Managing Automation – June 8, 2009
In order to accelerate business performance, manufacturers need easy-to-use tools that provide insight into deeper, operational metrics that make a difference. Transpara offers a lightweight, Web-based tool that includes BI and visualization and can access existing back-end applications, from plant floor historians to finance systems.
Transpara, a leading provider of operational intelligence software, today announced that Visual KPI version 3.1 is now internationalized for Europe and supports European formats for dates, times and numbers. Visual KPI aggregates operations, financial and infrastructure information from multiple, existing data sources and delivers role-based, actionable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to users via the desktop, laptop, and virtually all smartphones and PDAs. Internationalized support for Visual KPI is available immediately.
“Transpara is committed to serving the needs of our partners and customers in Europe,” said Michael Saucier, founder and CEO, Transpara.”We are seeing significant adoption in the European markets and will continue to extend the power of Visual KPI to new users with advanced functionality that unlocks operations and production information from multiple, heterogeneous data sources.”
Visual KPI web-based software enables users to easily create and customize composite KPIs and scorecards without any additional programming, using information from any combination of existing data sources, including OSIsoft PI System, Rockwell FactoryTalk Historian, Invensys InSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Excel Spreadsheets, SmartSignal, OLE DB and Web Services.
“Visual KPI is a critical tool for customers, providing people on the move with a unique solution for on-demand access to KPIs,” said Johan Pellicaan, CEO, Bridge Incubation Group. “The increased amount of data and the speed with which people need to make a good decision require more effective ways to communicate relevant business data. With Transpara’s Visual KPI, users are informed quickly, with comprehensive, real-time data, leading to vastly improved decision making.”
About Transpara Corporation
Transpara delivers Visual KPI, operations intelligence software that provides customers in the process and utility industries with role-based, actionable KPIs on any web browser. Visual KPI presents operating information from multiple data sources to users in context and on-demand, enabling timely, informed decision making from any location. By helping users throughout the organization to monitor their asset base, Visual KPI improves performance, reduces operating costs and lowers business risk. Visit www.transpara.com for more information.
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Transpara is a registered trademark of Transpara Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Download PDF: Transpara Visual KPI Now Internationalized for Europe
Gartner (AMR Research) – May 18, 2009
“Transpara’s Visual KPI product serves up key performance indicators to either desktop browsers or mobile devices, arming distributed workers that need to be enabled and roped in with the right information, even when not physically on the job.”
Manufacturing Business Technology – May 14, 2009
“[With Visual KPI] information on plant status and power generation schedules is available on Blackberries whenever users request it,” said Ed Yachimiak, senior SCADA analyst at a large Midwestern utility. “This greatly augments our plant control systems. It’s a critical part of our infrastructure. We couldn’t live without it.”
Redmond Magazine – May 2009
Visual KPI is used by industrial customers to deliver real-time, on-demand data to decision makers. More…
Last week, I flew my dad in to stay with me for a few days so we could watch the Master’s Tournament together. I had it all planned out: TiVo set to ESPN HD for the 4 televised rounds, PC all set to watch pre-show streaming footage at Amen Corner, iPhone loaded with the Master’s Scoreboard App and a note pinned to the door: “If you are not Ed McMahon, then please go away.”
As the days unfolded, neither of my guys were even close to leading–much less dominating–the field on Thursday, Friday, or (gasp!) Saturday. I was starting to feel like I had just paid 13 bucks to see another crappy Keanu Reeves movie and by the time Sunday morning finally rolled around I was bored.
That is until I found out that Tiger and Phil were paired for the final round. I didn’t even care that neither of them could win the tournament, the fun of watching them battle each other would make up for everything else. As we watched Phil tie the Augusta course record of 30 on the front nine, and watched Tiger grind out what seemed like a comeback, we both realized that THIS was the Master’s for us, not the other 75 guys slugging it out for the Green Jacket.
So for us, the Master’s started on Sunday morning at 10:35 AM when the dynamic duo teed off and ended when Phil plopped his 9 iron in Rae’s Creek on 12, effectively squashing his momentum and what looked to be a come-from-behind win. More drama unfolded, and a winner was eventually crowned, but the 3 hours of Tiger and Phil on Sunday is something my dad and I will talk about forever.
Dashboard Insight – April 6, 2009
Regardless of the economy, you can’t lose sight of driving value over time. BI implementations should be able to deliver immediate value without sacrificing long-term strategy. When employees are plugged into the organization with timely, consistent data, they will naturally contribute to overall improved performance. More…
I spent part of this week in Denver at the Xcel Energy-sponsored SmartGrid City Roadshow with Transpara partner OSIsoft. Utilities are tackling a massive upgrade effort over the next decade aimed at meeting the rising electrical demands while reducing emissions, increasing efficiency of the grid and allowing for something called “distributed generation” where any company or individual can supply electricity back to the grid in order to help level supply and demand.
How Does Electricity Get to Me?
The supply of electricity to your home is composed of three main parts: Generation, Transmission, and Distribution as shown in the diagram. Xcel’s SmartGrid City effort is aimed at the “last mile” of Distribution, with a goal of making electricity usage transparent to (and manageable by) the homeowner.
Where is SmartGrid City?
Boulder, CO is the site of this 50,000 home experiment, with residents getting the latest computer and electricity management technology installed courtesy of Xcel and its consortium partners. How many times have you looked at your electric bill and wondered “why is my bill so high?” Boulder residents can now manage their electrical usage and monitor the results in real-time, changing their habits and usage patterns in order to save money.
Why is Xcel sponsoring SmartGrid City?
Why would Xcel want to reduce demand for its product? Because the current electric grid is built for the “peak load” and thus over-engineered for normal daily use. Helping homeowners reduce consumption helps avoid building new Power Generating plants, which in turn means less pollution and lower energy costs. If this works, utilities can actually free up “virtual plants” of generating capacity instead of building new ones. Good for the environment, consumer and the utility all at once.
Check out the mainstream TV coverage of the Smart Grid in action
It wasn’t that long ago that people referred to BlackBerry-toting executives at their company with a wise-crack. That was until folks realized that the ready availability of business data–not just e-mail–would change the way they work.
A recent InformationWeek Analytics survey of 412 business technology pros found that most companies no longer question whether to give at least some employees access to their jobs via smartphones and other handheld devices. In fact, two-thirds of companies are deploying or planning to deploy mobile apps. The questions they face are what to provide access to, how to do it, who should get access, and from which types of devices.
Microsoft – March 16, 2009
Customers give Transpara “Highest Marks” in a survey conducted by Microsoft, including customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, revenue impact and overall performance. Read report…