Surpassing advantages in decision support, visual modeling, and simulation

Spreadsheets, by themselves, fall short of enterprise-scale modeling, but they remain effective tools when combined with an integrated and fully scalable modeling solution. That’s how we designed Business Analytics Suite — to give professional modelers surpassing advantages in decision support, visual modeling, and simulation while integrating familiar tools.

At the core of Business Analytics Suite is Vanguard Studio, the application development environment for building models and testing long-term business strategies. Our solution does not replace spreadsheets. Instead, it picks up where they fall off – at the shift from simple, one-off analyses to enterprise-scale models. Spreadsheets are often components in our models, rolled up into high-level views.

More than an add-on, Vanguard Server transforms modeling into a collaborative, enterprise process. Publish, catalog, and manage access to the applications you build or that we build for you. Pull existing model sequences from a shared library into any work in progress.

The divide and conquer approach to problem-solving: Our hierarchical tree interface takes the divide-and-conquer approach to problem-solving. That is, to solve a complex problem, you simply divide it into two or more simpler components. To solve these component problems, apply the same process again, breaking them down into still finer elements. The result is a hierarchical tree.

User-defined formulas built for almost any purpose: Like spreadsheets, Vanguard trees are networks of user-defined formulas built for almost any purpose. Unlike spreadsheets, Vanguard automatically constructs a diagram that matches the logical structure of your model as you go. This visual outline makes it easier for you to tackle complex, ill-structured business problems.

Intuitive illustration of analyses: With Vanguard’s tree structure, your models are outlined and inherently presentational. The root node represents the solution you seek, and each branch provides increasingly detailed information about how that solution is derived. This feature makes it easy for someone who is unfamiliar with your model to quickly understand its function.

Vanguard System is knowledge-centric rather than data-centric. In addition to history, it captures management estimates and functional knowledge from throughout the organization to synthesize rigorous and realistic business models. This emphasis on knowledge focuses support on strategic decision-making.