LexisNexis Brings Real-Time Reporting to Workflow Solution with OpenEdge
Reporting is a vital capability, but it requires fresh, accurate data. Lexis® Visualfiles from LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions traditionally used an overnight ETL process to update data, but given the 24/7 nature of today’s business world, that approach lost viability. With Progress® OpenEdge® Pro2TM, LexisNexis was able to keep data up to date 24/7 and better support its clients’ reporting needs.
Products:
OpenEdge
Challenge
LexisNexis clients needed real-time reporting capabilities, but the overnight ETL solution for updating the database didn't support that.Solution
OpenEdge Pro2 replicates data to a desired target database in near-real time. Pro2 enables businesses to access critical data without straining their production database.Result
With new reporting capabilities, LexisNexis clients can better serve customers and provide more value.Story
Challenge
LexisNexis is one of the world’s leading providers of information to professional services, specializing in legal and business research as well as risk management services.
Lexis® Visualfiles is the company’s market-leading legal workflow and case management system. It provides businesses with the ability to optimize and automate time consuming and complex processes to save time and money, improve resource usage, deliver better client service and ultimately increase profitability. Built with Progress® OpenEdge®, Visualfiles enables clients to build solutions designed specifically for their own unique business needs.
In an evolving market, the needs of the professional services industry have changed. With today’s businesses operating 24x7x365, the solutions they rely on must also offer that level of availability. Visualfiles had previously offered its own ETL solution that worked overnight, but with the volume of data being used on the rise, many clients couldn’t extract and transform all their data in that narrow window.
Solution
LexisNexis undertook its due diligence and explored a variety of alternatives, ranging from third-party stop gaps to letting clients go free format. However, the company ultimately decided on OpenEdge Pro2™, a data replication solution from Progress. OpenEdge Pro2 enables businesses to quickly and easily access mission-critical data from their OpenEdge systems, without disrupting operations or jeopardizing database stability.
“OpenEdge Pro2 was the right solution at the right time that answered the challenges that we had,” explained Nigel Williams, Product Director, LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions. “And rather than just being Pro2 as it was, we had the opportunity to shape it and mold it into what we needed as part of our core.”
By leveraging OpenEdge Pro2, LexisNexis is now able to provide its clients with real-time data access. This is particularly crucial for organizations working with high transactional processing volumes that need frequent synchronisation.
Result
According to Williams, OpenEdge Pro2 brought two major benefits to the table:
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The flexibility of OpenEdge Pro2 enabled LexisNexis to embed it into their core product—it wasn’t a third-party bolt-on, but proven, established code that LexisNexis has woven into its solutions. This makes it easier to manage.
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Near real-time access to critical data, with any changes made via the operational Visualfiles user interface updated instantaneously. This also directly improves the reporting capabilities, which has a carry- over effect into various other business processes.
People often ask, ‘What’s your reporting capability?’ Now we’re able to say you can report on anything in the system,” said Williams. “Anything that we may put in there, anything that you choose to build through the Visualfiles toolkit, that’s all exposed through Pro2 and you can build any sort of report in any technology you choose. And that’s incredibly powerful.”
While OpenEdge Pro2 brought a lot of value to the Visualfiles solution, it’s only one element within a recently announced strategy to broaden the LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions portfolio.
Fortunately, OpenEdge provides an application modernization path that supports that strategy. LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions is looking to adopt the OpenEdge12 series, moving to Progress Application Server (PAS) for OpenEdge from Classic AppServer to further improve application performance, scalability, agility and security.
“We’ve just announced an exciting evolution where we’re offering more web and cloud solutions, truly embracing and unlocking the power of what we have to offer through the latest technology,” Williams added. “And part of that is exploiting all that OpenEdge has to offer—we’re really excited about how we can get all those benefits and deliver faster working solutions for our clients.”
About LexisNexis Legal & Professional
LexisNexis Legal & Professional is a leading global provider of legal, regulatory and business information and analytics that help customers increase productivity, improve decision-making and outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis® and Nexis® services.