Oasis Alpha release 0.7.0 is now available for evaluation by invitation. Please use the Contact form to request more details.

What is Oasis?

Why the Focus on Information Management?

Information is organized data. Information management is simply the act of organizing data.

A spreadsheet is an information management tool used to organize, manipulate, and present data values all in one place. One of its key virtues is providing users with the ability to organize and manipulate data without the need for programming. See this post that expands on this topic.

An Information Management Platform does exactly the same thing, except data values are stored in a database rather than in a file. It also maintains the key virtue by which users can organize and manipulate data without the need to program.

How Teams Relinquish Control & Ownership of Information Management

All business teams organize data in a way to create information they need to operate. They manage information as part of their critical day-to-day operations. Information management is therefore a crucial business function for any team.

Information is not data, but most teams think of it this way. It is also very easy for teams to relinquish information management control and ownership without realizing it.

For many teams, the use of spreadsheets for their critical day-to-day operations evolves into a cumbersome practice as data volume and complexity grows. Consequently, teams often find themselves looking for off the shelf tools to support their needs. For those unable to find a solution this way, such teams have to decide to continue managing operations with a spreadsheet, or they must engage IT developers to transition their file-oriented spreadsheet applications to a more sophisticated, database-centric systems.

A very significant concession is made in this process, in that the task of information management—the means by which data is specifically organized for that team—is handed over to IT developers. Information is no longer managed by equations or organized columns in a spreadsheet but by software created and maintained by IT.

For this reason, this undertaking while essential, is often resource-intensive and exasperating for both IT developer and business teams. Not only when first developing the application, but for ongoing maintenance and updates.

The importance of this concession is not often realized or understood. When it is, teams consider that there are no other options for them and that this is just the cost of doing business for a growing organization.

We believe this practice of conceding control and ownership of information management away from business teams should cease. Business teams manage information as an integral part of their day-to-day activities and so they should be empowered by suitable tools to this end. Tools should not take information management tasks away from business teams, yet most custom tools, and many of the most modern and powerful tools on the market do this to some extent.

How is Oasis Different?

A spreadsheet contains static values in an organized table, contains equations to manipulate values (models), and contains means to present information using tables or charts (views). All this is saved in a file.

Oasis provides the same capabilities to manage information tables, models and views yet uses a database to save items. No programming is required and so information management tasks are retained by the business team. Critically information is not lost when using the database and the means to organize the data is retained by the user.

In addition, applications can be created, allowing for the assembly of multiple views through menu structures and drill-down actions. APIs can also be enabled exposing information tables and model outputs. Access control is also provided, allowing read and edit permissions to be applied as needed.

Oasis is built using JavaScript, node.js and a document database called MongoDB. It is a new class of no-code tool that from the ground up enables teams to manage information, not data.

Read more about Oasis here. Explore here to see Oasis in action.

Who Should Use Oasis?

Oasis is designed for business teams and application developers.

• For business teams, anyone who creates and uses a spreadsheet can use Oasis.
• Any IT team or application developer who, due to lack of resource or time, is unable to support application development for a business team can use Oasis.

Availability

Oasis Alpha release 0.7.0 is now available for evaluation by invitation. Please use the Contact form to request more details. See Posts for examples of Oasis in action.