Elevate End-User Productivity
Qport Access™ lets Windows users run queries built with NGS-IQ™ – NGS’ integrated query, reporting, and business intelligence solution – and deliver their results directly to their favorite Windows productivity and data presentation solutions in the most secure and efficient manner possible. The ease and simplicity of this approach can greatly enhance end-user and IT staff productivity.
How It Works
Qport Access communicates with NGS-IQ on your IBM i to execute your request in batch and transfer only the finished report to your target application. No ODBC middleware is required, and the full power of the IBM i is put to work on your request. You can send results directly into Microsoft Excel, Access, and Word as well as to SmartView™, NGS-IQ’s OLAP module. You can also send your query results to a Windows display, ASCII printer, the IBM i IFS, or a DB2 file as defined in the query on the IBM i.
Qport Access’ support of TCP/IP lets you extend database access to your authorized customers, business partners, and vendors as well as to your remote sites and traveling users. With an Internet connection, Qport Access loaded on their workstation, plus an IBM i user ID and password, authorized users can access NGS-IQ queries easily from anywhere.
Microsoft Excel Integration
When sending reports to Excel, Qport Access users can specify the workbook, sheet, and named range where they want the data delivered. Workbooks and sheets can be created, replaced, and appended to as often as desired. Formatting is preserved along with expressions and other functions contained in the sheet to maximize productivity.
You can instruct Qport Access to automatically convert your summaries and calculated fields into formulas, replace or append your results to an existing sheet or named range, and even load the data into one sheet and then display another when the report is done. You might use this capability to automatically update and display a chart based on your query output. If you establish live links between your Excel data and other files such as PowerPoint presentations, these other files will update each time you use Qport Access to refresh the Excel sheet.
If you have fields like product numbers, account numbers, or others that begin with one or more zeros, you’ll appreciate how Qport Access lets you tell Excel to treat these fields as character fields and not truncate leading zeros when loading the data into your worksheet.
Advanced Functionality
Qport Access does not restrict your users to the simple reporting found in most competing products since all the advanced functionality of IQ Server™ is harnessed from the IBM i. You can run sophisticated reports with complex record selection criteria, conditional calculations and summary level new fields, extensive formatting, file joins, links to remote databases, and other powerful functions without confusing users.
Qport Access prompts users at run time for new field calculation formulas and one-time record selection criteria. This flexibility allows users to change discount formulas, date ranges, customer names, item numbers, etc., without revising the query.
Qport Access has the versatility to let your users pick where they want to send their results each time they run the query, so different users who run the same query are not limited to viewing the results in the same format. For example, a query might be output to display or to a printer one time and to Excel or SmartView the next.
Data Transfer to Host
You probably have at least one department that is running some of the following: a special purpose application on your network, a Web server where Web site traffic data is captured, ASCII databases supplied from credit reporting or government agencies, data from third-party competitive intelligence vendors, and bids and budgets generated by salespeople and accountants. Qport Access allows authorized users to transfer the most valuable information in these files to DB2 on the IBM i where they can be joined with the rest of your enterprise data to produce more meaningful reports and analysis.
With the “Transfer to Host” option, Qport Access users can upload any data source that can be read by Microsoft Access. You simply tell Qport Access the name of the DB2 file and library where you want the data loaded, the location of the Access table, and which fields you want transferred. You can assign attributes such as length, type, and column heading for each selected field, so data loads accurately – whether you are creating, replacing, or appending to a file. Recurring uploads can be automated to execute from a desktop icon.
The “Transfer to Host” option dramatically simplifies the steps involved in moving batches of data to your IBM i. NGS offers the module known as IQ Connexion™ for higher volume, real-time, remote data access. Ask your NGS product specialist for more information.
Superior Security
Qport Access performs in strict compliance with your IBM i security. To protect your IBM i database, you control who can use the “Transfer to Host” option by setting a switch in the NGS-IQ license on the IBM i and on the individual PC where Qport Access is installed. Unless authorized, the “Transfer to Host” option does not appear on the user’s Qport Access menu. NGS’ IQ SeQure™ module can provide further control over the use of this option by letting you limit Qport Access uploads to specified libraries and identify which users can work with those libraries. This control is far greater than you typically have when using ODBC-based file transfer utilities.
IQ SeQure is licensed separately.
Company-Wide Solutions
NGS-IQ customers depend on Qport Access enterprise-wide to meet the diverse reporting needs of their business analysts, users, and managers. Qport Access delivers daily production reports, monthly sales analysis, quarterly P&L statements, and ad-hoc queries with ease, so users can meet departmental and company objectives.
Ultimate Benefits
With Qport Access, your IT staff will spend less time running queries and distributing reports to users. Users will spend less time waiting for information, and your company will run more efficiently.
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NGS-IQ, IQ Server, IQ SeQure, Qport Access, IQ Connexion, and SmartView are trademarks of New Generation Software, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
