Cadis Reporting

Cadis Reporting Overview

Cadis Reporting is an enterprise level application that makes it easy for business users of all levels and experience to rapidly create and deploy pixel-perfect reports, whilst minimising the amount of support required from IT departments.

Cadis Reporting is a 100% web-based with no downloadable components, featuring simultaneous data retrieval and efficient rendering of data which provides the flexibility to design reports on line in real time. The application is capable of integrating with existing data management systems, such as data warehouses and portals, consolidating the output into a single professional quality report available in multiple output formats.

Every activity is audited within Cadis Reporting which means that Directors of Risk can be assured that the appropriate controls are in place to maintain the integrity of the underlying data and manage the production of client reporting.

The application can not only be used to produce reports in standard output formats, but can be used in dashboard mode with interactive components including drill down navigation of the data.

The built in workflow engine allows for validation and editorial steps to be included during the report production process.

Key features:

• Create complex reports quickly from scratch using libraries of data objects, controls and report templates via an intuitive web-based design application
• Re-branding and white labelling made easier through amendments of elements in the library and linking to the report set to be re-branded.
• Multiple output formats including PDF, XML, HTML and Excel
• Multi-tiered security model, defined user privileges and internal audit reporting to protect against unauthorised access and integrity of output
• Infinitely scalable in terms of users, reports, controls and data sources
• Intuitive web based user interface with desktop look and feel incorporating drag and drop technology
• Integrated search facilities of prebuilt component libraries
• Data portal facilities – the ability to make a single point of reference for disparate data sources
• Built in workflow engine and full support for external workflow engines

Cadis Reporting Architecture Overview

Technology

Cadis Reporting is built using the latest Microsoft technology; it is an ASP.NET application running on .NET Framework v3.5 and uses a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database to store the information it requires.

Data Sources

Data can be retrieved from any exposed data source, including relation databases, data warehouses, data portals, web services, message queue systems, Excel spreadsheets, .NET and COM assemblies.

User Interface

The presentation layer of Cadis Reporting has been Ajax enabled to provide a more responsive desktop look and feel. This is further enhanced by the drag and drop functionality implemented using JavaScript, however being a web based application it maintains a zero footprint on client machines.

Up Scaling

The application has the ability to support an infinite number of users, data objects, controls and reports. It can be deployed on a single server or the core components can be distributed over a number of servers to meet the scaling needs of the client.

Outputs

Reports can be output from Cadis Reporting in a number of formats, primarily as HTML and PDF, but the underlying data can also be exported to XML and to Microsoft Excel. A web service which returns a HTML string can be used to display Cadis Reporting’s reports in a web site.

Consumers

The primary means of consuming Cadis Reporting’s reports will be through a web browser or web enabled system.

Platform

Server side - Cadis Reporting runs under IIS and requires a SQL Server 2005 instance for its database.

The .NET Framework v3.5 service pack 1 is required to run the application.

Client side - Internet Explorer is required, version 6 or higher.

Data Designer

The data designer is the means to create a library of data objects that can be used across different controls, for example a table and a chart can both be set up to use the same data object. Data objects can be created from virtually any data source including:

• SQL and stored procedures for database data
• Web services
• .Net and COM interop Assemblies
• Excel spreadsheets and macros
• Web pages returning XML response streams

Data objects can also be built by combining existing data objects built from any of the above sources.

Control Designer

Control Designer is the means to create a library of components which can be used in reports. Creating controls could not be simpler, first choose the type of control, point the control at a data object, and then apply formatting options. At all stages during the build, the preview window will display the formatted output.

Report Designer

To design a report, simply drag on the pre-built controls from drop down list or use the library page controls such as image, rich text or table of contents. Move controls around the page and resize at will using standard desktop dragging methods.

Report Viewer

The report viewer shows the pixel perfect report output. Users can not change the report layout but can filter the data being displayed in the report by changing the selection of parameters defined for the report.

In this section of the application users can schedule the generation of the report or any validation steps required to generate the completed report as part of their production workflow.

Workflow Dashboard

The workflow dashboard allows users to see the details of the reports that are scheduled to run, being processed, failed and successfully completed. Additionally modifications to workflow tasks can be undertaken from here.

Profile Management

Every user of the application is assigned roles designating what functionality they can use and access groups which define the data sources, controls and reports they can see.