Meet the New Analytics Experience

Every business runs on decisions, and distributors and manufacturers are sitting on a goldmine of data. Phocas exists to make them faster, better informed and shared by the whole team. Now there's more data than ever, and more business questions, with AI raising the bar on what's possible - and what people expect.

That's why we have rebuilt the Phocas Analytics Experience, with new ways for everyone in your business to see, ask, explore and act with data-driven insights. We're ushering in a new standard for data-driven distribution businesses and even better business outcomes for Phocas Customers.

The new experience runs on new technology built for faster innovation, better performance and AI-native capability. So this is just the beginning.

What's changed and what stays the same

Ease of use, self-service and insight across the whole business are what Phocas has always done best – the New Analytics Experience builds on all of it. The Grid you know, the way you follow a train of thought, drag-and-drop, pivot and drill-down all work as they always have, now with more speed and flexibility.

You're not forced to switch; a toggle lets you explore the new experience at your own pace and move between it and Classic whenever you like.

Keep reading for the key details about every part of the new experience, and use our customer resources to make the most of them as soon as you're ready.

The next generation of Phocas dashboards

Every business runs on decisions, and the people making them are everywhere. On the road with a customer. On the warehouse floor. At the branch counter. In the office, checking how the day is going.

Dashboards put the numbers that matter in front of all of them at a glance, on a wall display or a phone. When someone has a question, they can ask it and get an answer. When they need the detail, they can dig in. Phocas has always brought data to the people who run the business, and now there are more ways to do it than ever, each one built for how people work.

You told us what you needed, and we have brought it to life. Here’s are the highlights:

• Apply your brand colors, logo and dark mode across every dashboard.
• Use new charts, widgets, visualizations and filters, with filters at the top for cleaner layouts.
• See the number behind the number. Flip any widget to see exactly what’s behind it, without leaving the page.
• Dashboards look right everywhere, from a warehouse wall display to your phone.
• Start faster with best practice templates and AI dashboard builders that get you to a finished dashboard sooner (beta).

Dive deeper into next generation dashboards

Enhanced Analytics (formerly known as Flex Modes)

Even in the AI era, every business needs reliable, structured reports to keep things running smoothly as well as flexible ad hoc analysis and report building capabilities. The Grid is still the heart of Phocas Analytics, now enhanced to make creating those essential reports faster and easier than ever. Supporting more effortless, on-the-fly data exploration by anyone in the business. You may know these enhancements as "Flex Modes." Here are some of the highlights customers are raving about.

• Build your own columns. Add calculations, measures and formula columns right in the grid. The function list will feel familiar if you work in Excel.
• Make what matters stand out. Apply conditional formatting with your own custom rules.
• Filter and compare with precision. Combine AND/OR filters and period comparisons to see your data exactly the way you need it.
• Go all the way to the transaction. Move between analysis and transaction detail without losing your place. The 10,000-row limit no longer holds you back.

• Know when something needs attention. Set alerts on any column or threshold, then edit them, schedule them and share them with your team.

Explore what's new and improved with Enhanced Analytics 

Workspaces, powered by PACE (beta)

Every business has questions that don’t have a dashboard yet. Why did margin slip at one branch? Which customers have slowed down? Where should a rep focus this week? Answering them has usually meant building a report, waiting for an analyst or exporting to a spreadsheet.

Workspaces puts PACE, the conversational engine built into Phocas Analytics, right where your data already lives. Ask a question and get an answer grounded in the clean, modeled data you already trust, across all your analytics databases at once. Ask a follow-up and context stays in place.

With any AI, the fair question is whether you can trust the answer. That’s why every answer carries a confidence score and shows the data behind it. When an answer comes straight from your modeled data, confidence is high. When it involves some inference, like a forecast, you'll know. From there you can:

• Verify and go deeper. Open the answer in the Analytics Grid and drill into the transactions, build a report or evaluate accuracy.
• Keep what’s useful. Pin an answer for next time, share it or export it. Open in the Analytics Grid to create a dashboard or favorite. 

• Help it get smarter over time: PACE learns your preferences as you use it, but you can also add organisational and personal context to make it even smarter.

Workspaces is secured by the Phocas Trust Layer. The permissions you’ve already set up in Phocas carry over, so people only see what they’re already allowed to see. The same enterprise grade security and governance behind every Phocas product applies to every question.

Learn more about Workspaces

“This is exactly what we hoped to see from the next version of Phocas AI – this puts powerful AI right where our data is.”

– Workspaces beta customer 

Workspaces is in beta, so we’ve labeled it clearly and we’re listening closely to your feedback.

New navigation and naming

New navigation helps you reach the tools you use most, wherever you're in Phocas. Set your context once and carry it with you as you move between tools. Get to the dashboards, analysis and Workspaces you use most in fewer clicks. It's worth noting we have renamed a few things along the way - everything is spelled out in our documentation.

How to get started

You can explore the new experience when you’re ready:

• Try it at your own pace. Switch on the toggle to explore the new dashboards and Analytics Grid. Your existing setup keeps working while you do.
• Free upgrade. The new dashboards and Analytics are a free upgrade. Workspaces is free during beta.
• Find help. Visit our user documentation and Phocas Academy, or talk to your Customer Success team any time.

Built on what you asked for

“Phocas Analytics has been the leading solution for data-driven distributors for 25 years. We’ve kept what our customers love and made it even stronger with investment in a new technology foundation, AI and heaps of enhancements. Beta customers and early adopters are raving about the results.”

– Blair Cassidy, Chief Technology Officer at Phocas Software

This is where Phocas is heading: the new standard for data-driven distribution. Delivered. We’d love to hear what you think as you explore, as your feedback shapes what we build next.