ExtraView

Leveraging Existing Expertise in a Changing Environment

Over the years, I’ve worked with a wide variety of customers, from software development groups, to energy companies, to banks.  When we get brought in on a project, many times it is because a decision has been made that the existing business processes and procedures are not working, and it’s time for a change.

Change is not universally embraced, however.

One of the frequent requests that we hear during initial implementation projects, is that management needs a certain set of reports – and this is where they pull out The Spreadsheet.

Many companies have one (or more!) of these – the Excel spreadsheet that has been maintained and updated for years, becoming more and more complex with multiple sheets incorporating data sheets, chart sheets, pivot tables, complex formulas and formatting that makes it look *just* right. (more…)

Single or Multiple ExtraView Instances

ExtraView is architected to allow you to create within a single database an unlimited number of systems (i.e. “Areas”) and subsystems (i.e. “Projects”). Each Area and Project can have its own workflows, layouts, sub-layouts, business rules, notification rules, administrators, security, privacy, etc.  Hence, different parts of your organization, such as Engineering, Marketing, and Human Resources can each create and maintain within one database their own Areas and Projects.  For example, you might create an Area called “Human Resources” that contains four Projects (e.g. “Training”, “Recruiting”, “New Employees”, “Staff Evaluations”, etc.).  You could also create a second Area called “Engineering” that contains three Projects (e.g. “Defects”, “Requirements”, “Test Cases”).  Using a variety of ExtraView’s configurable security settings, each Area and Project can be granularly locked down as required, even to the point where users cannot tell that they are sharing the same database with users from other Areas and Projects.

Given that, a common question I’m asked by ExtraView administrators who are looking to roll out their second ExtraView system is whether they should put that new system in a new ExtraView instance or create it within the existing instance.  An ExtraView instance that contains multiple systems is sometimes referred to as a multi-tenant instance.   There are pros and cons to multi-tenant instances. The pros are: consolidated reporting, shared licenses, and one database to maintain.  The cons include:  additional coordination, additional complexity, and little or no improvement in hardware utilization. (more…)