Customer Successes:
McIntosh
"JReport was the only reporting solution that provided the flexibility, security and ease of embedding that we required. The ability to create and modify ad-hoc reports through a web interface has been of tremendous value to our team and to our clients. Because we are able to view project specific data in real-time from anywhere in the world, we are able to ensure that projects are being completed correctly and on-schedule. JReport has been a key component in our mission to streamline the design and build process and drive strong ROI and customer satisfaction." - Kim Barnes, IT/Program Manager with the McIntosh Group

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Organization Overview

Founded in 1998, The McIntosh Group has made rolling out national building programs in retail, restaurant and hospitality industries an art form. The group serves as a total architectural and process management solution that focuses on the development and management of the design criteria and templates, the definition and management of the process, web-based management of all documents, the management and reporting of status of every project, the facilitation of design approval process through market-level site rides, and consultant management. With extensive knowledge in real estate development and program management, relationships with engineering companies and licenses in the 48 contiguous states, Hawaii and The District of Columbia, The McIntosh Group provides a winning combination of savvy design and bottom line know-how.

The Challenge

The McIntosh Group began their search for an embedded reporting solution when they signed a multi-million dollar contract with one of the nation's largest fast-food franchisees to redesign facilities and refine process management at more than 700 facilities nationwide. The McIntosh group realized that because the project was so massive in scope and so disparate in location, project managers and architects, as well as the customer's management team, would need an easy, intuitive way to view up-to-the-minute project data from both their home offices and from any project site. Because users were so varied in their job scope, the solution needed to be sufficiently flexible and customisable so that each end-user demographic could view mission-critical information in a way that was meaningful to them.

The JReport Solution

After a review of several reporting solutions, The McIntosh Group selected JReport for integration into their online database. JReport was selected because it was the only 100% Java solution that provided the on the fly, ad-hoc report creation functionality that end-users demanded, and did so through an intuitive, web-based interface that could be easily accessed anywhere in the world. JReport enables users to customize reports in real-time by defining or modifying report parameters at run time to maximize the report's relevance. Once deployed, reports are fully actionable; users can sort, filter, or group data, or drill down, up or across data to see summary information, details, or scope.

The solution not only makes report creation flexible, but also secure. JReport's security API automatically authenticates users against the McIntosh Group's existing security scheme, and then authorizes them to access and report on appropriate data. This ensures that users are able to access the information that is critical to their position and current project, but are prohibited from reporting on information that may not be appropriate for them to view. For example, an architect might need to report on the total number of employees on a job site, their relevant skill set, and supply inventory levels, but would not be permitted access to data like employee salary or personal ID numbers.

Results and Benefits

"JReport was the only reporting solution that provided the flexibility, security and ease of embedding that we required, said Kim Barnes, an IT/Program Manager with the McIntosh Group. "The ability to create and modify ad-hoc reports through a web interface has been of tremendous value to our team and to our clients. Because we are able to view project specific data in real-time from anywhere in the world, we are able to ensure that projects are being completed correctly and on-schedule. JReport has been a key component in our mission to streamline the design and build process and drive strong ROI and customer satisfaction."

Response towards JReport has been very positive; because the integration has proven so successful in the completion of this project, The McIntosh Group makes JReport a permanent part of project monitoring operations.

The integration has empowered McIntosh's project managers, architects and clients with the ability to view project data through fully actionable, completely customizable reports that can be created and modified through any web interface.

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