Press
Release

Datawatch Announces Monarch V10.5; World’s #1 Report Mining and Analysis Tool Adds Compliance and Auditing Capabilities to Help Users Eliminate “Spreadsheet Hell”

27 October 2009:

Datawatch Corporation, a leader in business intelligence (BI) and enterprise information management (EIM), today announced Monarch™ V10.5, the latest upgrade of the world’s number one report mining and BI tool. With Monarch V10.5, users now have the ability to create and export Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets containing the original source of the data-eliminating spreadsheet-induced uncertainty, reducing the audit cycle and easing compliance.

Monarch V10.5 is compatible with the new Windows 7 operating system

“Monarch has always been a valuable part of my audit and investigative tool-kit, and the ability to carry the original document with the Excel export adds another dimension to an already invaluable program,” said auditing expert Phillip C Levi, partner at the Montreal forensic accounting and auditing firm Levi & Sinclair, certified in financial forensics by the AICPA, accredited by the CICA as an investigative and forensic accountant and the 2007 ACFE’s fraud examiner of the year. “Now, anyone using the Excel data is able to immediately view its source and the context in which it was originally reported.”

Ensuring Data Lineage and Data Integrity

Countless Datawatch customers use Monarch technology to quickly, easily and non-programmatically convert their corporate information (usually reports) into Excel spreadsheets. Datawatch is keenly aware of the increasing need for organisations to understand the lineage of their spreadsheet data for the purposes of compliance, auditing, reconciliation and just plain accuracy, and meets these needs in the newest version of Monarch.

With Monarch V10.5, a full-fidelity XML representation of the original source report is exported with the Excel file. Now the source data for the Excel file travels with the Excel file—making it easy for users to compare and reconcile the spreadsheet with the source data—eliminating the time-intensive process of confirming a spreadsheet’s accuracy and ensuring data integrity.

Monarch V10.5 also provides enhanced compliance through the use of optional digital signatures which can be embedded in the Excel file. This allows the user to determine if the spreadsheet was created by a known sender or if it has been tampered with or manipulated in transit-further demonstrating the authenticity of the document.

Key Monarch 10.5 features and benefits

• Enhances compliance and auditability of Excel spreadsheets by allowing for inclusion of the source report file in XLSX/XLSM export
• Free Monarch Context™ Add-in for Excel allows Excel users to jump from any Excel spreadsheet created by Monarch V10.5 to any source report data embedded in that file with a simple click – making it easy to check the veracity of their data
• Optional digital signatures can be embedded for enhanced security
• Compatible with Windows 7 operating system

“The reporting ills of organisations centering on what is often called ‘spreadsheet hell’ or ‘spreadmarts’ are legendary. Managers, auditors and compliance personnel all need easier, better ways to answer the common questions around spreadsheets: Where does the data come from? Is the data accurate? Has it been tampered with?,” said John Kitchen, Datawatch senior vice president and CMO. “With this latest version of Monarch, Datawatch solves these challenges and makes Monarch an even more valuable tool for providing useful, effective reporting throughout the organisation. Now organisations can deliver corporate data in the format users want (Excel), along with the original report source(s) for viewing-without programming, database work or altering any of their current system output-easing compliance and streamlining the auditing process.”

Monarch Context™, an add-in for Excel users for spreadsheet compliance, auditing and report navigation,
Datawatch has also developed a free, downloadable add-in for Excel users called Monarch Context which allows any Excel user to sync the data in the Excel spreadsheet created by Monarch V10.5 with any embedded source report and visually display a full-fidelity XML representation of the report. Monarch Context can also be used to explore, copy and print the source report from within Excel.

Requirements and compatibility

Monarch V10.5 Standard and Monarch V10.5 Pro Editions are compatible with Windows XP Home/Professional SP2, Windows 2003 Server SP1, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7. Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 or higher is required. Monarch V10.5 installs in minutes and can read model files and portable report files created with earlier versions of Monarch.

Pricing and availability

Monarch V10.5 Standard and Monarch V10.5 Pro Editions are available immediately. Monarch V10.5 Standard Edition is £411 for a single user and £1558 for a network of four users. Monarch V10.5 Pro Edition is £499 for a single user and £1999 for a network of four users. Monarch is available through leading resellers, by calling Datawatch directly at 01752 241496, emailing us at sales_dwe@datawatch.com or at www.datawatch.com.

Upgrading is easy

For users of Monarch V10, the upgrade to Monarch V10.5 is available as a free download at www.datawatch.com. A single user upgrade from Monarch V9 Standard Edition to Monarch V10.5 Standard Edition is £123. A single user upgrade from Monarch V9 Standard Edition to Monarch V10.5 Pro Edition is £194. A single user upgrade from Monarch V9 Pro Edition to Monarch V10.5 Pro Edition is £141. For more details about Monarch V10.5 (which includes all the new functionality of the V10 release), please visit www.datawatch.com