Whilst Sharperlight may appear similar to other reporting software solutions, there are a wealth of features which set it apart. These include many technology differences that enhance the overall reporting experience.
Here are some key differentiators:
Functionality
- Sharperlight has a dedicated application, WebChannel, for publishing queries into a web browser. The WebChannel supports a range of visual formats, including gauges, graphs, charts, pivot tables and RSS feeds. Other reporting solutions do not have equivalent functionality. Other reporting solutions can struggle with remote connectivity and data transmission bandwidth.
- Sharperlight has a built-in dashboard, allowing users to develop and publish graphically rich dashboards with drilldown AND drill through functionality. These dashboards can be available through the Sharperlight WebChannel. Some reporting solutions do not include any dashboard functionality and may not support both drilldown and drill through.
- Sharperlight is fully customisable – it supports Custom Tables, Custom Fields and Custom Joins to an existing DataModel (a dynamic abstraction layer) as standard. Users can extend a DataModel to tailor it to their requirements and include any modifications or customisations to the underlying database. Other reporting solutions do not allow for such customisations.
Flexibility
- Sharperlight’s dynamic intelligent meta-data layer, DataModel, provides real-time, bi-directional, functionality for any business systems. The solution is designed as a generic technology toolset that enables the extraction of data and the ability to write back data to a different database. Other reporting solutions are less flexible and may only allow write back from within Microsoft Excel.
- Sharperlight has the ability to enhance existing business intelligence (BI) strategies. You may not need to replace what you currently have and by simply enhancing your existing strategy you can lower the financial cost and disruptive impact associated with an overall change in strategy. It is flexible in that it can adapt and change in line with business requirements.
Simplicity
- Sharperlight has a single, intuitive interface for building, exploring and publishing queries. The same common interface is available on the desktop, in Excel, in a browser and Microsoft SQL Reporting Services. Other reporting solutions do not have consistent interfaces across different platforms and are not available in technologies such as Microsoft SQL Reporting Services.
Usability
- Sharperlight’s ease-of-use enables the lay user to carry out self-service reporting, rather than relying on reporting specialists. This marks a shift in reporting as users can now get the data they need, when they need it and in a format that they require.
To find out further information about Sharperlight and how it can improve your reporting process:
