Managing information overload

Spreadsheets: Although you can use a spreadsheet to set up tables of just textual information, its real usefulness lies in its ability to calculate formulas - and recalculate them automatically when values change. Spreadsheets are great for budgets, financial statements and other tasks that require calculations.
Data mining tools: Data mining is the process of sorting through large amounts of data and picking out relevant information. It is usually used by business intelligence organizations, and financial analysts, but is increasingly being used in the sciences to extract information from the enormous data sets generated by modern experimental and observational methods.
Simulation software: Simulation software is based on the process of imitating a real phenomenon with a set of mathematical formulas. It is, essentially, a program that allows the user to observe an operation through simulation without actually running the program. Simulation software is used widely to design equipment so that the final product will be as close to design specs as possible without expensive in process modification.
Exception reporting tools: A computer-implemented technique that allows a per element mixture of “concrete” XML elements and “virtual” XML elements that are generated dynamically from external data sources. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2006/0248092.html