Release 5.22d

ADVIZOR Analyst Edition 5.22d Release Notes

August 15, 2007

ADVIZOR Solutions, Inc ADVIZOR Version 5.22d Copyright 2000 - 2007, ADVIZOR Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This (ReleaseNotes.htm) file contains product information for ADVIZOR Analyst Edition 5.22 products. These release notes are available on the installation image as well as in the install directory for the product(s) you have installed.

The Release Notes apply to all Advizor products, unless otherwise specified in the document.

Index

• New in this Release

• Platform Notes

• Installation Instructions

• Databases Supported

• Known Problems and Hints

• Technical Support

New in this Release:

1. Features and Enhancements

   • SalesForce.com connector. Accesses data from SalesForce.com databases. User must provide their login credentials for the SalesForce.com web site. Predefined set of queries at startup gives the user a head start with their analysis.

   • Japanese localization

   • Now supports Microsoft .NET 2.0

   • Summary Sheets, Data Sheets, Counts, and Parabox now have optional titles.

   • New “QuickStart” that takes you to a video demonstrating the basics of using Advizor and provides links to 2 sample projects. Sample projects have Navigation Panes with a description of the projects.

   • New Navigation Panes (client only) for including a description or instructions with a project. The Navigation Pane is a new pane that shows up under the Navigation View; close this pane if you don’t have Navigation content. See the included demos for examples of Navigation pane.

   • Added capability to quickly replicate a dashboard page layout.

   • Dashboard Page formatting: Can now set color separately for each page, blank page tabs (to group related pages) now on both client and server, and can easily duplicate the layout of an existing page to a new page.

   • The product install key can now be updated within Advizor.

   • Application splash screen now indicates progress by displaying informational text

   • Automatic update of user interface changes. Users will no longer have to know/remember to hold the SHIFT key down during startup after installing. The applications will now automatically detect when the existing cached user interface is out of date, and rebuild it when necessary. - - The SHIFT key functionality, however, remains unchanged. It can still be used on a demand basis, if desired.

   • Release Notes are now copied to the installation directory.

   • Help button has been added to chart tool bar to show help for that chart

   • Documentation enhancements for the following:

     • Credential based filtering and logging

     • Zoombars and how to zoom out in Scatterplot

     • Added Navigation Pane documentation

     • Help index now contains references to backend "Data Integration"

2. Fixes

   • Improvements to the database interface so that the “Test” button from the database connection wizard works properly.

   • Corrections to adv2advm.exe to work better with large volumes of data.

   • If Advizor charts draw incorrectly and the errors can be remedied by setting Graphics Acceleration to “low” (or “off”) in Windows, it is now possible via an application configuration option to turn off acceleration for just Advizor without affecting other applications.

   • Modifying the type of a field loaded from a text file after loading again works.

   • On a Server AE dashboard, this is the new Data Integration button. This button becomes available if you published with Data Integration checked in the publishing wizard. Users must program this capability according to their own integration needs. See online documentation. See also a note under "Known Problems and Hints" relating to the tooltip for this button. For further information about the Data Integration capability, see the online help.
   • BarCharts, Pie charts, Line Charts configured with a date field are now automatically be sorted by label rather than by size

   • Filter View "Check All" and "Check None" buttons now work as expected.

   • Color Legend no longer has problems when focusing on row with missing value in color-by field

   • Add an extended execution timeout parameter to the web.config file to minimize query timeouts

   • On some clients, the sweep rectangle does not display. It does now.

   • Publishing a project with blank tabs doesn't export to the web server. This has been fixed.

   • A problem with saving a project from a served dashboard has been fixed.

   • Using a custom color scale, sometimes if you saved after changing to Standard color scale, the project would re-open with incorrect coloring.

Platform Notes

Client Requirements

Operating Systems

• Microsoft Windows XP SP1

• Microsoft Windows 2000 SP3

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1

• Microsoft Windows Vista (see Vista installation note)

NOTE: ADVIZOR Software products do not currently support any of the Windows 64 bit Operating Systems. ADVIZOR Software products will run under these Operating Systems but will not make use of the additional address space.

Browser

• Internet Explorer 6.0 or Internet Explorer 7.

Other Software

• Features interfacing to MS Office applications require Office 2000 or later.

Hardware

• Any current, business-focused PC or laptop.

  • This excludes computers with low-end, entry level processors.

• 1 GB of RAM or greater (See Note below)

• Graphics display processor with at least 16MB of video RAM

  • Either shared or dedicated video RAM is acceptable

  • Always use the most recently available drivers for the graphics display processor (contact the vendor to obtain them)

• Video display resolution of 1024 x 768 or greater

• Video display color depth of 16 million colors

• CD-ROM drive

• Mouse or compatible pointing device

NOTE: For a given dataset, performance of the ADVIZOR Analyst software is dependent on:

• Amount of RAM

• CPU

  • Processor speed

  • Processor architecture/technology

    • Amount of cache

    • Number of cores

in that order. When deciding on a computer to use or buy, opt first for as much RAM as possible within economic constraints; however, once the amount of RAM has been decided, opt for the fastest and most powerful CPU that satisfies economic constraints. The amount of RAM required is highly dependent on your application data. The minimum amount of RAM is determined primarily by:

• The amount and type of data being loaded into memory

  • The number of rows

  • The number of fields

  • The type of data in each field

    i. Alphanumeric (string) ii. Numeric or Date

• Your particular ADVIZOR Analyst application design

As a rough estimate of the amount of RAM required for your data, find the file size of each data file you intend to load when the data is in the form of a text file and sum the file sizes.

Additional RAM will be required for your intended ADVIZOR Analyst application; however, in most cases the RAM required for data will be the most significant contributor.

Beyond these general guidelines and within economic constraints, more RAM and faster processors will almost always maximize your ADVIZOR Analyst application's performance. Consider provisioning any PC or laptop with future expansion in mind.

OLAP clients

• At least SP4 for MS OLAP Services including msolap80.dll from that SP

Server Requirements

Following are the minimum requirements for server products:

Operating Systems

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP3 or

• Windows Server 2003

Other

• IIS 5.0, or newer, installed and running prior to installation of the Microsoft .NET Framework

Hardware

• Any current, server class computer (See note below)

  • Typically, at least a dual processor configuration will be required

    • To service the expected number of users

      • Multiple users accessing the same project increase the overall processor utilization

    • To execute several different projects simultaneously

• At least 1GB of RAM per processor (See the Note above under Client Products)

  • Each distinct project accessed by users requires its own memory space

    • RAM should be increased as the number of distinct projects accessed grows

  • Multiple users accessing the same project do so with minimal additional RAM overhead

• No graphics display processor is required

• Segmenting projects to additional servers must be considered as the user and project load grows

NOTE: In general, it is recommended that the ADVIZOR Server software run on its own server hardware. Beyond these general guidelines and within economic constraints, more RAM and more and faster processors will almost always maximize your ADVIZOR Server's performance. Consider provisioning any server hardware with future expansion in mind.

Client Internet Browser Software

• Internet Explorer 6.0, or later

• ADVIZOR Server software does not support the use of any other browser

NOTE: If the server also has the database software installed, consider using a multiprocessor system. Some databases such as Microsoft SQL Server take advantage of multiprocessor capabilities to improve performance. Networking delays may also be reduced by having the database on the same system.

Installation Instructions

1. Prior to installing ADVIZOR Analyst/X, remove prior versions of ADVIZOR Publisher or Analyst Pro using Add/Remove Programs.

2. Insert the CDROM into your CD drive. Double click on Setup.exe in the root directory on the CD.

   • Special note for installing on Vista: installation must be done with Administrative privileges. Do this by right clicking on the installer and selecting “Run as administrator” from the popup menu.

3. If you are instructed to remove a prior version of an ADVIZOR Analyst Edition product, proceed as directed, or use the operating system's "Add/Remove Software" facility.

4. Holding down the shift key during application startup (while the logo is displayed), will restore the application settings to the "factory default" settings. These setting are sometimes updated when a new release is issued, so its a good practice to do so whenever you have loaded a new version of the software..

5. After installation, confirm the new version is installed by starting the ADVIZOR Analyst Edition Product and looking at menu Help->About Version. Version should be as noted in the following table .

Product	Version Number (Help About...)
ADVIZOR 5.22 Analyst	5.22.2683.29600
ADVIZOR 5.22 Analyst/X	5.22.2683.29585
ADVIZOR 5.22 Desktop Navigator	5.22.2683.29580
ADVIZOR 5.22 Server AE	5.22.2683.29594
ADVIZOR 5.22 Analyst Office	5.22.2683.29569
ADVIZOR 5.22 Analyst/X Office	5.22.2683.29574
ADVIZOR 5.22 SalesAdvizor	5.22.2683.29569

Installation of ADVIZOR Server AE

1. Stop the IIS server on the target machine.

2. Use Add/Remove Software (found in Control Panel) to remove any prior version of the software.

3. Restart IIS. It must be running when you install.

4. Install the Server AE software.

5. Don't forget to perform the post-installation setup displayed at the end of installation

Databases Supported

As of this release, ADVIZOR supports:

• Text files (see note below)

• MS Excel (see note below)

• MS Access (see note below)

• SalesForce.com

• Business Objects WebI (6.5) (see note below)

• MS SQL Server (version 7.0 or later) (see note)

• MS Analysis Services (OLAP) (see note)

• Oracle (version 9i or later)

• Teradata (version V2 R5.0 or later)

and the following ODBC interfaces:

NOTE: ODBC DSN configurations must be defined as "System DSNs"

Oracle drivers

• Microsoft ODBC for Oracle - MSORCL32.DLL

• Oracle in OraClient10g - SQORA32.DLL

  SQL Server driver

• SQL Server - SQLSRV32.DLL

  Pervasive drivers

• Pervasive ODBC Client Interface - W3ODBCCI.DLL

• Pervasive ODBC Engine Interface - W3ODBCEI.DLL

  MySQL driver

• MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver - MYODBC3.DLL (MyODBC-3.51.11-2-win.msi - when used with MySQL version mysql-essential-4.1.13-win32.msi)

For Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel and text files, you MUST use the non-ODBC options in the Data Wizard.

Business Objects Installations:

Unified Web Services is a pre-requisite for accessing data from a Webi installation. NOTE that Unified Web Services is not part of the version 6.5 product suite. It is contained within the Business Objects - Crystal Integration Pack v1.0. With BOE XI, the packaging may be different. Contact Business Objects for details

The Unified Web Services connector package consists of a Zip file of J2EE software and a Business Objects PDF to document its installation and use. This information can be sent out upon request. These files (dswsJ2EE_e65_100EN.zip and sdk_web_services_adminEN.pdf) may be obtained from Business Objects.

NOTE: In order to access data from both Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005, you may need to install the SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility package, which is available on the installation CD as SQLServer2005_BC.msi. Simply double-click the icon to install this package. WARNING: If you have SQL Server 2000 installed, do not install this package, or your SQL Server 2000 installation may be corrupted.

NOTE: In order to access data from Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services, you may need to install the SQL Server 2005 ADOMD package, which is available on the installation CD as SQLServer2005_ADOMD.msi. Simply double-click the icon to install this package.

Support for other database types will require custom development. If interested contact [e-mail]

Known Problems and Hints

• If you get an InstallShield error complaining about a missing file in C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information while un-installing an Advizor product, try running the setup.exe file found in the original installation image. This has been noted occasionally on Win2000 systems.

• Selection links should be used between tables with a 1:1 relationship between keys or 1:N, where N is a small number (e.g., <20 on average). Otherwise the index built to describe the relationship between the tables can use an excessive amount of memory

• When using backend integration (Data Integration) on Advizor Server, the tooltip on the data integration button, in the published dashboard, is created from the description that you provide when you publish. If you do not include a description, there will not be a tooltip.

• Do not try publishing using different versions of Analyst/X or Analyst and Server AE. Use the same versions of each product.

• Regarding configuration of an ODBC data interface:

  1. You must ensure you have the proper ODBC drivers for your database per the information under "Databases Supported" (above).

  2. You must configure ODBC drivers through the Windows OS prior to trying to use them in ADVIZOR.

  3. The ODBC must be configured as a System DSN, not a User DSN.

• Some database products, like MS SQL Server, may at times, place significant demands on system resources. For this reason, we recommend installing ADVIZOR Server products on a machine other than the DB server. Doing so should result in noticeably better performance of ADVIZOR Server.

• ADVIZOR Server AE runs into a couple difficulties that are unique to Windows 2000 systems (these are not problems with Windows XP/2003):

  • ADVIZOR Server AE must be accessed first from an external machine to ensure that permissions are initialized properly.

  • The Publisher application and the Server cannot run simultaneously on the same system. That is, if the Server has opened a project, the Publisher cannot be started, and if the Publisher is running, the Server will not be able to open a project. In order for you to create and publish a project and access it from the Server on the same Windows 2000 machine, you need to follow this sequence:

    1. Make sure the Server is not running (restart IIS from the Computer Management console).

    2. Start the Publisher, open your project, and publish perspectives to http://<servermachine>/ADV.

    3. Close the Publisher application without accessing your published page (don't click on the link to view the page).

    4. From another machine, access http://<servermachine>/ADV/AsiProjectDirectory.aspx and then click on the newly published project.

    5. On the server machine, access http://localhost/ADV and click on the new project.
• As a troubleshooting aid, any logging information may be written to either C:\Program Files\ADVIZOR Analyst\error.log or C:\Program Files\Common Files\ADVIZOR Components\exception.log, depending on the nature of the problem. The operating system's "Application Event" log may also provide useful information.

• If your views seem incorrect compared to what you know about your data, and you are using a .csv, .txt or .xls data source, check to be sure your data is "clean". For instance, we've noted cases where an excel column is defined to be "number", but one of the entries contains something like 98763X. This may confuse Microsoft's JET driver (used with .csv, .txt, .xls data) and cause what appears to be incorrect data. Similarly, where a column is defined to be a "Date", but there was an entry "-" (someone had put in a "dash" because they didn't know the date value for that entry). You're better off leaving the entry blank.

• If you have problems loading textual data from a .csv or .txt file, you may need to explicitly specify the formatting of the fields in the data. This may be done using a Schema.ini file. The Schema.ini file is a Microsoft convention for specifying data formats when using the JET or ODBC drivers. Further information is available at:

  http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/odbc/htm/odbcjetschema_ini_file.asp

  The following link shows a good example schema.ini file about half way through the article.

  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;155512
• Loading data using a Schema.ini file: In the Schema.ini file, if you specify that there is no column header in the data file, this will override the ADVIZOR Data Wizard setting for that attribute and will consequently read one less line of data than there actually is. This is a platform software issue beyond our control.

• If you are reading data from a .csv or .txt file that you've used previously with a pre 4.0 version of ADVIZOR, the existence of field type specifications in line 2 of your data may cause incorrect interpretation of some of the field types, or an error during startup of your project. Starting with version 4.0, ADVIZOR uses Microsoft's JET Driver, so type specifications in the second line of data should no longer be used.

• A pre-requisite for accessing data from a Business Objects WebI installation: you must have Business Objects' Unified Web Services installed.

• Additional information (available on request)

  • Guide on advanced publishing

  • Guide on branding

  • Guide on audit logging

Contacting Technical Support

When submitting a problem to Technical Support, email is the preferred mechanism ([e-mail]). In the email, please provide as many of the following as possible:

• Your company name

• Your name & contact information including phone number

• The name of the product you are using and its version number

• Your license key used to install the product

• A detailed explanation of what you were doing that led up to the problem.

• Screen shot(s) and/or exact text of any error information

• C:\Program Files\ADVIZOR Product\error.log, if it exists (replace Product with Analyst or- AnalystX, etc as applicable to your product)

• C:\Program Files\Common Files\ADVIZOR Components\exception.log, if it exists

• Machine's System Information file created from the "System Information" saved as type ".nfo"

• Operating system's Application event log in .evt format so that we get the detailed event descriptions

• If you're having a database access problem, submit all relevant DB information, including DB vendor, DB version, whether the DB is local or remote, whether or not you are able to access the DB using vendor or third party supplied query tools, etc

Important Note: If you encounter an error/exception and are offered the opportunity to forward diagnostic information, please do so. However, note that you can help reduce the time to resolution by also including details of the actions that led to the event. Our ability to rapidly understand the problem is significantly increased when we know all the details.

If you cannot find answers to your questions using the online help "Table of Contents", "Index" or "Find" tabs, or in this release notes file, have your application license number handy and use one of the following contact methods:

Send email to: [e-mail] (preferred method)

-or-

call the ADVIZOR Solutions, Inc Technical Support line during business hou**rs (8:00 AM - 4:30 PM Central time, Monday - Friday) at +1.630.971.5250