Following are answers to some of the questions customers and partners most frequently ask.
How long does it take to deploy a PivotLink solution?
Once we have your initial data loaded, depending on the complexity of the solution, a deployment takes from less than a day to 30 days.
How long does it take to get my staff up and running after deployment?
We provide training for both administrators and business users. The business user course is two hours and the administrator course is two days. After completing the training you will be up and running. Ease of use and the ability to start using our solution immediately is a huge differentiator compared to other BI companies.
Do I have to replace my current BI investment?
No. PivotLink is often used in conjunction with huge BI implementations that are struggling to produce specific reports business users are asking for.
Do you send consultants on site?
Not typically, but if so, only for a short period of time. We work with our customers via phone and email, and conduct training at our Seattle-area offices. We will do on-site training if it better meets a customer’s needs.
Is PivotLink a data warehouse?
PivotLink is designed and tuned to be a business intelligence solution rather than a generic data warehouse. With that in mind, it does serve as an integration point for data from disparate systems and is an excellent repository for historical data.
How do I get data into the PivotLink system?
We can accept data in several formats, including flat files like CSV or text files, Excel files, and certain databases. Virtually all customers send us data in CSV format via a secure FTP connection.
How do you ensure the safety of my company’s data?
PivotLink is hosted by an industry-leading data site with the highest standards of data security, reliability, and integrity. Secure networking standards, including SSL and AES, are used to protect data during transmission and display.
How much data can you support?
Our largest customer has 400GB of storage (4 billion rows of data), and we can support larger data sets.
How often can I update my data, and how long is it stored?
Customers typically send data once nightly and store 13 months of data with PivotLink. We can handle dozen of loads a day and store for any length of time a customer needs.
Can I add additional data sets after deployment?
Yes. Many of our customers start with a specific problem and add new data sets as they began to realize the problems PivotLink can solve.
Can we control which data different users see?
Yes. PivotLink enables administrators to control the views, access, and security down to the individual cell level. We integrate with single Sign-On for easy security.
Can I export the Web reports from PivotLink into other formats?
Yes. All of the reports can be exported to Excel, PDF, or Word format. PivotLink has charting built in and any report can be “subscribed to,” which means it can be e-mailed at any interval to any user.
Do I need to contact you when I need a new report?
No. We provide you with an initial set of reports, and then end users create their own reports from the templates. Almost all of the reports that companies use are generated by business users with no outside assistance.
