New tool offers easy to use, comprehensive predictive and prescriptive analytics – machine learning, simulation and risk analysis, powerful optimization – plus standards-based business rules for decision models, with easy deployment in applications using Office 365, Azure and Microsoft’s Power Platform.
INCLINE VILLAGE, NV – January 2, 2020 – Frontline Systems, developer of the Solver in desktop Microsoft Excel®, has released Analytic Solver® V2020, a SaaS (software as a service) cloud and desktop platform that offers Excel-savvy business analysts point-and-click tools to create predictive and prescriptive analytics models themselves, without needing expert data scientists or programmers.
Available now in Microsoft AppSource, Analytic Solver (simulation and optimization) and Analytic Solver Data Mining (forecasting and machine learning) are the only next-generation “Office add-ins” for analytics models available that work in a browser with Excel for the Web, as well as in desktop Excel for Windows and Macintosh. A companion ‘Windows desktop-only’ version is also available for download from https://www.solver.com, for users in firms who haven’t yet upgraded to Office 365 subscription versions.
Creation and Deployment of Decision Models
Analytic Solver V2020 complements RASON V2020, Frontline’s JavaScript-embedded analytics modeling language and REST API, that makes model deployment and management easy for users of Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, Office 365, and the Power Platform (Power BI for business intelligence, Power Apps for custom applications, and Power Automate for orchestrating business workflows).
Analytic Solver V2020 has been rewritten from the ground up using JavaScript, REST API, Azure and Office 365 technologies, but it inherits the full power and ease of use of Frontline Systems’ analytics software from over 25 years’ experience supporting business analysts using these methods in practice.
“Other vendors are talking about ‘democratizing analytics’ through easier to use tools,” said Daniel Fylstra, Frontline’s President and CEO, “but Frontline has been delivering on this vision for years.”
User Interface Familiar to Business Users
Analytic Solver V2020 offers a user interface with a Ribbon and drop-down menu choices, a Task Pane for model analysis and navigation, and the full range of Excel features for model building, whether it’s used in a browser, on Windows, or on Macintosh. All the elements of optimization, simulation/risk analysis, and data mining models are saved in the user’s Excel workbook, which can be transferred freely between cloud and desktop. Unlike other prescriptive analytics tools, models and their results are ‘fully transparent’ as Excel spreadsheets, readily understood at all levels of management.
DMN-Compatible Business Rules and Decision Tables
Analytic Solver V2020 (the only Excel-based tool) and RASON V2020 both support creation and editing of business rules in decision tables in a form compatible with the DMN 1.2 open standard and its FEEL (Friendly Enough Expression Language) – first published by the OMG (Object Management Group) in 2015, and now a widely used alternative to proprietary business rules languages. Unlike other business rule systems where analytics is only a recent addition, Analytic Solver and RASON were designed from the ground up to use the full power of predictive and prescriptive analytics with business rules, to enable companies to implement “analytics-powered decision management” with far less time, risk and cost.
Optimization and Simulation/Risk Analysis Enhancements
Analytic Solver V2020 also features speed and functionality enhancements for analytics, even compared to Analytic Solver V2019 which is just six months old. Its built-in LP/Quadratic Solver, used for linear, quadratic (LP/QP) and mixed-integer (MIP) optimization models, is significantly faster and exploits all available processor cores. Its ultra-fast Monte Carlo Simulation engine features 36 new or enhanced probability distribution, statistics and property functions. This release also features new, faster versions of the Gurobi Solver V9.0, with a new ability to solve non-convex quadratic models; the Xpress Solver V35, with a new Solution Refiner, and the Artelys Knitro Solver V12.1, with SOCP and MIP speedups.
Frontline Systems Inc. (https://www.solver.com) is the alternative to analytics complexity, helping business analysts and managers gain insights and make better decisions for an uncertain future, without the cost, delays and risk of ‘big vendor’ tools. Its products integrate forecasting and data mining for “predictive analytics,” Monte Carlo simulation and risk analysis, and conventional and stochastic optimization for “prescriptive analytics.” Founded in 1987, Frontline is based in Incline Village, Nevada (775-831-0300).
Azure, Dynamics, Microsoft Office, Excel, Power BI, Power Apps and Power Automate are trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Gurobi is a trademark of Gurobi Optimization Inc. Xpress is a trademark of FICO Inc. Artelys Knitro is a trademark of Artelys Corp. Analytic Solver® and RASON® are registered trademarks of Frontline Systems, Inc.