We’ve been busy over the last few months adding various new features and improvements to Analyse-it.

There are always many changes behind the scenes, which aren’t really news-worthy, but seek to make Analyse-it compatible with the latest changes to Microsoft Excel and Windows. Microsoft have recently embraced a more aggressive continuous-release deployment model with Office and Excel, and these releases have caused quite a few headaches for developers, notably with the .

For these reasons we advise you have active maintenance so you get these updates as they are released – if not we recommend you on your license to get the latest updates and ensure compatibility with the often fast-paced releases.

Starting with version 5.20 we introduced a new feature so you can set the scale (minimum, maximum and units) for a variable that will then be used, where possible, to set the scaling for chart axes. Normally Analyse-it will choose excellent axis scaling, but sometimes you know better and want a specific minimum, maximum, or units. Previously you would have to set the scale manually on the charts output from the analysis, and any changes would be lost on recalculate. Now you can control the scaling, see

We are delighted to announce the addition of the Analyse-it Quality Control and Improvement Edition to the range of Analyse-it products.

The new edition includes the most impressive statistical process control (SPC) charts available in any Excel statistical software package, including Shewhart, Levey-Jennings, CUSUM, and EWMA charts. Process capability statistics and plots help you ensure a process is able to meet specifications. And Pareto plots help you identify the quality-related problems that need the most attention and let you monitor efforts to reduce them.

Screenshot: Xbar-R chart of a quality characteristic by phase with stratification.

Screenshot: Process capability plots by phase.

Screenshot: Pareto plot of failures with stratification and sorted by key plot.

The new release is currently available for pre-release beta testing. Anyone can download and test the new release, though you will need an active internet connection to use it as we monitor usage and reliability of the pre-release.

Today we released version 3.80 of the Analyse-it Standard edition.

The new release includes Principal Component Analysis (PCA), an extension to the multivariate analysis already available in Analyse-it. It also includes probably the most advanced implementation of biplots available in any commercial package.

New features include:

The tutorial walks you through a guided example looking at how to use correlation and principal component analysis to discover the underlying relationships in data about New York Neighbourhoods. It demonstrates the amazing new features and helps you understand how to use them. You can either follow the tutorial yourself, at your own pace, or .

If you have you can download and install the update now, see . If maintenance on your licence has expired you can renew it to get this update and forthcoming updates, see .

Probably the greatest concern when using statistical software is reliability. Is the software producing accurate, numerically correct results that have been validated?

It’s a very important question. Many of you work in FDA and regulated environments where the penalties for mistakes are very high. And those of you outside such environments are still making important business and research decisions using Analyse-it. It’s therefore imperative that the software you depend upon is developed to a professional standard, thoroughly tested and validated.

Today we are publishing details of the software development and validation process we use at Analyse-it, see:

For those of you working in regulated environments the document is essential to justify the use of off-the-shelf, third-party software.

For everyone else it explains exactly how Analyse-it is developed, tested and validated. You can use it as a checklist against which to judge the quality of alternatives. But be wary. Professional software development is complex and developing numerical software more so. We have over 25-years software development experience (each developer, not aggregate), and over 20-years developing statistical software.

Today we released the Analyse-it Method Validation edition version 3.5. The software is feature complete, validated, and includes documentation. It supports Excel 2007, Excel 2010 (32- and 64-bit) and Excel 2013 (32- and 64-bit).

We took this opportunity to rename the product from the Analyse-it Method Evaluation edition to the Method Validation edition. The product is the same, but the new name better reflects the intended purpose of the product.

New features include:

Method Comparison

Precision

Linearity

Reference interval

Diagnostic performance / ROC

Binary diagnostic tests

For more information about the new version, and to download a free 30-day trial, see:

Pricing for the Analyse-it Method Validation edition starts at US$ 699 for a 1-user perpetual licence. If you already have a licence you may qualify for a free upgrade, if you have active maintenance, otherwise you can extend maintenance to get the upgrade (and all updates for 1- or 3-years) free of charge. To see if you qualify for a free upgrade, otherwise get a quote to extend maintenance, see:

Today we released the first public beta test version of the Analyse-it Method Evaluation edition, version 3.5. The software is feature complete and is validated – it is now only missing documentation.

We invite everyone to download the beta and try the new version of the software before it is finally released in September. You will need Excel 2007, 2010, or 2013 (32-bit and 64-bit versions are supported) and it can be installed and used alongside older versions of Analyse-it so it won't interrupt your day-to-day work.

To download the beta version:

To activate the software use the product key:

The software will be publically released at the end of September 2013.

If you purchased a licence in the last 12 months, the 12 months of maintenance included means you will qualify for a free upgrade to the new version.

If you are outside the 12 month free upgrade period you can purchase 12 months of maintenance, to get the upgrade (and all updates in the following year), for 20% of the cost of your licence. For example, if you have a 1-user licence then the upgrade will cost 20% of the cost of a 1-user licence. Similarly if you have a 3-user licence the upgrade cost would be 20% of the cost of a 3-user licence.

Today we released the 3^rd alpha release of the Analyse-it Method Evaluation Edition 3.5. Alpha releases are versions of the software that are still in active development, but are released to small group of customers so we can identify and fix any problems before the public beta release.

This release now completes the package with method comparison, which includes Deming regression, Passing-Bablok regression, and Bland-Altman difference plots. Linearity, precision analysis, diagnostic performance (ROC analysis and binary test performance) and reference intervals were already included in earlier alpha releases.

If you would like to take part in this and subsequent test phases reply to this post or . The test releases will run alongside any existing version of Analyse-it, so your day-to-day work won't be interrupted or affected. And those who help during testing will receive a discount on the upgrade (a free upgrade for those who contribute the most) when the product is released later this year.

Today we released the 2^nd alpha of the Analyse-it Method Evaluation Edition 3.5.

Alpha releases are pre-release versions of the software that are still in active development. We release them to a small group of customers so we can get feedback and quickly identify and fix any problems before the public beta release. If you want to take part in the test phase reply or comment on to this post or . You can use pre-release versions of Analyse-it alongside your existing version of Analyse-it, so it won't disrupt your work. And, if you help during in the test phases you will get a discount on the upgrade (a free upgrade for those who contribute the most) when the product is released later this year.

This latest alpha release includes linearity and precision analysis, plus diagnostic test performance (ROC analysis and binary test performance) and reference intervals from the 1^st alpha.

Some of the new features included so far are:

Precision

We are now starting to release test previews of a major update to the Analyse-it Method Evaluation edition. The new release will include many new features (we'll reveal more in the coming weeks) and will support 32- and 64-bit versions of Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013.

During the initial test phases we release development versions of the application to a small group of customers to ensure it installs and runs as expected on a wide range of PCs and configurations. The official beta test phase stage then follows where more customers are invited to download and use the software, while we iron-out the final few bugs before the official release. The official release is planned for summer 2013.

If you want to take part in the test phase, reply to this post or and let us know what aspects of Analyse-it you use:

Analytical Linearity, Precision, Accuracy, Diagnostic performance (ROC, binary test performance), Reference ranges, Agreement (Bland-Altman).

What is a sample quantile or percentile? Take the 0.25 quantile (also known as the 25^th percentile, or 1^st quartile) -- it defines the value (let’s call it x) for a random variable, such that the probability that a random observation of the variable is less than x is 0.25 (25% chance).

A simple question, with a simple definition? The problem is calculating quantiles. The formulas are simple enough, but a take a quick look on Wikipedia and you’ll see there are at least 9 alternative methods . Consequently, statistical packages use different formulas to calculate quantiles. And we're sometimes asked why the quantiles calculated by Analyse-it sometimes don’t agree with Excel, SAS, or R.

Excel uses formula R-7 (in the Wikipedia article) to calculate the QUARTILE and PERCENTILE functions. Excel 2010 introduced two new functions that use slightly different formulas, with different denominators: PERCENTILE.INC and PERCENTILE.EXC.

SAS, R and some other packages let you choose which formula is used to calculate the quantiles. While this provides some flexibility, as it lets you reproduce statistics calculated using another package, the options can be confusing. Most non-statisticians don’t know when to use one method over another. When would you use the "Linear interpolation of the empirical distribution function" versus the "Linear interpolation of the modes for the order statistics for the uniform distribution on [0,1]" method?

Today we pushed the release candidate of the Analyse-it Standard Edition v3.0 for Microsoft Excel 2007 & 2010, our statistical analysis software for Microsoft Excel.

The release candidate is feature complete and is intended to be the final, almost public release of the software.

The software is now validated against our library of thousands of tests to ensure the statistics and plots are accurate and correct. You can now use the software in your day to day work and, like previous versions, it can be used alongside your current version of Analyse-it until you become more comfortable with it.

The release candidate also includes a user-guide and five tutorials to guide you through using the software by example. We recommend you complete the tutorials first as they help you quickly understand how to use Analyse-it 3.0 and demonstrate many of the types of statistical analysis included. The send feedback feature is available from the help toolbar so you can easily send your suggestions on how we can improve the help.

We’re pleased to release the final beta of the Analyse-it Standard Edition, v3.0. The beta is now publicly open to anyone as we iron out any final issues and conduct final testing before release.

To download the beta, please visit:

Screenshot: Analyse-it fit model analysis includes an influence plot to identify points with a substantial effect on the fitted model.

Many of you have asked what statistical tests and plots are included in the new release. The full specification is shown below. In coming weeks we'll announce pricing, upgrade pricing, and award free licences to the beta testers who contributed most time and effort.

Descriptive statistics

Mean, Median, Variance, SD, Skewness, Kurtosis

Quantiles / Percentiles

Frequency distribution table

Contingency table

Correlation coefficients – r, rs, tau

Plots

Histogram

Frequency plot

Dot plot

Box plot

Mean error bar plot

Today we released the first public beta of Analyse-it Standard Edition, v3.0.

Maybe we're biased, but it is an amazing product! It's been a heck of a lot of work, but the range of statistical tests and plots in Analyse-it v3 rival what the expensive, established statistical packages provide. In fact, in many cases we’ve surpassed what they offer. And the statistical plots go beyond what's available in any other Excel add-in.

The beta-test programme is open to everyone. Even if you don't currently use Analyse-it you are welcome to join. If you do use Analyse-it the beta will run alongside any existing version, so your day-to-day work won't be interrupted or affected.

To join, drop an e-mail to and . We will then send you a link with instructions on how to download, install and start using the software. As a reward for your time, all Google+ beta-test followers will get a discount on the upgrade when Analyse-it v3.0 is launched.

In the coming weeks we will reveal more about Analyse-it v3.0, including upgrade and new licence pricing. If you are currently considering whether to buy a licence for Analyse-it v2.0, don’t hesitate – you’ll get the upgrade to version 3.0 free of charge and avoid the price increase.

If you follow us on  you will have seen that we released a new version of the Analyse-it Standard Edition, v3.0, to testing this week.

During the initial test phases we release development versions of the application to a small group of customers to ensure it installs and runs as expected on a wide range of PCs and configurations. The official beta test phase stage then follows where more customers are invited to download and use the software, while we iron-out the final few bugs before the official release. The official release is planned for early 2012.

Screenshot: Analyse-it v3 scatter matrix with histograms and density ellipses

In coming months we’ll reveal more about the many new features, statistics & plots in Analyse-it Standard Edition 3 (see image above). Pricing and upgrade costs will also be announced, though many, including anyone buying a licence today, will receive the upgrade free.

To join, get involved, and start testing early releases of Analyse-it 3 e-mail . The only commitment is you need to use the application for a few hours over the coming weeks and will need either Excel 2007 or Excel 2010 (on any version of Windows). You can use the test version alongside your current Analyse-it so it will not disrupt your day-to-day work.

In May this year, we surveyed users of the Analyse-it Method Evaluation edition to gain insight into how we can improve Analyse-it in future. Thank you to all those who responded.

In the responses, one issue became clear: the unfiled reports feature causes confusion.

When you run an analysis, Analyse-it creates a new worksheet containing the statistics and charts for that analysis (what we call a report). Analyse-it places the report in a temporary workbook called . From there you can then decide what you want to do with the analysis: keep it, print it, e-mail it, or discard it. If you want to keep it you click the  (see below), and Analyse-it moves the report into the same workbook as your dataset.

You might wonder where the idea of unfiled reports originated. It was actually a carry-over from , the predecessor to Analyse-it. We implemented the same feature in Analyse-it without really questioning it. We thought the feature would be useful to help you manage reports, plus most Astute users upgrading would expect it.

Many Analyse-it users readily admit their statistics knowledge is a little rusty, usually because it’s 10 years or more since their last statistics course. Should I use the t-test, Mann-Whitney, or Wilcoxon test? The names of the tests aren’t exactly helpful, nor do they give you any clue of the assumptions that must be met to use the test.

That’s why we devised the .

It’s a simple interactive wizard that asks what you want to do, what data you’ve observed, checks which pre-test assumptions can be met, then tells you the best statistical test to use. Using the advisor you can be confident you’re using the correct statistical test -- or even use it to check if your statistics knowledge really is as rusty as you think!

Try it for yourself now:

Bear in mind this is only a simple prototype at the moment. Eventually the advisor will integrate into Analyse-it, leading you to help and tutorials showing you how to use the recommended test and interpret the statistics. You’ll also notice the advisor recommends tests that will be new to Analyse-it 3.