Software AG’s MashZone Upgraded for Enterprise MashUps 
Software AG is shipping an upgraded ARIS MashZone which lets enterprise users create mashups, dashboards and reports in minutes, combining data from different sources to better visualize the impact of data interconnections on business KPIs.
Software AG is shipping an upgraded ARIS MashZone for enterprise users. ARIS MashZone 2.0 Enterprise Edition lets users create mashups, dashboards and reports in minutes, combining data from different sources to better visualize the impact of data interconnections on business KPIs.
Software AG’s release of MashZone 2.0 follows the successful debut of MashZone earlier this year. The MashZone 2.0 Enterprise Edition sports features specially crafted for larger enterprises, Joerg Klueckmann, Director Product Marketing, told Integration Developer News.
See a demo or download a trial of ARIS MashZone 2.0
“MashZone 2.0 helps corporate managers who need to access many different data sources and use powerful reporting tools,” Klueckmann said. “They want to visualize their data and then create dashboards or reports and do it simply and on their own. But, often these users are left using Microsoft Excel, which is not the best way to bring together many different data sources. Or, they have to ask IT to help them.”
MashZone 2.0 helps corporate managers who need to access many different data sources and use powerful reporting tools.”
Joerg Klueckmann
Director of Product Marketing
ARIS MashZone
Software AG
MashZone 2.0 provides business users a third option – a way to create data-rich mashups across many types of corporate data, and do so on their own. MashZone 2.0’s latest features allow these business users to generate mashups ad hoc, publish and share them with colleagues and partners, and even query the data included within the mashup for further analysis and review, Kleuckmann explained to IDN.
He shared an example where mashups of different data from different systems, combined with business rules and/or business processes, provide an insight or alert into KPI:
“Say your KPI is process cycle time of order to cash, and you are measuring that a certain good is delivered in five days,” Klueckmann said, “So, on the sixth day, if it still did not get delivered, I should see some red indicator that it didn’t go. To continually measure that process, MashZone will connect to webMethods BPMN, Natural and Adabas data.”
Klueckmann added, “Creating a dashboard takes not even half a day. And with a library of mashups and tips available from the MashZone it can be even quicker for some early adopters.”
MashZone 2.0’s added enterprise edition features include:
- New visualization components - Integration of Google Maps, which allows users to take advantage of all Google Maps’ functions or even create their own vector maps.
- Broad and Easy Data Connectivity - More ways to access data sources, allowing users to access data using JDBC. Also, users can now tap data from ARIS Business Server and webMethods Optimize.
- Read-Only Viewer - A new “viewer” read-only option is added to MashZone’s editor and administrator.
User Management & Secure Sharing - MashZone 2.0 Enterprise Edition offers greater rights management to optimize the release process for mashups. The JDBC data source and ActiveDirectory integration also simplify companywide usage. Because MashZone 2.0 can connect to an enterprise’s central user database, (such as Active Directory), companies can use their organizational structures (roles, group memberships) to implement separation of concerns, access rights and so on to govern access to MashZone reports. Moreover, users don’t need a new password.
This feature means MashZone dashboards, reports and information can be prepared and shared easily and safely with a variety of features, including:
- Access to distributors, which allows existing organizational structures to be incorporated into MashZone via LDAP, simplifying the distribution of access rights.
- Web integration, which allows mashups to be incorporated on Internet sites and published worldwide; and
- Simplified access, which lets users log in to MashZone using only their personal company network access.
Software AG’s ARIS MashZone 2.0 -- Under the Covers
Under the covers, MashZone 2.0 includes powerful data access technologies and tooling that empower business users to create their own complex mashups. MashZone will also be tightly integrated with Software AG, webMethods Natural and Adabas to integrate with dashboards. And many customers like to visualize the BPMS system because it enables them to prove the business value and show the value they generate.
So how many different data types can MashZone 2.0 let business users tap into?
“The list of data sources is never complete,” Stephan Freudl, Product Manager ARIS MashZone told IDN. “Today we have a general approach that specifies data access across multiple formats using popular access protocols, RESTful web services and text and binary-based data. Every single [data] request is done by the MashZone server, and this lets us provide access to a wide array of data architectures.”
MashZone also lets you connect and provide an integrated view of various data and processes across departments by combining various data sources with runtime data. MashZone can update constantly to provide users near real-time reports simply by placing software and integration services in MashZone’s data feeds and publishing component.
For look and feel, MashZone also provides users a rich presentation layer along with WYSIWYG graphical editors. The combination allows business users to adjust their dashboards screens to show just the data mashups they need in the locations they want.
“Everything is a Rich Internet Application (RIA), and so it all happens in the browser,” Freudl said.
MashZone 2.0 also comes with tutorials and a gallery of mashup examples for sales, marketing, IT and other users. There is also a MashZone community of users, now at approximately 2,500 members.
