System iNetwork

November 2008

November 25, 2008 2:04 PM

Fatal Flaws in BI Implementations

Failed BI efforts generally revolve around people and processes rather than technology, Gartner reports. The IT research and advisory firm pinpoints nine "fatal flaws" that stop companies from achieving strategic BI results. Bill Langston, director of marketing and channel development for New Generation Software, shares insights on each of these pitfalls. Chime in if you have reactions, too, or see additional weak spots to consider.

Flaw #1: Believing that "If you build it, they will come"

Langston: It’s tempting to think keeping users out of the software evaluation and tools selection will speed the project along. But when you look back a year or two after implementation, the companies with the highest ROI are almost always the ones where both technical and business people were involved from the beginning. People tend not to trust new software they are to use if they haven’t had any input in its selection. Users have strong opinions about the look, feel, and function of BI tools just as software developers have strong opinions about the languages and development environments they use. Another huge benefit to getting other managers involved at the beginning of the project is that if these managers see the project benefiting them, they may be willing to pay for all or at least some of the effort from their budget, rather than the IT budget. In fact, the willingness of at least one other manager to help fund and embrace the project is a powerful indicator of whether the solution has a chance of being adopted by users outside the IT department.

Flaw #2: Managers "dancing with the numbers"

Langston: Excel is a terrific tool for analysts, and it’s unrealistic to think companies are going to stop using it as a BI tool. But, Excel is not a data mart. The data underlying your Excel worksheets should not originate in Excel. It needs to come from a secure data source that’s updated according to an agreed-upon set of rules. A middle ground that addresses the need to provide Excel users with access to sensitive data, while maintaining control over its accessibility, is to store the underlying data your Excel users need in XML format inside your corporate security environment and use Excel’s XML import feature to link it to worksheets. On the IBM i, you can use the Integrated File System (IFS) to hold the XML files in secured folders. This also provides a way to ensure that the data in an Excel sheet is based on actual corporate data, not individual user’s manual input.

Flaw #3: Data quality problem? What data quality problem?

Langston: Most companies don’t realize how bad their data is until they start providing managers and analysts with reports. Part of the problem is due to the lack of standards for data entry, and part of the problem results from a lack of agreed-upon definitions and methods for deriving values when using data elements for BI. The easiest way to improve the quality of the data entered by users is to give them reports based on the data they entered and assign them a task that requires them to try to use this data in some fashion. People who never thought about the ramifications of how they enter data usually raise their standards if they can see how the data is used downstream.

Flaw #4: Evaluate other BI platforms? Why bother?

Langston: Many of the BI offerings from the major ERP vendors were developed independently and then brought together as a result of a merger or acquisition. They may not offer more than a veneer of integration, and future release enhancements may be driven by the needs of the ERP sales team, rather than by the broader needs of existing customers. They may also be optimized for the platform where the ERP vendor feels it has the most growth potential. Often, for IBM i customers, that means a BI solution that’s Windows or UNIX centric, rather than one designed for DB2 and the i.

Flaw #5: It's perfect as it is. Don't ever change...

Langston: NGS often tells companies that if their BI project is successful, it will become equally as important to their business as their accounting or other “mission-critical” business software. That sometimes comes as a surprise to managers who think of it as having a beginning and ending date. If you aren’t getting lots of requests for new information or different ways of viewing information, your users aren’t depending on the system. The BI tools you select need to be very flexible and come from a vendor who has shown the ability to deliver new releases with new function on a regular basis.

Flaw #6: Let's just outsource the whole darn BI thing

Langston: We rarely encounter this attitude. In our experience, most companies want to retain control of the project and their data. Reporting and analysis is very personal. No two people want to look at things exactly the same way so it’s very difficult for an outsider to set up a useful BI environment.

Flaw #7: Just give me a dashboard. Now!

Langston: Dashboards are exciting because they are colorful, graphical, and fun to design. But, we find in many small to mid-size companies, managers are more comfortable looking at all the underlying detail about the business rather than a graphical summary. Unless your managers or analysts can communicate how they would benefit from dashboards, you should be cautious about investing significantly in a dashboard development solution. A dashboard won’t make people better managers if they aren’t inclined to use it or if they can’t identify the business objectives it should measure.

Flaw #8: X + Y = Z, doesn't it?

Langston: “One version of the truth” may be an almost impossible goal for a large enterprise, but you can come close if you spend time upfront defining business terms so everyone agrees on what they mean. This is another reason why you need both technical and business users engaged in the BI project from the outset. The IT staff in most IBM i shops is pretty knowledgeable about the database and the way the business application software operates, but they can’t know all the ways managers want to use the data. Getting things defined and using consistent methods for calculating critical values is something the IT staff members can do very well if they have the support and input of company management.

Flaw #9: BI strategy? No thanks, we'll just follow our noses

Langston: In school, did you ever try to write a term paper without first writing an outline? Tackling a BI project without a strategy or operational plan is basically the same thing. Fortunately, it doesn’t need to be that long or complicated if you’re in a small shop. Like some of the other points above, the process of trying to document your strategy should force you to get various people engaged in the project from the outset. Writing down what you intend to do will also help you when the project objectives inevitably change, and you need to adjust your timeline. Without the written document, it can be difficult for people to remember just how much the project has changed from the original plan, and they may not accept the timeline changes.

Jim Maughan of Cyberscience Corporation adds another glitch that can hinder BI success:
"The biggest 'flaw' I see is when the customer or the BI vendor attempts to make the first deployment of BI too large for the business need. After customers see what is possible with BI, they will most likely change (expand) their requirements. If the BI project is larger than one month, it needs to be redesigned. The BI project plan and tools need to be flexible because change is inevitable. BI projects should not be limited to just data in the BI data repository. Systems that can 'drill down' to the production application and data base are a must for BI system users."

What are your BI thoughts?

--Vicki Hamende, application development and database editor

Posted by vhamende on November 25, 2008 at 2:04 PM | Comments (0)

November 21, 2008 10:13 AM

Vision’s Survey Exposes Major Shortcomings of i Shops

After a year of extensive research and interviews, Vision Solutions has finally released a detailed 20-page report regarding disaster recovery expectations, technologies, and the state of systems management. The report, "The State of Resilience and Optimization on IBM Power Systems," is based on a year-long study that includes survey data from more than 2,000 technical professionals and executives involved with the management of IBM i and AIX environments.

Edward Vesely, Vision Solutions' senior vice president of marketing, admitted that when first compiling the data, Vision "had a good idea of what the results might reveal about IBM i and AIX customers' business resiliency technologies and systems optimization practices.”" But surprisingly, while most survey respondents admitted that achieving aggressive recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives is certainly crucial, a large number of businesses don’t have any technologies in place to support those goals. But even with this sad, scary thought in mind, Vesely assured me that overall, Vision feels optimistic about the information gathered, saying that the research is also encouraging (at least for Vision) because it exposes the huge market opportunity still existing in high availability and disaster recovery nearly 20 years after the AS/400 was first released. So, there is still room for growth in the IBM i sector.

Among the survey results, Vision determined that the biggest problem with current trends is the lack of a reliable, predictable disaster plan: "It is imperative that technologies and processes currently in place achieve recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives, even though a large percentage of firms surveyed do not have appropriate technologies in place to achieve their stated goals."

Also, the survey showed that for most companies, the "putting out fires" approach is still thriving, although protecting data and staying highly available are finally delineating themselves as two separate animals in respondents' minds: “Data protection and high availability are related but have distinctly different objectives. In general, companies are adopting solutions to address both areas, but keeping data and applications continuously available has not been as consistently addressed as protecting against catastrophic data loss,” says Vesely. But survey respondents did admit that they are listening to this mantra, as technologies for recovering from and actively avoiding downtime are gaining support, albeit slowly.
In this time of economic struggle, productivity and efficiency were also at the top of the respondents’ worries list. Keeping data accurate, current, and relevant is a major factor in making sure that a business is staying on top of its targets. Because, “As data stores grow, so do labor and downtime costs,” explains the report.

So, the advice is clear: while survey respondents are starting to come around to the fact that high availability is an important part of any disaster plan, it can be difficult to take on yet another work duty when the i seems to be so steadfast and dependable. But, when a business’s budget is lower than ever, mistakes can be more costly than ever, too. Vesely offers this parting advice about finding the right solution: “Do your research. High availability and disaster recovery solutions are core infrastructure offerings that keep businesses running smoothly. Consider the provider’s technology, viability, and references—along with their class of customer support, which is truly priceless insurance.”

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the AS/400, Vision Solutions and IBM will host a free “State of Resilience on Power Systems” webcast Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008 at 11 a.m. EST. The event will feature IBM's Scott Handy and Vision's Edward Vesely who will discuss some recent Power Systems technology and market developments as well as findings from Vision's report. Participants who register for the Dec. 2 webcast also will receive an advanced copy of “The State of Resilience and Optimization on IBM Power Systems.” Register today by going to www.visionsolutions.com/stateofpower.

--Erin Bradford, systems management & availability editor

Posted by ebradford on November 21, 2008 at 10:13 AM | Comments (1)

November 19, 2008 10:26 AM

Even in Tight Economic Times, IT Security Remains a Priority

In a recent Jobfox survey, IT security is one of the professions that made it into the top 25 most recession-proof jobs.

Security is important and only getting more so, even when money is scarce!

Read the full report.

--Linda Harty, security & networking/connectivity editor

Posted by lharty on November 19, 2008 at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

The i Games People Play

i guy Craig Rutledge knows what to do when he faces a programming challenge at work―apply a game to make it more understandable. For example, he created an i system version of Battleship to configure multi-dimensional data structure arrays matching the rows and columns his employers needed to organize their warehouse.

Since then, Rutledge has "invented" Blackjack, Cribbage, Pyramid, Rubik’s Cube, Draw Poker, and Tic-Tac-Toe for the i that provide instant graphic representations of data types and storage arrays. Hey, they’re fun, too. See for yourself. His website offers these challenges along with a variety of downloadable open-source i system utilities he hopes colleagues will find helpful in their jobs.

"I am always interested in new functionality in the operating systems," says Rutledge, a proud "bottom-of-the-barrel" geek with a southern accent worthy of a resident of Georgia. If he finds a problem to solve, he believes that it's his "obligation to address the issue," that is, create "learning material" that just happens to double as a tension-reliever.

"I am weird. I don’t do holidays, weekends, nights, and vacations very well. I wrote most of these games over the holidays. While everybody was watching 'It's a Wonderful Life,' I would be writing Cribbage."

He confesses that he had an ulterior motive in developing that particular Cribbage game—he wanted to beat his father-in-law. "I programmed every strategy I could find on the web on how to play this game." Alas, Rutledge says he still loses, despite practicing with robust strategy optimization routines. "It’s quite possibly the most complex game code ever written for the i."

Battleship, which began as a simple program to test functions as two-dimensional array indexes, features cruisers, destroyers, ships, and aircraft carriers operating in attack and defend modes. To beat the house in Blackjack, you have to maneuver the three-dimensional indexing function used by arrays to form cards.

For Draw Poker, Rutledge issued a challenge to i aficionados to find the best potential layer for the cards. He put the name of the respondent with the top idea into the final code. The game uses a hash table and the random number API (CEERAN0) to sort a deck of cards. It shows the concept of implicitly defined arrays as DS subfields of defined arrays.

In Tic-Tac-Toe, you find a two-dimensional array indexing example. (Hint: The only way you can win is to start with a center X in a scenario in which O does not randomly start in a corner.) Rutledge sought help from a math professor to randomize his Rubik’s Cube game, which offers a three-dimensional 6x6x3 indexing scheme.

Pyramid provides a variation of Solitaire for the i. Players must select all pairs of cards, scoring 13 to win. Rutledge describes it as "addictive fun, meditative, and medicinal," adding, "I go through two or three iterations of it just to clear my head now and then."

He notes that when he first wrote Pyramid, the deck operated randomly, and 50–60 percent of the games couldn’t be won. For example, a needed queen might be buried and unreachable under the deck. While recovering at home from rotator cuff surgery on his right arm, he wrote chicken scratches with his left hand to determine the "unwinnable" probabilities and then programmed the code to correct them—again with his wiggly left hand.

In addition to possessing expertise in API programming and XML distribution systems, he says he has the ability to comprehend IBM documentation. "And if I don’t understand it, I can reach out to other people around the world to come up with a good solution."

Rutledge also credits colleagues for helping to improve the utilities on his website. System iNetwork originally published many of the tools. Rutledge has also written several articles for System iNEWS, including "Sorting List Entries with QLGSORT," "Using XML for Object Distribution," and "Using an API Error Parameter."

He works as a systems specialist in the project management office of a carpet-manufacturing company in Dalton, Georgia. ("If you need any carpet, let me know.") He is also considered the "tech geek" and enjoys being the "go-to guy" for programming questions.

"When I was a heads-down programming animal, I ran up against lots of black holes," Rutledge says. "I developed techniques to make my job easier, and the games just kind of came out of that. I didn't really put them out there for fame. Everything on this website is serious to make your job easier but also to have some fun. I’m not going to make my fortune writing AS/400 games. I don’t think it's in the cards."

Get in the Game

The System iNetwork features code for a series of i games published in 1998 and 1999. You can check out Brick-a-Spell, Chess, Mastermind/400, Mines, Othello/400, Slots/400, Tetris/400, Word Search, and X25.

Got Game?

Do you have an i game to share? Bring it on.

--Vicki Hamende, application development and database editor

Posted by vhamende on November 19, 2008 at 9:31 AM | Comments (0)

November 18, 2008 1:22 PM

Keeping Your IFS Secure

When it comes to the IFS, the i system's native security simply doesn't cover it. The reason you need to be on the alert when it comes to the IFS is because, as Mel Beckman says in "Virus Protection for the IFS," the system's "robust object security doesn't extend to portions of the IFS--specifically, the portions in the root directories accessible remotely to virus-laden Windows desktops and servers. When a remote system accesses the IFS, it can potentially infect IFS files with virus code. Uninfected systems that later read the infected files can themselves become infected. A virus can spread in this way throughout an enterprise network in just minutes, resulting in incalculable damage."

This quoted little gem indicates that not only do you need virus protection for your IFS, but you also need to know how to securely map IFS file permissions and how to protect various IFS file transfer protocols. Our own Mel Beckman is offering a webcast about this very topic on November 20, and it's free. Sign up soon to make sure you get a seat.

In the meantime, you might want to learn more about the IFS and how you can use it, and System iNetwork is rife with IFS articles. Here is a particularly practical series of articles, written by Scott Klement, about using the IFS from RPG. Each article also offers downloadable code to illustrate the techniques explained. (Note that these articles require ProVIP membership.)

Introduction to Stream Files, November 2004, article ID 19312

A Text File Primer, December 2004, article ID 19473

Text Files in the World, January 2005, article ID 19626

Binary Stream Files, February 2005, article ID 19751

Getting Information About Your Files, May 2005, article ID 20050

Working with Links, June 2005, article ID 20141

Working with Directories September 2005, article ID 20235

--Linda Harty, security & networking/connectivity editor

Posted by lharty on November 18, 2008 at 1:22 PM | Comments (0)

November 11, 2008 2:44 PM

Server Down? Of Course Not--It's an i

The other day while testing the Tuesday Tips newsletter, I had one of those moments that you may have seen recently on TV, where a person is eating some sort of junk food vegetable like French fries, and a second person hits him on the forehead to remind him they he could have drunk a healthy dose of vegetables instead. Hah!

When I tested the links in the newsletter, the URL in Bob Cozzi's RPG World message that directs clickers to the conference website wasn't working.

Since I didn't see any errors in the HTML code, I immediately emailed Bob and asked him if the server was down.

He emailed back, saying, "The server is never down, it's a System i; the T1 line is down as are all the T1s in the Lombard area for some reason."

I was immediately struck with that feeling you get when you realize you did something silly. The server wasn't down. It's a System i! Our great i system is a reliable, dependable, hardworking box. It would never let us down--and I'll never doubt it again.

T1 lines, on the other hand, are a different object altogether.

I don't know why I thought it might be the server--perhaps because servers are easy to blame. Perhaps I'm so used to Wintel proliferation and the idea that Bill Gates (or at least his legacy) may someday rule the world, indeed.

But some of us still believe in the i system. Bob is one, along with everyone reading and writing about the technology on SystemiNetwork.com--championing for it every day.

What have you done lately to further the message that the i is great?

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, industry issues & RPG editor

Posted by rsanders on November 11, 2008 at 2:44 PM | Comments (0)

November 5, 2008 1:44 PM

IBM Hopes to Seduce iFans with Irresistible Rewards

In a recent news release, IBM reveals that it's ready to pull out all the stops to gain customers to the Power brand. In the release, titled "IBM Quadruples Value Points to Entice Sun SPARC Customers to Move to Power Systems," the company lays out its plans to entice Sun and HP customers over to the Power side with enhanced reward program offerings. Sun recently announced end-of-life for all SPARC-IV products anyway, so it seems like a frugal move for those users to hop on the iTrain.

Enhancements to the IBM Power Rewards migration program will include a 4X increase in reward points for customers moving workloads from Sun SPARC, UltraSPARC, or SPARC64 processor-based servers, from either Sun or Fujitsu, to IBM Power Systems.

The IBM Power Rewards program offers reward points similar to frequent-flyer points for moving to a Power System. Customers can redeem points toward no-charge migration services to move from HP-UX or Sun Solaris to AIX or Linux operating environments.

To increase interest in migrating, IBM has increased the rewards points for customers moving from Sun or Fujitsu servers based on SPARC, UltraSPARC, or SPARC64 processors, so those new customers can get 4,000 points per move, making each core of a SPARC processor redeemable for up to $4,000 worth of migration services.

With Power Rewards, customers can turn in multiple servers (with multiple cores) to build up unlimited points. For example, a customer who replaces a 256-core Sun M9000 server could earn up to 1,024,000 points, worth more than $1 million in free services.

To sink HP's ship and grab some survivors, IBM is also giving HP PA-RISC-based Superdome customers quadruple rewards points for PA-RISC-based system migrations.

--Erin Bradford, systems management & availability editor

Posted by ebradford on November 5, 2008 at 1:44 PM | Comments (0)

November 4, 2008 4:10 PM

IBM i Shops Get Ready: Nielsen Predicts Healthy Online Sales Amid Bleak 2008 Holiday Spending

IBM i shops in the retail market have just a few short weeks to prepare for Cyber Monday, the first Monday after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, which marks the official start of the online holiday shopping season.

Despite a shaky economy and predictions of bleak sales, The Nielsen Company suggests online retailers will fare well, having the largest chunk of customers (12 percent) who say they'll spend more money this year at online stores. The growing dollar store outlets also will enjoy a larger percentage of customers who say they'll spend more in these shops.

"We expect the 2008 holiday season to be a healthy one for online sales as consumers use comparison shopping sites to locate bargains and competitive prices during a tough economic climate," says Ken Cassar, vice president of Industry Insights for Nielsen Online. Though growth is unlikely to reach historic rates, online retailers should out-pace traditional stores in terms of growth and continue to increase their share of overall holiday spending.

So what are you doing to get ready for the holiday season and attract customers? If you offer customers online sales, has your company employed any new IT strategies or deployed any new technologies to help with the holiday shopping melee?

Better yet, can I write an article on your i system retail strategy? Email me!!!

What does a retail outlet do to attract customers? Does having the right IT infrastructure help?

Does it make a difference to customers whether your e-commerce application is running on an i system or a Wintel box? Probably not. But I bet customers care whether the order they make on Dec. 23 is processed quickly and deposited with an overnight shipping company in enough time to be tucked underneath the family's holiday tree.

Traditional retailers won't be as lucky in 2008 as online outlets. Overall, The Nielsen Company predicts one-third of consumers will spend less this holiday season on gifts than they did last year. Only six percent expect to spend more and 50 percent expect to spend the same as last year.

"The expanding credit crisis, housing malaise, commodity price pressures, an unstable labor market, and plummeting consumer confidence all contribute to a weak holiday shopping season and quite possibly the worst holiday spending decline since the worldwide recession in the early 90s," says James Russo, vice president of marketing for The Nielsen Company.

How's that for optimistic?

--Rita-Lyn Sanders, industry issues & RPG editor

rita dot sanders at penton dot com

Posted by rsanders on November 4, 2008 at 4:10 PM | Comments (1)

November 3, 2008 8:06 AM

Former AS/400 GM Tom Jarosh Dies at 55

Tom Jarosh, 55, a dynamic former general manager of the AS/400 Division at IBM, died in October of melanoma.

Jarosh started his IBM career in 1975. He worked the channel as a vice president, ran IBM's AS/400 Division, and was a vice president in the IBM Systems and Technology Group at the time of his death. He had a hand in guiding the current unification of System p and System i into the converged Power Systems lineup.

Jarosh was the oldest of 10 children. He had three daughters and five grandchildren. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review published his obituary, which has more detail.

Jarosh became GM of the AS/400 Division late 1997, and he quickly took the reins as one of the division's most energetic leaders. He kicked off one of the biggest sustained advertising campaigns for the AS/400 and oversaw the shift to iSeries.

On a personal note, I first saw Tom take off his suit jacket at an AS/400 Soundoff session at COMMON and field many of the questions, in addition to introducing the new AS/400 marketing messages. He gave the impression that with the AS/400 at IBM, the buck stopped with him.

Jarosh was also my first big interview--the head of a multi-billion dollar division. I had the chance to sit down with him one-on-one at COMMON. Our scheduled 20 minutes stretched into 45 as he answered questions and spoke with passion about the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead. I must admit, when I left the conference room and saw half a dozen green-shirt-wearing analysts milling about waiting their turn, I did notice a few surprised glances at the empty conference room. I had been in there, making them wait, alone. Just one kid. I was quite pleased with that, but I think the key point here is less about my questions and more about the fact that Tom was there in the room, using the time that was needed, in that moment.

Rest in peace, Tom Jarosh.

--Chris Maxcer, news editor for System iNetwork

Posted by cmaxcer on November 3, 2008 at 8:06 AM | Comments (0)