Present production system, developed according to needs of Medika d.d., was based on Recital 4GL & RDBMS applications. Applications have been developed for years with one primary aim to ensure daily functioning of information system. According to that information system’s concept, gathering information required for the business decision process took minimal attention. Reporting system, in organizational terms, did not exist. Reports have been made according to users’ requests on a daily basis. Reports often had to incorporate data from previous time periods, so, in order to make data access optimal even on a large set of transactions, a data aggregation file system based on monthly decades and months in year was invented.
Although that system satisfied end users’ requests for basic daily reporting, soon it was quite obvious that it is inadequate for any complex reporting and analysis. Primary that came across when the quantity of data in the production system considerably increased, as well as the quantity of information requiring a course of action to get some results.
Particularly that came across on reports and data analysis that encompassed longer time periods. In that case, preparation and creation of report or analysis took several hours. These cases often required for an additional development of special application components and supporting data files - meaning considerable IT resources involvement too.
Graphical interface was additional problem which, according to the fact that all applications worked in character mode, was impossible to implement. One part of the data delivered through the reporting system has been transferred to Excel requiring additional manipulation.
While the quantity of data progressively increased, users also demanded for the new reports beside the standard ones insisting on additional data analysis as well. Moreover, users wanted faster information access, faster report development and a possibility for interactive analysis.