Zooming in on data

The printer churns out page after page of data from the ERP system: a list of suppliers, unpaid accounts or empty stock. The user can’t see the wood for the trees. Are the contact details needed for a bulk mailshot by the marketing department still up to date? How complete and correct are the addresses? An error ratio of ten percent means that of one million letters sent 100,000 will fail to reach their intended recipients.

InfoZoom software can help.

Developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT in Sankt Augustin, it enables employees who have to deal with large volumes of data to recognize proportionalities, connections and relationships at a glance, without having studied information science. Just a few simple clicks are needed to ask sophisticated questions and generate professional ad hoc analyses without any knowledge of programming.

The key factor is the way the data is presented clearly and readably on screen. The clever interface lets the user zoom in and out, making connections or correlations immediately evident. For example, a database containing complete details on company sales can be queried about individual products and sales areas, generating detailed answers in a matter of seconds.

One click on “hand soap” provides details of all sales for this product. In addition to processing data input from spreadsheet applications such as Microsoft Excel, the software solution also has interfaces to databases such as Oracle or DB2 from IBM. InfoZoom is therefore used by large companies and organizations, including utilities and banks, to analyze their master data and by the police to compile criminal statistics. As prices start at levels comparable with Office applications, the software system is also affordable for smaller businesses. “The return on investment is usually very quick,” confirms Ralph Gattinger, Managing Director of humanIT.

The program is being marketed by humanIT Software GmbH in Bonn, a spin-off from the research institute and now a wholly-owned subsidiary of proAlpha Software AG in Weilerbach. Further development work is being conducted in collaboration with the FIT.

Provided by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (news : web)