MAS 500's Business Insights Explorer (BIE) and Business Insights Analyzer (BIA) are based on SQL Views stored in the application database (default: mas500_app). SQL Views are SQL Server objects that may be created using Transact-SQL (T-SQL), the programming language for Microsoft SQL Server. SQL Views allow one to gather and present dimensional and aggregated data from multiple data sources. (For more information on SQL Views, see SQL Books Online or visit Microsoft's MSDN Web site.)

Follow These Steps to Create a New Business Insights Task:


  1. Create your own SQL View as the basis for your BIE or BIA task.

    + The new view must exist in the MAS 500 application database;
    + The SQL View name must begin with "vdv" as in "vdvMyView", for example; and
    + One column in the SQL View must be identified as "CompanyID" and contain valid MAS 500 CompanyIDs.

  2. Grant appropriate permissions on your SQL View as appropriate. Your T-SQL may read something like:

    GRANT SELECT ON vdvMyView TO ApplicationDBRole

    Be sure to test your view before moving on to the next step.
  3. Create a new Business Insights Task using the following steps:

    A. Login to MAS 500 in any Company.
    B. Create new Task using System Manager Tools Task Editor
    ... LaunchType: .NET Standard (v.7.00 and later)
    ... Module: Business Insights Explorer or Analyzer
    ... TaskID: Automatically assigned
    ... SQL View: Select your SQL View
    ... Name: Enter name as you wish it to appear in the Task List
    ... Description: Enter Task description
    ... Default Permission: Minimum permission assigned to Task (typically, "Normal")

  4. Add the new Task to your Business Desktop Menu using standard MAS 500 menu maintenance procedures.

  5. Start the Business Insights Task from the Business Desktop Menu. Use this new Business Insights Task just as you do the MAS 500 Standard Business Insights views for ad hoc data viewing and/or analyses.

If you have further questions, please contact me at richard.cushing@synergistic-us.com.

-- Richard D. Cushing