New Query System Simple But Intelligent

Business intelligence specialist Business Objects has launched a new intuitive query system, Intelligent Question, aimed at giving non-technical end-users the ability to mine databases using a structured questioning environment.

The company says that ease of use 'continues to be the number one barrier to wide scale adoption of BI'. Intelligent Question takes English language questions and converts them to ad hoc or parameterized queries, then returns answers.

Users select from a series of options to create anything from simple to very complex business questions. Example questions might be 'What are my top 15 customers, based on average weekly spend for my stores over the past 12 months?' or 'Which of my products have experienced a 10 percent increase in demand this month over last month?' Initial selections are made from preset options, then further choices are automatically filtered to guarantee that the user can only create an 'intelligent question'. Users can also store questions for repeated use, and define categories such as 'My Products' for regular use.

CEO John Schwarz calls the new offering 'a paradigm shift in the business intelligence industry, in terms of information access', adding: 'Intelligent Question is the first solution that will finally break down the barrier to broader BI adoption, and truly meet the needs of those users who have not experienced the benefits of BI because they were intimidated by the complexity'. The release is expected in Q4 2005.

Business Objects is a business intelligence (BI) software company offering reporting, query and analysis, performance management, and data integration via its current flagship product, BusinessObjects XI. It has dual headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and Paris, France, and is online at www.businessobjects.com . A demo of the new system is available at www.businessobjects.com/intelligentquestion.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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