Best Practices

[Steve Bennett]

I have in mind to talk here about best practices in reporting.

My first contribution to this forum is a question:

I am currently at Business Objects Insight 2007 Asia Pacific and another presenter talked about publishing trust ratings with their reports. My question is, "Does anybody do this?" If you do, then how do you calculate the trust rating?

[Steve Bennett]

Best practise dashboards, care of Ainsley

[Doug Heywood]

A new announcement from BOBJ looks interesting.

Cross-post is here.

[admin2]

By Jennifer Foreshew, Australian IT July 15, 2008

SOFTWARE that predicts the service life of building components as well as the most cost-effective material has been developed for the Queensland Department of Public Works.

Created at the Co-operative Research Centre for Construction Innovation, based at Queensland University of Technology, in collaboration with CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, the software monitors the metal health of buildings across the state, including 1200 schools.

The system accesses a number of databases of component lifetimes, derived in different ways, making it more robust. It reduces the need to physically inspect a building to find out if metal is corroded.

The Queensland Department of Public Works, which collaborates with the CRC, is investigating ways of using the tool for building design and maintenance. Further research will assess the expected maintenance cost savings.

QUT IT faculty senior lecturer Richi Nayak said the building components life predictions system was the first based on data mining. "The department wanted a system that could take various information about the service life of building components and automatically predict the service life of any new components or new building part in the future, based on historical information," said Dr Nayak, a data mining researcher.

"For example, if they are planning a new building in a particular location and they want to know what metal would last the longest, they can feed the basic information into the system and it would predict the estimated service life."

The service life predictions would enable the department to plan its maintenance schedule. The system also helps to make cost-effective material selections for new buildings and replacement parts. "It would take the information of the current building and predict how many more years these components would last," Dr Nayak said.

The system involves 10 components such as downpipes, ridge capping, roof fasteners, roof sheeting, sub-flooring, window frames and steel supports.

The materials it covers include galvanised steel, Zincalume and Colorbond.

Dr Nayak said timely maintenance rather than reactive repairs would cut maintenance bills on buildings while improving safety.

[Doug Heywood]

A member of the CORTEX has published a great Business Objects XI dictionary. See his post here.

[admin]

Brewer swaps Berry for the Apple

AustralianIT | Fran Foo | May 19, 2009

BREWER Lion Nathan is ditching its BlackBerry smartphones for Apple iPhones.

The win hands Apple a slice of business sector kudos as the BlackBerry, made by Research In Motion, is usually seen as the most useful smartphone for enterprise tasks whereas the iPhone is known for its consumer appeal.

Lion Nathan chief information officer Darryl Warren said the company had purchased more than 150 iPhones.

"We use the iPhone for email, managing contacts, calendaring and communications," Mr Warren said. "We've only got a few BlackBerrys left in our environment ... almost everybody who has an iPhone likes it."

Lion Nathan's iPhones run on the Telstra network and the key reason for the transition is its features.

"There are some other functionalities that we're looking to roll out in future that we can use the iPhone for," Mr Warren said without revealing specifics.

Lion Nathan, which is finalising its $3.5 billion merger with Japanese counterpart Kirin, has no qualms about giving employees the freedom to merge their corporate email devices with their lifestyle.

"It's nice to be able to allow people to put their music on their iPhones ... we're fine with that," Mr Warren said.

The brewer's email platform is Microsoft Exchange/Outlook.

Lion Nathan also had Windows Mobile-based smartphones in its corporate environment, he said. When the iPhone made its debut, it was quickly tossed into the consumer-use-only pool, but its sleek design and features quickly piqued the interest of many corporate leaders.

Fears that the iPhone's security credentials were not up to scratch compared with the BlackBerry have not deterred even government officials.

For example, the NSW Department of Education and Training announced last month that it had purchased 56 iPhones instead of BlackBerrys for offsite email purposes.

The iPhone App Store has recorded more than 1 billion downloads globally, but Research in Motion's version is available only in the US, Canada and Britain, and no date is set for a local launch.

It is not all fun and games on the iPhone App Store: courier giant FedEx has a shipment tracking application, while QlikView has an interactive location-based business intelligence offering for the Apple device.

All is not lost, however for the BlackBerry's maker.

RIM will sponsor Irish group U2's 360 Degree tour, slated to kick off in Barcelona on June 30, in a move that will ensure its brand is exposed to millions of U2 fans.

The band has had a long association with Apple, and the future of their relationship is unclear.