Flash animation for database reports

--amadeus--

Hi - not sure if this is teh correct forum, Mods please move if not...

I have a client - a large multi-national corporation - who I create small database and dashboard reports for.

They are using a legacy inventory management system (over 30 years old, I kid you not) and as a result most of the metric creation is done using desktop apps, mainly Excel.

I have been brought in to help tidy things up and drag them slightly more up to date. Major software purchases are out and they have limited autonomy so SAP, Oracle and the like are simply out of teh equation. My first step has been to integrate the key Excel generated reports into a database backend, so key data flows from the Excel sheets into the database automatically. They now also have a very simple dashboard, in Excel. It's in a table format that uses SQL to pull the correct info and VBA to colour code the data (Green for on target, Amber for close, Red for off).

However they have seen a very sophisticated Flash driven dashboard. It looks very slick - tabs across the top allow the user to select a classification. Within teh classification there are then buttons that can be pushed that will generate charts and dials representing the performance and results.

So of course that is what they now want!

I have worked with animators previously but never particularly closely so I'm not sure what I can promise and / or expect to deliver. Any help on these questions would be greatly apporeciated!

- How easy is it (for someone who knows what they are doing) to integrate Flash with a database?

- Can animations be created from dynamic datasets? As in can I have a table that has changing data and the animation will represent whatever data is provided at that time?

- How much per hour do good Flash animators charge?

Thanks!

p

I can do dynamic data viz stuff for you if you need something highly custom.

However, I doubt you need to spend that much on this project. You can get a lot of flash components that you can drop into an existing web app. As a server-side guy this is really great since you can just send it parameters via HTML or data via XML. Either of which may be suitable for you.
Here's two I've used in the past and were pretty decent.
http://www.fusioncharts.com/
http://www.maani.us/xml_charts/

Also, Google has a charting API for static charts.
http://code.google.com/apis/chart/

Definitely a good idea to try do something with tools like that and see how you get on with pre-packed solutions, before going with something custom which is a lot more costly.

--amadeus--

Brilliant, thanks, I'll have a look at those later.

My issue is I'm a coder/database person, I crunch numbers and spit out tables. Basic charting I do but once you start getting into fancy "stuff" or onto web based tech I start to get nervous.

Looks like it may be time to ditch the old reliable desktop app solution training wheels and get with modernity :eek:

p

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Brilliant, thanks, I'll have a look at those later.

My issue is I'm a coder/database person, I crunch numbers and spit out tables. Basic charting I do but once you start getting into fancy "stuff" or onto web based tech I start to get nervous.

Well, don't worry about the fancy stuff too much. You'd never really do it on your own. I'm a designer and know my fonts and colour and flash and HTML. I get very nervous if you ask me anything about databases. Thankfully i've always worked with people like you to handle that side of things.

jmcc

p wrote: »

I can do dynamic data viz stuff for you if you need something highly custom.

However, I doubt you need to spend that much on this project. You can get a lot of flash components that you can drop into an existing web app. As a server-side guy this is really great since you can just send it parameters via HTML or data via XML. Either of which may be suitable for you.
Here's two I've used in the past and were pretty decent.
http://www.fusioncharts.com/
http://www.maani.us/xml_charts/

I use XML Charts on HosterStats.com (all the hoster statistics charts are dynamically generated and the TLD charts are from static files) and have found it very easy to use and easy enough to configure. It is also cheap enough for experimental purposes. The Fusion Charts product is a bit more expensive from what I remember but it has a lot more chart formats and features.

The XML for XML Charts can be generated dynamically or read from a static file. Making the charts truly dynamic (mixing datasets etc) would have to be done through php or ASP scripts and then published.

If the current application is working, be very careful about dumping it and try to run the new and the old apps in parallel for a while.

Regards...jmcc

--amadeus--

jmcc wrote: »

If the current application is working, be very careful about dumping it and try to run the new and the old apps in parallel for a while.

Regards...jmcc

That's part of the issue - I am the third person brought in to try and make this happen. One company put in an expensive solution that just didn't work at all, another didn't get past design phase and I'm now about to go fully live having gone through user testing and running teh manual system in parallel with mine for two months.

Before I even get to looking at fancy charts I need to replicate the system in the other Irish manufacturing facility, expand the range of reports, create the support documents... I've told them it'll be Q3 of next year before we're even thinking about this.

But I wanted to get researching now so that if I have to buy in expertise I have access to it and know what I need. And if it's something I can learn that I have the lead time to do properly. And if it's an easy win then I get client brownie points for getting it done early

Ginger

Silly question have you look at Reporting Services and the ReportBuilder which is inbuilt so that they can generate their own charts etc.. (provided that is you are using SQL Server)

Also Telerik have some nifty plugins for this http://demos.telerik.com/reporting/

--amadeus--

Ginger wrote: »

Silly question have you look at Reporting Services and the ReportBuilder which is inbuilt so that they can generate their own charts etc.. (provided that is you are using SQL Server)

Also Telerik have some nifty plugins for this http://demos.telerik.com/reporting/

I have been requested to keep it all off server. Obviously the database is hosted on a file server but it's got to be small scale. The Inventory App runs on an AS400 box so DB2 would be the logical choice but that is managed from the States. SQL Server is the upgrade path I am encouraging but at the moment it's an Access backend connected to Excel files acting as the frontend. It actually works better than you would think - you can use DAO recordsets to move the data easily and quickly and we're looking at low numbers of concurrent connections. If migrating to SQL would give slick reports then I might be able to get them to make the jump though...

Having the dashboard report output in Excel is because of the legacy situation, I want it all moved to he Inter/Intranet in the medium term and I suppose I'm looking for an easy(ish) win.

Thanks for teh pointers, much appreciated!