Components

A typical TARGIT solution, when fully installed, contains multiple components.

As a new TARGIT user, you should probably focus on the descriptions of the Anywhere client and the Designer client. However, this article contains descriptions of multiple other central components as well.

This architecture overview shows that the TARGIT Server is the central component that handles the data flow from the data sources, the business systems, the data warehouses through the TARGIT Server until it meets the end-users' clients.

Front-end components

TARGIT Anywhere Client (optional)

The TARGIT Anywhere client is a browser based client and it is the client used by most Consumer users. When working with the Anywhere client, you can basically only open existing Dashboard and Reports. Furthermore, you can apply filters to these and export data to PDF and Excel - but you cannot create new dashboards or reports with the Anywhere client, nor can you modify the existing ones.

The Anywhere client (and mobile clients) requires an Internet Information Server to host the Anywhere application.

TARGIT Designer Client (required)

The Designer client is a Windows application that is required for any user who needs to be able to create dashboards and reports from scratch, or needs to modify existing dashboards and reports beyond the point of just changing filters.

Having installed the TARGIT Server and at least one Designer client, you can start working with TARGIT. The other components are only necessary if their functionality is required by you or your organization.

TARGIT Data Discovery (optional)

TARGIT Data Discovery is integrated in the Designer client and enables a Designer user to import and consume data from a wide variety of data sources and combine them with other data without knowing about data types and complicated query languages.

TARGIT Data Discovery is not meant to be a replacement for a traditional BI data warehouse, but rather be the add-on that gives business analysts, data explorers and other user types with basic understanding of data structures a tool to deploy small data models for instant access to the data on hand.

Back-end components

TARGIT Server (required)

The TARGIT Server is the central component of a TARGIT solution. The TARGIT Server connects to your data warehouse(s) and your clients connect to the TARGIT Server.

The TARGIT Server is responsible for all communication - asking for data and replying with data - between the clients and the organization's data warehouse.

The TARGIT Server also handles other tasks such as automated distribution of reports, governance of end-users' access to data etc.

TARGIT Management Client (included with the TARGIT Server)

The Management client is the administrator's interface to the TARGIT Server.

It is required for being able to manage:

• Connections to data warehouses
• Governance of licenses
• Governance of users
• Translations
• Etc.

Data Warehouse components

TARGIT InMemory database (optional)

The TARGIT InMemory database can be used as an alternative to other databases, e.g., Microsoft SQL Server Relational, Multidimensional and Tabular.

The TARGIT InMeory database is very similar to Microsoft's tabular engine. Both are column-store databases optimized for performance.

TARGIT InMemory ETL Studio (optional)

To load data into TARGIT's InMemory database you will need to work with the TARGIT InMemory ETL Studio.

With this tool, you can define access to multiple types of data sources and use import and transformation tasks to feed your InMemory database with tables and data in the required format.

The sequence of ETL tasks is saved as an ETL project.

TARGIT InMemory Scheduler (optional)

The TARGIT InMemory Scheduler is the component that runs your ETL projects according to fixed schedules.

In this way, you can set up your ETL packages to run - and your InMemory database to update - automatically weekly, once every day, hourly, or whatever you require.

TARGIT InMemory Query Tool (optional)

The TARGIT InMemory Query Tool is used for querying data from tables in the InMemory database.

You can use this for verifying data imports from the ETL projects, or you can use it for testing advanced SQL queries that are later embedded in the ETL projects.

Note: As an alternative to the TARGIT InMemory Query Tool, you can also use Visual Studio Code with a TARGIT InMemory extension for querying your InMemory data. (Visual Studio Code extension for TARGIT InMemory SQL)

TARGIT Data Model Editor (optional)

The Data Model Editor is integrated with the TARGIT Management Client, but instead of being regarded as a an Administrative tool, it is better categorized as a Data Warehouse developer's tool.

In combination with a TARGIT InMemory database (or any other relational databases) that is connected to the TARGIT Server, you use the Data Model Editor to define relations between your tables and to define which fields should be used as dimensions and measures and how to combine these into cubes.

The resulting cubes, with their dimensions and measures, are what the Designer user will see as Source Data to design dashboards and reports from.

Further reading

Together with this article, you can find other articles that are relevant when you are new to TARGIT:

• The overview. What is TARGIT? And how is it used? Article with a short intro to TARGIT
• Descriptions of the different user types. What are their roles? Which tools are they using? Article with user types descriptions
• Collection of useful links for anyone new to TARGIT. Article with useful links