Real-time tracking, control, and historical auditing of database queries and sensitive data access

APOS Insight BI Query Surveillance module extends the BI administrator's control of data processes beyond the BI system to the data sources themselves, giving you the ability to monitor and manage queries from your BI system to all of your enterprise data sources.

APOS BI Query Surveillance is designed to help BI administrators keep up with their rapidly evolving BI deployments, giving them both actionable information on their system's security and usage, and the ability to act.

Personalized Data

Live query surveillance and governance

Automatically or manually track query execution with alert or terminate flagged queries

Targeted Distribution

Record sensitive data access

Audit sensitive and regulated information to ensure your BI users meet corporate governance standards

Strategic Timing

Audit BI query information

Track, audit and analyze all running queries to establish usage patterns

Strategic Timing

Analyze query performance statistics

Detect system usage changes and identify potential misuse and bottlenecks with query performance data statistics


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Personalized Data Manage, Monitor & Audit BI Data Connectivity

Implement tight monitoring and control of query processes between your BI system and numerous data sources

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APOS BI Query Surveillance gives administrators awareness of queries that have run or are currently being run against data sources outside of the BI system, and allows them to manage those queries, and even cancel them if necessary.

Multi-threaded BI Query Surveillance processes log BI query metadata to achieve tight monitoring and control of query processes between your BI system and numerous data sources. You can actively monitor queries on a console, and cancel queries remotely. You can set up automatic monitoring and query cancellation based on thresholds.

Even in the best-designed and most highly optimized BI deployment, there will be anomalies in your day-to-day operations. More data sources, higher volume, and greater complexity (whether intentional or not) have the potential to create query performance issues for both BI administrators and database administrators.

To minimize the impact which query performance can have on your ability to deliver information in a timely manner, work proactively to identify the anomalies, trace them to their source, and remedy their causes. Monitor, manage, and audit data access for administrative transparency and accountability with APOS BI Query Surveillance.

Personalized Data Record Query Metadata

Retrieve query metadata to the APOS BI Query Surveillance database for a complete, auditable record

The APOS BI Query Surveillance JDBC driver replaces the connection to the universe. When a query is made for data via the universe, the JDBC driver retrieves the data and also writes metadata about the query to the BI Query Surveillance database. Metadata recorded includes how long the query took to execute, who ran the query, and which report was populated by the query. In addition, BI Query Surveillance will alert administrators if any part of the metadata meets predetermined criteria or surpasses predetermined thresholds.

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Maintain control of your rapidly evolving BI deployment and awareness of self-service BI.

For many SAP BI deployments, a greater emphasis on self-service BI is a major factor in decisions concerning their current and future deployment plans. However, self-service success is not necessarily all good news to the BI platform's managers and administrators.

Even in highly structured report design/develop/deploy environments, SAP BusinessObjects platform managers know how taxing their BI system can be on their data environments. With growth in self-service initiatives, anyone with access to SAP BusinessObjects can query a wide variety of enterprise data sources, mix and match them via the UNX universe, and build their own custom Web Intelligence report. More data sources, more queries, more users of varied skill levels: what could possibly go wrong? Monitor & audit SAP BI queries to detect system usage changes and identify potential misuse and bottlenecks.

By recording the metadata associated with BI queries, APOS BI Query Surveillance makes it possible for SAP BI administrators to analyze user activity, manage queries, and protect sensitive data.

Targeted Distribution Extend security to sensitive data

Give sensitive data the protection required by internal governance and external regulation

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Knowledge of system usage, actionable information and alerts ensure your BI users meet corporate governance standards regarding, for example, patient information or identification, social security numbers, etc.

Alert administrators if any part of the metadata retrieved meets predetermined criteria or surpasses predetermined thresholds.

APOS BI Query Surveillance can alert administrators if any part of the metadata retrieved meets predetermined criteria or surpasses predetermined thresholds. Flag sensitive data so that you know when, how, and by whom it is being used -- or misused.

When you are reviewing the security of your BI system, sensitive data deserves special consideration, especially in industries such as financial services and healthcare, where the security and privacy of data is highly regulated. BI platform managers and administrators need to be able to track user access and report on it to the appropriate regulatory and internal governance authorities when necessary. Unauthorized access constitutes a data breach, regardless of intention, and regardless of whether it is external or internal.

APOS BI Query Surveillance is a multi-threaded JDBC driver that is used by the universe to which it is assigned to track queries issued to data sources via the universe and write the metadata around that query to a database.

One of the features of the BI Query Surveillance solution is the ability to track specific fields. For example, in a healthcare environment, you can set up alerts to be triggered by a query against a Patient ID. This is particularly useful, because under HIPAA a patient has the right to know who has accessed their health records. A query to the BI Query Surveillance database can give you this information immediately. You can also use the data from the BI Query Surveillance database to analyze user behavior over time.

Personalized Data See beyond the borders of your BI system

Monitor and audit metadata that would normally be available only to DBAs

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APOS BI Query Surveillance lets you monitor and audit metadata that would normally be available only to DBAs, and even perform actions -- such as canceling queries -- against data sources outside the boundaries of your BI system.

BI Query Surveillance's query governance capabilities enable:

  • Real-time tracking of BI queries
  • Automatic alerts when thresholds are exceeded
  • Automatic cancelling of runaway queries
  • Manual query intervention and remote cancelling

As a BI platform manager or administrator, your objectives with regard to query governance should be to:

  • Foster data connectivity accountability
  • Prevent the disclosure of confidential and proprietary information to unauthorized parties
  • Optimize data connectivity
  • Optimize queries

Unfortunately, meeting these objectives takes you outside of your BI system's standard monitoring and auditing capabilities.

APOS BI Query Surveillance helps you achieve these objectives by rendering data connections visible so you can identify bottlenecks, enforce accountability, and meet your service level agreements with your user base.

Strategic Timing Monitor and analyze user behavior

Track, audit and analyze user behavior to establish usage patterns within your BI system

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Know who is using your system, how, where, and when, and detect changes in user behavior.

Administrators need to be able to track user behavior. System usage is generally stable, but changing usage patterns can raise red flags concerning access to sensitive information. APOS BI Query Surveillance allows you to:

  • Track user access to sensitive data
  • Report on sensitive data access to satisfy regulatory requirements
  • Be alerted when specific reports or universes are accessed
  • Be alerted when specific users are attempting to access sensitive data
  • Enforce accountability, checks and balances

 

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APOS BI Query Surveillance Architecture

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You are in good company

Some of the hundreds of organizations using APOS well managed BI solutions across the globe:

University of Pittsburgh Medical CenterAPOS Live Data GatewayEnergy NorthwestAPOS Live Data GatewaySalling GroupAPOS Live Data GatewayBlue Cross Blue Shield Kansas CityAPOS Live Data GatewayHarvey NormanAPOS Live Data GatewayUniversity of Miami