User Alerts and Information Consoles
SQL Server 6.5 also builds on SQL Server 6.0's Mail API (MAPI) integration
capabilities: SQL Server 6.5 adds Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) publishing
capabilities and the ability to populate Microsoft Exchange folders with data.
What you have here is the foundation for email-based notification systems and
user-specific information consoles. A SQL Server stored procedure can respond
automatically to a database event by piping data to an email message that you
can route to one or more recipients. So this capability can deliver a useful
application-alert system. Equally, because you can use a SQL Server stored
procedure to build HTML pages for display in Internet browsers on a scheduled or
event-driven basis, you also have the foundation for an Internet/intranet
information console. Let's consider what Alert and Information Console wizards
could do.
The Alert Wizard would start by asking the business analyst to name an
alert. Then the analyst would define the database, table, and columns for the
alert to check; the event to trigger the alert; and the rule to use. The wizard
could offer a basic set of events such as database inserts, updates, and deletes
as choices, and a basic rule definition to check whether a value is less than,
equal to, or greater than a specified constant.
If the analyst named one alert, the wizard would ask the analyst to define
the message to send, the message's destination format, and the routing. The
message text is what recipients would see, the destination option might be a
simple email message or input into an Exchange folder, and the routing might be
to a specific user or group of users selected from the mail directory. The
wizard would finish by building and testing the Alert stored procedure. A
successful build would create a functional, basic alert system that could
deliver value to users the next time they opened their email inbox.
The Console Wizard would ask the analyst to name the console and to define
a query to extract a meaningful data set, or to select an existing
stored-procedure query to supply data to the information console. The wizard
would then ask the analyst whether to create a new HTML page or to update an
existing template with the data. The analyst would also specify the destination
Web server so that Exchange could route the HTML pages to the correct location
where users could retrieve them. You could combine the Console Wizard with the
Alert capability so that you could specify which predefined Alerts to use to
trigger the generation of the Console page.
Workflow Wizards
You can really see the potential of wizards when you consider them as the
starting point for more sophisticated workflows that involve decision-support or
transactional data. You could eventually combine the wizards. For example, the
Alert Wizard could be a starting point for either the OLAP or Console wizard.
Alternatively, you could eventually enhance each wizard to specify the
instantiation of a registered business object (such as an OLE custom control--
OCX--or ActiveX control) that you could use to further extend the information
workflow. For example, you could enhance the OLAP Wizard to instantiate a 3D
data-visualization applet that receives the returned cube or rollup data and
lets the user manipulate the information in a more contextually rich environment
than, say, Excel can deliver. You could use the Alert Wizard to create a
workflow item in a manager's Exchange inbox. This workflow item would also let
the user load an applet that approves the transaction and moves it forward in
its life cycle. The Console Wizard could provide HTML data for broadcasting to
all users on a corporate intranet. For this purpose, you could use a Webcasting
medium such as PointCast.
Play the Wizard
SQL Server 6.5 shows great potential, not just for delivering a database
engine but also for solving application needs of end users. I wouldn't be
surprised if Microsoft and key solution providers such as Timeline are working
on such user-centric, added-value wizards right now. If not, someone should be.
Maybe such wizards are already out there and need more exposure. In any case,
here's an opportunity to wave your magic wand by expressing your support,
dissent, or ideas for the OLAP, Alert, or Console wizard: Just email
stewart@winntmag.com.