Lauren Ramsey

Business intelligence software may have been around for several decades, but it remains an esoteric niche in most companies, according to an analyst. It's the people that often get in the way," said Dan Vessett, an analyst with IDC Corp. Unfriendly corporate cultures, not the BI tools or apps themselves, are preventing BI from becoming pervasive. "The technology has been around for a long time. IDC recently conducted a study of 1,100 organizations in 11 countries measuring how pervasive BI is in companies, what factors helped make it more pervasive, and what "triggers" data warehousing architects and IT managers can use to the further the spread of BI in their companies.

According to IDC, that was between 48% to 50%. Degree of external use, or how much it shared data with vendors or customers. In a speech Tuesday at Computerworld's Business Intelligence Perspectives conference in Chicago, Vessett said IDC measured BI's pervasiveness via six factors: Degree of internal use. Sharing BI data keeps customers loyal, Vesset said. Percentage of power users in a company. And canny BI users in industries such as retail can sell that data to generate non-trivial revenue, he said.

The mean was 20% in surveyed companies. Over five years, the average at surveyed companies grew to 28 from 11. Data update frequency. Number of domains, or subject areas, inside the data warehouse. While real-time updates can be indicative of heavy dependence upon BI, "right-time data updates" is more important. "Daily, weekly or monthly could be sufficient," he said. They still rely more on experience rather than analytics," Vesset said. Analytical orientation, or how much the BI crunching helped large groups or the entire organization make decisions, rather than isolated individuals. "The fact is that most individuals and companies are not data driven.

According to Vesset, these factors in descending order had the most impact on BI pervasiveness: Degree of training, not in the BI tools - "the vendors do a pretty good job" - but in the meaning of the data, what the key performance indicators (KPIs) mean, etc. Satisfied users will talk up the BI software, creating "BI envy" in other employees, helping spread the software's use. Design quality,or the extent to which IT-deployed performance dashboards are able to satisfy user needs. Unsatisfied users will go around IT and use Excel or some SaaS applications. Involvement of non-executive employees. Prominence of the data governance group.

Prominence of a performance management methodology. Vesset also listed a number of potential "triggers" for BI projects that IT should take advantage of:

NASA's space shuttle Atlantis is loaded and ready for takeoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this afternoon. They're scheduled to deliver equipment, including two gyroscopes, to the International Space Station . NASA is focused on building up a reserve of spare parts on the space station in anticipation of the retirement of the space shuttle fleet. "You'll see this theme in some of the flights that are going to come after ours as well," said Brian Smith, the lead space station flight director for the mission, in a statement. "This flight is all about spares. The six-man crew is set to launch at 2:28 p.m. EST today. Basically, we're getting them up there while we still can." The equipment is considered highly critical to the operation of the space station, according to NASA. At this point, there are only six flights left for the space shuttles before they're scheduled to be retired.

Since this is the first mission to deliver what scientists hope will turn into a trove of spare parts, they're taking up the most important pieces. The equipment that needs to go up is being delivered in order of highest priority. The astronauts are expected to make three space walks during the 11-day mission. The equipment being delivered includes two pump modules, two gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, an ammonia tank assembly and a high-pressure gas tank. The astronauts will work with the robotic arms onboard the shuttle and the space station to move two platforms loaded with spare parts out of the shuttle's cargo bay to where they'll be attached on either side of the station's truss or backbone. Parts going up for the robotic systems onboard the station include a latching end effector for the station's robotic arm and a trailing umbilical system reel assembly for the railroad cart that allows the arm to move along the station's truss system.

As of 10:30 a.m., a NASA inspection team was studying the exterior of Atlantis , its solid rocket boosters and the external tank for ice or other debris. NASA reports there are 27,250 pounds worth of parts being delivered in this mission. Space agency crews also have loaded the shuttle's external tank with about 535,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which will power the shuttle's three main engines during launch. NASA forecasts a 70% chance of weather good enough for a launch this afternoon.

Microsoft Corp. may have ditched the three application limit on the Windows 7 Starter Edition, but other restrictions on the netbook-only version of the operating system will be an unwelcome surprise for many netbook buyers, according to a survey published Monday. Other higher-end features Windows 7 Starter lacks include the advanced Aero interface, multi-touch, Windows Media Center, and XP Mode virtualization. Sixty-one percent of consumers do not know that Windows 7 Starter lacks some features standard in any version of Windows XP, such as support for multiple monitors, DVD playback - even the ability to change the desktop image from the Microsoft logo, according to a survey by electronics shopping site,Retrevo.com.

Informed of these missing features, 56% of the 1,100 randomly surveyed respondents (95% likely to fall within plus or minus 6.5% of the overall population results, says Retrevo) said that they would not be satisfied with Windows 7 Starter. Microsoft may be counting on upselling users to to an $80 upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium. The problem, according to Retrevo, is that 23 out of 28 netbooks available today on Amazon.com are installed with Windows 7 Starter. That is done via the Anytime Upgrade program on Microsoft's e-commerce Web site. It could also boost demand for Linux netbooks, which are expected to grab nearly one-third of the booming worldwide market this year for netbooks.

But it could also create ill will toward Microsoft, said Andrew Eisner, director of content for Retrevo. "I think most users will feel angry with having to pay the $80 for an upgrade to get those features," he said. Microsoft declined to comment specifically on Retrevo's survey. Rather, it pointed to a statement it made back in February when it announced the six versions of Windows 7. "Small notebook PCs can run any version of Windows 7. For OEMs that build lower-cost small notebook PCs, Windows 7 Starter will now be available in developed markets," it said. "For the most enhanced, full-functioning Windows experience on small notebook PCs, however, consumers will want to go with Windows 7 Home Premium, which lets you get the most out of your digital media and easily connect with other PCs."

A look back at the week's biggest Google-related news stories:   Apple severs board ties with Google  The final ties have been cut between Apple's and Google's board, with Arthur Levinson (he had been serving as an independent member on both the Apple and Google board of directors) resigning from the Google board. Not to be confused with the Google Books project, but possibly a threat to Amazon.com and other online booksellers.   Google bullish on economy The company posted increases in Q3 revenue and earnings, beating Wall Street expectations. This follows the departure of Google CEO Eric Schmidt from Apple's board in August shortly after Google announced it would be competing head on with Apple in the operating system market with Chrome OS just as it was competing with the iPhone with Android.   Amazon, meet Google Google revealed plans for Google Editions, an online store offering digital books to users of various devices, from e-book readers to laptops and cellphones. Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a statement. "While there is a lot of uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us and now feel confident about investing heavily in our future."   Google's cloud security double talk  Computerworld reported that a group called Consumer Watchdog fired off a letter to the head of the Los Angeles City Council's Budget and Finance Committee, claiming that Google was talking out of both sides of its mouth in pitching its Google Apps to the city.

Unfortunately, Google didn't get all the bugs out first.   Google on the prowl for website malware  Google on Monday rolled out a service to help Webmasters identify malware that may have been slipped into their sites. The watchdog group said Google assured the city its cloud-based apps were safe, but separately acknowledged risks in a financial filing with the federal government.   Google Docs get upgraded, but bugs surface  Google pleased users of its Docs offerings by introducing folder sharing, an ability to upload multiple items to Docs simultaneously and by improving the interface. The new tool uses automated scanners to show Webmasters of sites flagged as "unsafe" just what the offending code is.   Google Voice gets friendly Google has started allowing early adopters of Google Voice  to invite friends to join them.   Google's Postini goes on the fritz  Users of the messaging security and archiving service were festering when service problems emerged during the week. For more on Google, visit Network World's independent Google community, Google Subnet. By week's end, Google had fixed the delayed e-mail delivery issues, but some customers were unhappy with a lack of communication on Google's part, Computerworld reports.   Also, here's a look back at the previous week in Google news.

Even experienced developers can run into problems developing and deploying custom applications for software-as-a-service  platforms because SaaS vendors don't always embrace the accepted corporate processes for build, test and release. SaaS is popular in part because applications can be made available without the long deployment cycle typical of on-premise development. The trick is to adapt your configuration management processes to meet SaaS challenges. So a new report can be delivered immediately or a new field can be added to a data entry form on the fly.

A salesforce.com application may have features such as real-time Web service integration, automated e-mail and Web feeds, and batch integration to operational systems. But as SaaS offerings such as Salesforce.com have matured into full-fledged development platforms, the complexity of applications has grown dramatically. This increases the risk that a minor change could impact critical business processes or break the application. Consider the development of a Salesforce.com application from a traditional developer point of view, with the goal being to manage development in the most controlled fashion to ensure reliability. It is often challenging to apply best practices for configuration management in SaaS environments because: * The application may be supported by business, not IT. * SaaS administrators may not be familiar with configuration and release management practices. * SaaS deployment tools are still maturing. * Deploying an application often requires both manual and automated steps. * SaaS integrations require synching releases with legacy systems. * Code, configuration, deployment scripts and manual checklists all need to be checked into the source code repository. The Force.com platform, Saleforce.com's custom development platform, is based upon the Model-View-Controller paradigm.

This is configured via the salesforce.com setup menu that allows administrators to add custom fields to standard CRM data objects, like leads and accounts, or create new data objects with their own custom fields. This paradigm can be defined as: * Model represents the database structure. As soon as a field is defined or modified it can be queried via SOQL, the Salesforce. Salesforce.com has a built in forms editor for "page layouts" that are associated with data objects. Com Object Query Language, or SOSL, the Salesforce Object Search Language used for free form text searches. * View represents the user interface.

Pages can also be developed in Visualforce, salesforce.com's markup language that is tightly integrated with Apex code, Force.com's programming language that is based on Java. * Controller represents business and application logic. Custom business logic is developed as Apex code associated with triggers, Salesforce.com's version of stored procedures, Visualforce controllers, or as shared class libraries. Rules for field validation, workflow and button actions are configured via the setup menu. Force.com development uses practices that should be familiar to most Web developers. A sandbox can house a full copy of production data, code and configuration, or just configuration.

Salesforce.com allows copying the production environment or "org" to a "sandbox" just as you would copy the production data model and code to a development server. Development is done using the Force.com integrated development environment (IDE), an add-in for Eclipse that lets developers  create a project linked to a development org, production org or sandbox. Apex has a built in unit test framework that requires 75% coverage for all Apex code before it can be deployed. A project can be synched to a code repository, allowing check-in and check-out of code. The Force IDE deploys code from a project to a production org. Ensuring reliability for the enterprise involves: * Limiting which users have a system administrator profile and defining their configuration management responsibilities. * Putting procedures in place to insure that code, configuration and data for production are checked into the code repository and archived (this may require taking manual snap shots of sharing rules, the role hierarchy and so on). * Creating manual or automated installation scripts. * Making sure that there is a plan for backing out production changes if needed. * Deploying to a sandbox for testing and QA. * Repeating the deployment to production. * Validating the deployment in production.

How to address audit, security and business continuity upfront Configuration management traditionally looks at production configuration and code as a "baseline," identifies changes that will be released, and incorporates them into a new, auditable baseline once the release is validated. The gotchas Even senior developers can get lost in the weeds trying to figure out how a feature can be, or might have been implemented, in Force.com. Configuration experts and developers run the risk of reinventing the wheel if they do not collaborate closely on solution design. * Force.com deployment tools do not currently support critical items such as data sharing rules, picklist fields on standard data objects, lead and sales processes, and the management role hierarchy. * Apex unit tests are impacted by actual org data, so code that passes unit test requirements in the sandbox may not deploy. Typical "gotchas" include: * With numerous configuration options and powerful programming tools there are many ways to implement the same features. For example, data queries on objects with more than 100K of data require querying an external ID field.

Success is all in the plan Getting configuration management under control is much easier if the development and testing teams are on the same page from day one. Unit tests that pass in a sandbox can fail in production, killing your deployment. While typical build/release cycle looks like this: * Check in code. * Compile code. * Run database scripts and deploy code to test. * Run tests/inspections. * Deploy to pre-production/production. * Validate deployment. SaaS software development platforms such as Salesforce.com require a mix of configuration and custom development that can confuse developers and be difficult to deploy. The following tasks need to be adapted for Salesforce.com development: * Check in code and configuration from development. * Check in task list for manual changes to the code repository. * Deploy manual code/configuration changes to test. * Run Eclipse/Ant automated deployment to test. * Run tests inspections. * Deploy using same process to pre-production/production. * Validate deployment. This can be addressed by adapting your configuration management processes for SaaS projects.

Once you understand how standard programming and configuration management practices apply to a SaaS application it becomes easier to tackle with the traditional approach. Although SaaS offerings are designed to limit the time spent on traditional development, some tweaking is required in order to fully integrate them with enterprise systems. Hamilton is a CRM technical architect at Acumen Solutions, a business and technology consulting firm. Contact him at ghamilton@acumensolutions.com.