The Technology
Technology Proven Through 15 Years of Use
Palisade Corporation has long been the leader in desktop applications for risk analysis,
Monte Carlo simulation, optimisation and decision analysis. Palisade's industry standard
software lineup includes @RISK, BestFit, Evolver, RISKOptimizer, PrecisionTree and
the DecisionTools Suite. @RISK is the most
widely used Monte Carlo simulation programme in the world with hundreds of thousands
of users worldwide. The DecisionTools Suite itself is currently used by 40,000 MBA
students a year to analyse models contained in the leading business school textbooks.
These Palisade applications have been continually updated and enhanced since 1985. Now the technology from this proven desktop software is available in a variety of developer toolkits that can be used for developing custom desktop, network and web solutions.
The Same Core - Desktop or Web
All of the Palisade developer toolkits use the same core analytical code as their desktop
counterparts. Thus, users of applications developed with the @RISK Developer's Kit,
for example, can enjoy the same advanced Monte Carlo simulation engine as users of
@RISK for Excel. Similar benefits are gained by users of the Evolver Developer's
Kit and its genetic optimisation engine and the BestFit Developer's Kit and its distribution
fitting technology. No analytical power is sacrificed in the transition from desktop
application to developer kit. Future enhancements in one platform are automatically
enhancements in all!
Integrated
Charting and Reporting
Along with the core analytical engines, the developer kits also include integrated
reporting and graphing capabilities. For example, the @RISK Developer's Kit provides
two charting engines: Microsoft Excel and @RISK. The Microsoft Excel charting engine
enables you to create fully customisable Excel format graphs directly from your application.
All of the graphing options of Excel are available from your application, including
chart types, axes, labels, colours, and more. A proprietary @RISK graphing engine also
can be used to generate graphs of risk analysis results from your application. These
@RISK graphs can be used in your own custom interface or with the full @RISK desktop
interface, which features integrated reporting and charting. Creation of bitmap, metafile,
or .JPG @RISK graphs is easy, allowing the use of these charts in customized web, network,
or desktop environments.
Choose the Best Interface for Your Programming Environment
Palisade developer kits provide two ways to access their analytical functions: using
either an ActiveX interface, or DLL interface.
The ActiveX Interface allows you to easily write applications in any ActiveX aware environment. Using this interface, development of custom solutions is faster and easier than ever before. An intuitive set of methods and properties allows the developer to quickly set up a model and define the parameters of the analysis, be it simulation, distribution fitting, optimisation, or decision trees. This interface also makes it easy to handle events during an analysis and to process and display results. While Visual Basic is the environment of choice for writing ActiveX applications, they can also be written in Visual C++, or any other ActiveX-aware development environment.
.Net programmers can also take advantage of the easy-to-use ActiveX/COM interface, since the .Net environment offers the COM Interoperability feature. Examples in two .Net programming languages (C# and Visual Basic .Net) are provided with all the Palisade Developer’s Kits.
The standard DLL Interface is also provided with the toolkits. C, Visual Basic, or any other programming language that supports DLL functions can be used. Between the two interfaces, Palisade toolkits give developers maximum flexibility in creating their own analytical solutions.
Distribute
an Application via the Web, Network or CD
The developer toolkits also allow deployment of custom applications over a network
or web server for maximizing user access. Server-based programmes can be accessed over
the Internet from any browser, allowing users to enter model parameters and inputs,
run analyses, and view results and graphs. Model structure, logic, and function libraries
are stored on the server, ensuring consistency for all end-users and removing local
support and installation issues.
Applications developed with a Palisade toolkit can also be distributed in a traditional method, such as on CD, installed to a user's PC on a desktop.
The table below summarizes the current availability of developer kits for Palisade DecisionTools products:
| Product | ActiveX Interface | DLL Interface | .NET Examples |
| @RISK Developer's Kit |  |
|
|
| BestFit Developer's Kit | |
|
|
| Evolver Developer's Kit | |
|
|
| RISKOptimizer Developer's Kit | |
· use @RISK DLL · use Evolver DLL |
|
| PrecisionTree Developer's Kit | coming soon | coming soon |