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Category: Education

Automating and Simplifying
IBM i Analytics and Reporting with NGS-IQ

Posted on June 26, 2024 by Teresa Moy

NGS-IQ can help you support a wide range of IBM i and business users who need to see and analyze operational data. Read more arrow


Data Access? Meet Managers and Analysts Where They Are

Posted on June 18, 2024 by Bill Langston

The reporting and analytics software marketplace is mature. Historically, business intelligence software vendors designed their solutions to address every step of the data extraction, transformation, and presentation process. As a result, many applications became increasingly complicated and challenging to deploy. Read more arrow


Planning Your Exit from IBM DB2 Web Query

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Teresa Moy

IBM’s decision to drop DB2 Web Query caught customers by surprise. But as IBM said in their announcement letter, there are alternative solutions. We invite you to learn about ours: NGS-IQ. Read more arrow


Enterprise Reporting and Analytics
and Application Program Interfaces (APIs)

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Bill Langston

APIs have become the industry standard for trading partners and customers to share the data they need to efficiently collaborate and provide better service. The people who use your ERP software need access to the data APIs can provide. We believe that NGS-IQ and RPG API Express present an optimal solution for IBM i customers. Read more arrow


Designing Dashboards for Different Needs and Users

Posted on August 25, 2023 by Teresa Moy

We often hear from NGS-IQ customers who want to develop dashboards. When we inquire about their needs, we quickly find that not everyone uses the term "dashboard" to mean the same thing. Read more arrow


Data Visualization and Analytics with NGS-IQ and Microsoft Power BI

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Teresa Moy

Watch this presentation and learn how NGS-IQ can simplify and automate the cleansing, transformation, and delivery of accurate, timely data to Power BI. Read more arrow


Mastering NGS-IQ Run-Time Prompting, Translating Data Values, and Serving Data to Microsoft Power BI Users

Posted on April 21, 2023 by Teresa Moy

Check out our webcast from April 13, where you'll learn when to use a new field or record selection to add run-time prompts to queries; how to work with inconsistent data values to support accurate file joins, sorts, and summaries... Read more arrow


NGS-IQ: Modernize IBM i Data Access
(Without Programming)

Posted on March 3, 2023 by Teresa Moy

Check out our webcast from February 15, where you'll get an overview of NGS-IQ and see how it connects Microsoft Excel, SharePoint, and Web users to Db2 on i. Read more arrow


Queries that Text, Query Links, and Creative Uses for Web Reports

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Teresa Moy

Check out our webcast from December 8, where we discuss queries that text, the Query Reference File command, and accessing data from external sites to produce bar codes and other objects. Read more arrow


Valued But Overlooked Features of NGS-IQ

Posted on December 7, 2022 by Teresa Moy

If you use NGS-IQ, please register to attend our next customer webinar. It will be held on December 8, 2022, and recorded for on-demand viewing afterwards. Read more arrow


Web Reporting Made Easy and
Using NGS-IQ with Microsoft 365

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Bill Langston

WebRunner is built into NGS-IQ, but maybe you haven't had time to get familiar with IQ Client's HTML formatting features. Read more arrow


Microsoft 365 and IBM Db2 on i

Posted on June 28, 2022 by Bill Langston

Technically, a Microsoft 365 user can connect to Db2 on i through the IBM Access Client Solutions (ACS) ODBC driver. But in practice, few Microsoft 365 users understand their company’s Db2 on i database well enough to join tables, select columns, and format the data they need. Read more arrow


NGS-IQ Tips for All Types of Users

Posted on May 9, 2022 by Teresa Moy

Check out our webcast from April 27, where we discuss using Qport Access' Transfer to Host feature and more solutions. Read more arrow


Discover the IBM i Ecosystem

Posted on January 10, 2022 by Bill Langston

IBM i is a unique and proven enterprise computing platform. IBM announces software, operating system releases, technology refreshes, and new hardware periodically, but often the specific information you need to complete a task or explain a concept effectively isn’t in those announcement letters. Read more arrow


Understanding the Capabilities
of Your IBM i Job Scheduling Utilities

Posted on September 29, 2021 by Bill Langston

Since the earliest days of OS/400, job scheduling has been practiced in IBM i environments, its functionality improving in recent releases. And while you have a great collection of built-in job scheduling features at your disposal, you can do even more if you license the IBM i Advanced Job Scheduler or a third-party utility. Read more arrow


What Should an IBM i Programmer Know About Excel?

Posted on June 21, 2021 by Teresa Moy

Many IBM i IT professionals don’t use Excel but provide technical support to business users who do. These users need timely data they can analyze in Excel to present to their staff or customers. Read more arrow


The NGS Poem

Posted on April 13, 2021 by Bill Langston


You're here in search of answers, and many files you have,
You join them up, you pick some fields, and then you click a tab. Read more arrow


Growing Your Own Power Users

Posted on January 25, 2021 by Bill Langston

IT Managers, IBM i programmers, and operators often express frustration over the challenge of supporting non-technical software users. Many shops succeed thanks to only one or two non-IT staff members who learn quickly and informally. They become the office “power users.”

What? You don’t think you have any of those kinds of people? We say grow your own. Read more arrow


COMMON IBM i System Administrator Bootcamp
Fills Important Need

Posted on April 23, 2019 by Bill Langston

We periodically hear from companies running IBM i software applications who are concerned about their future ability to support IBM i. With their in-house expert or small IBM i team nearing retirement age, the pool of technical knowledge is gradually shrinking. Read more arrow


Business Resiliency—Combat Skills Shortage with Turnover Preparedness

Posted on September 5, 2018 by Teresa Moy

While some vendors are addressing business resiliency, covering solutions from disaster recovery to encryption, they often overlook or ignore this somewhat mundane but critical aspect that can have a large impact on a company’s future success – “turnover preparedness.”   Read more arrow


Overcome Software Support Phobia

Posted on August 14, 2018 by Bill Langston

Every time NGS product specialists spend time with new users, we encourage them to call our technical support hotline or use our online incident reporting system when they have questions. We spend a lot of time training non-technical, business users of our query, reporting, and financial software, and many of them tell us they never knew they had those options. Yes—they, and you, do.

Just as frequently, we discover people whose encounters with other vendors have caused them to develop a disabling condition we’ll call “software support phobia” (SSP). Read more arrow


There Is Still Time to Learn

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Bill Langston

NGS customers who are current on maintenance can take advantage of a variety of valuable, free, and educational offerings. These offerings include online tutoring sessions, share and learn Webinars, on demand videos, and even onsite product reviews with NGS product specialists traveling in your area. Most of these offerings only require an hour or two of your time. I hope you or your coworkers have taken advantage of some of these services and found them very helpful. Read more arrow


IQ Client + WebRunner: Bridge Builder

 Posted on September 15, 2016 by Bill Langston

Are you an NGS-IQ query developer who hasn’t had time to get familiar with our Web reporting features? You’ve probably seen us demonstrate WebRunner and IQ Client’s HTML design features, but up to now, your company has left Web software development and support in the hands of a separate person or team that views your IBM i environment as an uncharted island, best avoided. Read more arrow


Sales Reporting, Part 2
The Item File

 Posted on August 23, 2016 by David Gillman

The item file is seemingly a simple file. Use the item number the same way as on sales orders along with the human readable description and maybe a few other fields such as color, weight, and so on. Throw in a few department or categories, too, to make summarizing easier and more meaningful to businesspeople. Read more arrow


Sales Reporting, Part 1
Order Detail: You Just Need a Few Fields

 Posted on July 11, 2016 by David Gillman

In my last blog entry, I misspoke. I said there were two main entities – customers and orders – on which sales departments base their reporting. While true, the real world is a little less clear. Read more arrow


Self Service Sales Reporting

 Posted on May 25, 2016 by David Gillman

For a long, long time NGS has worked with customers who have sales related data tied up in their ERP system without easy ways to access and summarize it. Their CRM system (using that term loosely for many companies) does not interface well with the ERP data. Read more arrow


New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Teresa Moy

Here we are again, the start of another year, and the start of another 365 days of new year’s resolutions which we may or may not keep. What’s at the top of that well-intentioned list? For most of us, it’s exercising more and eating healthy. Read more arrow


Virtual Education Overcomes the Time, Cost and Travel Barrier

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Bill Langston

We regularly hear customers say they need and want ongoing education but can’t leave their office to attend a conference, user group meeting, or training class. This problem might be due to job duties, budget, or family obligations. We certainly understand. Read more arrow


Data Science

Posted on November 10, 2015 by David Gillman

New terms come up all the time for IT people. A really interesting new one is “Data Science” and its corresponding job title, “Data Scientist.”

A month ago, I did a video on data science, based on my background, education, and work in this area. There is not much in the video about the IBM i, but it is still one IBM i IT people should view. Read more arrow


Communications Skills Inside the Company

Posted on October 27, 2015 by David Gillman

Most IT people have to interact with people from some other department in the company. And for most IT people writing reports from IBM i data, this interaction probably happens on a higher than average basis. Writing reports and creating views of data useful to business people requires communicating with others in relevant departments. Read more arrow


“NGS Customer Success Program” = Education
AND ≠ Selling

 Posted on October 20, 2015 by Bill Langston

NGS devotes considerable resources to sending product specialists into the field to meet face to face with our customers.  We initiated this effort, which we call our “Customer Success” program, several years ago to proactively connect with new users who have often never received training and with long-time users who are increasingly wearing multiple hats and spending less time keeping up with new releases. Read more arrow


The Value in Developing New Skills at Every Age

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Bill Langston

From time to time, nearly all of us resist or postpone developing new skills and learning how to take advantage of new technology. This can be especially true as we age, even among information technology professionals who have had long and successful careers in an ever changing environment. Read more arrow

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