component. Watch the videos and read thru the "How to use" section to get an even better feel for what you can do with this product.

What does the free, fully functional trial contain?
Once you have downloaded the free trial, you will notice that the ActiveAnalysis installation includes a number of resources to help you get started with the product:

1. An ActiveAnalysis viewer application for Windows that you can use to start importing and visualizing data right away to get a hands-on feel for what ActiveAnalysis can do.
2. Silverlight and ASP.NET based ActiveAnalysis web viewers to check out the richness of web based OLAP and data visualization with ActiveAnalysis.
3. If you don't feel like connecting and importing data yourself, there are three interactive Solution Gallery applications installed with your component.
4. These comprehensive Solution Galleries for Silverlight, Windows and ASP.NET make it easy to select sample visualizations from the list of pre-installed samples and use as starting points for creating your own visualizations.
5. If you want to get hands-on with the samples, just open the Visual Studio project files to get started. The samples are divided into three categories, one each for Silverlight, Windows Forms and ASP.NET and are available in both C# and VB.NET.
6. Refer to the new, improved ActiveAnalysis product documentation to follow along the articles, how-tos and sample walkthroughs.
7. The product documentation has two major sections - a Users Guide that covers how to use the built-in features and a Developers Guide that demonstrates how to develop with ActiveAnalysis.

Whether you are looking to add OLAP, data visualization and business intelligence features to existing applications or whether you are developing BI applications from the ground-up, ActiveAnalysis will quickly become an indispensable part of your programming toolbox.

Comparing Discrete and Continuous Data Visualization in ActiveAnalysis

A new feature in the GrapeCity ActiveAnalysis Beta is the ability to switch between Discrete and Continuous attributes.

This feature is particularly useful for analyzing data across Dates where you would not only want to plot data against discrete Date values as mapped from the database but would also like to better discover any trends in the data for a given time span.

ActiveAnalysis can take discrete values of specific types (numbers or dates) and display them as series of data along a continuous axis. This results in two benefits:

• Display more information in less space.
• Understand data trends for a given time span.

All attributes and hierarchies can be switched to continuous mode, although not all types of attribute fields make sense in continuous mode. ActiveAnalysis displays the results if it makes sense; otherwise, no values are displayed.

Each member must be able to produce its own continuous value, which is only possible in some situations. This is because ActiveAnalysis cannot determine whether an attribute or hierarchy has continuous data; it simply tries to interpret the data as continuous and display it if possible.

As mentioned earlier, the value must be a Number or a Date type to be displayed in continuous mode.

ActiveAnalysis Automatic Encoding Feature and Benefit

The newly released GrapeCity ActiveAnalysis 2 Beta for .NET and Silverlight has a few interesting new features.

The support for Microsoft Silverlight based data analysis and data visualization user experience with Microsoft Excel export of the analysis data are of-course the big ones but in this post, we will briefly cover a different new feature.

Automatic Encoding uses a set of rules to determine the best encoding type (graphical representation) to use for analyzing your data based on the way measures and attributes are arranged on the data shelves.

For e.g. Are you looking at Date based data on the column shelf and place a measure on the row shelf? We’ll automatically use the line encoding. Using something other than dates in a similar situation? We’ll use the bar encoding. In the screenshot below, notice the "Auto Bar" setting in the bottom left corner.

                                                  ActiveAnalysis Automatic Encoding Example

So what's the benefit?

This feature makes it easy for end users to concentrate on discovering new trends and insights in their data without having to worry about changing the encoding settings to match new layouts as they iteratively do their data analysis.

To learn more, read the Encodings section in the ActiveAnalysis product documentation.

Pre-Order GrapeCity ActiveAnalysis to Save $200 or more!

The ActiveAnalysis 2 Beta (formerly Data Dynamics Analysis) by GrapeCity is the first and the most complete freeform OLAP, data analysis and data visualization component that enables out-of-the-box ad hoc drag and drop business intelligence for end users and supports Windows Forms, ASP.NET and Microsoft Silverlight, all in one convenient package.

GrapeCity also announced a special, limited-time Pre-Order offer on ActiveAnalysis 2 by offering the new version at the current MSRP price, a net savings of a minimum of $200 for every developer license. The savings increase even more if you order more licenses or better still, order the Site License and the just launched Maintenance options, all at current price!

Read the Full Announcement Page to get more information and pre-order your copy of ActiveAnalysis before time runs out!

GrapeCity Announces ActiveAnalysis 2.0 Beta with Freeform Data Analysis and Data Visualization for Microsoft Silverlight

The world’s first freeform data analysis and data visualization component for Windows Forms and ASP.NET adds Silverlight support and Excel export

MORRISVILLE, NC — GrapeCity has announced the availability of ActiveAnalysis 2.0 Beta, formerly known as Data Dynamics Analysis. The world’s first freeform data analysis component for Windows Forms, ASP.NET and Silverlight allows developers to rapidly embed out-of-the-box OLAP, data visualization, and ad hoc business intelligence (BI) features into their applications.

Designed for Microsoft Silverlight 4, the latest version supports printing and the use of context menus within Silverlight. The Silverlight support allows .NET developers to rapidly embed out-of-the-box interactive, cross-browser data analysis and visualization features into their applications.

Another significant feature is the support for exporting the onscreen data to Microsoft Excel for offline analysis. End users can export the onscreen data, including encoded values and exports it to a format that allows them to further analyze or manipulate the data in Excel.

Major new features include:

• Silverlight based out-of-the-box cross-browser data analysis capabilities
• Excel export for offline analysis on the desktop
• Intelligent processing of numeric and date data to display more information in less space
• Automatic selection of the correct visual representation based on the data type
• Accelerated information discovery and analysis for end users

Commenting on the release, James Johnson, the GrapeCity PowerTools Product Manager said, “By enabling Silverlight based data analysis combined with Excel export, the product effectively allows developers to benefit from the centralized deployment and distribution of their Silverlight based web application while giving users the rich client experience they get with traditional desktop tools.”

The release version of GrapeCity ActiveAnalysis 2.0 will be available for Windows Forms, ASP.NET and Silverlight. Prices start at $999, with site licensing and annual maintenance available.

About GrapeCity

Founded in 1980, GrapeCity is an international award-winning Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, a premier Visual Studio Industry Partner and the world’s largest provider of developer components. The company has more than 850 employees and tens of thousands of customers worldwide. For over 25 years, GrapeCity has provided enterprises around the world with state-of-the-art developer tools and components, software services and solutions. For more information, visit http://www.gcpowertools.com/ .