Analytics and business intelligence
SILVER AWARD:
Actuate Corp--Actuate 9 e.Spreadsheet
A runner-up in the analytics and business intelligence (BI) Product of Year category, judges noted that Actuate Corp's e.Spreadsheet offers an answer to a vexing problem in business intelligence (BI) management: the proliferation of the spreadsheet. e.Spreadsheet manages data access, design, assembly, security and distribution of data-driven spreadsheets to tens of thousands of consumers. e.Spreadsheet-based systems can track, capture and manage user activity associated with Microsoft Excel documents produced by the e.Spreadsheet server.
For years, spreadsheets such as Excel have been both lauded by users and lamented by IT as the king of business intelligence -- and IT directors say they are always looking for products to help better manage the potential data integrity problems introduced by spreadsheets in the enterprise.
Actuate e.Spreadsheet helps companies manage and distribute information as Excel spreadsheets while maintaining full control over data management. The product helps business users create and receive live data in the familiar spreadsheet format. It includes the capabilities users expect in spreadsheets such as live formatting, pivot tables, filters, 3D charting and calculation -- while providing centralized spreadsheet maintenance, archiving, versioning, security and scheduling via the Actuate iServer. Actuate's e.Spreadsheet and SmartSheet security integrate with the report management and deployment capabilities of the Actuate iServer as server-based products. e.Spreadsheet uses a design definition to dictate the structure and user rights of the Excel documents it produces. These definitions are created in the e.Spreadsheet Designer, a client-side spreadsheet blueprinting tool.
Our judges noted how e.Spreadsheet addresses spreadsheet quality, usage and control issues. It offers functions for:
- Improving data integrity through BI techniques like using SQL, querying metadata layers, applying security to data, workbooks and cells and generating spreadsheets from a server to maintain a consistent baseline.
- Enabling the repeatability of the Excel distribution process by using a dedicated tool, e.Spreadsheet Designer, to build the blueprint of the resulting spreadsheets.
- Using built-in capabilities of Excel like macros, validation rules and activity logging to oversee changes and usage.
- Maintaining a server-side master copy of spreadsheets.
- Integrating into other Excel-based tracking and monitoring solutions.
e.Spreadsheet starts at $2,000 for ten departmental users. When offered at the enterprise level, e.Spreadsheet starts at $750 per user, with volume discounts available. The vendor also offers "Platform" licensing which combines per CPU licenses with user-based licenses. Learn more about Actuate 9 e.Spreadsheet here on Actuate's Web site.
Editors, SearchDataManagement.com
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