Course curricula offered

Datawatch offers you the following course curricula:

• Basic Monarch
• Intermediate Monarch
• Advanced Monarch
• Quick Start to Monarch Web-Based Training
• Monarch Data Pump

Basic Monarch Course Curriculum

This hands-on course is beneficial for Monarch users of almost any skill level, including beginners. Features and functionality are explained in such a way that even experienced users will gain clarity and increased performance.

Whether or not you plan to enroll in other courses, we recommend you begin your training here. This course is the perfect foundation on which to build your skills. The class ends with an open lab session where you can work on actual reports.

Learning Outcomes for Basic Monarch

Following are the performance objectives for participants in this training class. After successfully completing this class, you will be able to perform crucial fundamental operations and be able to:

Report Window

• Know and use terminology necessary for working in Monarch
• Understand the difference between a template and a model
• Open a variety of source data including TXT, PRN, PDF, XLS, MDB files
• Work within the three windows of Monarch: Report, Table, Summary, and have an understanding of the unique attributes and purposes of each window
• Assess a report and use Monarch's extraction process (templates and traps) to extract the data from the source report and generate a valid table
• Create templates according to how reports are usually arranged (Sort levels). Apply Monarch's templates: detail, append, header, footer, to effectively coordinate the relationships of the various levels of data to form records in the resulting table
• Demonstrate effective use of literal traps and wild traps to trap data
• Use the Auto Define Fields feature as a diagnostic tool
• Use Verify to find and correct fields with incorrect types and boundaries
• Navigate Tree View
• Set a bookmark
• Use the Find feature to quickly find data in reports, table and summaries. Know how to split the screen as well as cascade and tile the windows
• Determine the consequences of choosing samples and traps unwisely
• Recognize diverse layouts of report data in more complex reports and see the structure inherent in the data. Evaluate the structure and make appropriate decisions about constructing templates
• Apply the Advanced Variable Field options as needed to capture and extract "non-standard" data and data inconsistencies such as suppressed fields, multi-line sort levels, variable line addresses and wrapping fields
• Recognize the need for and successfully employ advanced extraction traps such as wild traps, postal trap, numeric|or, the NOT trap, and floating traps
• Apply one model file to several periodic reports over time as well as all at once to form comprehensive tables
• Use Multi-Column Regions to extract data from reports where the detail information resides in multiple columns
• Name, save and then reapply models to one or many reports simultaneously
• See how to export from the report window

Table Window

• Change the order of table records by using Sorts
• Create Calculated Fields that add new columns of data to the table
• Create and apply filters to temporarily remove unwanted table records so that only records of interest will be viewed, exported and printed
• Write formulas called expressions to manipulate table data
• Understand the various categories of Monarch functions (ex: string, numeric, date, user-defined) and be able to select and apply appropriate functions when writing expressions.
• Nest several functions together in one expression to achieve desired results
• Create and employ non-formula based filters and calculated fields such as Compound Filters, User Edited Fields, Run Time Parameters, and Lookup Calculated Fields
• Utilize additional manipulation techniques such as hiding columns, moving columns, changing column titles, adjusting column widths, using the field list, changing field properties
• Incorporate the logical operators such as "AND", "OR" and "NOT", as well as parenthesis, brackets, quotes and braces into expressions
• Use the Address Block feature to split memo fields containing addresses into their individual components such as street, city, state, postal code
• Export from Monarch to other applications such as Excel. Use the Project Export feature for repetitive exporting
• Control Exporting to Excel so that special formatting, formulas and outlining are retained. Use the First Value of Field macro to customize page headers for print and export
• Utilize advanced filter options to remove duplicate records from a table and to perform "top 10" analysis
• Search and explore Monarch's electronic help files

Summary Window

• Create a Quick Summary
• Create a Complete Summary with totals, sub-totals and averages
• Understand measure fields, item fields and key fields and the role they play in the creation of a Monarch summary
• Understand the necessity and use of item fields and the value of drilling up and down through the data, producing more, or less, detailed views
• Apply Summary Design Preferences to create and maintain a consistent look for all summaries
• Use Across Key to form a matrix and achieve a different perspective
• Use various summary tools such as sorting, matching values, specifying ranges of summary data as well as incorporating filters into summaries
• Maximize effectiveness of summaries by using exception coloring to make value ranges "pop"
• Create charts of various types to graphically display summary data
• Change chart properties such as chart type, chart title, chart colors and clustering
• Move up and down through charts and split the screen so both the summary and chart are in view at the same time
• Cluster key fields so that more data can fit on fewer charts

Projects and Portable Reports

• Create a Project file that launches a particular report and model
• Know when a project file is helpful and when it is necessary
• Understand Portable Reports, how they are created and their benefits
• Compare and Contrast Projects and Portable Reports

Imports and External Lookups

• Perform an import to create a monarch table populated by external data
• Apply external data to an existing Monarch table using an External Lookup based on a linked field
• Work with models and projects while performing imports and external lookups

Object Linking

• Object Linking will be briefly discussed and demonstrated

Lab Session

A lab session is provided at the end of class for any questions or needs you may have. You are encouraged to work on your own report data if you like or review lessons from the training manual

*If purchase order or payment is not received 2 weeks in advance of the on-site class, a 20% additional charge will be assessed.

**Those courses that list continuing education units (CEUs) have been approved by the International Association of Continuing Education and Training

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Intermediate Monarch Course Curriculum

Are you ready to take your Monarch skills beyond the basics? If you’ve already attended our Basic Monarch course, or have been working with Monarch and believe there is still more you would like to learn, this course is for you.

Some already familiar topics will be re-explored and combined with new techniques to achieve surprising results. This class provides an opportunity to refresh what you already know while adding great new skills. Through specially designed lessons not included in the Basic Monarch class, we will teach you how to use the powerful features of Monarch to tackle common but troubling problems.

This hands-on class includes several solo exercises that allow you to apply what you have learned and test your skills. Class ends with an open lab session where you will work on your actual reports

Learning Outcomes for Intermediate Monarch

Following are the performance objectives for participants in this training class. After successfully completing this class, you will be able to perform crucial fundamental operations and be able to:

Report Window

• Know and use terminology necessary for working in Monarch at an intermediate level
• Be assured that you have a strong foundation of Monarch knowledge after reviewing key concepts
• Trap and extract data from non-standard reports containing a variety of inconsistencies
• Apply Monarch's templates: detail, append, header, footer, effectively even in challenging situations. Recognize diverse layouts of report data in more complex reports and see the structure inherent in the data. Evaluate the structure and make appropriate decisions about constructing templates
• Use the Auto Define Fields feature as a diagnostic tool
• Use the advanced variable field option of Preceding String to capture intermittent data
• Combine the Advanced Variable Field options as needed to capture and extract "non-standard" data and data inconsistencies such as suppressed fields, multi-line sort levels, variable line addresses and wrapping fields
• Use the Multi-Column Regions feature to eliminate the problem of reports with side-by-side details
• Work around troublesome situations when there is no way to prevent unwanted data from being trapped
• Use the Page Header template in unexpected ways to correct page break problems
• Successfully complete several intermediate solo exercises
• Work with percentages both in the report and table view
• Recognize the need for and successfully employ advanced extraction traps such as wild trap, postal trap, numeric|or trap, NOT trap, and floating traps

Table Window

• Work comfortably with functions and expressions to build Calculated Fields
• Perform custom sorting in the table by using Lookup calculated fields
• Better understand the importance of syntax ordering when creating a nested IF expression
• Create and apply Compound filters by selecting from a list of existing filters
• Write complicated nested expressions to split, join and otherwise control table data
• Use a wide range of formula functions inherent in Monarch
• Create and apply custom User-Defined functions and make them available in other models
• Use multiple Runtime calculated fields
• Understand why filters must sometimes remain active at all times
• Work comfortably with dates and date conversions by adjusting the Date Translation Input Option
• Employ the Test feature to quickly check the accuracy and results of table expressions
• Split large complicated fields of data that could not be captured initially as separate fields
• Use User Editable Fields in unusual ways
• Make use of an unused blank area within a sample to extract a field using preceding string
• Demonstrate more expertise with the logical operators such as "AND", "OR" and "NOT", as well as parenthesis, brackets, quotes and braces into expressions
• Use the Address Block feature to split memo fields containing addresses into their individual components such as street, city, state, postal code
• Add documentation Comments to Objects
• Utilize advanced filter options to remove duplicate records from a table and to perform "top 10" analysis
• Perform a Project Export

Summary Window

• Use matching values within a summary
• Use Summary Design Preferences to create and maintain consistent looks for existing and new summaries
• Utilize wildcards within a summary
• Incorporate table Filters into a Summary for targeted focus
• Use Across Key to achieve a different perspective
• Use various summary tools such as sorting, matching values, and specifying ranges of summary data
• Maximize the effectiveness of summaries by using exception coloring to make value ranges "pop"
• Maximize the readability and effectiveness of Charts

Projects and Portable Reports

• Create Projects that contain project exports, User Editable Fields, Import parameters and External Lookups.

Imports and External Lookups

• Perform an import to create a Monarch table populated by external data and then do an external lookup to link external fields to the table
• Combine two reports by exporting the first, opening the second and then linking the first to the second
• Select multiple linking values when one value is not adequate, and a combination of values is required to produce an sufficient degree of uniqueness in a one-to-many join

Object Linking

• Learn what Object Linking is and how to create links. Understand the three types of linking: weak link, strong link and no link

Lab Session

A lab session provided at the end of class is the time when learners’ individual needs and questions can be addressed. Learners are encouraged to work on their own report data if they like, or to review lessons from the training manual. This reinforces the learning outcome in an individualized way for each student.

*If purchase order or payment is not received 2 weeks in advance of the on-site class, a 20% additional charge will be assessed.

**Those courses that list continuing education units (CEUs) have been approved by the International Association of Continuing Education and Training

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Advanced Monarch Course Curriculum

Take your skills to the highest level. Expand your Monarch expertise to include some of the finer points of data extraction, manipulation and presentation known only by advanced users.

In this training you will:

• Use Monarch to conquer some of the toughest trapping scenarios you may ever encounter and learn how to approach these problems methodically with your new arsenal of Monarch know-how
• Discover even more functions and nesting combinations and see how to apply them like a pro
• Utilize the new collaboration and object linking capabilities of Monarch
• Learn how to deal with challenging situations such as multi-passes, multi-column regions and multiple external lookups just to name a few

This class is hands-on and includes several solo exercises that allow you to apply your new skills along the way. Class ends with an open lab session for work on your actual reports.

 

Note: To get the most out of this class, students must be familiar with Monarch and all the fundamental processes used to extract data from reports and further manipulate it with Monarch’s table and summary features.

Learning Outcomes for Advanced Monarch:

Following are the performance objectives for participants in this training class. After successfully completing this class, learners will be able to perform crucial fundamental operations and be able to:

Report Window

• Successfully extract data from a variety of very complex reports
• Deal with problematic report inconsistencies such as variable line records, variable line fields and intermittent fields
• Open and work with PDF files
• Export from the Report window to a PDF file containing bookmarks dynamically generated from the Monarch tree index
• Know what to try when all append fields are needed in the Monarch table even though some of that data may have no detail to append to
• Employ the Floating Trap to extract floating data and to parse that data into individual fields
• Work with dates successfully. Learn the facts behind how Monarch recognizes and interprets dates
• Know what to do when a source report contains dates with more than one format (e.g.: MDY and DMY)
• Prevent "double-counting" by avoiding the total line when extracting data
• Employ the NOT trap as needed to successfully extract targeted data
• Effectively employ the Advanced Field Options preceding string and after last defined field in template to capture hard to reach fields
• Understand why The Page Header Template is your secret ally. Why it is different from all the other templates
• Know what to do when there appears to be no way to avoid trapping unwanted data
• Use the "multi-pass" process to join data from several different reports/locations
• Solve complex problems while working on several solo class exercises

Table Window

• Better understand Monarch Functions and Expressions and how to nest them to produce targeted results. Some functions covered are: FILE, ID, TODAY, SUBSTR, UPPER, LEFT, QTR, IF, WEEKDAY, CTOD, STR, MONTH, RSPLIT, LSPLIT, MOD, LTRIM, and EXTRACT
• Create custom User-Defined functions to suit specific needs. Save these functions in an external model to make them available in future models
• Use Comments to notate your model objects for better organization and documentation
• Understand and use multiple Run Time Parameters that prompt when to enter appropriate data each time a model is activated
• Use Lookup Calculated Fields as a simple way to reference a list of pre-existing values
• Add or "front load" leading zeros to the front of a character field
• Adjust the QTR function up or down to interpret quarters that are not simple calendar quarters
• Eliminate duplicate table records by using the Advanced Duplicate Handling Options
• Export from the Monarch table window to Excel and apply Excel's AutoFilter dropdown lists

Summary Window

• See the importance of combining active table filters with summary window data
• Create ad hoc "filters" known as Specified Values when creating summaries
• Produce an aging report by using Upper Limit Values to show aging "buckets"
• Cleverly compare records in two reports by using the Count feature to focus on the report differences
• See how wild cards can be used in controlling summaries, table filters and calculated fields
• Make use of coloring limits in your summary to make targeted data values stand out
• Set Export Options to control the export of summary data to Excel in such a way as to take full advantage of Excel formulas, outlining and special formatting

Imports and External Lookups

• Join data from two or more reports by linking on a common field. Join data from two or more outside sources. Learn how several fields can be used to form a unique link

Object Linking

• Link Objects from one model to another model. Know the three types of links available: Strong Link, Weak Link, No Link

Lab Session

A lab session provided at the end of class is the time when learners’ individual needs and questions can be addressed. Learners are encouraged to work on their own report data if they like, or to review lessons from the training manual. This reinforces the learning outcome in an individualized way for each student.

Course Format:	Group Live, Hands-on
Duration:	2 Days (14 hours)
Prerequisite:	Prior attendance in either Basic Monarch or Intermediate Monarch, or an adequate working knowledge of Monarch. Please contact us with questions.
Advanced Prep:	None
Seminar Price:	$995 per person ($895 per person if more than one registrant per organization.)
Onsite Price:	$5,995 for up to 14 students (additional students can be accommodated at $300 per person)*
CEU:	1.2 CEUs**
CPE:	14 CPE credits will be awarded upon completion

*If purchase order or payment is not received 2 weeks in advance of the on-site class, a 20% additional charge will be assessed.

**Those courses that list continuing education units (CEUs) have been approved by the International Association of Continuing Education and Training

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Live Web-Based Training

Take advantage of all the immediacy the Internet has to offer with a live, private web class. Schedule a session at your convenience and you can be up and running quickly.

There’s no need to leave your desk—just log on and learn. Everything the instructor does will appear on your screen. Watch, learn and ask questions. This is a great way to get introductory level instruction.

Quick Start to Monarch Course Curriculum

Quick Start to Monarch is ideal for new users who want to learn the basics quickly or who need help getting started. This presentation is designed to get you up and running "right out of the box" by providing a concise overview of the main features of Monarch . Learn fundamental concepts and necessary steps to simple data extraction, as well as receive exposure to the scope of capabilities for data manipulation, data analysis and charting using Monarch.

Learning Outcomes for Quick Start to Monarch:

Following are the performance objectives for participants in this training class. After successfully completing this class learners will be able to:

Report Window

• Open a report
• Create a Detail Template
• Use the 3 basic steps for building a template
• Verify field boundaries and make adjustments
• Know the difference between a template and a model
• Apply traps and combine traps successfully
• Save a model for future use

Table Window

• Sort records within a table
• Adjust column properties
• Move columns of data
• Hide fields
• Build a simple filter that targets selected records
• Create a simple calculated field
• Export to Excel

Summary Window

• Create a simple summary that tabulates your data
• Obtain totals and subtotals
• Display your summary data in chart form

Additional Content

Some of the more powerful capabilities of Monarch will be revealed in a slide presentation that demonstrates some astounding data conversions accomplished with Monarch. Note: these examples are displayed only briefly here but are fully covered in our two-day classes.

Course Format:	Live Web-Based Training
Duration:	1 hour
Prerequisite:	None
Advanced Prep:	None
Price:	$99 per person for up to 5 people ($49 per additional person)
CEU:	None
CPE:	None

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Monarch Data Pump Course Curriculum

Monarch Data Pump (MDP) is a Windows server-based enterprise reporting and data ETL (Extraction, Transformation & Loading) solution. Monarch Data Pump provides automatic report and data mining plus enterprise information delivery.

This hands-on course is designed for program managers and IT professionals who are charged with automating the extraction (mining) of report data for transformation into output formats (PDF, Excel, MDB, CSV, etc.) or for loading into databases such as SQL Server, Access, or Oracle.

Learning Outcomes for Monarch Data Pump:

Following are the performance objectives for participants in this training class. After successfully completing this class, participants will have knowledge of the following topics:

Distribution Building

• Report archiving strategies
• Exporting to various formats
• Exporting to FTP and Sharepoint directories
• Exporting to a database
• Automatic attachment of exported data to pre-determined email addresses, including zipping and password-protection of those outputs
• Building an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed
• Archiving and maintenance of outputs
• Using a command line for pre-processing
• Scripting (shown by example only; scripting training in VB.Net is beyond the scope of the course)

Scheduling

• Setting up a schedule (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) for the processing of reports, including setting retries (if reports are missing during the first run through) and configuring maintenance
• Setting up monitoring as an alternative to scheduling (a monitoring process looks for files to appear in a designated directory and processes them right away)
• Running processes manually for testing

Logs and Alerts

• Setting up alerts-and emails-for failure conditions
• Examination of the uses of the log files
• Adding custom data to a log file
• Maintenance of logs

Course Format:	Group Live, Hands-on
Duration:	1 Day (7 hours)
Prerequisite:	Ability to create and save Monarch models and to perform exports.
Advanced Prep:	None
Seminar Price:	$795 per person (or just $495 per person if combined with a 2-day Monarch Seminar)
Onsite Price:	$3000 for up to 6 students (additional students can be accommodated at $300 per person
CEU:	.7 CEUs**
CPE:	7 CPE credits will be awarded upon completion.

*If purchase order or payment is not received 2 weeks in advance of the on-site class, a 20% additional charge will be assessed.

**Those courses that list continuing education units (CEUs) have been approved by the International Association of Continuing Education and Training

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