Category Archives: Enterprise Software

Enterprise Software, ExcelWriter, Featured, News Releases, OfficeWriter, PowerPointWriter

What’s New in OfficeWriter 9

OfficeWriter version 9 is now available! Here is a breakdown of what you can find in the latest version of OfficeWriter.

Calculation Engine

OfficeWriter version 9 kicks off with the initial release of the calculation engine for ExcelWriter. Now you can evaluate the formulas in your XLSX and XLSM files before delivering spreadsheets. Applications that can’t evaluate formulas, such as mobile apps, Outlook preview, or Excel in protected view, will show the updated values when workbooks are opened. You can also use the calculation engine to update formulas before reading them with ExcelApplication.

Currently, the calculation engine supports evaluating all of the formulas in a given workbook through the method Workbook.CalculateFormulas. This will update all the cell values based on the formulas. Check out our list of the formulas that the calculation engine supports.  If there’s a formula you need that we don’t have yet, contact our support team to submit a request!

PowerPointWriter

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The PowerPointWriter beta program has been going strong, and we’re excited for the official release. PowerPointWriter introduces a template-based approach to generating PowerPoint presentations (PPTX) dynamically.  Taking the best principles from ExcelWriter and WordWriter, PowerPointWriter is flexible and easy to learn.

Learn more about what PowerPointWriter can do for you with our Features overview,  use cases, and API Introduction and Tutorials.

New Excel Features

Pivot tables from multiple data sources

In OfficeWriter version 8.2, the PivotTable API for ExcelApplication was added to ExcelWriter. In OfficeWriter version 9 you can build multiple consolidation range pivot tables.  These pivot tables are created from multiple consolidation ranges and automatically generate pivot fields using the data. We have a short video to help explain how these special pivot tables work: [5 minutes with Chris – PivotTables]

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WORKSHEET PROTECTION PROPERTIES

ExcelWriter now offers the same protection options as Excel that change how a worksheet is locked down when it’s protected. Set SheetProtection properties to customize what users can interact with after Worksheet.Protect is called.  Check out our knowledge base article for more on how to use this new feature!

Binding custom objects to Excel

In OfficeWriter version 9 ExcelTemplate supports the ability to bind lists of custom objects to templates.  For example, you have some custom Order objects that contain information about OrderID, DeliveryDate, PurchaseAmount, and CustomerID. These Order objects are in a list called ListOfOrders.

In your template, you can reference the object properties in the data marker: %%=ListOfOrders.OrderID. ExcelWriter will treat each object in the list as though it were a row of data in a table.

For more information about how ExcelWriter imports data, please visit our documentation: ExcelWriter Basic Tutorials.

And more!

For more information about additional information about all of the changes in OfficeWriter, see our Change Log.

Big Data, Business Intelligence, Enterprise Software, Excel, IT, Mobile

2013 Business Intelligence Trends

Credit: e-bcorp.com

A few weeks ago we posed the question of whether or not Excel had the staying power to be the next great Business Intelligence tool. An overwhelming percentage of readers said yes. This week we decided to delve further into what else is on the horizon for the Business Intelligence arena.

Each year experts and industry leaders make their predictions on what lies ahead on the Business Intelligence landscape. We’ve distilled those predictions down to ones that appeared several times over. Looking at TechTarget, InformationWeek, Forrester, and Tableau Software, we scoped out the top Business Intelligence (BI) trends for 2013 and this is what we discovered.

  1. Cloud BI – The cloud isn’t going anywhere. It still has a lot of attention, despite the reliability, performance, availability, and privacy concerns from your IT department. The cloud’s ability to adjust to larger and larger data sets and petabytes of information makes it attractive for the Business Intelligence arena. TechTarget doubts moving infrastructure to the cloud will become mainstream in 2013, but that it is definitely destined and headed in that direction.
  2. Big Data – Big Data still gets big talk. Forrester predicts a rise in Hadoop-based BI applications, particularly within the mission-critical applications. Along those same lines, Forrester sees Big Data moving out of silos and into enterprise IT. They see enterprise IT becoming more involved with enterprise BI in order to save on the costs it takes to manage Big Data.
  3. Self-Service BI – We’re seeing it with the addition of Powerview to Excel, the desire for people to be in charge of their own data with less of a reliance on IT support to pull information and make business decisions. Forrester cited: Continue reading 2013 Business Intelligence Trends →

Business Intelligence, Enterprise Software, Excel, IT

Is Microsoft Excel the Next Great Business Intelligence Tool?

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Credit: http://www.pbi2.com/images/img_businessIntel.jpgWith Microsoft’s release of Office 2013, now fully equipped with features such as PowerPivot and PowerView, news outlets and blogs are abuzz speculating this is a push to make Excel the next Business Intelligence (BI) tool. Software Advice sat down with Rob Collie, CTO of PivotStream and one of the founding engineers of PowerPivot, to get his perspective on how the new Excel will affect Business Intelligence and Excel professionals.

[Read the full interview here.]

Takeaways from the interview:

1. More adoption of PowerPivot in the Excel community. PowerPivot has yet to receive a lot of attention among the Excel audience. 

“Unlike programmers, BI specialists, and other IT pros, the Excel audience doesn’t congregate at conferences and they don’t closely monitor what Microsoft is saying about the next version of their toolset. Overwhelmingly, the way they learn about new Excel capabilities is by inspecting the latest version once it lands on their desktop.”

All of that is about to change now that Office 2013 has more tightly integrated PowerPivot into Excel. Originally a separate download, PowerPivot is now part of the original package upon purchase.

2. The PowerPivot community is growing.

“Using PowerPivotPro traffic as a guide, I’ve seen the PowerPivot audience double in size every year since 2009. But I’d still estimate that less than one percent of the eventual PowerPivot target audience has been exposed to the product as of today.”

3. All Office users now data analysts? Continue reading Is Microsoft Excel the Next Great Business Intelligence Tool? →

ASP.NET, Business Intelligence, Enterprise Software, Excel, Featured, OfficeWriter, SharePoint, SQL Server, SSRS

Everything You Need to Know About OfficeWriter: The Whitepaper

Looking for a comprehensive overview of OfficeWriter? You’ve come to the right place. We’ve partnered with Andrew Brust of Blue Badge Insights to give you an inside look at how OfficeWriter can benefit your company’s business intelligence.
OfficeWriter Whitepaper
Microsoft Office and Data: A Love Story
Excel and Word are the Will and Kate of the Office software world, but if you try to use them for data analysis, they’ll morph into Milli-Vanilli. OfficeWriter prevents that from happening.
In this whitepaper, you’ll learn:
  • How OfficeWriter’s API and templates provide bridges between Microsoft Office & databases
  • How OfficeWriter enhances SQL Server Reporting Services
  • How OfficeWriter turns SharePoint lists & libraries into full-fledged Office docs
That is simply the beginning. Get a full overview of OfficeWriter today.

Agile, Enterprise Software, Office Life, Programming

Agile Development: 5 Lessons Learned

Working in software development can be challenging and tricky without the right plan in place, especially without a plan that caters to your employees’ work styles. Here at SoftArtisans our development team follows the agile dogma and we’ve discovered several lessons along the way. Wondering if agile development is right for your team? See below for 5 things to keep in mind when implementing this work style.

1. You absolutely need backup from higher-ups.

Too often I have seen or heard of departments that were “going agile,” but management was not behind them. No matter how enthusiastic about it the developers were, their plans were ruined every time management expected something to be “like it used to.” Managers who don’t give things time to adjust create developers who don’t give things time to adjust, and then everything is doomed to fail.

2. Retros are vital.

One important thing about agile is that you can change things quickly when you need to. This applies to the direction the software is taking, but it also applies to the processes and mindsets of team members. This is what retrospectives are for. A good team will be able to be honest about what’s working and what isn’t and subsequently make changes for future sprints.
This whole process is much easier when…

3. Retros don’t include higher-ups.

Management usually wants to know what’s going on, and that’s great, but retros are not the place for it. Continue reading Agile Development: 5 Lessons Learned →