BookRunner®Query The BookRunner® Excel Add-In
by Andrew Schnell
As previewed at the 2005 BookRunner® User Group Conference, the developers at RiskAdvisory have been working on different ways to enhance the flexibility of the BookRunner® product. As with many BookRunner® clients, the ability to extract pertinent data from the BookRunner® database is an important function that allows them to manage and manipulate the data in the form of custom reports. For some clients, this is accomplished using Microsoft Excel and the Oracle ODBC driver functionality. This process works for the most part; however, problems arise with having to hard code certain database details, as well as the cumbersome process of reviewing the embedded SQL queries. RiskAdvisory has developed a unique and powerful solution for extracting data out of the BookRunner® database and viewing it directly in Excel. The new BookRunner® Excel Add-In uses the ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) technology enabling end users to run an assortment of SQL queries against the BookRunner® database using Excel. Currently named BookRunner®Query, it works similar to other Excel Add-Ins by adding a Menu Item called BookRunner® to the toolbar.
The Sub-Menu of BookRunner® consists of 3 menu items;
- Query to execute the specified queries,
- Template to open the BookRunner®Query template spreadsheet, allowing users to specify where to place the results of the query, as well as the SQL query itself,
- Table Desc to open the BookRunner® Table Descriptions spreadsheet which gives detailed information on all of BookRunner®'s back-end tables. The Table Descriptions spreadsheet displays the most commonly used BookRunner® tables and associated field names to assist users with developing their own SQL queries.
* NOTE To ensure the most recent files are accessed, the Template & Table Desc menu items retrieve the most current files from the riskadvisory.com web server.
Figure1 below displays an example of the BookRunner®Query template spreadsheet.
To query the BookRunner® database:
1. Enter the necessary information into the spreadsheet template ( refer to Table 1 below);
Table 1
2. Click on BookRunner® Query on the menu bar;
3. Login into BookRunner® by specifying the required Username, Password, and Database;
4. The queries are then executed and displayed on the assigned worksheets.
The BookRunner®Query tool has numerous advantages and uses that will enable clients to quickly and easily extract any data from back-end tables, create ad-hoc reports, or even create fully formatted custom reports.
For more information concerning this article, please contact support@riskadvisory.com or 403.263.7475