Some recipients receive the reports as E-mail attachments, but Zinnote can also produce reports in HTML format for Web pages, and Artisan executives will soon be able to view their Zinnote reports on the company's intranet. That will make it easier for them to access data when they travel. Remote access to public folders requires the files to be attached to a specific remote location; Web pages do not.

Artisan is considering expanding its use of Zinnote for financial reporting to show revenue and expenses by business unit, and for Web-site tracking. Many of Artisan's movies have their own Web sites, each of which gathers statistical information on the number of visitors and which of the site's pages are viewed. Collins would like to use Zinnote to produce graphical reports showing the company's overall online traffic.

If Zinnote represents the most basic of visualization tools, there are many that are far more sophisticated, offering complex graphical features and analytic capabilities. Some visualization tools are part of data mining products, such as IBM Intelligent Miner, SAS Institute Data Mining, and SPSS Clementine. Others, such as Cognos Visualizer, are included with online analytical processing tools.

Then there's Business Continuum, a new product from Quansoo Group Inc. that displays two companies as one in preparation for a merger or acquisition.

Quansoo's product maps existing data sources from one or more companies into a single, predefined view, which includes the most common factors for each functional area of a company. For example, human resources includes salary, position, work location, and skills. Additional data elements can be added to customize the view, and the data can come from disparate sources, including operational systems, data warehouses, relational and nonrelational databases, and text files.

Because Business Continuum starts with a basic model of what a business looks like, a unified view can usually be built within a few weeks--much more quickly than by starting from scratch to define what must be combined and how to present it. The faster a consolidated view is available, the more quickly it can be used to help make business decisions.

Once data from two or more companies have been mapped, users can see the merged view from their desktops via a browser. Data is presented in standardized formats that include two- and three-dimensional charts. For example, a 3-D map of the United States might show salary levels of the new company after the proposed merger. The heights of the states indicate the relative average salary of employees in those areas. When the user moves the mouse over a state, a superimposed box appears, showing the average salary, average number of sick days, and other information for the region. Clicking on the state brings up a 3-D bar chart showing relative salary levels for each department. The user can click on a department's bar to bring up a detail-level row-and-column list of salaries and related information for all employees in the department in that state.

Managers and analysts using Quansoo's tool can change variables on the fly to create "what-if" scenarios. Employees with exceptionally high salaries or redundant responsibilities could be removed from the mix; bonus percentages could be cut or increased. Scenario results are reflected in the maps, bar charts, and supporting information, but the real, underlying data in the company's databases is not affected.

"Quansoo allows you to look at data altogether and see what you have on your hands," says Shannon Boyle, formerly VP of human-resources information systems at a major Wilmington, Del., financial institution that tested Quansoo's product last year. The bank, which had merged with other institutions in recent years, saw Business Continuum as a way to pull together HR information from its partners, all of which used different applications. Having all the data available in one place, rather than in separate, unconnected systems, makes it easier to manage day-to-day business, Boyle says.

The bank is now rolling out Business Continuum companywide to let executives access HR information over an intranet, letting them get the data they need on their employees directly from their desktops, without having to request it from HR. Quansoo's field-level security features ensure executives can see only what HR managers have authorized them to see. And if the bank goes through another merger--as banks inevitably seem to do--it can add its newest partner into the mix.

When selecting a visualization product, a company should consider the range of possible benefits offered, says Jackie Fenn, a VP and research fellow for advanced technologies at Gartner Group. Real-time financial data analysis might be the most obvious application for a company, but there may, for instance, also be marketing possibilities if the tool can be used to create presentations that will persuade potential customers to buy its products.

"The main point," Fenn says, "is not to become too enamored with the power of the tool and the 15 or 20 types of visualizations it can give. You have to look at what will make sense--what adds the value."

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Illustration by Fredrix.com
Photo of Boyle by Bill Cramer