ICON versus InfoMart...

[tony]

Hi All!

I've been here before but here I am again, asking pretty much the same questions, hoping for some clarity;

ICON appears to have the capacity for up to 57 items of Custom Attached Data, within 4 Custom Tables.  It also collects standard data items in other Tables, too.  Our SkillNames and SkillLevels do not seem to appear in the pre-defined  standard data items, so we have placed them as custom attached data items.  This does then collect SkillNames and SkillLevels associated to our Interactions.

However, I need to know implicitly if there are any constraints in displaying or collatng this data, at the [i]Info Mart [/i] level.  The reason I am asking is we have quite a few SkillNames making up what I would call the [i]KVP[/i]; about 300 variable Pairs for this one Key. I think Infomart only has the capacity to provide 20 KVP's which means it may not have the capacity to collate and provide this many KVP's up to the EVREFEX Table - and thereby cannot provide this many variables to the Presentation Layer, for Reporting purposes.

I can guess that there are some other interested parties out there who might take a stab at answering this and it is more than likely due to my lack of knowledge in this area but any information relating to both SkillName as a standard ICON>Info Mart statistic and also as a custom defined item of data within ICON > Info Mart would be most gratefully recieved!

Thanks,

Tony

[mark]

For some reason I am thinking that even though InfoMart has only 20 KVPs, within those 20 you can create strings which can then be split for reporting, giving you many more KVPs.

Does that even make sense? Probably not, if it does it could well be wrong, in which case think of me as some gibbering fool who needs to step away from the keyboard!

Mark

[tony]

Hmmm... It makes sense if you have a KVP for something like SkillName and then multiple Values, where the Value can be [b]any [/b]  $tring within the $tring limit.

The fact that you only have 20 KVP's to select is the problem, I think...

Unless anyone knows the "method" for splitting strings and, if so, then I can guess that concatenation of a $tring originally written within the Routing is the key...?

Tony

[Eugene]

Tony, are you thinking of using the Skillname as a dimension?  You're right in that Infomart only has about 10-15 custom dimensions you can define.  They've expanded it to a little bit more in 7.5, but nowhere near the vicinity of the 300 that you would need.

That being said, if you're thinking of doing break down of calls based on SkillNames, I think you should be fine without even defining that as a custom dimension.

Essentially what you would need to do is turn on the report_targes setting is URS.  That'll trigger a KVP called RRequestedSkillCombination to be attachd by URS.  That particular key should then be populated into either REQUESTED_SKILL & REQUESTED_SKILL_COMBINATION dimension tables which I think should suffice your requirement of the 300 skills? 

You can email me for specifics or help on this stuff and I'll try my best to help.

Eugene

[tony]

Thanks Eugene - I'm still fishing at the moment but if the KVP for SkillName of Target and Delivery are there is some other guise, I will find the little bu**ers! 

Tony

[tony]

Ahhh.. the penny drops... Eugene - you are referring to Dimension tables available through an installation of Infomart.  My query is defining and referencing the items in ICON.

I'll keep digging.

Tony

[Eugene]

My apologies i thoughtthe subject as ICON & Infomart as oppose to 'versus'.  Since you're in the design stage it seems if you have a chance I would convince to use the both products to compliment one another as oppose to just ICON alone.  The reason is because essentially you would need to build some small custom module to pull data out of ICON.  As such you'll eventually run into the same type of reporting issues that's evident in CCON + Statserver type of reporting solutions. 

Eugene

[mark]

I would imagine the problem with using both ICON and InfoMart is the sheer cost!

[Eugene]

Cost of course as always.

Well ICON is essentially a free upgrade if you have call conn.

Infomart is costly upfront, but pays in the long run from a support perspective and reporting roadmap since ultimately it'll be Genesys's main reporting solution.

[tony]

Cost isn't the only bottom line. There is also the possibility that a company is large enough to have a BI Department, who are experts in this type of data extraction, transformation, loading, aggregation and purging, presentation and reporting... 

I do take the point that Infomart is set to be the future for pretty much all of the historical reporting for all Solutions, though and that plays a bigger part in my determinations.

Tony

[Seb Reeve]

That's great if you already have CallCon - but you cannot buy ICON on it's own at 7.5 - it looks like Infomart is the only option going forward...

[tony]

Sure - ICON is provided as an upgrade from CCON.  Infomart is the Genesys Solution going forwards - that doesn't make it the only option... in the long run, it may be the best [i]Solution [/i] but not the only [i]option[/i]... 

[Seb Reeve]

Sure - but given you cannot purchase ICON anymore...

[tony]

You're right - I've taken this from my company's perspective.  My apologies.  You would have to buy into both to enable you to compare them.  I guess we are in a (not so?) unique position at this point in time which does give me options.  I was taking this as a generalization that Infomart appears to have constraints and I was asking if anyone else had any expereince in this area, before comitting to both components and perhaps how they addressed those shortcomings.

Tony