Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer (discontinued) vs. Vizlib

Discoverer is well suited as a reporting tool where data integration doesn't play a major role. Discoverer suits very well situations where a user has to run a query every day. Discoverer reports can be scheduled and the user can just view the data instead of running the query manually. Also, Discoverer takes away the pain of managing the database credentials. Discoverer is not well suited to situations where the whole enterprise wants to view the same dashboard. Discoverer is more of a departmental BI tool. Discoverer doesn't offer many options to integrate data unless one has to create and handle integration using PL/SQL.

Incentivized

Vizlib helps us make better use of our data and significantly improves our use of Qlik. If you use Qlik Sense, you need Vizlib. It provides charts and functionality that is necessary to visualize and work with data successfully. It does a great job with our data which comes from a variety of systems and files.

• SQL friendly which allows for fast adoption for those users who know how to write in SQL. This makes integration with other programs much easier.
• Accessing data is very fast even with larger data sets.
• The layout is clean and organized similar to a spreadsheet which allows for easier viewing and analyzing of the data.

Incentivized

• Visualizations
• Forecasting
• Storytelling

• There is always room for more scalability and optimization of performance.
• Oracle BI changes a lot from version to version. A smoother transition into a new version would be very helpful.
• Oracle BI's reporting tool is a little hard to use at first. The UI/UX of the tool can use improvement.

Incentivized

• Performance on large data sets
• Training courses
• Nonprofit pricing

We have figured out how to use Vizlib features on our own on many occasions. Whenever we do run into questions, the support team is very helpful and able to help us figure out how to do things quickly. I feel features are more advanced, but we know the depth is there when we’re ready to use it

Vizlib support is awesome! We have quick turnaround times and regular updates when we open cases. It’s so good we often ask them Qlik Sense questions, rather than going to Qlik support

Discoverer was already in place when I joined the company so I was not involved in the selection process. However, I have been involved in the review of Discoverer as compared to alternatives including Business Objects, OBIEE, and SSRS. On a cost benefit analysis Discoverer always came out on top. Changing to another tool never provided enough additional functionality to overcome the cost of conversion and ongoing maintenance.

Incentivized

We chose Vizlib because we use Qlik Sense as our main dashboard tool. It is easy to use by our few developers. We are able to build custom visualizations and theme our dashboards with our branding which resonates with our community. Compared to other tools, it is much easier and intuitive to use, because we don’t have to learn coding

• We have used Discoverer to respond to state sales and use tax audits and saved the company more than the cost of the product. Discoverer has thus assisted in our objective of managing costs.
• Discoverer is used to provide reports for EEOC reporting assisting our goal of complying with all government requirements.

Incentivized

• Faster time to dashboards and reports
• Improved communication to donors of our key mission metrics
• Better support than from Qlik