Midrange Stuff, OS/400 Edition

Momentum Utilities, the Australian developer of data retrieval, analysis, and presentation software, including the Jacana forms applications, has introduced a reporting package for users of the MAPICS ERP system. The new software, called Jacana inTuator, is a client/server application with MAPICS data interfaces designed to do advanced analysis, such as those associated with multidimensional databases, without the time and expense.

The inTuator has two components. On the back end is the inTuator iServer, which runs on an OS/400 server and manages database access, data extraction, data cleansing, security, and overall management of the inTuator application. On the front end is the inTuator software, which runs on a Microsoft Windows PC and lets users manipulate, format, and analyze iSeries-resident information from a Web browser.

Three sets of users interact with inTuator, in three distinct and progressively less technical steps, using three subcomponents of the suite, called inSets, inStores, and inTuates.

The first component, inSets, is used to do the initial mapping of the ERP application database structures for the particular analysis to be performed. For example, for the MAPICS suite, Momentum will supply pre-built inSets for Accounts Receivable, Customer Order Management, Procurement, Inventory Management, Manufacturing, Engineering, IFM Financials, and AM Financials. Typically the programmer or systems analyst most familiar with particular business processes will work with corresponding insets to prepare the data for the next step.

The middle step, called inStores, captures the database information prepared by inSets and refines it for the final inTuates stage. Workers familiar with a particular area of the business use the inStores stage to specify the level, type, and scale of summary information to be presented in the next step. The inStores data and fields need to be updated periodically, so Momentum uses a native iSeries database access method, because it's faster than SQL and ODBC methods.

In the final stage, the consumer of information--such as a sales representative, a logistics manager, or an accounts receivable clerk--uses the inTuates program to work with the inStore data, using tables and charts. The inTuates Web browser interface lets users manipulate the data in a number of ways, including drilling up or down on the tables, pivoting charts to change axis, adding new fields, expanding a field to view related information, and linking between views and applications. Additionally, users can print or e-mail their inTuates or export them to desktop applications such as Microsoft Word or Excel. It also features customization options through different HTML skins and formatting.

A spokesperson for Momentum says inTuator is only available to MAPICS users at this point, but support for additional ERP systems will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The company is leading with a plug-in MAPICS module because it has done a lot of work with the application in the past and its developers know and understand its database structures.

Momentum officially launched inTuator for MAPICS last week. The company is taking a novel approach to product marketing by using hand-drawn comic strip imagery to explain the product and its uses. Momentum, which is based in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, and has its U.S. offices near Atlanta, also has launched a dedicated inTuator Web site, where a series of Webinars on the product begins Tuesday, May 13.

Momentum decided to forgo the traditional tier- or user-based pricing many ISVs use and has instituted a simple pricing structure based on the number of business areas that a client wants to use. For MAPICS, Momentum offers seven business areas and pricing starts at $7,600 for the first business area and tops out at $12,000. Annual maintenance fees for the seven business areas range from $1,520 to $2,400. For more information or a free 30-day product trial, go to www.intuator.com.

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