Why use a MultiValue OpenInsight system over an RDBMS based solution.

A proven history of delivering systems for Business

OpenInsight is built on a powerful and flexible MultiValue computer technology that has been around since the 70's. It is also known generally as 'Pick', after its founder.  This technology makes extensive use of true MultiValues and it enables developers to closely model their applications on actual business needs, rather than primarily focusing their attention on religiously adhering to the Relational world's normalisation rules.

When sourcing a new application, many organisations seem to often put the views of users lower down in the decision making process, prioritising those of the IT department.  All too often, this results in a buying decision that is based on the guidance of technical staff with knowledge only of the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) model that is widely taught within technical colleges, but who are less knowledgeable in other technologies, such as MultiValue.  Whilst this means that their in-house staff can fully understand the internal workings of the solution and therefore feel 'comfortable' with the purchase, it often results in a system that might not necessarily benefit the business as well as other solutions that are built with the business processes and benefits as the primary concern.  Often the result is that users find it necessary to seek a compromise in their working practices to suit the software solution.

On the other hand, most OpenInsight systems are designed, developed and maintained by smaller teams of developers who spend much of their time better understanding their client's business processes and what to build into their solutions.  The end result are solutions that provide the most benefit to their client's businesses.

Faster delivery of systems, enhancements and legislative driven updates.

In addition, through removing much of the design overhead associated with other systems, the MultiValue technology that OpenInsight is built on enables Revelation's VARs to get their solution to market quicker and more economically, and then deliver enhancements, many legislative in nature, in good time.

One financial organisation using OpenInsight was recently one of the few suppliers to support and deliver UK government imposed legislation changes within their application and within the specified deadlines.

In today's ever busier world, organisations need to cater for users spread across wide geographic areas and they need to reach customers wherever they are. To facilitate this businesses look to faster processing power and ultra wide area networks. Often these networks include thin client solutions, such as Citrix, Terminal Services and of course the World Wide Web (Internet). More importantly they need to do all this extremely quickly and with as little bandwidth cost as possible.

When filling a form (screen) with data, most Relational based systems have to open and query several tables, negotiate numerous joins and then pull all of this data together before displaying it on the screen. Furthermore, complex routines need to be manually written and managed within the software to effectively allocate and then free up system memory.

OpenInsight's internal design is specifically optimised for extremely fast data writes and reads.  Through a managed filing system that reduces blank/empty memory allocation (see Variable Length fields later) and a complex dictionary driven system the process of reading a record can often involve only one or two extremely fast disk reads, meaning the data can be retrieved efficiently and extremely quickly. An example of this can be found in Revelation's white paper entitled "The Benefits of a MultiValue Database Management System."

This optimisation not only reduces the resource overhead on machines and networks, but it effectively maximises investment in hardware by lengthening the productive life of hardware. In addition, it proves to be perfect for web based applications where speed and super reliability of these 'elective use systems' is of the essence.

"OpenInsight and the ease of developing within it, provides CSSP with a very fast turn-around from concept to completion. This allows us to compete with all competitors, and allows us to react quickly to user requests. The repository structure allows us to implement Service Packs for our application in days rather than weeks, indeed sometimes even in hours."

Colin Rule, CSSP.

Evolve, don't rewrite.

People making arguments against MultiValue technologies often cite the age of the technology, thinking that the latest technology innovation has to be the best route forward. Yes, MultiValue technologies have been around since the 70's and Revelation have evolved and enhanced their technologies since the early 80's, but the key word here is 'evolved'.

Whereas many software vendors find themselves re-engineering their solutions every few years, normally when their tools vendor release another major technology update, OpenInsight developers are largely able to simply plug into new technologies as Revelation supports them through the product suite, and usually without the need for expensive, time consuming and invasive re-design and re-write projects. This is because Revelation understands the nature of their clients business and evolves their products in a way that enables their VARs to do the same. Revelation listens to their clients and evolves their products for your benefit!

The subject of whether to choose a MultiValue solution over a Relational based System is a long and complex one, with pros and cons on both sides. For this reason, Revelation has produced a white paper on the subject. It can be downloaded by clicking here.

"OpenInsight really became our periscope to the Web.  They came in and completed the project in less than a week.  We didn't have to change our application code, which is great because it's a durable, stable application that we didn't want to open up."

Glenn Smoak, Sterling Couriers

What other reasons make a MultiValue solution right for my business?

MultiValue applications are based on one of the worlds most widely used and experienced business software solutions. With an annual market worth nearly $3 billion, MultiValue is one of today's fastest growing business software solution markets.

So why don't more people know about MultiValue systems?  Quite simply, because MultiValue VARs do not want to promote the nature of their competitive edge. MultiValue tools, like OpenInsight, are often favoured by business experts who understand the most efficient way to handle the data processing required by their clients and MultiValue tools enable them to build this knowledge into their solutions. As well as enabling developers to release systems and new functionality to end-users very quickly, this usually results in lower operation and maintenance costs for end users, most systems being of a set and forget nature.

Following installation, many users have no reason to contact Revelation's support team from
one year to the next and when they do the reason is often environmental, rather than a failing in the application.

With solutions from many MultiValue tools providers, including Revelation Software, IBM, Raining Data, Northgate Arinso, jBASE International, VIA Systems, ON-Corporation, InterSystems and more, it is not surprising that over 10 million users in over 300 major industries and institutions all over the world log onto a MultiValue based system every day.

[Statistics courtesy of International Spectrum's web site August '08 - www.intl-spectrum.com.]

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