Data Mining

Data Mining

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Data you want,
	In the format you need,
		Where you want it.

Midwest Data offers a data mining/COLD storage solution to enhance our billing product. This product is offered to you through Midwest Data and ACquire/iACquire.

ACquire is a COLD data storage system. iACquire is a Web Server Report Management System. It is used for report manipulation, creation, routing, and reduction.

So, what is it and how is it different?

ACquire is a COLD system (Computer Output to Laser Disk). Most COLD systems are designed to help companies reduce paper while allowing their employees to more easily use existing reports. Rather than printing the reports or having them converted to microfiche or disk, the report data is stored on a magnetic and/or optical disk. Employees use their PCs to locate and view the reports. In a typical COLD system, the payback is the result of paper and microfiche reductions.

ACquire goes beyond that and gives you savings in additional areas:

	The best data extraction capability in the market
	New report generation using data in one or more existing reports
	Easy report distribution to remote locations
	The ability to easily convert data into information which can be used to support decision making processes
	Improved ability to service customers which can result in increased sales

ACquire users will attest that their real payback comes from the savings and revenue generated in these five areas.

The iACquire module is designed to allow local and remote users access to the ACquire reports using their own intranet or internet. The iACquire system is a true client/server engine that runs on an NT Server and provides very fast response time.

ACquire provides effective security without being cumbersome. This is managed by the creation of individual user records by the System Administrator. The information contained in these records determines each user’s security clearance, as well as the extent to which they can use the system’s functions. Each user record contains the following security utilities:

User Codes/Passwords
Every Acquire user is assigned a personal user code and password. Whenever a user signs into the system it will ask for a current password. If either of these is entered incorrectly, access to the system is denied.

System Functionality
Each user's ability to use certain functions is also contained in their user records. This prevents the system from being used in an improper fashion. The System Administrator can determine user access for the following:

	Limit how many pages each user can print daily
	Access to all reports or only specific reports
	View all sections of reports
	Print reports
	Create databases
	Use the Comment functions
	Save search parameters
	Access the optical drive
	Display or print reports using overlay bitmaps

Security Levels
Each user is assigned a security level (0-9) for every report application defined to the system. This number determines what level of access users have in each application. The higher your security level, the more sensitive reports you can use in a given report application. Also, you can have a different security level for each application.

iACquire allows for these Search Features:

Search
Gives the user the ability to select criteria, browse the report for the selected criteria, output the data fields to the Web Browser, or to a variety of file formats. It also has options to limit the number of extracts, limit the page range for searching, and search historical report dates. You can search for any pre-defined field in a report. If the information you are looking for does not display using the Search option, it is probably not defined as a detail variable. The Find menu option can then be used to locate text not found by the Search option. When you perform a search using ACquire the results can be displayed or saved in two ways:

	Seek Search The system can stop at each page that contains a match and highlight the corresponding line
	Extract Search The results can be displayed or saved to an "extract file" that can import into various database or spreadsheet programs

Extended Search
This not only gives the user the ability to do all the functions of Search, it allows the user to select the order the output data fields should be in. It also allows select calculations on Detail fields, plus sorting and summary report options.

Overall Benefits

	Reduce Paper Costs ACquire can greatly reduce or eliminate all direct and indirect costs associated with printing, handling, distributing, storing, and disposing of paper-based reports. The same type of savings can be obtained through the elimination of microfiche.
	Reduce Time to Access Reports No more waiting for the mail to come. The system can save valuable hours when the data is right there at your finger tips. Not only that, but using the index can locate the correct page in a report in just seconds. Because all authorized users can access the same report at the same time, there is no delay while one employee uses a report and other users need access to the same report. The savings in this area, though intangible, can be very substantial.
	Save Hours Many companies have employees whose sole job is to create and extract files for use in PC spreadsheets or database programs. With ACquire, the users can perform this function without any support from the technical staff. Because of this, users will be more likely to follow up on research projects that can generate savings than they would spending their time creating these reports.
	Eliminate Data Re-Keying If you or anyone on your staff has ever spent time re-keying data from a printed report into a PC spreadsheet or database, you know there has to be a better way…and now there is. The user can treat report information as a database and use the automated facilities of ACquire to search and extract the desired data from one or multiple reports for a single date or a range of dates. The savings from the elimination of re-keying data is extraordinary for most companies.
	New Report Generation Many companies spend significant amounts of money getting minor modifications or new reports created. With ACquire’s linkage to Crystal Reports, creating new reports is both fast and easy.