Columbia Ultimate is excited to deliver ODBC functionality through The Collector System and ManageMed.

For those of you who are not familiar with ODBC, the acronym stands for Open DataBase Connectivity. This is an application programming interface specification for using SQL queries to access data. For those of you deploying jBASE® and UniVerse® databases, the ODBC drivers can be utilized to extract, present and view data.

Leveraging ODBC allows users to include data from multiple files within The Collector System and ManageMed and take advantage of powerful third-party data formatting and presentation tools. Applications such as Crystal Report or Excel are recommended for presenting the data.

Crystal Reports can be configured to connect to The Collector System or ManageMed database. By doing this, you can:

• Extract and format data
• Create professionally formatted reports
• Dynamically update reports with the most current data
• Use Windows printing tools to direct report output and distribution

You can also use Excel to connect to The Collector System or ManageMed database. This allows you to:

• Extract and format data
• Create charts and cross-tab reports
• Construct SQL Queries in the background (by using Microsoft Query Language®)
• Use Windows printing tools to output and distribute files

We hope you take advantage of this valuable functionality to boost productivity and enhance overall reporting.

For those of you who are interested in learning more about ODBC, don’t forget to sign up for the ODBC session “ODBC Overview: Creating Professional Reports” at Art of Success 2007.