BI Products-Comparison.xlsx
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Transcript of BI Products-Comparison.xlsx
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BI TOOLS - COMPARISON MATRIX
Evaluation Criteria Criteria Explanation
Data Access
Data Sources
Business Encapsulation
Metadata Layer
Report Development
Authoring Tool
How versatile is the product in terms of capability to connect to wide array of relational data sources like SQL Server, Oracle, MS-Access, DB2 on z/OS? How is the support for connecting to unstructured data sources like flat files? The ability to source data from multiple data sources from a single web document.
The creation of business or schematic layer which will encapsulate the Business users from understanding the technical naming and SQL knowledge.
Does the tool support a common metadata layer? Does the tool has capability to retrieve information about the usage of reports (who is using, When it is being used and how often)?
How versatile is the report authoring tool? Does the vendor provide both Desktop based and Web based authoring environment?
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SQL Query generation Can the auto-generated SQLs be modified?
Report Metadata
Dashboard Designer How feature rich is the tool's dashboard designer?
Excel Features
Design Complexity
Code Reusability
Does the tool support addition of report metadata inside the report? One scenario can be showing tool-tips for every column inside the report to make it more intuitive.
Does the tool provide features to embed Excel formulae, charts, groups in the report? Does the tool support creating multi-tab Excel worksheets?
How good is the report designer's support for developing complex reports like reports having conditional sections, reports showing tabular and chart data in a single page and pixel-perfect reporting?
Ease of creation of templatized reports and style sheets. Creation of reusable components that can be utilized in multiple reports.
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SDK How extensive is the tool's SDK?
Ad-Hoc Reports
Custom Query
Ease of Adhoc Reporting
Integration
Open APIs
How good is the tool's support for runtime modification of SQL?
Ease at which the reports can be created on an Adhoc basis. How good is the tool's support for runtime selection of columns,grouping, ordering for a report?
How is the support for APIs which can be used by J2EE or .NET applications? Can the reports be embedded inside the enterprise applications without the need to access a common BI Portal?
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Portal Integration
Alerting
Security
Role based Security
Security Integration
Single Sign on (SSO) How easy is it to setup SSO with existing applications?
Report Dissemination
Report Distribution formats
Does the vendor provide Web services/APIs for easy portal integration?
Does the vendor support alerting to 3rd party Ticketing systems?
Will the tool support role based security of the users? The users of the tool should have access to the data they are authorized to view.
How well does the tool integrate with existing security framework such as LDAP/Active Directory? Does the vendor provide custom security framework?
How good is the vendor's support multiple report distribution formats such as DHTML,Word,Excel,PDF,Email,CSV,TSV?
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Report Scheduling
Report Bursting
OLAP
Cube Designer
Dynamic Analysis How is the support for dynamic analysis of cubes?
Performance Management
Offline Analysis
Does the tool support report scheduling features such as auto notification, auto print to server?
How is the tool's support for report bursting? With report bursting a single report template can generate multiple physical reports.
How good is the tool's cube designer in terms of sophistication?
How does the tool support the tracking of performance management matrices and KPI
How good is the tool's support for offline analysis of cubes?
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Administration
Centralized Repository How is the support for storing various report objects in a c
Monitoring
Fileserver Storage
Clustering
DR Does the tool support hot/online backup of various report objects?
Mobility
Does the tool support monitoring? This includes job monitoring and disk quota monitoring
Does the tool support storing report objects at a location other than its repository?
How extensive is the tool's server clustering capability? Does the tool support failover mechanisms?
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Will the tool support mobile access for reports, dashboards / analysis on Android & iOS Devices?
Are any add on solutios available to extend reports, dashboards / analysis to Android & iOS Devices?
Can existing code be resued/ redevelopment of reports and dashboards is required?
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Jaspersoft
PROS CONS
Jaspersoft can connect to most of Data Sources including relational databases, XML, Flat files,… It also supports sourcing of data from more than one data source at the same time.
Jaspersoft's Domain encapsulates the technical aspects of Databases from the report users.
Jaspersoft's provides the metadata Layer for Adhoc reportimg in the form of Domain
Jaspersoft provides iReport Designer as a desktop tool for standard report development and has capabilities like charts, crosstabs,pagination, grouping, etc.
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Jaspersoft does not support this feature
Custom SQLs/Stored Procedures can be used to directly query the database
Jaspersoft provides Web-based DashBoard Designer for creating Dashboard.
Jaspersoft has capability to export reports to Excel spreadsheets
Jaspersoft provides iReport Designer for standard report designing.However Complex reporting can be achived through java API's
Jaspersoft doesn't provide library for reusing components,but provides with template creation.
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Jaspersoft provides extensive APIs for Java environment.
Jaspersoft doesn’t provide support for run time modification of SQL.How ever it provides runtime modification for MDX queries for Jasper Analysis
Jaspersoft provides excellent support for these features.
Jaspersoft supports this feature to some extent
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No
No, Jasper does not have such facility
Jaspersoft supports these formats.
No, Jasper doesn't provide any webserives however with JAVA integration it's possible
Jaspersoft supports user and role based security
With JAVA integration it's very easy to set up SSO
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No, report busting not supported
Jasper doesn’t provides this feature
Jaspersoft supports report scheduling and notification feature.
For Desiging Analysis Cubes jasper provides schema workbench
Japer provides Jasper Analysis for data analysis
Cube can be exported to excel format for analysis
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Jaspersoft does not support this feature
Jaspersoft does not support this feature
Does the tool support hot/online backup of various report objects? Jaspersoft does not support this feature
jaspersoft provides reporting repository on the jasper server for storing jasper reports
Jasper provides job monitroing but doesn’t provide disk quota monitoring
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yes we can use
Jasper Supports mobile access for devices with help of iJasperMovile software which is specially designed for jasper mobility
No, only iJasperMobile software needs to be installed
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Business Objects
PROS CONS
Business Objects can connect most of Data Sources including relational databases, ERP products, XML, Flat files,… It also supports sourcing of data from more than one data source at the same time.
Business Objects Universe encapsulates the technical aspects of Databases from the report users.
BO is integrated set of tools, not a unified architecture. XI Release 3 consists of multiple overlapping tools (with different interfaces and user paradigms); multiple different code bases, multiple separate metadatas and repositories. This multiplicity results in redundant setup and administration tasks.
Business Objects provides versatile tools in terms of standard report development capabilities like charts, crosstabs,pagination, grouping, etc.
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BO doesn't support this feature
BO has the capability to run custom SQL queries.
BusinessObjects XI provides general DashBoard manager and Crystal Xcelsius for Dashboards and Scorecard capabilities.
BO has capability to export reports to Excel spreadsheets
BO XI supports complex design of reports, including sourcing data from more than one database or applications. The BO reports can combine text with graphics and images.
BO supports the creation of report templates (Style Sheets) which can be reused in other reports.
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BO supports this functionality
Business Objects provides extensive APIs for .Net and Java environment.
Business Objects provides excellent support for these features.
BusinessObjects XI provides a Web services API (Web services consumer and producer and provides samples for XBRL and RDL) and supports XML report Web services.
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BusinessObjects XI includes an out-of-the-box portal (Info View) that lets users manage content and offers integrated searching, discussion threads, and personalization capabilities within a single user interface. Info View is available for both Java and .NET platforms, and the solution provides portal integration kits for Java (including BEA, IBM, Oracle, and SAP) and .NET (Share Point). The portal integration kits are based on the Java portal standards JSR-168 and Microsoft Share Point Web
BO has very limited capability involving the integration of 3rd party Ticketing systems.
Role based security can be easily set up using Business objects, the securities can be set up at object level and folder level. At the Universe level the data level security can be set up to restrict access to unauthorized data
BO tightly integrates with securoty frameworks of AD, LDAP, NT. It also has its own enterprise security model which can set up as peer requirements
Single Sign On is a pretty simple proceudre to be set up with Business Objects
Business Objects supports these formats.
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BusinessObjects XI supports report scheduling based on date/time and events.
BO supports this functionality. Additionally, BusinessObjects Enterprise XI ships with portfolio — an out-of-the-box solution for mobile users. Business Objects allows delivery of new or existing report components to wireless devices, including WML phones and RIM Blackberry and Compaq iPAQ devices.
BusinessObjects XI components can access DB2 OLAP Server, Hyperion Essbase, Microsoft Analysis Services, and SAP BW using the native connectivity and query language ODBO via MDX. BusinessObjects XI can also access Oracle's multidimensional cubes (Analytic Workspaces) via SQL.
Business Objects predictive analysis module embeds a data mining engine from KXEN (Knowledge Extraction Engines), which allows developers to define and schedule statistical calculations based on models, discover/profile influencers of key outcome metrics, compare influencer profiles for multiple goals, and integrate with data mining tools through PMML.
BO has a Performance Management Module.
Using Business Objects Voyager this feature can be achieved
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BO does not support this feature
BusinessObjects XI contains a reporting repository called the central management store, which is accessible from within Crystal Reports XI.
Business Objects Schedule Manager and other tools can be used to moniotr the report jobs
The report objects such as .wid, .unv, .rpt files can be stored at any locations provided later the objects are stored pinting to the same metadata
BusinessObjects XI supports load balancing, pooling, clustering, and caching of data with benchmark results that reflect near linear scalability
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Mobile portability feature is available
None
The existing code can be used to develop the reports / dashboards for mobile no redevelopment is required
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Cognos
PROS CONS
Cognos can connect to the industry standard relational data sources as well as XML files
Cognos supports this with the help of Framework Manager
Cognos stores metadata information in a relational database.
Metrics Studio has its own metadata layer and modeling tool
Cognos provides Report Studio for report development. It is a web based tool. It is versatile in terms of standard report development capabilities like charts, crosstabs,pagination, grouping, etc.
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Cognos does not support annotations
Custom SQL queries can be used in Cognos instead of the Auto-generated SQL
Reports can be embedded inside a Cognos Connection page to provide a dashboard-like environment, supporting drill down features. Dashboards can be designed through the Analysis Studio.
This functionality is provided with Go! Office option
This is a paid option.Macros cannot be embedded inside the report design. However the macros can be added in the final XLS output
Cognos support designing fairly complex reports with Report Studio
Report Studio being web based tool, it is difficult to create pixel-perfect reports
Cognos supports report Templates which can be reused in other reports.
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Cognos provides extensive APIs for .Net and Java environment.
Cognos does not provide a programming environment inside the reports for having fine control over the report design
Cognos provides excellent support for these features
Cognos provides excellent support for these features
Cognos supports WSDL. It provides APIs for handling SOAP messages which the .Net and J2EE applications can use to embed reports
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Cognos does not support this feature
Cognos supports LDAP integration.
Cognos has SSO combatability
Cognos supports these formats Excel files that are generated are huge.
Cognos provides extensive support for Web Services
Cognos supports user and role based security
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Cognos supports these features
Cognos supports these features
Need to be Purchased Seperatly.
Cognos supports complex cube hierarchies with its Analysis Studio
Analysis studio can be used for analytical purposes
Cognos separates analytics and reporting tasks.
Cognos has a Budgeting and Planning Module
Cognos has good support for offline/disconnected analysis
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Actuate supports clustering and failover
Cognos provides content store for storing various report objects. The content store can be located in standard RDBMS
Cognos Connection provides some of this functionality. Cognos comes with built in audit reports
This can be done with configuration changes on Cognos Server or with the help of SDK
Report objects are stored inside standard RDBMS. Most modern RDBMses support hot backup
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Micosoft
PROS CONS
No common metadata layer
All components can connect to wide array of RDBMS data sources, including IBM, Oracle, SAP, Teradata. SSIS can pull data from non relational sources like flat files etc. SSRS can use XML Web services as data source. Apart from these, Microsoft SharePoint List, Microsoft SQL Azure, and Microsoft SQL Server ParallelData Warehouse, PowerPivot workbook, BI Semantic Model have also been added.
Microsoft Analysis & Reporting Services have a schematic layer which encapsulates technical aspects of the data sources.
Analysis Services creates a metadata layer on top of data sources.
Microsoft's business intelligence suite provides multiple report authoring tools like Report Designer for canned reports (SSRS), Report Builder using Semantic model layer which provides adhoc report development and anaysis capabilities to users, new tool named PowerView has been introduced in SQL Server 2012 which is a browser-basedSilverlight application, works with BI Semantic model (Tabular models) and provides adhoc reporting with various data visualizations. Apart from these users can use Microsoft office tools like Excel, Excel Services, Powerpivot for Excel.
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Microsoft will not support tool tips
Microsoft fully supports this functionality. Can generate query from Query Builder.
Microsoft provides Performance Point as the Dashboard Reporting tool and it is now integrated with Sharepoint to take advantage of sharepoint hosting and security capabilities. Performance Point supports extensive dashboarding capabilities with various types of charts.
PowerPivot empowers users of all levels to access and mashup data from virtually any source. Users can create their own compelling reports and analytical applications, easily share insights, and collaborate through Microsoft Excel 2010 and SharePoint 2010.
Microsoft BI offers general support as Reporting Services uses a WYSIWYG metaphor for report design. Text, graphics, and data can be laid out in any fashion, and graphics can be placed within groups.
SSRS supports templates and creation of reusable components like shared datasets, report parts can be published and be used by other reports.
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All MSBI development is integrated with Visual Studio which is a robust development environment with capabilities for source control, defect logging, build automation etc.
Microsoft support the runtime modification of SQL queries.
PowerView has been introduced in SQL Server 2012 which is a browser-basedSilverlight application, works with BI Semantic model (Tabular models) and provides adhoc reporting with various data visualizations. Apart from these users can use Microsoft office tools like Excel, Excel Services, Powerpivot for Excel for adhoc reporting. Powerpivot for excel supports connecting to almost any data source, pull data from the data source and provides adhoc analysis capabilities. The same functionality is now available in Powerview with enhances visualization capabilities.
Reporting Services provides a web service based web methods for creating, modifying, deleting and rendering SSRS reports from Report Server. The reports can be rendered in any application using the web methods and SSRS Report viewer control.
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Its support SSO very well.
Microsoft BI solutions are supported through SharePoint for portal integration. SSRS does provies web services which can be used to render reports.
Reporting Services can also integrate with SQL Server Notification Services for delivery of data alerts.
Difficult to trigger third party applications
Microsoft BI strongly supports the Role based Security Model. It controls access to reports, folders, and other items that are managed by Microsoft BI. SSAS Cubes also support role based security.
Microsoft BI have its own security framework which supports LDAP/Active directory. SSRS also supports security extensions where custom security mechanisms can be integrated with SSRS.
Microsoft Reporting Services supports most of the report distribution formats like HTML, DHTML, OWC, Excel, PDF, TIF, CSV, XML, and GIF. It now supports Doc files too
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Reporting Services supports on-demand (pull) delivery and scheduled or event-based (push) delivery. Report subscribers can receive reports automatically through multiple delivery channels, including email or stored on a file share when a report's data is refreshed or on a specified schedule.
Microsoft Reporting Services supports data-driven subscriptions, the ability to drive a parameterized report to multiple delivery targets.
SQL Server provides strong OLAP services via its native OLAP engine in SQL Server Analysis Services, which enables customers to model their data based on a dimensional model ( either MOLAP or ROLAP structures). With SQL Server 2012, Analysis Services also supports creation of cubes with 3NF relational data (Tabular models). It uses the xVelocity (formerly named Vertipaq) engine to create these models.
Microsoft provides multiple tools for adhoc analysis of data like PowerView, Powerpivot for Excel, Excel where users can create their own reports and also publish them to share with others.
Analysis Services has capabilities to define KPIs in cubes which can be shown in dashboards for Performance management
Microsoft supports offline analysis of cubes
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SSRS Report Server provides capability for hosting reports and related objects. The Report Server used a SQL Server database to store the reports, related objects and security details. Apart from these it also stores enterprise reporting repository is included within SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services where all the reporting objects can be stored
SQL Server Business Intelligence is managed through a single, integrated console called SQL Server Management Studio. Full monitoring of SQL Server is enabled through Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM).
Microsoft reporting objects can be stored in a secured place other than the native repository
Microsoft Support cluster failover through Microsoft cluster services (MSCS)
The Visual Studio Design/Development platform for all BI applications can support both online/offline back up
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Browser-based mobile access to your corporate BI content is provided through Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. Users can navigate existing reports, dashboards, scorecards, and analytical applications across iOS, Android, and Windows devices. Microsoft will be delivering touch-based data exploration and visualization capabilities in a browser on iOS, Android and Microsoft platforms in the second half of 2012.
Not at this moment. But Microsoft will be delivering touch-based data exploration and visualization capabilities in a browser on iOS, Android and Microsoft platforms in the second half of 2012.
Existing reports can be used. No redevelopment is required.
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MicroStrategy
PROS CONS
N/A
Microstrategy supports majority of databases, datawarehouse appliances on the market and even non-structured data sources viz. Big Data,Hadoop etc. It also has connectivity to social media web viz. Facebook. MicroStrategy can connect to MS Excel as a data source, however flat files support is not present
The objects visible to the users can be named in more user-friendly and simple language. These naming conventions are independent of the SQL generated by MicroStrategy. So what is displayed on the front end may be completely different from technical jargon below it.
All Report components (objects), reports and Dashboards within a project are stored in a common Metadata repository.Apart from this, user configuration,database configurations,project configurations,database login details etc are stored within the metadata. The Metadata is highly encrypted and it is difficult to de-crypt.
MicroStrategy provides both Web-based and Desktop based report authoring tools. Web-Authoring tool requires Web-professional license while desktop authoring requires desktop developer license
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Auto-generated SQLs can be modified using VLDB settings and/or adjusting relationships between attributes and Fact tables. Free-form SQL reports allow developers to user user generated SQL into their reports
MicroStrategy Dashboards and reports supports tool tip on the selected column. So a mouse-over a particular field or graph displays a tool-tip
MicroStrategy Dynamic dashboards is one of the leading product in the dashboard Market.With the use of variety of dashboard widgets, the dashboards can be made more interactive and user friendly. Availability of driving from one graph to another adds to better user experience.
MicroStrategy Office allows users to write their own formulaes within blank cell/columns of an excell sheet, so when the report is populated when refreshed, these formulaes are automatically applied.MicroStrategy Office can be integrated with MS Excel, MS Word, MS Outlook and MS PowerPoint.MicroStrategy Does support multi-tab Excel WorkSheets
Complex reports can be implemented in MicroStrategy with ease. In order to display large amount of data on a single screen, MicroStrategy provides Panel Stacks and selectors to see data in different perspective.
All objects in MicroStrategy once created can be re-used in other reports/dashboards in MicroStrategy. Attributes, Facts, Metrics, Filters, Prompts, reports and report templates, dashboard and dashboard templates can be reused in any number of reports and dashboards
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MicroStrategy provides SDK for1. to change the look and feel of the product within Web browser This option is available in both JAVA and .NET environment. There are a set of APIs available to intergrate with third party portals viz. Sharepoint etc.2. to add user defined calculations/functions within intelligence server This feature allows users to write thier own custom defined functions in C++, and generate the object code. This object code can be imported into Intelligence server and used for user consumption.
Microstrategy provides support for these features using objects like filters,prompts particularly at runtime.View filter allows user to filter the data generated in a report on the fly.
Report builder reports and self service reporting in microstrategy allows users to generate their own reports without dependancy on IT developers. This is a prowerful tool available on Web as well as through desktop
Microstrategy supports WSDL. It provides rich set of APIs for which the .Net and J2EE applications can use to embed reports
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MicroStrategy Web-Services can be integrated into portals using the Portal Integration Kit, which provides generic portlets that can be used with commercial portals like Oracle, IBM WebSphere Portal, Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server, and mySAP Enterprise Portals.
MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server is the alerting and batch report delivery service for scheduling. Schedules can be alert- or event-driven. Information can be sent to email, mobile devices, fax, print, and file servers
MicroStrategy does not support alerting to 3rd party applications
Security filters restrict data to a selected group of users. Users can also be refrained from accessing certains folders and objects(attributes,facts,metrics,reports, dashboards etc) within microstrategy
MicroStrategy provide LDAP integration. Users and their groups can be imported into MicroStrategy and appropriate security privileges can be applied at group level
If microstrategy is integrated with external LDAP server, than the transition from other servers to MicroStrategy is seamless. This allows users to login once and access any portal available within the organization.SSO is supported by MicroStrategy
Microstrategy supports all these formats. It also supports Flash (.mht) format export, delivery to mobile devices viz IPAD,Iphone,BlackBerry and Andriod smartphones
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MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server is the alerting and batch report delivery service for scheduling. Schedules can be alert- or event-driven. Information can be sent to email, mobile devices, fax, print, and file servers.With MicroStrategy 9i onwards, Distribution services can perform almost all tasks performed by narrowcast server, so there is no need for additional NarrowCast Server license
A MicroStrategy report is run once and automatically sliced or personalized to the view of an end user based on security profile and preferences Personalized reporting in narrowcast also allows part of the report to be sent to a user group while another to a different user group
Cube designing in MicroStrategy is like designing a grid report without any prompts. Once the design is completed and tested, the grid can be published as a cube for user consumption.This is very simple and sophosticated
MicroStrategy technology lets users perform "speed-of-thought" report analysis and manipulate reports on-the-fly
This featurs is supported in microstrategy
MicroStrategy dashboards can be exported as Flash files and excell for users to perform analysis offline.
Complete offline analysis, wherein user modifies the data offline and loads it back to database is not available in microstrategy
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MicroStrategy metadata is centralized repository of all microstrategy objects. This is loaded and unloaded from system RAM whenever the I-server startup or shuts down.
MicroStrategy Administrator provides a set of tools to monitor, manage, and automate the BI Infrastructure, including Enterprise Manager to monitor system usage, Object Manager to manage disparate and distributed environments for change management, versioning, and internationalization, and Command Manager to automate administration functions. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server also supports proprietary clustering algorithms, load balancing and hot failover, automatic self-tuning, parallel pipeline query execution, archiving, and scheduling.
Output of a report can be delivered to another file location using distribution services.
Report objects cannot be stored anywhere outside microstrategy. They can be migrated to other server using object manager,project move wizard,project duplication and metadata copy
MicroStrategy support powerfull clustering mechanism between 2 or more I-servers using same Metadata repository. Failover mechanism is seamless. So in case of a failure runing jobs are automatically transferred to active servers within a cluster
Repository is stored in the database. So if that database supports hot/online backup, than it is supported by MicroStrategy
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MicroStrategy support mobile access of reports,dashboards,documents over Apple iOS devices viz IPAD,Iphone, RIM BlackBerry devices and almost all Andriod smart phones
MicroStrategy SDK can be deployed for changing the look and feel of reports/dashboards on mobile devices.
No Re-development of report is required to port them to any of the mobile devices. The dashboard that is visible in web is also visible in the mobile device
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Jaspersoft - EVALUATION MATRIXExplanation
Evaluation Criteria Criteria Explanation Pros Cons
Overall Score
Data Access
Data Sources
Business Encapsulation
Metadata Layer Does the tool support a common metadata layer?
Report Development
Authoring Tool
SQL Query generation Can the auto-generated SQLs be modified?
Report Metadata Jaspersoft does not support this feature
Dashboard Designer How feature rich is the tool's dashboard designer?
Excel Features
Design Complexity
Code Reuseability
SDK How extensive is the tool's SDK?
Ad-Hoc Reports
Custom Query
Ease of Adhoc Reporting
Integration
Open APIs
Portal Integration
Alerting No
Security
Role based Security
Security Integration No, Jasper does not have such facility
Single Sign on (SSO) How easy is it to setup SSO with existing applications?
Report Dissemination
Report Distribution formats Jaspersoft supports these formats.
Report Scheduling
Report Bursting No, report busting not supported
OLAP
Cube Designer
Dynamic Analysis How is the support for dynamic analysis of a report output?
Performance Management Jasper doesn’t provides this feature
Offline Analysis How good is the tool's support for offline analysis of cubes?
Administration
Centralized Repository
Monitoring
Fileserver Storage Jaspersoft does not support this feature
Clustering & Scalability Jaspersoft does not support this feature
DR Jaspersoft does not support this feature
Mobility
yes we can use
How versatile is the product in terms of capability to connect to wide array of relational data sources like SQL Server, Oracle, MS-Access, DB2 on z/OS? How is the support for connecting to unstructured data sources like flat files? The ability to source
Jaspersoft can connect to most of Data Sources including relational databases, XML, Flat files,… It also supports sourcing of data from more than one data source at the same time.
The creation of business or schematic layer which will encapsulate the Business users from understanding the technical naming or SQL knowledge.
Jaspersoft's Domain encapsulates the technical aspects of Databases from the report users.
Jaspersoft's provides the metadata Layer for Adhoc reportimg in the form of Domain
How versatile is the report authoring tool? Does the vendor provide both Desktop based and Web based authoring environment?
Jaspersoft provides iReport Designer as a desktop tool for standard report development and has capabilities like charts, crosstabs,pagination, grouping, etc.
Custom SQLs/Stored Procedures can be used to directly query the database
Does the tool support addition of report metadata inside the report? One scenario can be showing tool-tips for every column inside the report to make it more intuitive.
Jaspersoft provides Web-based DashBoard Designer for creating Dashboard.
Does the tool provide features to embed Excel formulae, charts, groups in the report? Does the tool support creating multi-tab Excel worksheets?
Jaspersoft has capability to export reports to Excel spreadsheets
How good is the report designer's support for developing complex reports like reports having conditional sections, reports showing tabular and chart data in a single page and pixel-perfect reporting?
Jaspersoft provides iReport Designer for standard report designing.However Complex reporting can be achived through java API's
Ease of creation of templatized reports and style sheets. Creation of reuseable components that can be utilized in multiple reports.
Jaspersoft doesn't provide library for reusing components,but provides with template creation.
Jaspersoft provides extensive APIs for Java environment.
How good is the tool's support for runtime modification of SQL?
Jaspersoft doesn’t provide support for run time modification of SQL.How ever it provides runtime modification for MDX queries for Jasper Analysis
Ease at which the reports can be created on an Adhoc basis. How good is the tool's support for runtime selection of columns,grouping, ordering for a report?
Jaspersoft provides excellent support for these features.
How is the support for APIs which can be used by J2EE or .NET applications? Can the reports be embedded inside the enterprise applications without the need to access a common BI Portal?
Jaspersoft supports this feature to some extent
Does the vendor provide Web services/APIs for easy portal integration?
No, Jasper doesn't provide any webserives however with JAVA integration it's possible
Does the vendor support alerting to 3rd party Ticketing systems?
Will the tool support role based security of the users? The users of the tool should have access to the data they are authorized to view.
Jaspersoft supports user and role based security
How well does the tool integrate with existing security framework such as LDAP/Active Directory? Does the vendor provide custom security framework?
With JAVA integration it's very easy to set up SSO
How good is the vendor's support multiple report distribution formats such as DHTML,Word,Excel,PDF,Email,CSV,TSV?
Does the tool support report scheduling features such as auto notification, auto print to server?
Jaspersoft supports report scheduling and notification feature.
How is the tool's support for report bursting? With report bursting a single report template can generate multiple physical reports.
How good is the tool's cube designer in terms of sophistication?
For Desiging Analysis Cubes jasper provides schema workbench
Japer provides Jasper Analysis for data analysis
How does the tool support the tracking of performance management matrices and KPIs
Cube can be exported to excel format for analysis
How is the support for storing various report objects in a centralized repository?
jaspersoft provides reporting repository on the jasper server for storing jasper reports
Does the tool support monitoring? This includes job monitoring and disk quota monitoring
Jasper provides job monitroing but doesn’t provide disk quota monitoring
Does the tool support storing report objects at a location other than its repository?
How extesnsive is the tool's server clustering capability? Does the tool support failover mechanisms?
Does the tool support hot/online backup of various report objects?
Will the tool support mobile access for reports, dashboards / analysis on Android & iOS Devices?
Jasper Supports mobile access for devices with help of iJasperMovile software which is specially designed for jasper mobility
Are any add on solutios available to extend reports, dashboards / analysis to Android & iOS Devices?
No, only iJasperMobile software needs to be installed
Can existing code be resued/ redevelopment of reports and dashboards is required?
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Cognos (10) - EVALUATION MATRIXExplanation
Evaluation Criteria Criteria Explanation Pros Cons
Overall Score
Data Access
Data Sources
Business Encapsulation
Metadata Layer Does the tool support a common metadata layer?
Report Development
Authoring Tool
SQL Query generation Can the auto-generated SQLs be modified?
Report Metadata
Dashboard Designer How feature rich is the tool's dashboard designer?
Excel Features
Design Complexity
Code Reusability
SDK How extensive is the tool's SDK?
Ad-Hoc Reports
Custom Query
Ease of Adhoc Reporting
Integration
Open APIs
Portal Integration
Alerting
Security
Role based Security
Security Integration
Single Sign on (SSO) How easy is it to setup SSO with existing applications?
Report Dissemination
Report Distribution formats
Report Scheduling
Report Bursting
OLAP
Cube Designer
Dynamic Analysis
Performance Management Need to be Purchased Seperatly.
Offline Analysis
Administration
Centralized Repository
Monitoring
Fileserver Storage
Clustering & Scalability
DR
Mobility
How versatile is the product in terms of capability to connect to wide array of relational data sources like SQL Server, Oracle, MS-Access, DB2 on z/OS? How is the support for connecting to unstructured data sources like flat files?
Cognos can connect to the industry standard relational data sources as well as XML files
The creation of business or schematic layer which will encapsulate the Business users from understanding the technical naming or SQL knowledge.
Cognos supports this with the help of Framework Manager
Cognos stores metadata information in a relational database.
Metrics Studio has its own metadata layer and modeling tool
How versatile is the report authoring tool? Does the vendor provide both Desktop based and Web based authoring environment?
Cognos provides Report Studio for report development. It is a web based tool. It is versatile in terms of standard report development capabilities like charts, crosstabs,pagination, grouping, etc.
Custom SQL queries can be used in Cognos instead of the Auto-generated SQL
Does the tool support addition of report metadata inside the report? One scenario can be showing tool-tips for every column inside the report to make it more intuitive.
Cognos does not support annotations
Reports can be embedded inside a Cognos Connection page to provide a dashboard-like environment, supporting drill down features. Dashboards can be designed through the Analysis Studio.
Does the tool provide features to embed Excel formulae, charts, groups in the report? Does the tool support creating multi-tab Excel worksheets?
This functionality is provided with Go! Office option
This is a paid option.Macros cannot be embedded inside the report design. However the macros can be added in the final XLS output
How good is the report designer's support for developing complex reports like reports having conditional sections, reports showing tabular and chart data in a single page and pixel-perfect reporting?
Cognos support designing fairly complex reports with Report Studio
Report Studio being web based tool, it is difficult to create pixel-perfect reports
Ease of creation of templatized reports and style sheets. Creation of reusable components that can be utilized in multiple reports.
Cognos supports report Templates which can be reused in other reports.
Cognos provides extensive APIs for .Net and Java environment.
Cognos does not provide a programming environment inside the reports for having fine control over the report design
How good is the tool's support for runtime modification of SQL?
Cognos provides excellent support for these features
Ease at which the reports can be created on an Adhoc basis. How good is the tool's support for runtime selection of columns,grouping, ordering for a report?
Cognos provides excellent support for these features
How is the support for APIs which can be used by J2EE or .NET applications? Can the reports be embedded inside the enterprise applications without the need to access a common BI Portal?
Cognos supports WSDL. It provides APIs for handling SOAP messages which the .Net and J2EE applications can use to embed reports
Does the vendor provide Web services/APIs for easy portal integration?
Cognos provides extensive support for Web Services
Does the vendor support alerting to 3rd party Ticketing systems?
Cognos does not support this feature
Will the tool support role based security of the users? The users of the tool should have access to the data they are authorized to view.
Cognos supports user and role based security
How well does the tool integrate with existing security framework such as LDAP/Active Directory? Does the vendor provide custom security framework?
Cognos supports LDAP integration.
Cognos has SSO combatability
How good is the vendor's support multiple report distribution formats such as DHTML,Word,Excel,PDF,Email,CSV,TSV?
Cognos supports these formats
Excel files that are generated are huge.
Does the tool support report scheduling features such as auto notification, auto print to server?
Cognos supports these features
How is the tool's support for report bursting? With report bursting a single report template can generate multiple physical reports.
Cognos supports these features
How good is the tool's cube designer in terms of sophistication?
Cognos supports complex cube hierarchies with its Analysis Studio
How is the support for dynamic analysis of a report output?
Analysis studio can be used for analytical purposes
Cognos separates analytics and reporting tasks.
How does the tool support the tracking of performance management matrices and KPIs
Cognos has a Budgeting and Planning Module
How good is the tool's support for offline analysis of cubes?
Cognos has good support for offline/disconnected analysis
How is the support for storing various report objects in a centralized repository?
Cognos provides content store for storing various report objects. The content store can be located in standard RDBMS
Does the tool support monitoring? This includes job monitoring and disk quota monitoring
Cognos Connection provides some of this functionality. Cognos comes with built in audit reports
Does the tool support storing report objects at a location other than its repository?
This can be done with configuration changes on Cognos Server or with the help of SDK
How extensive is the tool's server clustering capability? Does the tool support failover mechanisms?
Actuate supports clustering and failover
Does the tool support hot/online backup of various report objects?
Report objects are stored inside standard RDBMS. Most modern RDBMses support hot backup
Will the tool support mobile access for reports, dashboards / analysis on Android & iOS Devices?
Are any add on solutios available to extend reports, dashboards / analysis to Android & iOS Devices?
Can existing code be resued/ redevelopment of reports and dashboards is required?
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Microsoft (2012) - EVALUATION MATRIX Explanation
Evaluation Criteria Criteria Explanation Pros Cons
Overall Score
Data Access
Data Sources
Business Encapsulation
Metadata Layer Does the tool support a common metadata layer?
Report Development
Authoring Tool
SQL Query generation Can the auto-generated SQLs be modified?
Report Metadata
Dashboard Designer How feature rich is the tool's dashboard designer?
Excel Features
Design Complexity
Code Reusability
SDK How extensive is the tool's SDK?
Ad-Hoc Reports
Custom Query
Ease of Adhoc Reporting
Integration
Open APIs
Portal Integration
Alerting
Security
Role based Security
Security Integration
Single Sign on (SSO) How easy is it to setup SSO with existing applications? Its support SSO very well.
Report Dissemination
Report Distribution formats
Report Scheduling
Report Bursting
OLAP
Cube Designer
Dynamic Analysis How is the support for dynamic analysis of a report output?
Performance Management
Offline Analysis How good is the tool's support for offline analysis of cubes?
Administration
Centralized Repository
Monitoring
Fileserver Storage
Clustering & Scalability
DR
Mobility
How versatile is the product in terms of capability to connect to wide array of relational data sources like SQL Server, Oracle, MS-Access, DB2 on z/OS? How is the support for connecting to unstructured data sources like flat files? The ability to source data from multiple data sources from a single web document.
All components can connect to wide array of RDBMS data sources, including IBM, Oracle, SAP, Teradata. SSIS can pull data from non relational sources like flat files etc. SSRS can use XML Web services as data source. Apart from these, Microsoft SharePoint List, Microsoft SQL Azure, and Microsoft SQL Server ParallelData Warehouse, PowerPivot workbook, BI Semantic Model have also been added.
The creation of business or schematic layer which will encapsulate the Business users from understanding the technical naming or SQL knowledge.
Microsoft Analysis & Reporting Services have a schematic layer which encapsulates technical aspects of the data sources.
Analysis Services creates a metadata layer on top of data sources.
No common metadata layer
How versatile is the report authoring tool? Does the vendor provide both Desktop based and Web based authoring environment?
Microsoft's business intelligence suite provides multiple report authoring tools like Report Designer for canned reports (SSRS), Report Builder using Semantic model layer which provides adhoc report development and anaysis capabilities to users, new tool named PowerView has been introduced in SQL Server 2012 which is a browser-basedSilverlight application, works with BI Semantic model (Tabular models) and provides adhoc reporting with various data visualizations. Apart from these users can use Microsoft office tools like Excel, Excel Services, Powerpivot for Excel.
Microsoft fully supports this functionality. Can generate query from Query Builder.
Does the tool support addition of report metadata inside the report? One scenario can be showing tool-tips for every column inside the report to make it more intuitive.
Microsoft will not support tool tips
Microsoft provides Performance Point as the Dashboard Reporting tool and it is now integrated with Sharepoint to take advantage of sharepoint hosting and security capabilities. Performance Point supports extensive dashboarding capabilities with various types of charts.
Does the tool provide features to embed Excel formulae, charts, groups in the report? Does the tool support creating multi-tab Excel worksheets?
PowerPivot empowers users of all levels to access and mashup data from virtually any source. Users can create their own compelling reports and analytical applications, easily share insights, and collaborate through Microsoft Excel 2010 and SharePoint 2010.
How good is the report designer's support for developing complex reports like reports having conditional sections, reports showing tabular and chart data in a single page and pixel-perfect reporting?
Microsoft BI offers general support as Reporting Services uses a WYSIWYG metaphor for report design. Text, graphics, and data can be laid out in any fashion, and graphics can be placed within groups.
Ease of creation of templatized reports and style sheets. Creation of reusable components that can be utilized in multiple reports.
SSRS supports templates and creation of reusable components like shared datasets, report parts can be published and be used by other reports.
All MSBI development is integrated with Visual Studio which is a robust development environment with capabilities for source control, defect logging, build automation etc.
How good is the tool's support for runtime modification of SQL?
Microsoft support the runtime modification of SQL queries.
Ease at which the reports can be created on an Adhoc basis. How good is the tool's support for runtime selection of columns,grouping, ordering for a report?
PowerView has been introduced in SQL Server 2012 which is a browser-basedSilverlight application, works with BI Semantic model (Tabular models) and provides adhoc reporting with various data visualizations. Apart from these users can use Microsoft office tools like Excel, Excel Services, Powerpivot for Excel for adhoc reporting. Powerpivot for excel supports connecting to almost any data source, pull data from the data source and provides adhoc analysis capabilities. The same functionality is now available in Powerview with enhances visualization capabilities.
How is the support for APIs which can be used by J2EE or .NET applications? Can the reports be embedded inside the enterprise applications without the need to access a common BI Portal?
Reporting Services provides a web service based web methods for creating, modifying, deleting and rendering SSRS reports from Report Server. The reports can be rendered in any application using the web methods and SSRS Report viewer control.
Does the vendor provide Web services/APIs for easy portal integration?
Microsoft BI solutions are supported through SharePoint for portal integration. SSRS does provies web services which can be used to render reports.
Does the vendor support alerting to 3rd party Ticketing systems?
Reporting Services can also integrate with SQL Server Notification Services for delivery of data alerts.
Difficult to trigger third party applications
Will the tool support role based security of the users? The users of the tool should have access to the data they are authorized to view.
Microsoft BI strongly supports the Role based Security Model. It controls access to reports, folders, and other items that are managed by Microsoft BI. SSAS Cubes also support role based security.
How well does the tool integrate with existing security framework such as LDAP/Active Directory? Does the vendor provide custom security framework?
Microsoft BI have its own security framework which supports LDAP/Active directory. SSRS also supports security extensions where custom security mechanisms can be integrated with SSRS.
How good is the vendor's support multiple report distribution formats such as DHTML,Word,Excel,PDF,Email,CSV,TSV?
Microsoft Reporting Services supports most of the report distribution formats like HTML, DHTML, OWC, Excel, PDF, TIF, CSV, XML, and GIF. It now supports Doc files too
Does the tool support report scheduling features such as auto notification, auto print to server?
Reporting Services supports on-demand (pull) delivery and scheduled or event-based (push) delivery. Report subscribers can receive reports automatically through multiple delivery channels, including email or stored on a file share when a report's data is refreshed or on a specified schedule.
How is the tool's support for report bursting? With report bursting a single report template can generate multiple physical reports.
Microsoft Reporting Services supports data-driven subscriptions, the ability to drive a parameterized report to multiple delivery targets.
How good is the tool's cube designer in terms of sophistication?
SQL Server provides strong OLAP services via its native OLAP engine in SQL Server Analysis Services, which enables customers to model their data based on a dimensional model ( either MOLAP or ROLAP structures). With SQL Server 2012, Analysis Services also supports creation of cubes with 3NF relational data (Tabular models). It uses the xVelocity (formerly named Vertipaq) engine to create these models.
Microsoft provides multiple tools for adhoc analysis of data like PowerView, Powerpivot for Excel, Excel where users can create their own reports and also publish them to share with others.
How does the tool support the tracking of performance management matrices and KPIs
Analysis Services has capabilities to define KPIs in cubes which can be shown in dashboards for Performance management
Microsoft supports offline analysis of cubes
How is the support for storing various report objects in a centralized repository?
SSRS Report Server provides capability for hosting reports and related objects. The Report Server used a SQL Server database to store the reports, related objects and security details. Apart from these it also stores enterprise reporting repository is included within SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services where all the reporting objects can be stored
Does the tool support monitoring? This includes job monitoring and disk quota monitoring
SQL Server Business Intelligence is managed through a single, integrated console called SQL Server Management Studio. Full monitoring of SQL Server is enabled through Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM).
Does the tool support storing report objects at a location other than its repository?
Microsoft reporting objects can be stored in a secured place other than the native repository
How extensive is the tool's server clustering capability? Does the tool support failover mechanisms?
Microsoft Support cluster failover through Microsoft cluster services (MSCS)
Does the tool support hot/online backup of various report objects?
The Visual Studio Design/Development platform for all BI applications can support both online/offline back up
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Will the tool support mobile access for reports, dashboards / analysis on Android & iOS Devices?
Browser-based mobile access to your corporate BI content is provided through Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. Users can navigate existing reports, dashboards, scorecards, and analytical applications across iOS, Android, and Windows devices. Microsoft will be delivering touch-based data exploration and visualization capabilities in a browser on iOS, Android and Microsoft platforms in the second half of 2012.
Are any add on solutios available to extend reports, dashboards / analysis to Android & iOS Devices?
Not at this moment. But Microsoft will be delivering touch-based data exploration and visualization capabilities in a browser on iOS, Android and Microsoft platforms in the second half of 2012.
Can existing code be resued/ redevelopment of reports and dashboards is required?
Existing reports can be used. No redevelopment is required.
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Business Objects(4.0) - EVALUATION MATRIXExplanation
Evaluation Criteria Criteria Explanation Pros Cons
Overall Score
Data Access
Data Sources
Business Encapsulation
Metadata Layer Does the tool support a common metadata layer?
Report Development
Authoring Tool
SQL Query generation Can the auto-generated SQLs be modified?
Report Metadata BO doesn't support this feature
Dashboard Designer How feature rich is the tool's dashboard designer?
Excel Features
Design Complexity
Code Reuseability
SDK How extensive is the tool's SDK?
Ad-Hoc Reports
Custom Query BO supports this functionality
Ease of Adhoc Reporting
Integration
Open APIs
Portal Integration
Alerting
Security
Role based Security
Security Integration
Single Sign on (SSO) How easy is it to setup SSO with existing applications?
Report Dissemination
Report Distribution formats
Report Scheduling
Report Bursting
OLAP
Cube Designer
Dynamic Analysis How is the support for dynamic analysis of a report output?
Performance Management
Offline Analysis How good is the tool's support for offline analysis of cubes? Using Business Objects Voyager this feature can be achieved
Administration
Centralized Repository
Monitoring
Fileserver Storage
Clustering & Scalability
DR BO does not support this feature
Mobility
None
How versatile is the product in terms of capability to connect to wide array of relational data sources like SQL Server, Oracle, MS-Access, DB2 on z/OS? How is the support for connecting to unstructured data sources like flat files? The ability to source data from multiple data sources from a single web document.
Business Objects can connect most of Data Sources including relational databases, ERP products, XML, Flat files,… It also supports sourcing of data from more than one data source at the same time.
The creation of business or schematic layer which will encapsulate the Business users from understanding the technical naming or SQL knowledge.
Business Objects Universe encapsulates the technical aspects of Databases from the report users.
BO is integrated set of tools, not a unified architecture. XI Release 3 consists of multiple overlapping tools (with different interfaces and user paradigms); multiple different code bases, multiple separate metadatas and repositories. This multiplicity results in redundant setup and administration tasks.
How versatile is the report authoring tool? Does the vendor provide both Desktop based and Web based authoring environment?
Business Objects provides versatile tools in terms of standard report development capabilities like charts, crosstabs,pagination, grouping, etc.
BO has the capability to run custom SQL queries.
Does the tool support addition of report metadata inside the report? One scenario can be showing tool-tips for every column inside the report to make it more intuitive.
BusinessObjects XI provides general DashBoard manager and Crystal Xcelsius for Dashboards and Scorecard capabilities.
Does the tool provide features to embed Excel formulae, charts, groups in the report? Does the tool support creating multi-tab Excel worksheets?
BO has capability to export reports to Excel spreadsheets
How good is the report designer's support for developing complex reports like reports having conditional sections, reports showing tabular and chart data in a single page and pixel-perfect reporting?
BO XI supports complex design of reports, including sourcing data from more than one database or applications. The BO reports can combine text with graphics and images.
Ease of creation of templatized reports and style sheets. Creation of reuseable components that can be utilized in multiple reports.
BO supports the creation of report templates (Style Sheets) which can be reused in other reports.
Business Objects provides extensive APIs for .Net and Java environment.
How good is the tool's support for runtime modification of SQL?
Ease at which the reports can be created on an Adhoc basis. How good is the tool's support for runtime selection of columns,grouping, ordering for a report?
Business Objects provides excellent support for these features.
How is the support for APIs which can be used by J2EE or .NET applications? Can the reports be embedded inside the enterprise applications without the need to access a common BI Portal?
BusinessObjects XI provides a Web services API (Web services consumer and producer and provides samples for XBRL and RDL) and supports XML report Web services.
Does the vendor provide Web services/APIs for easy portal integration?
BusinessObjects XI includes an out-of-the-box portal (Info View) that lets users manage content and offers integrated searching, discussion threads, and personalization capabilities within a single user interface. Info View is available for both Java and .NET platforms, and the solution provides portal integration kits for Java (including BEA, IBM, Oracle, and SAP) and .NET (Share Point). The portal integration kits are based on the Java portal standards JSR-168 and Microsoft Share Point Web
Does the vendor support alerting to 3rd party Ticketing systems?
BO has very limited capability involving the integration of 3rd party Ticketing systems.
Will the tool support role based security of the users? The users of the tool should have access to the data they are authorized to view.
Role based security can be easily set up using Business objects, the securities can be set up at object level and folder level. At the Universe level the data level security can be set up to restrict access to unauthorized data
How well does the tool integrate with existing security framework such as LDAP/Active Directory? Does the vendor provide custom security framework?
BO tightly integrates with securoty frameworks of AD, LDAP, NT. It also has its own enterprise security model which can set up as peer requirements
Single Sign On is a pretty simple proceudre to be set up with Business Objects
How good is the vendor's support multiple report distribution formats such as DHTML,Word,Excel,PDF,Email,CSV,TSV?
Business Objects supports these formats.
Does the tool support report scheduling features such as auto notification, auto print to server?
BusinessObjects XI supports report scheduling based on date/time and events.
How is the tool's support for report bursting? With report bursting a single report template can generate multiple physical reports.
BO supports this functionality. Additionally, BusinessObjects Enterprise XI ships with portfolio — an out-of-the-box solution for mobile users. Business Objects allows delivery of new or existing report components to wireless devices, including WML phones and RIM Blackberry and Compaq iPAQ devices.
How good is the tool's cube designer in terms of sophistication?
BusinessObjects XI components can access DB2 OLAP Server, Hyperion Essbase, Microsoft Analysis Services, and SAP BW using the native connectivity and query language ODBO via MDX. BusinessObjects XI can also access Oracle's multidimensional cubes (Analytic Workspaces) via SQL.
Business Objects predictive analysis module embeds a data mining engine from KXEN (Knowledge Extraction Engines), which allows developers to define and schedule statistical calculations based on models, discover/profile influencers of key outcome metrics, compare influencer profiles for multiple goals, and integrate with data mining tools through PMML.
How does the tool support the tracking of performance management matrices and KPIs
BO has a Performance Management Module.
How is the support for storing various report objects in a centralized repository?
BusinessObjects XI contains a reporting repository called the central management store, which is accessible from within Crystal Reports XI.
Does the tool support monitoring? This includes job monitoring and disk quota monitoring
Business Objects Schedule Manager and other tools can be used to moniotr the report jobs
Does the tool support storing report objects at a location other than its repository?
The report objects such as .wid, .unv, .rpt files can be stored at any locations provided later the objects are stored pinting to the same metadata
How extesnsive is the tool's server clustering capability? Does the tool support failover mechanisms?
BusinessObjects XI supports load balancing, pooling, clustering, and caching of data with benchmark results that reflect near linear scalability
Does the tool support hot/online backup of various report objects?
Will the tool support mobile access for reports, dashboards / analysis on Android & iOS Devices? Mobile portability feature is
available
Are any add on solutios available to extend reports, dashboards / analysis to Android & iOS Devices?
Can existing code be resued/ redevelopment of reports and dashboards is required?
The existing code can be used to develop the reports / dashboards for mobile no redevelopment is required
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MicroStrategy(9) - EVALUATION MATRIX Explanation
Evaluation Criteria Criteria Explanation Pros Cons
Overall Score
Data Access
Data Sources
Business Encapsulation N/A
Metadata Layer Does the tool support a common metadata layer?
Report Development
Authoring Tool
SQL Query generation Can the auto-generated SQLs be modified?
Report Metadata
Dashboard Designer How feature rich is the tool's dashboard designer?
Excel Features
Design Complexity
Code Reusability
SDK How extensive is the tool's SDK?
Ad-Hoc Reports
Custom Query
Ease of Adhoc Reporting
Integration
Open APIs
Portal Integration
Alerting
Security
Role based Security
Security Integration
Single Sign on (SSO) How easy is it to setup SSO with existing applications?
Report Dissemination
Report Distribution formats
Report Scheduling
Report Bursting
OLAP
Cube Designer
Dynamic Analysis How is the support for dynamic analysis of a report output?
Performance Management
Offline Analysis How good is the tool's support for offline analysis of cubes?
Administration
Centralized Repository
How versatile is the product in terms of capability to connect to wide array of relational data sources like SQL Server, Oracle, MS-Access, DB2 on z/OS? How is the support for connecting to unstructured data sources like flat files? The ability to source data from multiple data sources from a single web document.
Microstrategy supports majority of databases, datawarehouse appliances on the market and even non-structured data sources viz. Big Data,Hadoop etc. It also has connectivity to social media web viz. Facebook. MicroStrategy can connect to MS Excel as a data source, however flat files support is not present
The creation of business or schematic layer which will encapsulate the Business users from understanding the technical naming or SQL knowledge.
The objects visible to the users can be named in more user-friendly and simple language. These naming conventions are independent of the SQL generated by MicroStrategy. So what is displayed on the front end may be completely different from technical jargon below it.
All Report components (objects), reports and Dashboards within a project are stored in a common Metadata repository.Apart from this, user configuration,database configurations,project configurations,database login details etc are stored within the metadata. The Metadata is highly encrypted and it is difficult to de-crypt.
How versatile is the report authoring tool? Does the vendor provide both Desktop based and Web based authoring environment?
MicroStrategy provides both Web-based and Desktop based report authoring tools. Web-Authoring tool requires Web-professional license while desktop authoring requires desktop developer license
Auto-generated SQLs can be modified using VLDB settings and/or adjusting relationships between attributes and Fact tables. Free-form SQL reports allow developers to user user generated SQL into their reports
Does the tool support addition of report metadata inside the report? One scenario can be showing tool-tips for every column inside the report to make it more intuitive.
MicroStrategy Dashboards and reports supports tool tip on the selected column. So a mouse-over a particular field or graph displays a tool-tip
MicroStrategy Dynamic dashboards is one of the leading product in the dashboard Market.With the use of variety of dashboard widgets, the dashboards can be made more interactive and user friendly. Availability of driving from one graph to another adds to better user experience.
Does the tool provide features to embed Excel formulae, charts, groups in the report? Does the tool support creating multi-tab Excel worksheets?
MicroStrategy Office allows users to write their own formulaes within blank cell/columns of an excell sheet, so when the report is populated when refreshed, these formulaes are automatically applied.MicroStrategy Office can be integrated with MS Excel, MS Word, MS Outlook and MS PowerPoint.MicroStrategy Does support multi-tab Excel WorkSheets
How good is the report designer's support for developing complex reports like reports having conditional sections, reports showing tabular and chart data in a single page and pixel-perfect reporting?
Complex reports can be implemented in MicroStrategy with ease. In order to display large amount of data on a single screen, MicroStrategy provides Panel Stacks and selectors to see data in different perspective.
Ease of creation of templatized reports and style sheets. Creation of reusable components that can be utilized in multiple reports.
All objects in MicroStrategy once created can be re-used in other reports/dashboards in MicroStrategy. Attributes, Facts, Metrics, Filters, Prompts, reports and report templates, dashboard and dashboard templates can be reused in any number of reports and dashboards
MicroStrategy provides SDK for1. to change the look and feel of the product within Web browser This option is available in both JAVA and .NET environment. There are a set of APIs available to intergrate with third party portals viz. Sharepoint etc.2. to add user defined calculations/functions within intelligence server This feature allows users to write thier own custom defined functions in C++, and generate the object code. This object code can be imported into Intelligence server and used for user consumption.
How good is the tool's support for runtime modification of SQL?
Microstrategy provides support for these features using objects like filters,prompts particularly at runtime.View filter allows user to filter the data generated in a report on the fly.
Ease at which the reports can be created on an Adhoc basis. How good is the tool's support for runtime selection of columns,grouping, ordering for a report?
Report builder reports and self service reporting in microstrategy allows users to generate their own reports without dependancy on IT developers. This is a prowerful tool available on Web as well as through desktop
How is the support for APIs which can be used by J2EE or .NET applications? Can the reports be embedded inside the enterprise applications without the need to access a common BI Portal?
Microstrategy supports WSDL. It provides rich set of APIs for which the .Net and J2EE applications can use to embed reports
Does the vendor provide Web services/APIs for easy portal integration?
MicroStrategy Web-Services can be integrated into portals using the Portal Integration Kit, which provides generic portlets that can be used with commercial portals like Oracle, IBM WebSphere Portal, Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server, and mySAP Enterprise Portals.
Does the vendor support alerting to 3rd party Ticketing systems?
MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server is the alerting and batch report delivery service for scheduling. Schedules can be alert- or event-driven. Information can be sent to email, mobile devices, fax, print, and file servers
MicroStrategy does not support alerting to 3rd party applications
Will the tool support role based security of the users? The users of the tool should have access to the data they are authorized to view.
Security filters restrict data to a selected group of users. Users can also be refrained from accessing certains folders and objects(attributes,facts,metrics,reports, dashboards etc) within microstrategy
How well does the tool integrate with existing security framework such as LDAP/Active Directory? Does the vendor provide custom security framework?
MicroStrategy provide LDAP integration. Users and their groups can be imported into MicroStrategy and appropriate security privileges can be applied at group level
If microstrategy is integrated with external LDAP server, than the transition from other servers to MicroStrategy is seamless. This allows users to login once and access any portal available within the organization.SSO is supported by MicroStrategy
How good is the vendor's support multiple report distribution formats such as DHTML,Word,Excel,PDF,Email,CSV,TSV?
Microstrategy supports all these formats. It also supports Flash (.mht) format export, delivery to mobile devices viz IPAD,Iphone,BlackBerry and Andriod smartphones
Does the tool support report scheduling features such as auto notification, auto print to server?
MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server is the alerting and batch report delivery service for scheduling. Schedules can be alert- or event-driven. Information can be sent to email, mobile devices, fax, print, and file servers.With MicroStrategy 9i onwards, Distribution services can perform almost all tasks performed by narrowcast server, so there is no need for additional NarrowCast Server license
How is the tool's support for report bursting? With report bursting a single report template can generate multiple physical reports.
A MicroStrategy report is run once and automatically sliced or personalized to the view of an end user based on security profile and preferences Personalized reporting in narrowcast also allows part of the report to be sent to a user group while another to a different user group
How good is the tool's cube designer in terms of sophistication?
Cube designing in MicroStrategy is like designing a grid report without any prompts. Once the design is completed and tested, the grid can be published as a cube for user consumption.This is very simple and sophosticated
MicroStrategy technology lets users perform "speed-of-thought" report analysis and manipulate reports on-the-fly
How does the tool support the tracking of performance management matrices and KPIs
This featurs is supported in microstrategy
MicroStrategy dashboards can be exported as Flash files and excell for users to perform analysis offline.
Complete offline analysis, wherein user modifies the data offline and loads it back to database is not available in microstrategy
How is the support for storing various report objects in a centralized repository?
MicroStrategy metadata is centralized repository of all microstrategy objects. This is loaded and unloaded from system RAM whenever the I-server startup or shuts down.
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Monitoring
Fileserver Storage
Clustering & Scalability
DR
Mobility
Does the tool support monitoring? This includes job monitoring and disk quota monitoring
MicroStrategy Administrator provides a set of tools to monitor, manage, and automate the BI Infrastructure, including Enterprise Manager to monitor system usage, Object Manager to manage disparate and distributed environments for change management, versioning, and internationalization, and Command Manager to automate administration functions. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server also supports proprietary clustering algorithms, load balancing and hot failover, automatic self-tuning, parallel pipeline query execution, archiving, and scheduling.
Does the tool support storing report objects at a location other than its repository?
Output of a report can be delivered to another file location using distribution services.
Report objects cannot be stored anywhere outside microstrategy. They can be migrated to other server using object manager,project move wizard,project duplication and metadata copy
How extensive is the tool's server clustering capability? Does the tool support failover mechanisms?
MicroStrategy support powerfull clustering mechanism between 2 or more I-servers using same Metadata repository. Failover mechanism is seamless. So in case of a failure runing jobs are automatically transferred to active servers within a cluster
Does the tool support hot/online backup of various report objects?
Repository is stored in the database. So if that database supports hot/online backup, than it is supported by MicroStrategy
Will the tool support mobile access for reports, dashboards / analysis on Android & iOS Devices?
MicroStrategy support mobile access of reports,dashboards,documents over Apple iOS devices viz IPAD,Iphone, RIM BlackBerry devices and almost all Andriod smart phones
Are any add on solutios available to extend reports, dashboards / analysis to Android & iOS Devices?
MicroStrategy SDK can be deployed for changing the look and feel of reports/dashboards on mobile devices.
Can existing code be resued/ redevelopment of reports and dashboards is required?
No Re-development of report is required to port them to any of the mobile devices. The dashboard that is visible in web is also visible in the mobile device