Great SAP data analytics product
SAP Business Objects and Business Intelligence is one of the flagship products of SAP. I remember the BW days and then the acquisition of …
Overview
What is SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence?
The SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence Platform provides users with ad hoc queries, reporting, data visualizations, and analysis tools. Its integrated, unified infrastructure aims to offer scalability from one-to-many tools and interfaces on-premise, in the cloud, or as a hybrid approach.
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Popular Features
- Drill-down analysis (45)9.090%
- Multi-User Support (named login) (46)8.989%
- Customizable dashboards (45)8.181%
- Report Formatting Templates (45)7.777%
Pricing
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What is SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence?
The SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence Platform provides users with ad hoc queries, reporting, data visualizations, and analysis tools. Its integrated, unified infrastructure aims to offer scalability from one-to-many tools and interfaces on-premise, in the cloud, or as a hybrid approach.
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- No setup fee
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- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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What is SAP Analytics Cloud?
The SAP Analytics Cloud solution brings together analytics and planning with integration to SAP applications and access to heterogenous data sources. As the analytics and planning solution within SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP Analytics Cloud supports trusted insights and integrated planning…
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What is SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence?
The
SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence (BI) platform is a flexible,
scalable information infrastructure that aims to help you more easily discover and
share insights for better business decisions. According to the vendor, the integrated, unified infrastructure enables scalability from one to
many tools and interfaces on premise, in the cloud, or as a hybrid approach.
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Features
- Supported: Reporting and analysis
- Supported: Data visualization and analytics applications
- Supported: Office integration
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Competitors
- Microsoft BI (MSBI)
- Tableau Desktop
- MicroStrategy
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Apple Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Windows: Server 2008 and 2012; Suse SLES 11 x86_64; Red Hat EL 5 and 6 x86_64; AIX 6.1 and 7.1 Power; Solaris 10 and 11 SPARC |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
The SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence Platform provides users with ad hoc queries, reporting, data visualizations, and analysis tools. Its integrated, unified infrastructure aims to offer scalability from one-to-many tools and interfaces on-premise, in the cloud, or as a hybrid approach.
Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Tableau Desktop are common alternatives for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence.
Reviewers rate Single Sign-On (SSO) highest, with a score of 9.9.
The most common users of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Reviews
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December 01, 2020
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform Review
We have currently deployed SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform in our company for Analytics reporting on SAP Concur Modules. We also deploy SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform for our customer to address their business needs and provide cognitive analytical solution
- SOA Service Oriented architecture
- Architecture scaling and deployment can be managed easily, clustering nodes and servers to give scalability
- User friendly administration modules
- User friendly reporting modules like Web Intelligence, SAP Lumira, SAC
- Strong semantic layer supporting multi-source database
- Waterfall model design is used
- Need to compete with Agile architecture and design
- Quick turn time like Modern BI agile tools
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
90%
9.0
90%
9.0
94%
9.4
86.66666666666666%
8.7
92.5%
9.3
90%
9.0
85%
8.5
- We have seen significant ROI, 9-12 months
- As per license model you can plan your deployment model to justify ROI
- Tool being in industry for quite long, customer adoption and adaptability brings ROI
MicroStrategy Analytics and IBM Cognos Analytics is costlier compared to SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform stacks. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform stacks is user friendly, easy to adapt, easy to train resources and get them productive. SOA architecture and platform scalability adds to it.
1550
SAP Concur, S4 HANA, FICO
700
Function and domain knowledge on SAP modules. Technical skills for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence analytics. Good Administration skills for code pipeline deployment
- Add more business users
- Self service BI
- Self service BI analytics
- SAP BW and Bex integration
- Microsoft Office SAP integration
- Innovative dashboard
- Collaborate with business users
No
- Implementation support
Good implementation support and user community
Just love the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence analytics, will continue to explore it further with latest service pack features
- Implemented in-house
Yes
Agile framework was used, we planned the deployment in different waves, prioritize the phases.
Change management was minimal
Document well change management to be well prepared
- Not much challenges faced
- Seamless installation and backup
- Online training
- in-person training
Make it more competitive compared to competitors
Some - we have done small customizations to the interface
Yes - we have added extensive custom code
We have played a lot with SAP BO SDK
BO SDK gives you full control on metadata
Yes
Benefits you get from premium support, access to the latest patches and service packs
Yes
Yes
I've connected with SAP labs and co-workers. I was part of SAP architect team, easy to relate the upcoming landscape. SAP Innovation, collaboration is one of the best in the industry which makes SAP to be in leaders space for so long.
- SAP BI BO User Interface
- Strongly integrated with Microsoft office products
- Easily collaborate with the users, share the output in various formats
- Scheduling engine is one of the best in the industry
- SOA Service Oriented Architecture
- Waterfall architecture, need quick turn around time
- Need to move towards agile methodology
Yes
Awesome SAP BI mobile interface. Easy to implement and get it operational in short span of time
- Power BI
- Tableau
We query SAP BW/Bex query to pull data in Tableau and Power BI for few of user groups.
- SAP HANA with Power BI integration is seamless
SAP HANA, BW, Bex query integration with external tool is seamless
- Single Signon
- API (e.g. SOAP or REST)
- ETL tools
RestAPI is awesome
Please go ahead with full confidence, integration is easy
Pricing
Keep on the good job
Yes
Yes, LCM tool is awesome. Tool is much mature than what it used to be in past BO5.x series
- Get latest features offered by service packs
- Resolved bugs in existing service packs
- Lots of tool competitor features available in latest service packs
- Upskill team with the latest service packs
- User friendly business features
No
No
June 11, 2016
SAP BIP what is it and what can it do?
The SAP Business Intelligence Platform is an enterprise solution for the distribution, and analysis of business decision making content. We have it deployed on premise and in the cloud as our primary reporting business analytical tool. It managed through the product development life cycle (Development,Test and Production). Web based access is provided from any location secured by Active Directory Single Sign On.
- Online report development [for] a query. Business Objects uses a Symantec layer to turn the complex underlying data to user identifiable objects for business queries. This makes it a good choice for self service environments.
- Is has robust built in security that is can be customized and granular down to the object level. It also has integrated security modules that [can be] utilized with third party security interfaces.
- The base platform can be scaled horizontally and vertically to meet growing demand on Windows or Linux.
- A suite of developer tools are also incorporated with the base platform to provide the use of the right tool for the required task.
- The Platform Search tool can be troublesome to establish in a clustered deployment.
- Issues that are repaired in on release, should not resurface in a future release. This is rare but annoying when it occurs.
- Some of the developer tools require more documentation that what is provided.
Analysis Services and Oracle Discoverer are more developer oriented than true self service tools and their development capabilities as well as their content delivery is limited. The Symantec layer sets BO apart in that regard. Heavy development is also possible and custom system development kits are available. Business Objects can be deployed with SAP Data Services and SAP HANA to provide a complete business intelligence solution. Varied content delivery types (reports, dashboards,alerts..) are supported. It provides robust security if fully configurable.
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
80%
8.0
80%
8.0
87.5%
8.8
70%
7.0
100%
10.0
73.33333333333333%
7.3
N/A
N/A
500
As a analytical tool Business Objects is utilized throughout the organization: accounting, management, security, administration,... over 500 users and counting. Local and remote access is available across all time zones.
3
- Support the task management, development, security posture, and upgrading of business intelligence and reporting applications.
- Assist in the program management, and adherence to established SDLC processes.
- System analysis and enterprise system deployments.
- Hands on experience with the SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence Platform server and client side.
- Elicits requirements from all levels of the business and formulates plans for clustered shared business intelligence deployments according to SAP Business Objects guidelines and standards.
- Works as a liaison between SAP Consulting and the client to ensure project expectations are met.
- Has managed and implemented Business Objects deployments in all life cycle environments (Development, Test, pre-Production and Production).
- Provides oversight and technical assistance to the client’s administrators and developers.
- Performs Business Objects system and environmental enhancement analysis and maps solutions to the SAP product line.
- Deploy Data Services to crate a data mart reporting source for Business Objects.
- Create dashboards using SAP BO client tools.
- Deploy HANA for in-memory analytics.
- Secure content sharing.
- Business decision making.
- Staff management.
- Integrating Business Objects with third party tools for enhanced bursting.
- Integrating Business Objects with third party tools for enhanced content backup and audit reporting.
- Integrating Business Objects with third party tools for enhanced Single Sign On.
No
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Prior Experience with the Product
- Existing Relationship with the Vendor
Security was the most important factor. Only certain reports and data can be accessed by each user group and its assigned members as defined by leadership. The Business Intelligence tool had to support this and still maintain customer required performance. Two factor authentication was also required to protect overall access to the system. Single Sign On was the method of choice to eliminate the need for user passwords.
Given that all initial requirements were met and all scheduled planned phases of the deployment are within the scope of scalability of the base application and supported third party tools, this one turned out right. The stability of the vendor and the future plans that they have laid out coincide with our project delivery.
- Implemented in-house
No
Change management was minimal
Change management was not a factor. This was a new deploment on a new platform.
- Third party interface compatibility and configuration.
- New platform limitations required workarounds.
- SAP and third party tool version updates were required during the course of the deployment to resolve content requirement issues.
Yes
This provides 24/7 dedicated support when required for production deployments and production issue resolution. Top tier response is also part of the package. All levels of support includes free upgrades and support ticket filing. The online knowledge base is included for all levels of support as well and is very beneficial in resolving most product related issues on a per release basis.
Yes
First it is bad practice to assume every issue with a product is a bug. It is best to open a ticket with the assumption it is a known issue that can be resolved. Bugs are usually part of the release notes. When a bug is confirmed by SAP they will provide a workaround and/or upgrade option that can be deployed at your convenience.
During a production deployment we had to rely on SAP support to get us to the finish line. They were diligent providing support any time of the day or night. They provided workarounds on the fly as part of the trouble shooting process and followed up with long term solutions we could deploy after the successful launch.
- Online report and dashboard viewing.
- Content sharing and collaboration.
- Online/offline query and analysis.
- Symantec layer (Universe creation). The level of difficulty is driven by the underlying data source.
- Crystal Report creation. The level of difficulty is driven by the underlying data source (if a Universe is not utilized)
- Design Studio dashboard creation. The level of difficulty is driven by the underlying data source.
- System Administration. The Business Intelligence Platform can be quite complex with multiple security roles, internal services, client tool interfaces and third party tools and interfaces that must be deployed and maintained in addition to the core SAP application across the product development life cycle.
Yes, but I don't use it
February 22, 2016
Know why customers go for Business Objects
SAP Business Objects is used by data stewards in following departments: Marketing, Finance, Business Development, Corporate etc. It is used across the whole organization. It provides data for functional and operational decision systems.
- Various tools to implement end to end BI, for example: ETL, Reporting, Dashboarding
- Good connectivity with CRM, ECC and other SAP systems etc
- Data Security, Visually intuitive, Ease of use
- Webi, Rich Client, SAP Dashboard, Crystal Reports reporting tool to cover needs of a variety of users
- SAP should provide free software and licenses for students
- SAP Extractors are designed by third party, so no support for those
- Reporting with no semantec layer
I have used Data Stage; plug and play extractors help to fetch data from SAP CRM/ECC. It reduces the ETL job design efforts.
I have used Tableau, the SAP dashboard provides more options in designing legends on charts, in-built hide/show features in charts.
I have used Tableau, the SAP dashboard provides more options in designing legends on charts, in-built hide/show features in charts.
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
80%
8.0
87.5%
8.8
90%
9.0
63.33333333333333%
6.3
100%
10.0
83.33333333333334%
8.3
N/A
N/A
2000
Financial, Marketing, Business Development, Internal Analysts.
12
2 Administrator for a 1000+ BO users, and double it if a business is all over world, 24/7 support.
Individual Application with 20+ users, 10+ reports need application support developer.
Individual Application with 20+ users, 10+ reports need application support developer.
- Replace SSRS/SSIS with Business Objects so that there is single BI tool and lower cost of BI implementation.
- Replace manual Excel reporting with BI reporting.
- Connectivity with SAP CRM, ECC
- DS free with BOE licenses
- Need of ETL and Reporting in business functions
- SSIS doesn't have connectivity with SAP CRM/ECC so DS helps to ETL data out of SAP CRM/ECC
- Custom SQL allowed in reports helps SSRS developers to develop reports easily and include trigger and inputs in query
No
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Prior Experience with the Product
- Vendor Reputation
- Existing Relationship with the Vendor
- Analyst Reports
I am a SAP Business Objects certified professional, so I understand business objects tool in and out. My own experience with tool helps me go over a customer's requirements and suggest to them how this tool will provide a solution to their needs.
More specific questions than open ended questions. I am not sure if you will be able to understand my evaluation of this product. 80% of the questions should be in a check box, or drop down. There should be options to select the specific SAP Business Objects module from the enterprise suite.
- Implemented in-house
Yes
Evaluation, architect, implementation, Phase 2, Phase 3, continual support, maintenance.
Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled
Creating awareness about what is driving organizational change is important. Involving everyone rather than invasive approach works better. Demo and show rather than letting staff figure things on their own.
- Silos in the product documentation from vendor
- SAP support not guiding in the implementation because of their product support policy
No
To keep cost of operations low. Plus, Premium support, regular support is all same when it goes into the queue.
Yes
No, getting a local fix is too hard and almost impossible. Waiting for a new patch makes things difficult to keep providing a business with what they want.
Years ago SAP support provided exceptional support for Business Objects on Unix OS. Bug fixes were faster and engineers were knowledgeable. SAP helped to retrieve lost DB password, which is not supported anymore, SAP helped to recover server from backup. SAP helped to create Query builder queries to fetch the encoded data but those days are gone. SAP support no longer go out of their way to help customers.
- Report development
- ETL job development
- Administration
- Content Security management
Yes
Fiori is newly introduced, SAP Business Objects has mobile server components available but report needs to be configured for mobile devices.