Actuate e.Reporting Suite Capabilities

Bowline Solutions brings over 12 years of combined Actuate experience to the table, with a complete array of expertise in all areas of Actuate planning, project management, integration, and implementation. Not only does Bowline Solutions provide Actuate services that are second to none, but we have produced several custom Actuate add-ons that improve upon the capabilities provided by Actuate out of the box and truly increase the value of your Actuate investment.

Upgrade migration and development 

Bowline Solutions has a wealth of experience in JSP and .Net development and itegration. JSP and .Net are the foundation for the Actuate front end starting with Version 6. Thoroughly familiar with Tomcat, WebLogic, and many other J2EE applications servers as well the .Net development environment, Bowline Solutions can completely customize your Actuate experience via the web.

If you are currently running a previous version, Bowline Solutions can migrate your reporting system to Version 8 painlessly.

Reports development 

Actuate Reports Development - Bowline Solutions has developed dozens of reports being used by thousands of users around the world. From very basic reports, to reports that require complex calculations or formatting, to reports that require page level security, to reports that produce output in a variety of different formats – Bowline Solutions has years of experience in design and production of all manner of Actuate reports.

Reports Conversion to XML, Excel, and Other Formats – Bowline Solutions is the only Actuate services provider that has developed a methodology for converting any Actuate report to well formed XML by adding fewer than ten lines of code to the report. From XML, our converters can take data to Excel, RTF, and many other formats. Specifically with respect to Section 508 compliance, this unique Bowline Solutions capability can be of great value.

API and Security Integration Development 

ActivePortal Security Extension (APSE) and Web Agent Security Extension (WASE) Development - Bowline Solutions has developed front-end (allowing single sign-on) security integrations for many customers. The Actuate front end security integrations allow Actuate to integrate seamlessly with your own front end systems so that end users must only log in once. APSE and WASE development can be implemented in any language, and automatically collect user credentials in as secure way through parsing cookies and extracting appropriate information to pass on to the Actuate iServer. All Bowline Solutions consultants have extensive C, C++, Java, and .Net development experience, making APSE/WASE development second nature. Furthermore, we have a collection of time tested implementations that can be easily applied to new customer installations.

Report Server Security Extension Development - The Actuate Report Server Security Extension (RSSE) allows Actuate customers to integrate Actuate with external security systems. Actuate ships with its own internal security model that can be used to set up users, roles, and groups – these items can be used to allow access to reports and other items within the Actuate repository for individuals and groups of individuals. However, many organizations already have a security model they wish to use. Examples of external security models include NT Domains, LDAP, and custom security models that may be defined within a database like Oracle or Sybase. The Actuate RSSE allows any Actuate customer to direct the Actuate server to an external security system for all authentication and security information. Typically, the RSSE is a C++-style shared library or DLL which gets called by the Actuate server any time a user attempts access. Bowline Solutions has developed RSSE solutions for LDAP as well as several other custom security integrations. We have over two years of experience in developing C++-style RSSE solutions.

RSSE SOAP Access Layer – One of the problems in developing a C++-style RSSE integration is that C++ expertise are costly and often difficult to find. Also, integrations with external security systems based upon an RDBMS or XML may be difficult to access using C++. Bowline Solutions is the only Actuate services provider that has developed a SOAP-based RSSE interface so that your integrations can be developed in the underlying language of your choosing, thus opening the door to in-house developers and decreasing the cost of initial development and maintenance of your RSSE integration. Bowline Solutions has experience using our SOAP layer to integrate with LDAP and many other custom security systems (e.g., Oracle, ActiveDirectory) and we fully support our SOAP access layer.

Actuate Report Server API Development – When integrating Actuate with a web application, portal, or other custom application the Actuate Report Server API (RSAPI) can be invaluable. The Actuate RSAPI allows you to interact with the Actuate server using API calls, so that your custom applications can perform Actuate tasks seamlessly without the end user even knowing that Actuate is involved. Your applications, using the RSAPI, can deliver all Actuate capabilities as though they were built right into the applications themselves. This is a great way to leverage Actuate to improve your existing applications. Bowline Solutions has over 8 years of in-depth RSAPI development. All of our Actuate consultants are C/C++, Java, and/or .Net developers, so using the RSAPI is second nature.

TRAINING 

Bowline Solutions has trained over 100 Actuate developers and users. Our custom courseware and hands-on approach will familiarize your development staff with Actuate while producing mission critial reports that you can use right away.

Bowline Solutions also provides Actuate END USER training. The key to your success in deploying and Actuate reporting solution is making sure that end users understand the power of the reports that are being deployed to them. Bowline Solutions has developed custom courseware that guides end users through the many powerful capabilities that Actuate provides.

Version 8 and Beyond

Because the Bowline Solutions team is highly focused on general purpose systems integration outside of Actuate, we all have experience with programming languages like C, C++, C# (.Net), and Java. In addition to programming languages, we know how to leverage the latest data formats and transportation protocols like XML and SOAP. This means that as Actuate incorporates more advanced technologies into new versions (like version 8) Bowline Solutions already understands how these technologies can be applied to your reporting environment.