Jaspersoft 3.7: Audit Logs, Search and Help!

Just last week, we made available Jaspersoft 3.7.0.1 – the version that delivers all the functionality of our latest release, now running on an even wider range of the most popular software platforms such as WebSphere 7, WebLogic 11g, SpringSource tc Server 6.0, Firefox 3.6, and Windows 7. So, to conclude my feature series on Jaspersoft 3.7 and our new Enterprise Edition, I will summarize just a few of the remaining core advancements, highlighting how customer and community feedback helped us drive these in the right direction. In previous posts, I’ve covered Jaspersoft 3.7’s more advanced in-memory analysis and its enhanced visualization (via Flash). Now I’ll briefly describe our new Audit Log, Repository Search and on-line, context-sensitive Help System.

The Audit Log was conceived for and with some of our most active customers, specifically to help them monitor, report, and analyze all events occurring in JasperServer such as running reports and analyses, and adding and updating users. Technically, we added an extensible audit-logging framework into the server along with a pre-populated set of audit objects including an audit log data source, Domain, and set of pre-built reports. Using these, any variety of reports and dashboards can be constructed (drag-and-drop) to create a customized view of what is happening within JasperServer, for usage monitoring, performance tuning, and compliance. Here’s a sample screen of that domain and some pre-built reports.

Next, the Repository Search feature adds much-needed functionality especially for our enterprise customers. Greater data volumes and more varied data types usually yield a repository full of folders, reports and myriad data objects. Navigating only a hierarchical folder system becomes unwieldy and a Search function is required. Our new integrated Search capability allows for free-form searching of any metadata maintained in the JasperServer repository. This means you can find a report by date, name, type and so on . . . very useful and time-saving. Here’s a screen shot showing the search box and a sample result.

Lastly, Jaspersoft 3.7 includes an on-line, context-sensitive Help System that takes users directly to the most relevant documentation. We store this Help content in a centralized location, re-purposing in HTML content taken directly from the wildly popular “Ultimate Guides” series of print documentation. This makes for not only a fast but efficient Help solution. Our customers will appreciate the always up-to-date information and examples. Below, I’ve provided an example of the Help provided when viewing a dashboard.

Beyond these three capabilities, we’ve certified Jaspersoft 3.7 against some of the most popular analytic data stores, including Infobright, Vertica and GreenPlum – as well as JBoss Data Services (formerly MetaMatrix). There are so many new features and capabilities in Jaspersoft 3.7 that I could just keep on writing. But, I won’t. Instead, I’ll suggest that you check it out yourself by viewing a brief demo and downloading our latest release highlights. Your comments and questions are encouraged.

Brian Gentile
Chief Executive Officer
Jaspersoft