Symtrax BI Tool Now Works with Open Source Spreadsheet

March 9, 2010 Alex Woodie

Symtrax last month unveiled StarQuery for Calc, a new module of its StarQuery suite of business intelligence (BI) tools designed to work with Open Office‘s Calc, a free and open source alternative to Microsoft Excel’s spreadsheet program.

StarQuery is a collection of BI and reporting tools unveiled by Symtrax in late 2003. The software was designed to enable end users to generate their own reports and do their own data manipulation from the comfort of Excel (once an administrator has created the database views that users will have access to). By putting more power in the hands of decision makers, Symtrax felt it could free up IT administrators to chase more value-added tasks.

With the launch of StarQuery for Calc, Symtrax is opening up its flagship BI product to a new class of users. Organizations that do not wish to purchase Microsoft Excel can now get the same level of functionality–including report building, query execution, and multidimensional analysis–through the integration of StarQuery with Open Office Calc.

The new software even supports the automatic generation of data pilots (or pivot tables), and makes it easier for JD Edwards shops to view data (such as dates and decimals) in an understandable format, Symtrax says. Excel users who want to adopt Open Office Calc don’t have to recreate the data maps or queries, Symtrax says.

Symtrax managing director Bernard Aldebert expressed excitement at the new product. “With StarQuery for Calc, users can now work on, format and analyze their data directly in Open Calc with optimal security,” Aldebert stated in a press release. “It is also noteworthy that StarQuery Suite is the first business intelligence suite covering nearly all spreadsheet programs.”

StarQuery is used by a large number of JD Edwards shops, as well as companies running BPCS and MAPICS ERP applications, according to Symtrax. Other StarQuery components include StarQuery MapDesigner, StarQuery Scheduler, and StarQuery for the Web. For more information, see www.symtrax.com.