Understanding Analysis Studio and iBase

iBase users have always been able to use the iBase plug-in to create and edit iBase records on Analyst's Notebook charts. With Analysis Studio, they gain the ability to retrieve records from additional data sources, to interact with those records on charts, and the potential to add the information they contain to iBase.

In the Analyst's Notebook Premium desktop client, the external searches that users can run are provided by connectors to data sources. Connectors define what kind of information they can retrieve, and what information users must provide in order to use them successfully.

Connectors are enabled by i2 Connect, which in turn is underpinned by i2 Analyze, which is i2's enterprise-grade, server-based analytics platform. You can buy connectors from third-party suppliers, or create them for yourself with the i2 Connect Node SDK.

You can think of a complete deployment of Analysis Studio and iBase like this:

The elements on the right side of the diagram should be familiar: they show the interaction between Analyst's Notebook, the iBase plug-in, and the iBase database.

The blue arrows represent the iBase plug-in's ability to create records in the iBase database, and to retrieve records from it and visualize them on a chart.

The elements on the left side of the diagram show how i2 Connect enables external searches in the Analyst's Notebook Premium desktop client. i2 Analyze hosts the i2 Connect gateway, which provides the interface between the desktop application and the connected data sources.

The red arrows represent i2 Analyze records being created by connectors and eventually being visualized in charts. They also show the Analyst's Notebook Premium desktop client using i2 Analyze and iBase records as the starting point for further queries of external sources.

In the center of the diagram, the Export-to-iBase plug-in acts as a translator between iBase and i2 Analyze. With the plug-in installed, users can export i2 Analyze records from the Analyst's Notebook Premium desktop client, to create or augment records in iBase.

The following documentation describes how to deploy and then maintain Analysis Studio so that your iBase users can derive maximum value from it.