A recent post on the QuoteWerks Support Forum reminded me of an example report we have which illustrates the difference between counting line items and documents. If anyone would like a free copy, then please email support@hilltopsit.co.uk
We use the report as part of our QuoteWerks Reporting training course which we have successfully delivered to QuoteWerks users both in person and worldwide over the internet using gotomeeting screen sharing software. If you are a new user to QuoteWerks or would like some advanced training to unleash the power of QuoteWerks business intelligence reporting, then please get in touch now on +44(0) 1782 564252, +44(0) 844 357 7360 or email info@hilltopsit.co.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
Showing posts with label business intelligence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business intelligence. Show all posts
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
DEVELOPMENT: Google launches API for Google Analytics
Google has announced the release of an API for Google Analytics. This means developers will be more tightly integrate information into users back office, web and mobile applications.
Announcement Headline: A Google Analytics API has long been one of our most widely anticipated features. Today we're pleased to announce that the Google Analytics Data Export API beta is now publicly available to all Analytics users!
What's so exciting about an API? The API will allow developers to extend Google Analytics in new and creative ways that benefit developers, organizations and end users. Large organizations and agencies now have a standardized platform for integrating Analytics data with their own business data. Developers can integrate Google Analytics into their existing products and create standalone applications that they sell. Users could see snapshots of their Analytics data in developer created dashboards and gadgets. Individuals and business owners will have opportunities to access their Google Analytics information in a variety of new ways.
For the full announcement, please see the Google Analytics Blog post.
For more information on Hilltops IT's software development services and to speak with one of our development team about the possibilities for integrating Google Analytics information into your business support systems, please contact us by phone on +44(0) 1782 564252 or by email: development@hilltopsit.co.uk
Announcement Headline: A Google Analytics API has long been one of our most widely anticipated features. Today we're pleased to announce that the Google Analytics Data Export API beta is now publicly available to all Analytics users!
What's so exciting about an API? The API will allow developers to extend Google Analytics in new and creative ways that benefit developers, organizations and end users. Large organizations and agencies now have a standardized platform for integrating Analytics data with their own business data. Developers can integrate Google Analytics into their existing products and create standalone applications that they sell. Users could see snapshots of their Analytics data in developer created dashboards and gadgets. Individuals and business owners will have opportunities to access their Google Analytics information in a variety of new ways.
For the full announcement, please see the Google Analytics Blog post.
For more information on Hilltops IT's software development services and to speak with one of our development team about the possibilities for integrating Google Analytics information into your business support systems, please contact us by phone on +44(0) 1782 564252 or by email: development@hilltopsit.co.uk
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
BLOG: Hilltops IT attend Promota Promotional Merchandise Trade Association show
The Promota Promotional Merchandise Trade Association show is the annual show for promotional gifts industry supplier and distributor members to meet, network and do business.
Exhibitors commented on the quality of the contacts made over the two day show. The eye-catching Promota show bus in the centre of the hall gave members the opportunity to meet the service providers and find out what the association is doing to support your business in difficult trading times. Both new and long-standing members found ways to protect their company and reduce overheads.
Today representatives from Hilltops IT attended alongside Sourcing City to present and talk about the new and existing products and website services which we have been heavily involved in developing. Plus it was a good opportunity to meet and greet many of our own clients from within the promotional gifts industry.
The solution offerings which had the most interest from attendees include the imminent Sourcing City website development (the current version of which was awarded BPMA Website of the Year 2008), Dynamic Office - a QuoteWerks based software solution tailored for use in the promotional gifts industry, Sourcing Planet - a website optimised promotional gift sourcing tool for end users, plus miscellaneous queries on bespoke back office system customisations and website developments.
Note to non-promotional gifts industry readers: please don't think that our solutions are exclusive to the promotional gifts industry! Our solutions are fit for "any" business that manages customer or supplier relationships, sells products or services or requires a website.
For further information on our website and software development services, please do not hesitate to contact us on +44(0)844 357 7360 or +44(0)1782 564252 or email development@hilltopsit.co.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
Exhibitors commented on the quality of the contacts made over the two day show. The eye-catching Promota show bus in the centre of the hall gave members the opportunity to meet the service providers and find out what the association is doing to support your business in difficult trading times. Both new and long-standing members found ways to protect their company and reduce overheads.
Today representatives from Hilltops IT attended alongside Sourcing City to present and talk about the new and existing products and website services which we have been heavily involved in developing. Plus it was a good opportunity to meet and greet many of our own clients from within the promotional gifts industry.
The solution offerings which had the most interest from attendees include the imminent Sourcing City website development (the current version of which was awarded BPMA Website of the Year 2008), Dynamic Office - a QuoteWerks based software solution tailored for use in the promotional gifts industry, Sourcing Planet - a website optimised promotional gift sourcing tool for end users, plus miscellaneous queries on bespoke back office system customisations and website developments.
Note to non-promotional gifts industry readers: please don't think that our solutions are exclusive to the promotional gifts industry! Our solutions are fit for "any" business that manages customer or supplier relationships, sells products or services or requires a website.
For further information on our website and software development services, please do not hesitate to contact us on +44(0)844 357 7360 or +44(0)1782 564252 or email development@hilltopsit.co.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
Friday, February 6, 2009
DEVELOPMENT: Fortnightly digest - what's happening at Hilltops IT and the world of software development
We've been writing on the blog now for several weeks about the SQL Server Reporting Services bespoke Business Intelligence reporting bespoke development project which we have been developing. This also involved some SQL Server Integration Services work - the two go hand-in-hand in many ways for larger reporting database projects.
For anyone interested in SSIS, there is a useful introductory article here which explains many of the concepts: http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/biz/SSIS_An_Inside_View_Part_1_p1.aspx
For further information on our website and software development services, please do not hesitate to contact us on +44(0)844 357 7360 or +44(0)1782 564252 or email development@hilltopsit.co.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
For anyone interested in SSIS, there is a useful introductory article here which explains many of the concepts: http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/biz/SSIS_An_Inside_View_Part_1_p1.aspx
For further information on our website and software development services, please do not hesitate to contact us on +44(0)844 357 7360 or +44(0)1782 564252 or email development@hilltopsit.co.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
BLOG: Hilltops IT customer wins award for their website
Sourcing City has won BPMA Website of the Year 2008. Hilltops IT worked alongside Akiko Design to develop the site – each company focussing on their strengths in a project which involved automatic database and FTP synchronisation between remote data sources, complex search functionality, user tracking through the site, plus (of course!) a slick user interface.
Says David Long (Chairman, Sourcing City): “Thanks and congratulations to all of the team that have contributed to our Award; I really appreciate what you do to get us to the top. Many people put a lot of effort into making sure we are the best at what we do and now it has been officially recognised by our National Trade Association. I think we all have every reason to feel really proud of what we have achieved together. To put thing into perspective, we are now officially the Best Website in the £1 Billion Promotional Merchandise Industry.”
Says Stephen Siggs (CEO, Hilltops IT): “It’s fantastic to have been associated with this project and the award. It is particularly exciting in light of the imminent release of a new site, which has improvements in every area plus lots of new features. Wait until your customer-base and BPMA get a load of that!!!”
About the Site
The current site allows users to search (and find!) promotional merchandise products and suppliers thereof from a database of over 80,000 products. Over the five years since its original launched, Sourcing City has become an increasingly utilised tool for Distributors in the Promotional Merchandise industry to find products and for Suppliers to advertise their products.
The site has several product categorisations to help users find products and suppliers. It also has features which allow the user to email information on the product direct to their client.
As well as having a significant design facelift, the new site has hugely improved search functions to help users search and find different and innovative products for their clients’ promotional activities. With this alongside the reporting, ‘page turning’, ‘real-time branding’ and ‘lite’ quotation tool features, users can look forward to a significantly enhanced experience.
Technical Specifications
The current website was originally developed using SQL Server 2000 for data storage (subsequently upgraded to SQL Server 2005) with a Visual Studio 2005 .net 2.0 with AJAX developed front end and content management system (CMS).
The new website (due to be launch imminently) uses the same SQL Server 2005 database for data storage, SQL Server Reporting Services for reporting with a Visual Studio 2008 .net 3.5 with AJAX developed front end and content management system (CMS).
The data which ‘drives’ the site is automatically synchronised from Sourcing City’s [in-house system] plus statistics on “who’s clicking on what and when” are captured as part of the site for market analysis purposes.
Further Information
If you'd like more information on our experience with website design, website development or business intelligence reporting services, please do not hesitate to contact us on +44(0) 844 357 7360 or +44(0) 1782 564252 or email info@hilltopsit.co.uk
Says David Long (Chairman, Sourcing City): “Thanks and congratulations to all of the team that have contributed to our Award; I really appreciate what you do to get us to the top. Many people put a lot of effort into making sure we are the best at what we do and now it has been officially recognised by our National Trade Association. I think we all have every reason to feel really proud of what we have achieved together. To put thing into perspective, we are now officially the Best Website in the £1 Billion Promotional Merchandise Industry.”
Says Stephen Siggs (CEO, Hilltops IT): “It’s fantastic to have been associated with this project and the award. It is particularly exciting in light of the imminent release of a new site, which has improvements in every area plus lots of new features. Wait until your customer-base and BPMA get a load of that!!!”
About the Site
The current site allows users to search (and find!) promotional merchandise products and suppliers thereof from a database of over 80,000 products. Over the five years since its original launched, Sourcing City has become an increasingly utilised tool for Distributors in the Promotional Merchandise industry to find products and for Suppliers to advertise their products.
The site has several product categorisations to help users find products and suppliers. It also has features which allow the user to email information on the product direct to their client.
As well as having a significant design facelift, the new site has hugely improved search functions to help users search and find different and innovative products for their clients’ promotional activities. With this alongside the reporting, ‘page turning’, ‘real-time branding’ and ‘lite’ quotation tool features, users can look forward to a significantly enhanced experience.
Technical Specifications
The current website was originally developed using SQL Server 2000 for data storage (subsequently upgraded to SQL Server 2005) with a Visual Studio 2005 .net 2.0 with AJAX developed front end and content management system (CMS).
The new website (due to be launch imminently) uses the same SQL Server 2005 database for data storage, SQL Server Reporting Services for reporting with a Visual Studio 2008 .net 3.5 with AJAX developed front end and content management system (CMS).
The data which ‘drives’ the site is automatically synchronised from Sourcing City’s [in-house system] plus statistics on “who’s clicking on what and when” are captured as part of the site for market analysis purposes.
Further Information
If you'd like more information on our experience with website design, website development or business intelligence reporting services, please do not hesitate to contact us on +44(0) 844 357 7360 or +44(0) 1782 564252 or email info@hilltopsit.co.uk
Friday, January 9, 2009
DEVELOPMENT: Fortnightly digest - what's happening at Hilltops IT and the world of software development
Hilltops IT Developer's diary
Since last fortnight's post, most development activity has been on the following projects:
Plus! We've been looking at the feasibility of a new product in the ConnectIT range. More on that soon.
Since last fortnight's post, most development activity has been on the following projects:
- Website development - development work on our Hilltops IT website for re-branding. This has been the main focus for us - bringing together the design work with the "nuts and bolts" of the mechanics of the site. there are still a couple of tweaks to make, but the site is looking really good. Everyone internally is really excited about being able to announce the launch.
- Business Intelligence reporting - continued work on a bespoke project reporting on 3,000,000+ rows of data from disparate data sources using SQL Server Reporting Services.
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM - minor tweaks to an existing customer's MSCRM system for additional summary information in their Accounts screen.
Plus! We've been looking at the feasibility of a new product in the ConnectIT range. More on that soon.
Industry News
Microsoft Releases Windows 7 Beta
Microsoft have released Windows 7 Beta as a free download
For more details on what to expect from Windows 7, see the home page here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/default.aspx
To download the free beta, see here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx
For further information on our website and software development services, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on 0844 357 7360 or 01782 564252 or email development@hilltopsit.co.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
Friday, December 19, 2008
DEVELOPMENT: Fortnightly digest - what's happening at Hilltops IT and the world of software development
Hilltops IT Developer's diary
Industry News
SQL Server 2005 SP3 released
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 (SP3) contains all the cumulative updates for SQL Server 2005, and fixes to issues that have been reported through our customer feedback platforms. These include supportability enhancements and issues that have been reported through Windows Error Reporting.
Download the service pack here.
The read about what's new, click here.
Sage CRM Solutions 2010 Strategy
A very interesting insight into Sage CRM Solutions's thoughts on CRM and CRM solutions generally, plus future development roadmap plans.
INTRODUCTION
Since the inception of CRM, the balance of power has shifted dramatically between buyers and sellers, with the rate of change accelerating in the past five years. Today, companies must
offer extremely cost-efficient, differentiable customer experiences to acquire and retain profitable customer relationships. In our highly globalized economy, CRM is critical to enable businesses of every shape and size to fulfill the needs and expectations of their customers.
See the full article here.
Business Intelligence reporting - continued work on a bespoke project reporting on 3,000,000+ rows of data from disparate data sources using SQL Server Reporting Services.
ConnectIT-Sage - work on an interim release for a particular client's requirements. this feature will be rolled into a future build release for all users.
Website development - design work on our Hilltops IT website for rebranding.
Website development - prototyping work on our ConnectIT website for advertising using image banner ads.
Industry News
SQL Server 2005 SP3 released
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 (SP3) contains all the cumulative updates for SQL Server 2005, and fixes to issues that have been reported through our customer feedback platforms. These include supportability enhancements and issues that have been reported through Windows Error Reporting.
Download the service pack here.
The read about what's new, click here.
Sage CRM Solutions 2010 Strategy
A very interesting insight into Sage CRM Solutions's thoughts on CRM and CRM solutions generally, plus future development roadmap plans.
INTRODUCTION
Since the inception of CRM, the balance of power has shifted dramatically between buyers and sellers, with the rate of change accelerating in the past five years. Today, companies must
offer extremely cost-efficient, differentiable customer experiences to acquire and retain profitable customer relationships. In our highly globalized economy, CRM is critical to enable businesses of every shape and size to fulfill the needs and expectations of their customers.
See the full article here.
For further information on our software development services, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on 0844 357 7360 or 01782 721301 or email development@hilltopsit.co.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
DEVELOPMENT: issue with DateTime datatype in SQL Server Reporting Services
We recently upgraded a client’s SQL Server 2000 business intelligence reports to SQL Server 2005, and from a Visual Studio .net 1.1 software development environment to Visual Studio 2005.
It should be a simple transition we thought, which it was… apart from some anomalies around the datetime parameters in SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services.
There were a couple of things we noticed going wrong. Firstly, defaulting a value to 2/11/2008 (dd/MM/yyyy) for example would come through on the report as 11/2/2008. Secondly, when changing the date from 11/2/2008 using the datepicker to 12/2/2008 would display 2/12/2008 in the textbox. Basically, the dd/MM/yyyy was getting transposed to MM/dd/yyyy and back again.
Also there were "the value provided for the report parameter [parameter name] is not valid for its type" selecting the dates and running the report when dates like 13/2/2008 or 2/13/2008 were selected.
Searching the internet we found a number of reports of similar issues with several different fixes being required. Unfortunately no blog or knowledgebase article seemed to have all the information in one place, so we have centralized the details of fixes here.
We hope that you find it useful.
Report Server changes
1) First, ensure that all up to date SQL Server Service Packs are installed – there are reports that the problem for server-side issues were fixed in Services Pack 1 but the reintroduced in Service Pack 2. At time of writing the issue is understood to be fixed with patch releases to date.
SQL Server Service Packs and Hot Fixes can be found by using Windows Update or the Microsoft Download Centre: http://download.microsoft.com/
2) Next, we need to change (or add) the Culture value in Report.aspx to:
<%@ Page language="c#" Codebehind="Report.aspx.cs" AutoEventWireup="false" Inherits="Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.ReportWrapperPage" EnableEventValidation="false" Culture="en-GB"%>
<%@ Page language="c#" Codebehind="Report.aspx.cs" AutoEventWireup="false" Inherits="Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.ReportWrapperPage" EnableEventValidation="false" Culture="en-GB" %>%@ Page language="c#" Codebehind="Report.aspx.cs" AutoEventWireup="false" Inherits="Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.ReportWrapperPage" EnableEventValidation="false" Culture="en-GB" %
Report.aspx can be found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.?\Reporting Services\ReportManager\Pages\
3) Finally, change the culture in the IIS to "en-GB": Control Panel \ Administrative Tools \ Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager \ Properties \ ASP.NET tab \ Edit Configuration button \ Application tab \ Globalisation Settings section \ Culture
Report Definition changes
The blog entry we found on this said to ensure that the language for the report itself is set to your country (Layout view, Report Properties). We couldn’t find this place in the UI to change this, so instead did a Find and Replace on “en-US ” for “en-GB ”.
Changing the Language and redeploying the reports should now fix the problem for the user. If however the users still get problems, then ask them to check the Language Settings of their browser are “English (United Kingdom) [en-gb]”
Development machine changes
Ok – so you have fixed the problem for your users, but Visual Studio still doesn’t behave quite right. We need to change the Regional Settings slightly.
First close visual studio, then change the Regional Settings on your development machine. Customize the short date format to "yyyy-MM-dd" (Control Panel \ Regional and Language Options \ Regional Options \ Customize button \ Date) This fixes the report Preview from Visual Studio.
Note that this may cause problems with other applications. If anyone has a better fix for this particular issue, please email development@hilltopsit.co.uk and we will update this post.
It should be a simple transition we thought, which it was… apart from some anomalies around the datetime parameters in SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services.
There were a couple of things we noticed going wrong. Firstly, defaulting a value to 2/11/2008 (dd/MM/yyyy) for example would come through on the report as 11/2/2008. Secondly, when changing the date from 11/2/2008 using the datepicker to 12/2/2008 would display 2/12/2008 in the textbox. Basically, the dd/MM/yyyy was getting transposed to MM/dd/yyyy and back again.
Also there were "the value provided for the report parameter [parameter name] is not valid for its type" selecting the dates and running the report when dates like 13/2/2008 or 2/13/2008 were selected.
Searching the internet we found a number of reports of similar issues with several different fixes being required. Unfortunately no blog or knowledgebase article seemed to have all the information in one place, so we have centralized the details of fixes here.
We hope that you find it useful.
Report Server changes
1) First, ensure that all up to date SQL Server Service Packs are installed – there are reports that the problem for server-side issues were fixed in Services Pack 1 but the reintroduced in Service Pack 2. At time of writing the issue is understood to be fixed with patch releases to date.
SQL Server Service Packs and Hot Fixes can be found by using Windows Update or the Microsoft Download Centre: http://download.microsoft.com/
2) Next, we need to change (or add) the Culture value in Report.aspx to:
<%@ Page language="c#" Codebehind="Report.aspx.cs" AutoEventWireup="false" Inherits="Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.ReportWrapperPage" EnableEventValidation="false" Culture="en-GB"%>
<%@ Page language="c#" Codebehind="Report.aspx.cs" AutoEventWireup="false" Inherits="Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.ReportWrapperPage" EnableEventValidation="false" Culture="en-GB" %>%@ Page language="c#" Codebehind="Report.aspx.cs" AutoEventWireup="false" Inherits="Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.ReportWrapperPage" EnableEventValidation="false" Culture="en-GB" %
Report.aspx can be found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.?\Reporting Services\ReportManager\Pages\
3) Finally, change the culture in the IIS to "en-GB": Control Panel \ Administrative Tools \ Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager \ Properties \ ASP.NET tab \ Edit Configuration button \ Application tab \ Globalisation Settings section \ Culture
Report Definition changes
The blog entry we found on this said to ensure that the language for the report itself is set to your country (Layout view, Report Properties). We couldn’t find this place in the UI to change this, so instead did a Find and Replace on “
Changing the Language and redeploying the reports should now fix the problem for the user. If however the users still get problems, then ask them to check the Language Settings of their browser are “English (United Kingdom) [en-gb]”
Development machine changes
Ok – so you have fixed the problem for your users, but Visual Studio still doesn’t behave quite right. We need to change the Regional Settings slightly.
First close visual studio, then change the Regional Settings on your development machine. Customize the short date format to "yyyy-MM-dd" (Control Panel \ Regional and Language Options \ Regional Options \ Customize button \ Date) This fixes the report Preview from Visual Studio.
Note that this may cause problems with other applications. If anyone has a better fix for this particular issue, please email development@hilltopsit.co.uk and we will update this post.
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