Announcing MS2 Publication Database

Introduction
MS2’s Transportation Data Management System (TDMS) helps customers manage their data through the entire data lifecycle – planning, collection, quality control, storage, analysis, and reporting. Our Traffic Count module allows customers to analyze the data from many different angles and includes more than 200 different reports. When customers have specific requirements for reports that aren’t met by one of the existing reports, we’ll often build a custom report for them.

Still, there are some cases where customers need direct access to the data stored in MS2 to:

• Create highly customized reports for their unique use case
• Combine data stored in MS2’s systems with data stored in other systems within their agency to provide a larger picture
• Utilize their preferred business intelligence tools to gain further insight into the data
• Present the data in a common framework used within their organization

MS2 offers two solutions to meet these needs.

MS2 Backup API
One solution MS2 has for this is our Backup API. This allows customers to download data in a platform-agnostic format and load it into a database in their own data center. This can be a great solution for agencies that need to house the data in their own data center and only require monthly updates.

MS2 Publication Database
For customers who want easy access to their data with daily updates without having to host the data within their data center, MS2 now offers a new extension called Publication Database.

MS2 Publication Database is a read-only copy of MS2’s production database containing the agency’s data that is automatically updated nightly. This allows analysts at the agency to access traffic data the day after it’s processed by MS2’s systems.

The Publication Database is maintained by MS2, so there is no need to setup a new database within the agency’s data center. It uses Microsoft SQL Server, so any tool that works with MS SQL will work with the Publication Database including, but not limited to, Amazon QuickSight, Crystal Reports, Domo, Microsoft Excel, PowerBI, Tableau, and Qlik. Analysts can create new reports and tools based on the data and include data from other sources as needed.

We Want to Hear From You
We’re currently providing early access to our Publication Database extension so customers can test our database and decide if it works for them. We’re also collecting feedback to ensure we’re building the right product to meet the needs of our customers.

If you’re an MS2 customer and would like to give the Publication Database a try, let us know! We’ll be happy to provide you with early access to the extension. If you’re not an MS2 customer and interested in learning more about our Publication Database, and the other solutions we provide, please contact us.