Metis 6, which Troux calls an actionable enterprise architecture, provides business users an aggregated view of fit-for-purpose enterprise information that can be used in specific business context.
Under the hood, Metis comprises of metadata management and visual data modeling tools (Metis Architect) and a server component (Metis Server) that stores and manages access to the metamodels using workflow, policy-based management and portal technologies.
The core of the system is a metadata repository that establishes consistent and reusable data reference points that allow users to model the current and/or desired state of the business organization.
But Metis 6 is no ordinary relational-based metadata repository. It is object-based and also stores the underlying interdependencies between data elements across various database and application silos.
Metis 6 creates and maintains an abstract catalog or ontology that details the relationships hidden this data, but in a way that is usable in business applications by non-technical users.
Historically, this has been a manual and expensive task done by armies of specialized data architects who struggled to aggregate data from different silos and keep their models up to date in the face of rapid business change.
Metis takes away much of the burden by automating the manual graft of collecting and preparing data and treating the process of aggregation as an ongoing data management lifecycle.
For example, Metis Architect includes comprehensive model browser, annotation and editor tools that provide visual display and dynamic behavior of models, objects and relationships.
Troux officials said that a key application is BI, whereby Metis 6 feeds analytic data warehouses and data marts.
You can think of Metis 6 are being a data mart generator, and the foundation for BI applications like strategic planning, said James Rogers, chief marketing officer at Austin, Texas-based Troux. Companies can take the rich metadata hierarchy from Metis 6’s repository and drop it into data sets in a structure [such as a star-schema data mart] that is more conducive for BI analysis,
Recognizing the benefits of its technology for decision support environments, Troux has also forged an alliance with Ottawa, Canada-based Cognos to integrate select BI technologies, such as ReportNet, into its Metis platform.
Troux has branded this integration as Metis Reporting, which lets users access data as textual, tabular and graphical reports.
Its BI for the CIO, Rogers said. Enterprise data purposed and integrated through the Metis repository is presented to business executives via Cognos analysis tools an dashboards in a meaningful way to help them get aggregated visibility into corporate performance and help them formulate strategic plans.
As part of the integration agreement, Troux gets elite Powered by Cognos status.
