The BI Verdict

The BI Survey 12: Best Practices - Now Available

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:09:35 +0000

'The BI Survey 12: Best Practices' is out now.

Based on feedback from well over 2,000 end-users and consultants responding to The BI Survey 12, this new 50-page report highlights the reasons why projects succeed and fail in the real world and helps you avoid costly mistakes by recommending best practices that work.

Click here to find out more about 'The BI Survey 12: Best Practices'.

The BI Survey 12: Results Out Now

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:26:31 +0000

The results from The BI Survey 12, the world's largest and longest-running annual survey of BI software usage, are now available.

Nearly 3,000 respondents from companies across all industry sectors in over eighty countries answered questions on their experiences with BI software. Based on this wealth of end-user feedback, The BI Survey 12 results provide detailed comparative analysis of a record twenty-seven products from vendors including IBM, Microsoft, MicroStrategy, Oracle, QlikTech and SAP.

Click here to find out more about The BI Survey 12, including a free preview and a list of the BI products included this year.

Product Review Update: IBM Cognos TM1 10.1.0

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 10:06:12 +0100

TM1 has been on the market since the early 1980s. Cognos acquired the product as part of its takeover of Applix shortly before Cognos itself was purchased by IBM.

Due to its rich functionality for analysis and planning, TM1 plays an important strategic role in the IBM Cognos portfolio. The product can be purchased as a standalone planning solution or as a central component of IBM Cognos Express, IBM's BI offering for SMEs.

This review is available for purchase as a single-user PDF or as part of a subscription to The BI Verdict.

Click here to find out more.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

Product Review Update: Jedox 4.0

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 16:48:55 +0200

Open-source vendor Jedox - established ten years ago - now has a worldwide customer base which it serves via its head office in Germany and its global partner network.

This updated review focuses on the latest version (4.0) of Jedox's premium BI product, Jedox Suite. The suite provides planning, reporting, analysis and dashboarding capabilities.

It is available for purchase as a single-user PDF or as part of a subscription to The BI Verdict.

Click here to find out more.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

Product Review Update: BOARD 7.4

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:56:33 +0200

BOARD offers a combined BI and performance management product with a new in-memory, multidimensional database server and user interface.

Our BOARD product review now covers version 7.4, the latest version.

It is available for purchase as a single-user PDF or as part of a subscription to The BI Verdict.

Click here to find out more.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

New Product Review: Decisyon 4.0

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:02:16 +0100

Decisyon has developed an interesting application building platform for a range of BI capabilities such as formatted reporting, ad hoc reporting and planning.

For the first time, Decisyon is evaluated in The BI Verdict in a new 16-page product review.

It is available for purchase as a single-user PDF or as part of a subscription to The BI Verdict.

Click here to find out more.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

Last Chance To Take Part In The BI Survey 11

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 10:48:29 +0100

Time is running out to take part in The BI Survey 11. BARC's major annual survey of business intelligence (BI) users will be closing at the end of next week, on July 13th 2012.

With well over 2000 responses already, the survey represents the world's most comprehensive audit of BI usage. And by participating, you will receive a summary of the results.

Please click here to take part.

All participants will:
— Receive a summary of the survey results
— Be entered into a draw to win one of ten $50 Amazon vouchers
— Ensure that your experiences are included in the final analyses

New Product Review: Jedox Suite 3.3

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:23:37 +0100

One of the best-known open source BI vendors, Jedox was founded 10 years ago in Germany.

Although it now has customers all over the world, around three-quarters of its revenue still come from its home market.

This new review focuses on Jedox Suite, the premium edition of Jedox's planning, reporting and analysis suite.

It is available for purchase as a single-user PDF or as part of a subscription to The BI Verdict.

Click here to find out more.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

The BI Survey 11: Share Your Experiences

Fri, 11 May 2012 17:13:30 +0100

The BI Survey 11, BARC's major annual survey of business intelligence (BI) users, is up and running.

Please click here to take part.

All participants will:
— Receive a summary of the survey results
— Be entered into a draw to win one of ten $50 Amazon vouchers
— Ensure that your experiences are included in the final analyses

Who should participate?
Business and technical users of BI products, as well as business intelligence vendors and consultants are all welcome to take part.

Share your experiences
This is your unique chance to benchmark the experiences of your organization against hundreds of others.

The majority of the Survey relates to your experiences with the BI product that you use the most, enabling us to analyze and compare the most popular BI products on the market in detail.

Privacy
Your answers will only be used anonymously, and your personal details will never be passed on to vendors or other third parties.

Click here for more information about The BI Survey 10, last year's edition.

Product Review Update: Oracle Hyperion Planning

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:49:26 +0100

Our latest product review examines one of the world's most popular planning solutions, Oracle Hyperion Planning.

Based on Essbase, Hyperion Planning has been under Oracle's ownership since 2007 and now forms part of Oracle's Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) offering.

This product review and Factbase covers version 11.1.2.1

Click here to find out more.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

New Product Review: Microsoft Reporting Services 2008 R2

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:56:44 +0100

Instead of marketing its business intelligence offering in a distinct set of tools, Microsoft has spread BI capabilities across its Excel, SharePoint Server and SQL Server products.

This new product review focuses on Reporting Services, the formatted reporting tool packaged as a free install option in SQL Server.

Click here to find out more.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

Product Review Update: IBM Cognos BI 10

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:05:44 +0000

In our latest product review, IBM Cognos's enterprise BI suite, IBM Cognos Business Intelligence V10.1 goes under the microscope.

IBM Cognos Business Intelligence V10.1 introduces a number of changes from Cognos 8, including noticeably tighter integration between the various components of the product.

Click here for more information.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

New Product Review: arcplan Enterprise 7.1

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:47:07 +0000

Our latest product review focuses on arcplan's platform for building web-based BI applications, arcplan Enterprise 7.1.

With over 3,000 customers worldwide, arcplan has a strong presence both in USA and Europe.

Click here to find out more.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

New Product Review: Cognos Express

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:54:01 +0000

The BI Verdict now features a review of Cognos Express, IBM's Business Intelligence offering aimed at mid-market companies.

Cognos Express was introduced in September 2009 and offers reporting, analysis and planning tools in a single package.

Click here for more information.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

New Product Review: Tibco Spotfire 4.0

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:40:06 +0000

Our latest product review assesses Tibco Spotfire 4.0, the latest release of the product which came out in November 2011.

Tibco Spotfire is an in-memory business intelligence tool with strong visual analysis features. As such, it lends itself to comparisons with QlikTech's QlikView.

Click here for more information.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

Product Review Update: Oracle BI Enterprise Edition

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:32:38 +0000

Our first product review of 2012 focuses on Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE).

Based on a ROLAP system, OBIEE is a bundle of BI products that Oracle has acquired in recent years, principally from Siebel.

This newly updated review assesses OBIEE's architecture and runs the rule over its reporting, analysis and dashboarding capabilities, helping software buyers gain a solid understanding of the suite's strengths and weaknesses.

And as with all The BI Verdict's product reviews, our coverage is strictly independent - vendors do not pay for us to review the software.

Oracle BI Enterprise Edition 11g Product Review - Table of Contents:

Vendor Overview
Strategy
Architecture
Standard Reporting
Ad Hoc Reporting
Dashboards
Analysis
Conclusions
Use Case Analysis
Functional Evaluation
Strengths and weaknesses
Factbase

Click here for more information.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

Research Update: Microsoft's BI Portfolio

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:02:07 +0000

Having abandoned planning with the cancellation of PerformancePoint Server, Microsoft now concentrates solely on the mass market areas of business intelligence: reporting and analysis.

But unlike most BI vendors, Microsoft does not package its business intelligence offering in a distinct set of tools. Rather, it has spread BI capabilities across a range of products. Adding features increases the attractiveness of these products and provides a low-price solution for Microsoft users.

In this updated overview of Microsoft's BI portfolio, we take a closer look at the Redmond giant's unique BI strategy.

Click here for details of our series of BI vendor portfolio guides.

Subscribers can click here to access the Microsoft BI Portfolio Guide now.

This new analysis is available now to subscribers of our low-priced entry level subscription, The BI Market Guide.

It is also available as part of a full subscription to The BI Verdict.

New Product Review: QlikTech QlikView 11

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:05:21 +0000

Hot on the heels of the general release of QlikView 11, the latest BI Verdict product review assesses QlikTech's in-memory analysis and reporting tool.

QlikTech's marketing of the product is clearly designed to appeal to business users. It emphasizes ease of use, rapid deployment and fast performance, rather than the more complex technical, architectural and administrative strengths that the larger BI vendors tend to promote.

This product review, including a detailed feature-by-feature Factbase, tests these vendor claims and is available now to BI Verdict subscribers.

QlikTech QlikView 11 Product Review - Table of Contents:

Vendor Overview
Strategy
Positioning
Architecture
Formatted Reporting
Dashboards
Ad Hoc Reporting
Analysis
Use Case Analysis
Functional Evaluation
Strengths and weaknesses
Factbase

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

Introducing The BI Survey Analyzer

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:00:09 +0100

The BI Survey has a new look this year: For the first time ever, we are making the raw data available via The BI Survey Analyzer, a powerful online analysis tool that enables you to slice and dice the data every which way.

The BI Survey Analyzer allows you to create numerous custom reports and charts including:

- Breakdowns of the responses for each question in the survey
- Comparisons of leading BI products across a number of key criteria
- Crosstab analyses displaying the summary of results from two separate survey questions

And if you need to focus on just a handful of products, you can simply filter the results to include only responses from users of the tools you are interested in, giving you priceless insights into how the products on your shortlist stack up against each other.

Click here to register for a live demo of The BI Survey Analyzer and find out just how invaluable it could be in helping you choose the best BI tool for your business.

For more information about The BI Survey 10, visit The BI Survey website

The BI Survey 10 - Results Available Now

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:45:07 +0100

The results from The BI Survey 10, BARC's influential annual survey of business intelligence end-users, are now available.

This year, from a total sample of nearly 3,000 responses, 2,262 end-users and consultants answered a series of detailed questions on their usage of a named BI product.

The BI Survey 10 collates these experiences to deliver the ultimate review of twenty-six of the leading products on the market.

Click here to find out more about The BI Survey 10. The website includes a free preview and a list of the BI products included this year.

The Dashboard Verdict by Wayne Eckerson

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:52:50 +0100

The Dashboard Verdict is a brand new report from BARC written by the internationally respected BI industry analyst, Wayne Eckerson.

It is available as a standalone PDF report or as part of The BI Verdict subscription package.

The report comes in two sections:

An overview outlining how the many dashboard tools on the market can be categorized, enabling you to quickly draw up a shortlist of products that match your business requirements.

Reviews of six of the leading products: Domo Technologies CenterView (formerly Corda), iDashboards, Information Builders WebFOCUS, QlikTech QlikView, SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and Tableau.

To buy The Dashboard Verdict or to find out how it can help your tool selection project, visit our website.

BI Verdict subscribers can access The Dashboard Verdict by clicking here and logging in.

New: Formatting Reports in Business Intelligence Tools

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:07:05 +0100

Not all BI products are alike. Reporting and analysis tools offer a range of methods for defining report formats. This document helps you choose the right product to fit your needs by improving your understanding of the way formatting works.

Click here to read 'Formatting Reports in Business Intelligence Tools' now

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

New Product Review: Microsoft PowerPivot

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:42:48 +0100

Barney Finucane, The BI Verdict's senior analyst, asseses PowerPivot, Microsoft's in-memory, column-oriented analysis tool.

With its Excel-styled interface and DAX language (Microsoft emphasises that users need not learn MDX), PowerPivot is aimed firmly at business — rather than IT — users.

Click here for a sneak preview. BI Verdict subscribers can click here to read the full review.

Microsoft PowerPivot Product Review
Table of Contents:

Microsoft enters the self-service database market
- Microsoft’s go to market strategy
Architecture
- Data storage capacity
PowerPivot in a larger context
- PowerPivot and Analysis Services
- Business logic with PowerPivot
- PowerPivot in SharePoint
- Reporting from PowerPivot models
Conclusions

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

New Factbase: BOARD 7.2

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:18:47 +0100

New Factbase: BOARD 7.2

Delivered in easy-to-read spreadsheet format, this new factbase from The BI Verdict runs the rule over BOARD 7.2 with an emphasis on its data handling, planning and analysis capabilities.

Initially based in Switzerland, BOARD now has a global network of offices and resellers.

Read in conjunction with our product review and Customer Verdict — subscribers to The BI Verdict can now benefit from a comprehensive set of impartial information on BOARD's product offering.

For more information, click here.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

Update: Business Intelligence Mergers and Acquisitions

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:40:26 +0100

Update: Business Intelligence Mergers and Acquisitions

Our long-running and continually updated commentary on mergers, acquisitions and consolidations in the BI industry is now bang up-to-date with the news that Corda Technologies has been acquired by new start-up, Shacho.

Click here to read Business Intelligence Mergers and Acquisitions now

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

The BI Survey 10 - Ending soon

Thu, 26 May 2011 14:24:39 +0100

The BI Survey 10 - Ending soon

Fieldwork for The BI Survey 10 will be ending soon. If you have a few minutes to spare, we would love you to share your views on the BI product of your choice.

Click here to take part

Your answers will only be used anonymously, and your personal details will never be passed on to vendors or other third parties.

Who should participate?

Business and technical users of BI products, as well as business intelligence vendors and consultants.

Receive a free summary of the findings

In return for your participation, you will:
— Receive a summary of the survey results
— Be entered into a draw to win one of ten $50 Amazon vouchers
— Ensure that your experiences are included in the final analyses

Share your experiences

This is your unique chance to benchmark the experiences of your organization against hundreds of others.

The majority of the Survey relates to your usage of the BI product with which you are most familiar, enabling us to analyze and compare the most popular BI products on the market in detail.

Click here for more information about The BI Survey 9, last year's edition.

Choosing BI Software Part 3: Evaluating and Selecting BI Software

Tue, 10 May 2011 11:42:07 +0100

Choosing BI Software Part 3:
Evaluating and Selecting BI Software

The concluding part in our 'Choosing BI Software' series deals with the process of evaluating and selecting business intelligence products for your organization.

Once your shortlist is in place we recommend a number of key steps in the formal selection process to maximize the success of your project, and impart some top tips to take on board when dealing with software vendors.

Written by Barney Finucane, a senior analyst and experienced BI product selection consultant at BARC, this is must-read information for any company embarking on a BI tool selection project.

Non-subscribers can preview this analysis here and BI Verdict subscribers can read the full analysis here.

The 'Choosing BI Software' series is available to subscribers of our entry-level subscription, The BI Market Guide and — of course — as part of a full subscription to The BI Verdict.

See also:

Part 1: First Steps in Software Selection

Part 2: Assessing Needs for a Business Intelligence Project

New Product Review: IBM Cognos Business Intelligence V10.1

Thu, 05 May 2011 17:57:56 +0100

New Product Review: IBM Cognos Business Intelligence V10.1

IBM's first major new release of the Cognos BI suite goes under the microscope in the latest business intelligence product review from The BI Verdict.

Click here for a sneak preview. BI Verdict subscribers can click here to read the full review.

Cognos 10 Product Review
Table of Contents:

Product overview
- Cognos and IBM
- Components
Accessing data
- Data Modeling
- Multidimensional data sources
- Modeling tools for less technical users
- Caching and performance
Reporting
- Distributing reports
- Active reports
- Ad hoc reporting analysis and dashboards
- Standard reporting
- Office integration
Conclusions
- Similar products
- Strengths
- Weaknesses

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

Choosing BI Software Part 2: Assessing Needs

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:01:59 +0100

Choosing BI Software Part 2:
Assessing needs for a business intelligence project

We regularly come across companies who admit that their BI purchases have been driven by the quality of the vendor's sales and marketing, not the appropriateness of the product.

Part two in our 'Choosing BI Software' series will help you ensure that the focus of your tool selection project stays firmly on the needs your organization.

Non-subscribers can preview this analysis here and BI Verdict subscribers can read the full analysis here.

'Assessing needs for a business intelligence project' is available to subscribers of our entry-level subscription, The BI Market Guide and — of course — as part of a full subscription to The BI Verdict.

See also:

Part 1: First Steps in Software Selection

Part 3: Evaluating and Selecting BI Software

New Guide to Choosing BI Software - Part 1

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:29:41 +0100

New Guide to Choosing BI Software
Part 1: First Steps in Software Selection

The first installment in a new three part series on choosing the right BI solution for your organization focuses on the early stages of your project.

Assembling the project team and compiling a shortlist are just two of the challenges addressed in this enlightening new analysis by Barney Finucane.

Non-subscribers can preview this analysis here and BI Verdict subscribers can read the full analysis here.

'First steps in software selection' is available to subscribers of our entry-level subscription, The BI Market Guide and — of course — as part of a full subscription to The BI Verdict.

See also:

Part 2: Assessing Needs for a Business Intelligence Project

Part 3: Evaluating and Selecting BI Software

The BI Survey 10

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:22:17 +0100

We would like to invite you to participate in The BI Survey 10, the world's largest annual survey of business intelligence (BI) and performance management (PM) users.

Please click here to take part.

Who should participate?

Business and technical users of BI products, as well as business intelligence vendors and consultants.

Receive a free summary of the findings

In return for your participation, you will:
— Receive a summary of the survey results
— Be entered into a draw to win one of ten $50 Amazon vouchers
— Ensure that your experiences are included in the final analyses

Share your experiences

This is your unique chance to benchmark the experiences of your organization against hundreds of others.

The majority of the Survey relates to your usage of the BI product with which you are most familiar, enabling us to analyze and compare the most popular BI products on the market in detail.

Privacy

Your answers will only be used anonymously, and your personal details will never be passed on to vendors or other third parties.

Click here for more information about The BI Survey 9, last year's edition.

New: SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Portfolio

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:59:21 +0000

New: SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Portfolio

When SAP completed the acquisition of Business Objects back in 2008, it had a several layers of overlap in its portfolio. Three years and a few painful decision down the line, its BI product strategy now appears a lot clearer.

This guide provides a high-level overview of SAP BusinessObjects' offerings in the BI space, including expert commentary on its current range of Data Management, Data Storage, Application Server, BI and Performance Management products.

Non-subscribers can click here for a sneak preview. Subscribers can read the full analysis here.

'SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Portfolio' is available to subscribers of our entry level subscription, The BI Market Guide and — of course — as part of a full subscription to The BI Verdict.

New Analysis: Standard vs Best-of-Breed

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 14:07:01 +0000

New Analysis: Standard vs Best-of-Breed

In this new analysis for The BI Verdict, Barney Finucane explores the arguments around the perennial debate over whether to standardize on a single BI vendor, or deploy best-of-breed solutions from various business intelligence vendors.

Considerations discussed include licensing issues, vendor relationships and trainings & support implications.

Non-subscribers can click here for a sneak preview while BI Verdict subscribers can read the full analysis here.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

New: A Guide to Oracle BI

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:10:12 +0000

New: A Guide to Oracle BI

This new commentary from The BI Verdict offers up an excellent overview of Oracle's extensive BI stack, which has been assembled almost entirely by acquisition.

The commentary describes the key areas of the portfolio on a product-by-product basis and delivers our informed opinion on the future prospects of the products in terms of Oracle's overall BI strategy.

This is required reading for current Oracle BI customers, as well as anyone currently considering investing in an Oracle business intelligence solution.

Non-subscribers can click here for a sneak preview. Subscribers can read the full analysis here.

It is available to subscribers of our entry level subscription, The BI Market Guide and — of course — as part of a full subscription to The BI Verdict.

New Analysis: BIaaS - Business Intelligence as a Service

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:11:11 +0000

New Analysis: BIaaS - Business Intelligence as a Service

With cloud computing hot on everyone's lips at the moment, Barney Finucane looks at some of the key factors to take into account when considering deploying Business Intelligence as a service.

For a quick preview, click here.

Subscribers can read the full analysis here

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

New Analysis: Business Intelligence and Unstructured Data

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:22:46 +0000

New Analysis: Business Intelligence and Unstructured Data

Available now to BI Verdict subscribers, this latest analysis looks at how BI tools can be used to analyze your organization's unstructured data.

For a quick preview, click here.

Subscribers can read the full analysis here

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

New Analysis: SAP BW Open Hub Service

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 12:22:16 +0000

New Analysis: SAP BW Open Hub Service

An overview of SAP's Open Hub Service, an optional add-in that enables users to extract data from BW. This is a must-read for anyone considering a move to SAP BW.

This new analysis is available exclusively to BI Verdict subscribers.

For more information, click here.

Subscribers can read the full analysis here

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

The BI Survey 9 - Seminar with Barney Finucane & Nigel Pendse

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:00:34 +0100

The BI Survey 9 - Seminar with Nigel Pendse & Barney Finucane

Venue: One Great George Street, Westminster, London, UK
Date: Thursday 10th February, 2011 - 9.30am - 5.00pm
Price: Free (requires registration)

Thorogood Associates will be hosting a free morning seminar on the latest developments in the BI market on 10th February, 2011.

In the morning Barney Finucane, lead author of The BI Survey 9 and The BI Verdict, will be presenting results and analysis from The BI Survey 9.

And the afternoon session features a Q&A session with Nigel Pendse, world-renowned market expert and author of the first eight editions of The OLAP Survey/The BI Survey.

For more information and to register for this one-off event, click here or contact Libby Kemp on +44 (0)20 8231 0810

The BI Survey 9 is the leading vendor-independent annual report on the business intelligence market and provides essential market information and research-based advice to:

Organizations planning — or embarking on — a BI selection project;

Consultants working in the area of business intelligence; and

Business intelligence software vendors of all sizes

For more information, follow these links:

The BI Survey 9 — an overview
Free preview: Download a free chapter
Chapter-by-chapter summary of The BI Survey 9
The BI Survey 9 — Table of contents

The BI Survey summary updated

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:19:47 +0000

The BI Survey summary updated

The BI Verdict has now been updated with a summary of the key findings from The BI Survey 9, available to full subscribers.

The BI Survey 9 is the latest edition of the world's most detailed annual survey-based report on the business intelligence software market.

In The Survey, respondents were asked general questions about their product selection and implementation projects followed by a series of detailed questions regarding their selection and usage of a BI product nominated by each respondent.

The report analyzes the level of business benefits achieved by products and strategies across a wide range of criteria, based on 2170 detailed responses from BI end-users and consultants.

As well as revealing the strategies that lead to the most successful BI implementations, the report homes in on the strengths and weaknesses of the 23 products which attracted the most survey responses.

In The BI Survey 9, the following products are analyzed in detail:

arcplan Enterprise
Bissantz Deltamaster
BOARD MIT
Cubeware Cockpit
IBI WebFOCUS
IBM Cognos Analysis
IBM Cognos Reporting
IBM TM1
Infor PM OLAP
Jedox Palo
Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services
MicroStrategy
MIK solution+
Oracle BIEE/BISEO
Oracle Hyperion Essbase
Pentaho BI Suite
QlikTech QlikView
SAP BusinessObjects Desktop Intelligence
SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence
SAP BEx Analyzer
SAP BW
SAS Institute Enterprise Guide & Web Report Studio
Targit Analysis

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

New Factbase: MicroStrategy

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:04:03 +0000

New Factbase: MicroStrategy 9.0.2

The latest factbase from our experienced BI analyst team focuses on MicroStrategy.

Delivered in easy-to-read spreadsheet format, it includes feature-by-feature product notes from our expert analyst team as well as scores for around 40 individual criteria.

For any BI project team considering a MicroStrategy implementation, this factbase — read in conjunction with our MicroStrategy product review and Customer Verdict — will give you an excellent, impartial set of vendor-independent information to support your product selection decision.

This factbase is exclusively available to BI Verdict subscribers.

For more information, click here.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

New Product Review: BOARD

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:58:36 +0000

New Product Review: BOARD

This brand new review from The BI Verdict focuses on version 7.2 of the combined BI and performance management product from Swiss vendor, BOARD.

A product which often comes up against IBM Cognos TM1 and QlikView in competes, BOARD 7.2 ships with its own multidimensional database server and the user interface to go with it.

The review is available now to BI Verdict subscribers. Click here for more information.

BOARD Product Review
Table of Contents:

Product Overview
Licensing
Architecture & administration
- Rights
- Metadata
Front-ends
- Standard reporting
- Ad hoc reporting
- Planning
- Charts
Conclusions and scores
- Similar products
- Strengths
- Weaknesses

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

Now Updated: The KPI Dashboards

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 17:25:14 +0100

Now Updated: The KPI Dashboards

33 new KPI Dashboards from The BI Survey 9 are now available online to BI Verdict subscribers.

Each KPI Dashboard focuses on a single KPI (eg. product reliability, support quality etc) and compares the BI Survey results of 23 leading products in an easy-to-read chart.

The updated KPI Dashboards are based on the following measures:

1. Business Benefits Index (BBI)
2. Goal achievement, adjusted for age
3. Competitive win rate
4. Prevalence rates in multi-product sites
5. Intention to buy more licenses
6. Renewal rates
7. Proportion of employees using product
8. Range of applications deployed
9. Number of departments served
10. Data volumes
11. Cost of Ownership Index
12. Deployed seats per administrator head
13. Applications per administrator
14. Business functions per administrator
15. Implemented within three months
16. Freedom from product-related problems
17. Product-related deterrents to wider deployment
18. Product reliability
19. Product support quality
20. Query performance complaints
21. Query performance, adjusted for data volumes
22. Data latency, adjusted for data volumes
23. Data latency as a deterrent to wider deployment
24. Web deployment
25. Extranets deployed

There is also a series of aggregated KPI Dashboards which combines the results of two or more of the above KPIs. These cover:

Business Achievement
Costs
Scalability
Quality and Support
Performance
Loyalty
Web
Overall KPI Score

Click here to visit The BI Verdict website and find out more about the KPI Dashboards, or here to read about the methodology behind the KPI Dashboards.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

Now Updated: The Customer Verdicts

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:58:57 +0100

Now Updated: The Customer Verdicts

The BI Verdict's Customer Verdict dashboards have now been updated for the 23 products analyzed in detail in The BI Survey 9.

Each Customer Verdict gives a product snapshot of the results of The BI Survey 9 based on 25 key criteria. These measures include competitive win rate, goals achieved, proportion of employees using product, data volumes, product-related problems, product reliability and support quality.

The updated Customer Verdicts cover the following products:

arcplan Enterprise
Bissantz Deltamaster
BOARD MIT
Cubeware Cockpit
IBI WebFOCUS
IBM Cognos Analysis
IBM Cognos Reporting
IBM TM1
Infor PM OLAP
Jedox Palo
Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services
MicroStrategy
MIK solution+
Oracle BIEE/BISEO
Oracle Hyperion Essbase
Pentaho BI Suite
QlikTech QlikView
SAP BusinessObjects Desktop Intelligence
SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence
SAP BEx Analyzer
SAP BW
SAS Institute Enterprise Guide & Web Report Studio
Targit Analysis

You can find out more about how the Customer Verdicts are calculated here.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

Out Now: 'The BI Survey 9 - The Customer Verdict'

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:14:58 +0100

The BI Survey 9, the latest edition of the world's largest annual survey of business intelligence software users is now available for purchase.

Based on detailed feedback from 2665 survey responses, The BI Survey 9 presents a wealth of findings and incisive commentary on areas such as:

The best (and worst BI products) across 25 key criteria

Factors proven to lead to the most successful BI implementations

End-user satisfaction with vendor support quality

The most commonly-cited problems associated with BI deployments

The BI Survey 9 is the leading vendor-independent annual report on the business intelligence market and provides essential market information and research-based advice to:

Organizations planning — or embarking on — a BI selection project;

Consultants working in the area of business intelligence; and

Business intelligence software vendors of all sizes

For more information, follow these links:

The BI Survey 9 — an overview
Free preview: Download a free chapter
Chapter-by-chapter summary of The BI Survey 9
The BI Survey 9 — Table of contents

The BI Survey 9: Pre-order your copy now

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:09:42 +0100

The BI Survey 9 presents results and analysis from the world’s largest and most thorough vendor-independent survey of business intelligence users and consultants.

This annual report, due to be published on 1st September, gives a detailed snapshot of the business intelligence market based on over 2000 survey responses.

It contains more than 250 pages packed with fresh findings, charts and insightful analysis from BARC’s team of experienced BI analysts, and will enable readers to:

Quickly discover the strengths and weaknesses of 23 leading business intelligence products

Find out which vendors offer the best (and worst) performance, product reliability and support

By discovering product weaknesses, strengthen your negotiating position with vendors

Learn what makes for a successful tool selection and implementation project

Understand the hidden costs of BI ownership - license fees are often just the tip of the iceberg

If you are planning, or embarking on, a business intelligence selection project, The BI Survey 9 will provide you with key product and market information to support your decision. And for organizations operating in the BI industry, it is absolutely essential reading.

The BI Survey 9 - an overview

What In-Memory BI Revolution?

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:26:50 +0100

What In-Memory BI Revolution?

Nigel Pendse's commentary on the current revival of in-memory BI tools has now been updated.

Started by smaller specialist vendors such as QlikTech, the wave of euphoria surrounding in-memory BI has since prompted the likes of SAP, IBM and Microsoft to jump on the bandwagon.

In this commentary for The BI Verdict, Nigel Pendse takes a step back to explain the facts and debunk some of the hype about in-memory BI.

Click here to read the commentary now. This piece is part of the free section of The BI Verdict.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

The BI Market Guide - Now updated

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:24:02 +0100

The BI Market Guide - Now updated

The BI Market Guide, our essential guide to BI project success, is now available for purchase as a newly-updated standalone PDF report.

Comprising 85 pages of incisive research and invaluable information, The BI Market Guide will help you through the early stages of your tool selection project and give you a sound overview of the BI software market.

It features ten chapters from the Analyses section of The BI Verdict:

The BI Market Segment Guide

Top 21 tips for BI success

How not to buy a BI product

The Factbase - a BI software evaluation template

The Future Product Strategy of SAP+Business Objects

Oracle+Hyperion

Oracle's BI Product Strategy

The Product Strategy of SAS

Microsoft's BI Product Strategy

Vendor Strategy Guide: IBM Cognos

Click here to download the full, detailed table of contents.

To download a free preview, click here

For more information about The BI Market Guide, click here.

New Product Review: SAP BPC

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:40:54 +0100

New Product Review: SAP BPC

A fresh look at the former OutlookSoft product now known as BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation.

There are two versions of this product which run on Microsoft Analysis Services and SAP Netweaver respectively. This review focuses mainly on BPC 7.5 for NetWeaver.

The review is available now to BI Verdict subscribers. Click here for more information.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
- Product history
- Product versions
- SAP's planning tools
- Platform
Creating a data model
- Data import
- Data modeling
Planning
- Planning process
- Planning features
- Planning sheet design
Presentation and analysis
Conclusion

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

New Vendor Strategy Guide: IBM Cognos

Tue, 04 May 2010 16:33:10 +0100

New Vendor Strategy Guide: IBM Cognos

Following on from the guides we have already published on SAP BusinessObjects, Oracle Hyperion, Microsoft and SAS, the latest in our series of vendor strategy guides looks at IBM Cognos.

It was IBM's acquisition of Cognos that triggered a frenzy of takeover activity in the BI market back in 2007.

This vendor strategy guide looks at the progress of Cognos' integration into IBM and discusses the future prospects of some of IBM's key BI products including:

TM1

Report Studio

Query Studio

Analysis Studio

Cognos Planning

SPSS

Cognos PowerPlay

Click here for more information.

Subscribers can click here to access.

This new analysis is available now to subscribers of our low-priced entry level subscription, The BI Market Guide.

It is also available as part of a full subscription to The BI Verdict.

New Product Review: SAS BI

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:35:34 +0100

New Product Review: SAS BI

Following on from our vendor strategy guide to SAS Institute comes this new vendor-independent review of the current business intelligence offerings from SAS Institute.

The review is available now to BI Verdict subscribers and focuses principally on:

Enterprise Guide - A Windows client application for creating and publishing SAS-based content

Web Report Studio - A Web based tool targeted at information consumers for creating simple self-service reports

Click here for more information.

Table of Contents:

Product overview
- Licensing
Architecture and administration
- Security and distribution
- Metadata
- Information Maps
Front-ends
- Web Report Studio
SAS Web OLAP Viewer for Java
- SAS add-in for Microsoft Office
- Standard reports
- Dashboards
Charts
- JMP
- Analysis
Conclusions
- Similar Products
- Strengths
- Weaknesses

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

Microsoft's BI Strategy

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 10:43:28 +0100

New Analysis: Microsoft's BI Strategy

In the latest in our series of business intelligence vendor strategy guides, The BI Verdict's team of experienced analysts puts Microsoft under the microscope.

Click here for more information.

Subscribers can click here to access.

This new analysis is available now to subscribers of our low-priced entry level subscription, The BI Market Guide.

It is also available as part of a full subscription to The BI Verdict.

New Factbase: SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC)

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:36:17 +0100

New Factbase: SAP BusinessObjects Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) - version 7.5

An all-new factbase on SAP BPC (the former OutlookSoft product).

It includes feature-by-feature notes as well as scores for around 30 criteria, providing essential reading for any organization considering an SAP BPC implementation.

This factbase is exclusively available to BI Verdict subscribers.

For more information, click here.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

The BI Market Guide - Now available in PDF

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:12:33 +0000

The BI Market Guide - Now available in PDF

The BI Market Guide, our low-priced starter-level subscription, is now available for purchase as a standalone PDF report.

Comprising 75 pages of incisive research and invaluable information, The BI Market Guide will help you through the early stages of your tool selection project and give you a sound overview of the BI software market.

The BI Market Guide is split into three sections, each packed with mission-critical information and top-notch advice on the BI market space:

The BI Market Segment Guide - An authoritative breakdown of the BI market to help narrow your shortlist down to the appropriate products

Best Practice Tool Selection & Implementation - A wealth of proven tips for a successful BI project. Includes BARC's BI software evaluation template.

Vendor Strategy Guides - Must-read assessments of the current BI strategies being adopted by Oracle, SAP and SAS

For more information about The BI Market Guide, including a free preview, click here.

Click here to download the table of contents of The BI Market Guide.

New Analysis: Business Intelligence and Web Front-ends

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:55:49 +0000

New Analysis: Business Intelligence and Web Front-ends

The rapid evolution of the Web has brought with it a re-evaluation of how software is delivered and used. Inevitably, Web-based BI deployments are becoming more commonplace as a result.

However, The BI Survey has shown in recent years that this upturn is not commensurate with previously predicted levels or, indeed, the surrounding vendor hype.

This new article examines the issues and presents:

the lowdown on the most significant developments in Web technologies

the pros and cons of Web-based BI deployments

the main issues to be kept in mind when selecting a Web-based business intelligence tool

a brief guide to the most common Web formats in use

This analysis is available exclusively to subscribers to The BI Verdict.

For more information, click here.

Subscribers can click here to access the full article.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

New Analysis: Relational Databases

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:49:40 +0000

New Analysis: Relational Databases

The original concept of the relational database was first defined by Ted Codd some 40 years ago and, since the 1980s, it has emerged as the most commonly deployed database system.

Read this new analysis to find out about:

the basic principles of relational databases

reasons behind the success of the relational database

data warehouses and data marts

the practical pros and cons of relational databases

the distinction between row-based and columnar databases

This analysis is available exclusively to subscribers to The BI Verdict.

For more information, click here.

Subscribers can click here to access the full article.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

The BI Survey 9 - Last Call

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:52:04 +0000

The BI Survey 9 - Last Call

Fieldwork for The BI Survey 9 ends on 31st January -- that's this Sunday -- so time is running out if you want to take part in the world's largest independent survey of business intelligence implementations.

As a thank you for contributing your experiences to this project, all participants will:

receive a summary of the research findings;

be entered into a prize draw to win one of ten $50 Amazon vouchers; and

ensure that your experiences are included in the final survey results

Please click here to participate. The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete.

We welcome feedback from business AND technical users of BI products. Consultants are also invited to take part by providing feedback on a single project carried out with a client.

All data will be treated anonymously and in aggregate form only, so individuals will not be identified in the results. Furthermore, none of your personal details will be passed on to vendors or other third parties.

To learn more about The BI Survey, click here

New Mini-Review: LogiXML

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:55:25 +0000

New Mini-Review: LogiXML

The first in a series of mini-reviews covering lesser-known business intelligence products and vendors.

This review looks at LogiXML, a Virginia-based vendor founded in 2000.

Its products, designed to be modular yet integrated, include:

Logi Info — A 'managed reporting' tool

Logi Ad Hoc — An ad hoc reporting application

Logi ETL — A web-based data integration platform for ETL

Click here to find out more

Interview with Nigel Pendse

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:22:59 +0000

Interview with Nigel Pendse

Here's a link to a recent interview with Nigel Pendse, editor of The BI Verdict.

The interview was published yesterday by one of the business intelligence industry's most prolific bloggers, Mark Rittman.

It makes for some very interesting reading, including some of Nigel's thoughts on recent trends and innovations in the BI industry.

New Product Review: QlikTech QlikView 9

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:11:08 +0000

New Product Review: QlikTech QlikView 9

Hot on the heels of our updated QlikView factbase, we bring you a new product review of QlikTech's QlikView 9, the ad hoc reporting and analysis tool based on in-memory technology.

Our coverage of QlikView now comprises:

Product Review - a detailed review written by our team of experienced analysts, based on tests carried out in our software lab.

Factbase - feature-by-feature product scores accompanied by additional notes and commentary.

Customer Verdict - a bullet-chart based on the results of the world's largest and most detailed annual survey of BI users, enabling you to quickly identify QlikView's strengths and weaknesses.

KPI Dashboards - a series of snapshots comparing QlikView with over twenty market-leading products across 26 key metrics.

This product review is available now to BI Verdict subscribers.

QlikTech QlikView 9 Product Review - Table of Contents:

Product Overview
- Licensing
Architecture and administration
- Rights
- Loading Data
- Metadata
Front Ends
- Standard reporting
- Ad hoc reporting
- Dashboards
- Charts
- Scripting
Common misconceptions
Conclusions and scores
- Similar products
- Strengths and weaknesses

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

MicroStrategy product review updated

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:12:09 +0000

MicroStrategy product review updated

Along with SAS, MicroStrategy is now one of the two largest pure-play BI vendors remaining.

Pioneer of the term ROLAP, describing the relational OLAP architecture of its platform, MicroStrategy has built up a reputation for handling large data volumes. Accordingly, its key verticals have emerged as the retail, telco and finance sectors.

This updated product review cements The BI Verdict's unrivalled level of coverage of MicroStrategy's BI Platform.

For any organization currently considering investing in MicroStrategy technology, The BI Verdict offers an indispensable series of vendor-independent product evaluations of both MicroStrategy and competing BI solutions:

Product Review - a detailed review written by our team of experienced analysts, based on tests carried out in our software lab.

Factbase - feature-by-feature product scores accompanied by additional notes and commentary.

Customer Verdict - a bullet-chart based on the results of the world's largest and most detailed annual survey of BI users, enabling you to quickly identify MicroStrategy's strengths and weaknesses.

KPI Dashboards - a series of snapshots comparing MicroStrategy with over twenty market-leading products across 26 key metrics.

This product review is available to BI Verdict subscribers only.

MicroStrategy 9 Product Review - Table of Contents:

Product overview
Components
Licensing
Administration
Metadata
Performance
Reporting
Standard reporting
Ad hoc reporting
Analysis
Charts
Office integration
Summary
Similar products
Strengths and weaknesses

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

New Analysis: Semantic Metadata in Reporting Tools

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:57:54 +0000

New Analysis: Semantic Metadata in Reporting Tools

A discussion of semantic (or metadata) layers, an idea originally patented by Business Objects in 1996. Since then, a number of leading BI vendors have developed the concept.

This article gives an overview of the way in which four of the leading BI vendors use semantic layers:

SAP BusinessObjects

MicroStrategy

IBM Cognos

Oracle

This analysis is available exclusively to subscribers to The BI Verdict.

For more information, click here.

Subscribers can click here to access the full article.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

Cognos 8 BI Factbase Newly Updated

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:27:31 +0000

Cognos 8 BI Factbase Newly Updated

Our Cognos 8 BI Factbase has now been updated to include coverage of four components of the IBM-owned BI suite:

Report Studio

Analysis Studio

CAFE (Cognos Analysis for Excel)

Go! Dashboard

Each tool is evaluated on a feature-by-feature basis and awarded scores according to its rating on over twenty key criteria.

For more information about The BI Verdict's coverage of Cognos 8 BI, click here.

This factbase is available to BI Verdict subscribers only.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

New Factbase: Oracle Hyperion Planning

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:59:17 +0000

New Factbase: Oracle Hyperion Planning - Version 11.1.1.2.0

Originally developed by Arbor, Hyperion Planning lives on following a recent change in ownership. Now under Oracle, who bought Hyperion principally for its financial applications, Hyperion Planning appears to have a secure future.

This Factbase, delivered in spreadsheet format, includes scores and notes on over 60 criteria. It is exclusively available to BI Verdict subscribers.

For more information, click here.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

New Product Review: Infor PM 10

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:51:11 +0000

New Product Review: Infor PM 10

Infor PM 10 is a business intelligence product line based around former MIS/Systems Union and GEAC/Comshare products. This review focuses primarily on two components of Infor PM 10:

Infor PM Application Studio (formerly MIS OnVision) — A development environment for Web based planning and analysis applications; and

Infor PM Office Plus (formerly MIS Plain) — An Excel analysis add-in

For more information, click here.

This product review is available to BI Verdict subscribers only.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

Microsoft BI Factbase

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:01:39 +0000

New Microsoft BI Factbase

Our latest Factbase focuses on three products from the Microsoft BI stack:

Reporting Services

Dashboard Designer

Excel 2007

The three tools are evaluated on a feature-by-feature basis and each product is then awarded scores according to its rating on over twenty key criteria (eg. security, charting features, development flexibility and many others).

For more information, click here.

This factbase is available to BI Verdict subscribers only.

The BI Verdict is the most comprehensive report available on BI technologies, vendors and products.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here. You can click here to browse the full list of premium content available to subscribers.

New Factbase: SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence XI V3

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:08:56 +0000

New Factbase: SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence

Web Intelligence is the cornerstone of the Business Objects front-end, offering easy-to-use ad hoc query and reporting on the BusinessObjects universe metadata layer.

This all-new factbase puts 'WebI' under the microscope. We assess the product on a feature-by-feature basis and score the product on around 20 criteria.

If your organization is considering investing in Web Intelligence, this factbase will be of great value in helping you evaluate the product and compare it with competing tools.

For more information, click here.

This factbase is available to BI Verdict subscribers only.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

New Factbase: SAP BEx Analyzer

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:03:37 +0000

New Factbase: SAP BEx Analyzer

SAP's BEx Analyzer is the primary tool provided by SAP for analysis on SAP BW.

Check out our feature-by-feature analysis of BEx and find out how our team of analysts rated the product in this all-new Factbase, delivered in spreadsheet format.

For more information, click here.

This factbase is available to BI Verdict subscribers only.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

QlikView Factbase updated

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:14:15 +0000

QlikView Factbase updated

Our comprehensive coverage of QlikTech's QlikView is now updated to include a new factbase focused on QlikView version 9.0. The factbase is provided in spreadsheet format, and gives you a feature-by-feature assessment of the product — including scores based on dozens of criteria.

For more information, click here.

This factbase is available to BI Verdict subscribers only.

To find out more about The BI Verdict, or to purchase a subscription, click here.

Be a part of The BI Survey 9 and get a summary of the findings

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:10:31 +0000

We would like to encourage you to take part in The BI Survey 9, the world's largest annual survey of business intelligence (BI) and performance management (PM) users.

Both business and technical users, as well as vendors and consultants, are welcome to participate.

As a participant, you will:

— Receive a summary of the results from the full survey
— Be entered into a draw to win one of ten $50 Amazon vouchers
— Ensure that your experiences are included in the final analyses

Please click here to participate.

This is your unique chance to benchmark the experiences of your organization against hundreds of others.

The majority of the Survey relates to your usage of the BI product of your choice, enabling us to analyze and compare the most popular BI products on the market in detail. In turn, you will receive a summary containing many of the product-specific findings from the Survey.

The BI Survey has always adopted a vendor-independent stance. While vendors assist by inviting users to participate in the Survey, we do not accept vendor sponsorship of the Survey, and the results are analyzed and published without any vendor involvement.

Please note that your answers will only be used anonymously, and your personal details will never be passed on to vendors or other third parties.

The survey runs until 31st December and should take about 15 minutes to complete.

Many thanks in advance.

New Product Review & Factbase: Cubeware Cockpit V6pro

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:25:17 +0000

New Product Review & Factbase: Cubeware Cockpit V6pro

New to The BI Verdict, we now have a Cubeware Cockpit product review and Factbase to supplement our existing Customer Verdict dashboard.

Click here to find out more

Subscribers can access the review and Factbase here.

If your organization is embarking on a BI project, click here to find out more about the benefits of subscribing to The BI Verdict.

Cubeware Cockpit V6pro product review
- Table of contents:

Product overview
Licensing
Architecture and administration
Rights
Metadata
Front-ends
Standard reporting
Ad hoc reporting
Planning
Charts
Conclusions and scores
Similar products
Strengths and weaknesses

New Analysis: The Product Strategy of SAS

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:28:49 +0000

New Analysis: The Product Strategy of SAS

Carsten Bange, CEO and founder of BARC, examines the recent product strategy of the largest remaining privately owned BI vendor.

SAS has differentiated itself from larger competitors in the BI space by placing a greater focus on specialist vertical and horizontal solutions. This article looks more closely at the SAS BI portfolio and reveals some of the future plans on the Cary-based vendor's roadmap.

Subscribers can click here to access.

This new analysis is available now to subscribers of our all-new entry level subscription, The BI Market Guide.

It is also available as part of a full subscription to The BI Verdict.

The OLAP Report steps down. The BI Verdict takes over

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:39:10 +0000

The OLAP Report steps down. The BI Verdict takes over

The BI Verdict is now the new name for The OLAP Report.

Written by BARC's team of experienced business intelligence software analysts, The BI Verdict is the most thorough single source of information for BI consultants and buyers of BI products.

New to The BI Verdict:

- We are now offering an entry-level subscription - The BI Market Guide - designed to steer you through the early stages of your tool selection project. Click here for more information.

- A full subscription to The BI Verdict now gives you even more than before. As well as gaining access to detailed product evaluations, market analyses and best practice tool selection advice, there's a wealth of new content previously only available to annual buyers of The BI Survey.

Visit the website to find out more.

New Review and Factbase: SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:50:57 +0100

New Review and Factbase: SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius

Our latest update for OLAP Report subscribers focuses on Xcelsius from SAP BusinessObjects.

This product review is accompanied by a factbase, a feature-by-feature assessment of the product including scores based on dozens of criteria.

Click here for more information

OLAP Report subscribers can access the product review here.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

Review contents:

Product overview
Licensing
Architecture and administration
Data sources
Conclusions
Factbase
Similar products
Strengths and weaknesses

New Factbase: IBM Cognos TM1 for planning

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:24:30 +0100

New Factbase: IBM Cognos TM1 for planning

Hot on the heels of our updated review of IBM Cognos TM1 9.4 comes an all-new factbase. OLAP Report analyst, Barney Finucane, evaluates TM1 as a planning tool, assessing the product on over 60 separate criteria including scores (out of 10) for over 40 criteria.

For more information, click here.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to download the factbase.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

Just updated: IBM Cognos TM1 9.4 review

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:30:10 +0100

Just updated: IBM Cognos TM1 9.4 review

Our vendor-independent review of TM1, the in-memory OLAP platform for financial and planning applications, has been updated to cover version 9.4. Now under the ownership of IBM, TM1's integration with Cognos 8 BI continues apace — the signs are that TM1 is prospering under new ownership.

For more information, click here.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full product review.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

IBM Cognos TM1 9.4 review: Table of contents

Vendor overview
History
Integration
Product commercial issues
Previous releases
Pricing
Database structure and capacity
Architecture and platforms
Data access functionality
Calculation functionality
Reporting flexibility
TM1 Web
Cognos 8
Automatic detection of exceptions
Time series intelligence
Currency support
Security and DBMS issues
End-user human factors
Application building features
Performance
Conclusions and scores

Review author: Nigel Pendse

New Commentary: What in-memory BI 'revolution'?

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:43:21 +0100

New Commentary: What in-memory BI 'revolution'?

The BI industry is awash with vendor claims of 'revolutionary', 'next generation' in-memory BI tools at the moment.

In this new commentary for The OLAP Report, Nigel Pendse takes a step back to explain the facts and debunk some of the hype about in-memory BI.

Read the full commentary here

Cognos 8 BI Review Updated

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:44:33 +0100

Cognos 8 BI Review Updated

Our review of Cognos 8 BI has now been updated to cover version 8.4.

For more information, including some good news for PowerPlay users, click here.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full product review.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

Cognos 8 BI review: Table of contents

Cognos 8 BI overview
Components
Licensing
Cognos 8 Per User Price list
Administration
Metadata
Reporting
Distributing Reports
Ad hoc Reporting and Analysis
Dashboards
Standard Reporting
Office Integration
Summary
Similar products
Strengths
Weaknesses

Authors: Steffen Vierkorn & Barney Finucane

Top 21 Tips for BI Success

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:06:47 +0100

Top 21 Tips for BI Success - analysis now updated

Nigel Pendse dispenses 21 essential nuggets of information to help ensure the success of your BI project. This subscriber-only analysis takes data from The BI Survey 8 to back up much of the advice provided.

For more information on 'Top 21 Tips for BI Success', click here.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full analysis.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

New MicroStrategy Product Review

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:40:06 +0000

New MicroStrategy product review

Following the flurry of BI acquisitions in 2007, MicroStrategy is now one of the two largest pure-play BI vendors remaining. Pioneer of the term ROLAP, to describe the relational OLAP architecture of its platform, it has been a rocky road for the Virginia based vendor since the early 1990s. But MicroStrategy appears to be back on track now after a difficult period during the dotcom era.

MicroStrategy has built up a strong reputation for handling large data volumes where fairly straightforward analysis is required. Accordingly, its key verticals have emerged as the retail, banking, insurance and telecoms markets.

This review includes a factbase featuring our conclusions and scores on MicroStrategy based on a number of key criteria.

As always with The OLAP Report, this is an unbiased, vendor-independent review. As such, it is highly recommended material for anyone considering purchasing MicroStrategy.

For more information, click here.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full product review.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

MicroStrategy 8.2 review: Table of contents

Product overview
Components
Licensing
Administration
Metadata
Performance features
Reporting
Standard reporting
Ad hoc reporting
Analysis
Charts
Office integration
Summary
Similar products
Strengths and weaknesses

Authors: Barney Finucane and Steffen Vierkorn

The BI Survey 8 is out now

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:40:31 +0000

The BI Survey 8 by Nigel Pendse, the companion publication to The OLAP Report, is out now and available for purchase.

It is the largest and most thorough independent report available on the business intelligence market, containing nearly 500 pages packed with fresh and insightful information which will enable you to:

— Quickly discover the strengths and weaknesses of 23 leading business intelligence products
— Find out which vendors offer the best (and worst) performance, reliability and support
— By discovering product weaknesses, strengthen your negotiating position with vendors
— Learn what makes for a successful tool selection and implementation project
— Understand the hidden costs of BI ownership - license fees are often just the tip of the iceberg

If you are planning or embarking on a business intelligence selection project, The BI Survey 8 is absolutely essential reading. And as with The OLAP Report, there is no editorial interference or sponsorship from business intelligence vendors.

To find out more about The BI Survey 8, visit the website

Or download the free preview by Nigel Pendse

Oracle's BI Product Strategy - An Investment Guide

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:54:51 +0000

Oracle's BI Product Strategy - An Investment Guide

This new commentary from The OLAP Report gives an excellent overview of Oracle's extensive BI stack. Industry analyst, Barney Finucane, identifies the key products and discusses the strategy and options open to Oracle in the BI space.

The commentary focuses on how Oracle has attempted to integrate a vast array of acquired products into its portfolio and, crucially, predicts which ones will survive beyond the short term.

It is recommended reading for current Oracle BI customers, as well as anyone currently considering investing in an Oracle business intelligence solution.

This new investment guide is only available to OLAP Report subscribers who can click here to read the commentary.

To purchase a subscription, click here.

Table of contents

Breaking news: Microsoft retires PerformancePoint Planning

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:55:57 +0000

Breaking news: Microsoft retires PerformancePoint Planning

Microsoft has today confirmed that, after an SP3 release of PerformancePoint Planning this summer, the project (codenamed Biz#) will be cancelled.

Nigel Pendse tells the story of PerformancePoint and reacts to its demise.

New Product Overview: Tibco Spotfire

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:57:07 +0000

New Tibco Spotfire Product Overview

Spotfire, a small Swedish company, has been around for over ten years now and was acquired in June 2007 by Tibco, a larger California-headquartered organization known for its SOA technology.

The product reviewed here (for the first time in The OLAP Report) is Tibco Spotfire 2.0, an in-memory business intelligence tool with strong visual analysis features. As such, it often comes up in competes with QlikView. While this review obviously focuses on Tibco Spotfire, it includes comparisons of the two products in key areas and offers guidance on which types of users and needs would be satisfied best by each product.

As always with The OLAP Report, this is an unbiased, vendor-independent review.

To purchase, or for more information, click here.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full product review.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

Tibco Spotfire Product Overview: Table of contents

New Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition+ review

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:19:55 +0000

New Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition+ review

Oracle has made a number of forays into the BI market, not always successfully. This review examines Oracle's current flagship BI 'suite', OBIEE+. The suite is essentially a bundle of products acquired by Oracle in recent years, principally from Siebel.

This review also includes a factbase featuring our conclusions and scores on OBIEE+ based on a number of key criteria.

As always with The OLAP Report, this is an unbiased, vendor-independent review. As such, it is highly recommended material for anyone considering investing in the Oracle BIEE+ Suite.

For more information, click here.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full product review.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition+ review: Table of contents

New Commentary: The OLAP Revival

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:59:45 +0000

OLAP is hip again!

Are we seeing an OLAP revival?

Well, the 'big five' BI vendors are currently investing heavily in numerous initiatives to increase support for fast multidimensional analysis.

Carsten Bange investigates in this new commentary for The OLAP Report.

BusinessObjects XI Release 3 Review Now Available

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:21:57 +0000

BusinessObjects XI Release 3 Review Now Available

Our BusinessObjects XI review has now been updated to cover release 3 of this popular BI platform, now under the ownership of SAP. The review focuses on 3 tools in particular:

— WebIntelligence — the ad hoc reporting tool;
— Voyager — a new analysis tool for multidimensional databases; and
— Polestar — an in-memory query tool.

To purchase, or for more information, click here

Paying OLAP Report subscribers can access the full preview here

BusinessObjects XI Release 3 Review: Table of contents

NEW: Microsoft Gemini Preview released

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:34:17 +0000

NEW: Microsoft Gemini Preview released

Following its unveiling at last month's Microsoft BI Conference in Seattle, Project Gemini has been THE hot topic of debate in the BI industry.

Now, in the most detailed evaluation of Gemini yet to be published, Nigel Pendse runs the rule over Microsoft's all-new in-memory, column-oriented analytics tool slated for release in 2010.

This incisive, no-holds-barred preview is supplemented with twelve screenshots.

To purchase, or for more information, click here

Paying OLAP Report subscribers can access the full preview here

Project Gemini preview: Table of contents

MicroStrategy Factbase Now Available

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:38:19 +0000

MicroStrategy Factbase Now Available

Following our recent lab test of MicroStrategy 8.1.2, our coverage of MicroStrategy now includes a factbase.

Available only to OLAP Report subscribers, the factbase is an exhaustive feature-by-feature assessment of the product including scores based on dozens of criteria.

OLAP Report subscribers can access the full factbase here

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

Nigel Pendse on Microsoft's 'Project Gemini' Announcement

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:00:05 +0100

Nigel Pendse on Microsoft's 'Project Gemini' Announcement

A few days on from the Microsoft BI Conference, Nigel Pendse, lead analyst at The OLAP Report, delivers his verdict on the undoubted highlight of the event: the unveiling of 'Project Gemini'.

Click here to read the full commentary

arcplan Enterprise Factbase Now Available

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:32:19 +0100

arcplan Enterprise Factbase Now Available

The factbase section of our arcplan Enterprise review is now complete and online.

The factbase concept is a new addition to The OLAP Report. Delivered in a handy spreadsheet format, the factbase supplements each of our new product overviews with a feature-by-feature assessment of the product including scores based on dozens of criteria.

For more information, or to purchase the full review, written by Nigel Pendse & Barney Finucane, click here.

OLAP Report subscribers can access the full product overview and factbase here

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

QlikView Factbase Now Available

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:57:27 +0100

QlikView Factbase Now Available

Our recently published QlikView product overview now includes the factbase section, a feature-by-feature assessment of the product including scores based on dozens of criteria.

For more information, or to purchase this review, click here.

OLAP Report subscribers can access the full product overview and factbase here

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

arcplan Review Updated

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:52:40 +0100

arcplan Review Updated

Our arcplan review has now been updated to cover arcplan Enterprise 5.5.

From its beginnings as a SAP interface in the early Nineties, this product has evolved into one of the most versatile web-based OLAP applications around, with a strong presence in the US market as well as in Europe.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full product overview.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

arcplan Enterprise 5.5 Product Overview: Table of contents

QlikView Product Overview Now Available for Purchase

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:33:00 +0100

QlikView Product Overview Now Available for Purchase

Our recently published QlikView product overview is now available for purchase. This is the first time The OLAP Report has covered this much-hyped analysis tool from Pennsylvania-based vendor, QlikTech.

For more information, click here.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full product overview.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

QlikTech QlikView Product Overview: Table of contents

Product Review Update: Oracle Hyperion SQR Production Reporting

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:41:14 +0100

Product Review Update: Oracle Hyperion SQR Production Reporting

The factbase section of our SQR Production Reporting review is now available, featuring product scores and commentary across a range of key criteria.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full review and follow the links to view the factbase.

The review is also now available for purchase to non-subscribers. Click here for more details

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

SQR Production Reporting 9.3 Product Overview: Table of contents

Product Review Update: WebFOCUS

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:35:22 +0100

Product Review Update: WebFOCUS

Our review of WebFOCUS, the production reporting tool from Information Builders, has now been updated to include the factbase section. This features scores and commentary across a range of key criteria from our team of analysts.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full product overview.

The review is also now available for purchase to non-subscribers. Click here for more details

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

WebFOCUS 7.6 Product Overview: Table of contents

Last Chance to Take Part in The BI Survey

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:23:38 +0100

Fieldwork for the next edition of The BI Survey ends on 31st August so this is your last chance to take part in the world's largest independent survey of business intelligence implementations.

As a thank you for contributing your experiences to this project, all participants will receive a 30-page summary of the results and will be entered into a draw to win one of ten $50 Amazon vouchers.

We welcome feedback from business AND technical users of BI products. Consultants are also invited to take part by providing feedback on a single project carried out with a client. And vendors too can take The BI Survey.

All data will be treated anonymously and in aggregate form only, so individuals will not be identified in the results. Furthermore, none of your personal details will be passed to vendors or other third parties.

Please click here to participate. The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete.

To learn more about The BI Survey, click here

New Product Overview: QlikView

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:49:12 +0100

New Product Overview: QlikView

For the first time The OLAP Report reviews QlikView, the much-hyped analysis tool from Pennsylvania-based vendor, QlikTech.

As well as delving into the architecture and reporting capabilities of QlikView, this review addresses a number of burning questions which have been the subject of much public discussion surrounding the product. These include:

Can QlikView replace OLAP?

Is QlikView's method of modeling and viewing data better than that of multidimensional databases?

Can QlikView replace a data warehouse?

As always with The OLAP Report, this is an unbiased, vendor-independent review.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full product overview.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

QlikTech QlikView Product Overview: Table of contents

OLAP Market Shares 2007

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:00:27 +0100

OLAP Market Shares 2007

In The OLAP Report's much-anticipated annual commentary on the OLAP market shares, the top five vendors unsurprisingly increase their collective dominance of the market.

Also, Nigel Pendse explains how it has now become much more difficult to produce accurate figures.

Click here to read the full commentary.

Make Your Voice Heard in The BI Survey

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:05:28 +0100

We would very much welcome your participation in The BI Survey, conducted annually by Nigel Pendse. The Survey will obtain input from a large number of organizations to better understand their buying decisions, the implementation cycle and the business success achieved. Both business and technical users, as well as vendors and consultants, are welcome to take part.

Please click here to participate.

The BI Survey is strictly independent. While vendors assist by inviting users to participate in the Survey, the vendors do not sponsor the survey, nor influence the questionnaire design or survey results. You will be able to answer questions on your usage of a BI product from any vendor. Your data will only be used anonymously, and no personal details will be passed to vendors or other third parties.

As a participant, you will not only have the opportunity to ensure your experiences are included in the analyses, but you will also receive a summary of the results from the full survey. Furthermore, all participants will be entered into a draw to win one of ten $50 Amazon vouchers.

The BI Survey should take about 15 minutes to complete.

DM Review Special Report on The BI Survey 7

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:12:16 +0100

DM Review Special Report on The BI Survey 7

This week's 'Special Report' in DM Review is a piece on The BI Survey 7 written by The OLAP Report author, Nigel Pendse.

You can read the full article here

More information on The BI Survey 7 can be found at www.bi-survey.com

New Product Overview: Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting

Wed, 21 May 2008 13:35:26 +0100

New Product Overview: Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting 9.2

Formerly known as Brio, and then Hyperion Intelligence, Interactive Reporting is the latest BI product to be tested in The OLAP Report laboratory.

A user-friendly relational reporting tool, Interactive Reporting now finds itself in an Oracle Hyperion stable already occupied by high profile solutions in the same niche, most notably the former Siebel Analytics, now called Oracle BI Suite Enterprise Edition.

This product overview, available to OLAP Report subscribers only, outlines the strengths and weaknesses of Interactive Reporting across 3 main sections: Architecture & Administration, Front-Ends and Charts.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full product overview.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

Oracle Hyperion Interactive Reporting 9.2 Product Overview: Table of contents

New Product Overview: SQR Production Reporting

Fri, 09 May 2008 14:07:19 +0100

New Product Overview: Oracle Hyperion SQR Production Reporting 9.3

SQR Production Reporting has survived three changes in ownership over the last 10 years and is now resurgent under the Oracle flag, having been resurrected as part of Hyperion SQR Production Reporting.

Now, for the first time in The OLAP Report, we take the lid off SQR Production Reporting to examine the architecture and administration behind it. We also discuss the front-end capabilities available to users, identifying key strengths and weaknesses along the way.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full product overview.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

SQR Production Reporting 9.3 Product Overview: Table of contents

New Product Overview: WebFOCUS

Thu, 01 May 2008 18:02:55 +0100

New Product Overview: WebFOCUS 7.6

WebFOCUS, from Information Builders, is a well established production reporting tool that can not only access popular OLAP databases, but provides basic OLAP analysis on live data from a myriad of both modern and legacy sources.

This new product overview from Nigel Pendse and Barney Finucane provides an invaluable guide to anyone who is considering purchasing WebFOCUS. It offers an unbiased, independent critique of the product, free of all vendor spin.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the full product overview.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

WebFOCUS 7.6 Product Overview: Table of contents

New Analysis: Panorama’s bumpy road from Microsoft to Google

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:36:02 +0100

New Analysis: Panorama’s bumpy road from Microsoft to Google

Panorama is now one of the longer-lived small, independent vendors in the OLAP world, but its survival has not been based on inhabiting a narrow niche. We have tracked the company since early 1996 (well before most analysts) and have observed the remarkable influence it has had since then.

In this new analysis, Nigel Pendse examines the path Panorama has taken from its close relationship with Microsoft in the 1990s to the announcement last month that it is now working with Redmond's arch-rival, Google, to provide "advanced analytical, reporting and data visualization functions, all at no cost" to GoogleDocs users.

Click here to read the full analysis.

This piece is part of the free content of The OLAP Report, but ten times more information is available only to subscribers, including reviews of dozens of products, case studies and in-depth analyses. You can register for access to a preview of some of the subscriber-only material in The OLAP Report or subscribe on-line.

New Product Review: Crystal Reports

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:48:21 +0000

New Product Review: Crystal Reports

Crystal Reports is now more integrated with the BusinessObjects suite, but remains one of the market leaders for enterprise reporting as a stand-alone product.

Delivered in two parts, this new style OLAP Report review consists of a 13-page high-level overview of Crystal Reports supplemented by the 'Factbase', a detailed analysis which includes evaluations of around 130 product features and scores based on 35 criteria. This factbase also includes scores and evaluations of BusinessObjects WebIntelligence and Voyager.

OLAP Report subscribers can access the full review here

The review is also available for purchase to non-subscribers. Click here for more details

Organization of Business Intelligence - new survey

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:11:29 +0000

Organization of Business Intelligence - new survey

We are currently undertaking a survey to discover more about the organization of BI initiatives, particularly the role and contribution of Business Intelligence Competency Centers (BICCs).

Each participant receives a free briefing summarizing the key findings of the survey. BARC additionally donates 1 Euro per participant to the DAHW, an aid organization helping victims of leprosy and tuberculosis.

The survey should take 5-7 minutes to complete.

Please click here to take part.

Cognos Review Updated

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:06:49 +0000
Cognos 8 BI Review Updated

In the first of a new style of reviews in The OLAP Report, our team of analysts puts Cognos 8 BI under the microscope. We focus on the 3 core components of the suite: Report Studio, Analysis Studio (billed as the successor to PowerPlay) and Query Studio.

Delivered in 2 parts, the review consists of a 15-page high-level overview supplemented by the 'Factbase', a detailed analysis which includes product scores across 35 separate criteria.

OLAP Report subscribers can access the full review here

The review is also available for purchase to non-subscribers. Click here for more details

New Analysis: The future product strategy of SAP/Business Objects

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:10:47 +0000

New Analysis: The future product strategy of SAP/Business Objects: an investment guide

Following on from our SAP+Business Objects article a couple of months back, this new analysis, exclusive to OLAP Report subscribers, examines the combined product portfolio of SAP and Business Objects.

Despite official statements to the contrary, it is clear that SAP's acquisition of Business Objects has resulted in a number of product overlaps. OLAP Report analyst, Dr Carsten Bange, provides a detailed analysis of the likely fate of many of these overlapping BI and CPM products.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to read the analysis
To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

The BI Survey 7 - now available

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:40:49 +0000

The BI Survey 7 now available

This week sees the release of The BI Survey 7 by Nigel Pendse, a major new report based on the experiences of nearly 2000 business intelligence users. The BI Survey 7 follows on from six successful years of The OLAP Survey.

The BI Survey 7 uncovers the truth about why real-world organizations select BI products, how they use them, and with what success. It also compares sixteen market-leading products from an end-user perspective across a number of key criteria such as performance, scalability and vendor support. Unlike many other surveys, it is not sponsored by any vendor and is 100% free of vendor influence.

To find out more, visit The BI Survey 7 website where you will also find a free chapter to download, and a series of short videos with Nigel Pendse, the author, explaining precisely what The BI Survey 7 can deliver to you.

IBM to acquire Cognos

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:34:49 +0000

IBM to acquire Cognos

IBM announced on Monday that it has reached agreement to acquire Cognos for $5 billion. This widely-predicted move leaves MicroStrategy as the sole surviving public BI vendor after a frantic year of acquisition activity.

Click here to read Nigel Pendse's thoughts on the deal.

This commentary is just a small section of The OLAP Report's comprehensive review of the history of consolidations in the BI industry since 1994.

New Analysis: SAP+Business Objects - part 1

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:30:00 +0100

New Analysis: SAP+Business Objects - part 1

In the first of a two-part commentary on the largest BI acquisition ever, Nigel Pendse and Carsten Bange examine the circumstances of SAP's takeover of Business Objects, as well as the organizational and product-related implications of the deal.

This is an OLAP Report subscriber-only piece. Subscribers can view the full article here.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

SAP to acquire Business Objects

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:15:21 +0100

SAP to acquire Business Objects

It was announced yesterday that agreement has been reached for SAP to buy Business Objects for around 4.8 billion Euros ($6.8 billion). When completed, this will be the largest BI acquisition ever. To read Nigel Pendse's initial thoughts on the news, click here

This commentary is just a small section of The OLAP Report's comprehensive review of the history of consolidations in the BI industry since 1994.

TM1 Review Updated

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:26:06 +0100

Applix TM1 Review Updated

Nigel Pendse's TM1 review has now been updated in the light of the announcement that Applix is to be acquired by Cognos. The review also includes some new summary information on the current 9.1 release.

OLAP Report subscribers can access the full review here (for subscriptions information, click here)

This review is also available for purchase to non-subscribers. Click here for more details

Panorama NovaView Review Updated

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:38:46 +0100

Panorama NovaView Review Updated

The OLAP Report's Panorama review has been freshly updated to cover NovaView 5, the advanced suite of client tools for Microsoft Analysis Services, and now SAP.

OLAP Report subscribers can access the full review here (for subscriptions information, click here)

This detailed 48-page review is also available for purchase to non-subscribers. Click here for more details

Essbase Review Updated

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 12:18:34 +0100

Essbase Review Updated

The OLAP Report's Essbase review now covers version 9.3.1, the first post-Oracle release of the well-known MOLAP. Highlights of this latest release include much enhanced time series handling.

OLAP Report subscribers can access the full review here (for subscriptions information, click here)

This comprehensive 45-page review is also available for purchase to non-subscribers. Click here for more details

Cognos announces Applix acquisition

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:04:34 +0100

Cognos announces Applix acquisition

Cognos announced this morning that it has reached a "definitive agreement" to acquire Applix, Inc. for $339 million. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth calendar quarter of 2007. Read Nigel Pendse's early comments on the deal here.

This commentary is just a small section of The OLAP Report's comprehensive review of the history of consolidations in the BI industry over the last 13 years.

New analysis: Performance Matters

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:09:50 +0100

New analysis: Performance Matters
Just how important a consideration is query performance when choosing a BI product?

With supporting evidence from thousands of sites in The OLAP Survey, Nigel Pendse argues that it should be prioritized ahead of functionality, and offers some proactive advice on how to avoid performance problems.

Click here to read the full analysis.

The BI Survey - Last Chance to Participate

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:01:57 +0100

Participants receive a free summary of the research findings

Nigel Pendse's BI Survey, a strictly-independent study examining business intelligence, performance management and OLAP implementations around the world, will be closing on Friday. If you have not already taken part, now is the time.

If there are people in your organization to whom the survey is more relevant, please forward this message to them.

We are particularly interested in your use of products such as BusinessObjects, Cognos 8, PowerPlay or Planning, any Hyperion product, Microsoft Analysis Services or ProClarity, MicroStrategy, TM1, Oracle Express and OLAP Option, SAP BW, WebFocus, arcplan, OutlookSoft and similar products.

The survey will take 15-20 minutes to complete and is being conducted in accordance with the Market Research Society Code of Conduct. All information provided will be used in an aggregate form only and will be kept strictly confidential.

To access the survey, please click here

New: Microsoft Package

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:43:46 +0100

New: Microsoft Package

The OLAP Report announces the publication of the specially-priced Microsoft Package - a 235-page collection of strictly-independent Microsoft-related research, written by Nigel Pendse.

The package contains:

a series of in-depth reviews of Microsoft BI/PM products and 3rd party
developed front-ends;

a detailed vendor lowdown focused on Microsoft's activities in the
BI/PM market;

OLAP & Spreadsheets - a 59-page exploration of the relationship
between OLAP servers and spreadsheets;

a tool selection case study from BP

To purchase, or for more information, click here

All the content in the Microsoft Package also comes as part of a subscription to The OLAP Report. For subscription options, click here

New analysis: Oracle+Hyperion

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:42:51 +0100

New analysis: Oracle+Hyperion

Oracle's acquisition of Hyperion in March 2007 was by far the world's largest BI takeover. Now that the integration of Hyperion operations is underway, Nigel Pendse scrutinizes Oracle's strategy roadmap in this new market analysis.

Issues covered include:

how Oracle plans to deal with its new-found array of overlapping products;
how the Hyperion brand fits in to Oracle's future plans;
whether the Hyperion pricing structure will be simplified;
how Hyperion is being integrated into Oracle on an organizational level

This is an OLAP Report subscriber-only piece. Subscribers can view the full article here.

To find out more about The OLAP Report, or to purchase a subscription, click here

The Microsoft Effect

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:35:00 +0100

The Microsoft Effect

Microsoft only entered the OLAP market at the end of 1998, and soon dominated it. It is now entering the performance management market — will history be repeated?

Nigel Pendse has scritinized Microsoft's every move in the OLAP space since its surprise entry in 1998. In this freshly updated report, he looks back at the reasons for Redmond's rise to prominence in this area and the effect that it continues to have on other key players in the market.

For more information, or to purchase, click here

Paying subscribers to The OLAP Report can access the full article here

New Commentary: Business Intelligence Competency Centers

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 12:04:43 +0100

New Commentary: Business Intelligence Competency Centers

The results of The OLAP Survey 6, which is the largest independent survey of customer satisfaction in the area of BI, show that difficulties involving people are one of the main factors causing delays and failure in BI projects.

Establishing a Business Intelligence Competency Center is one way to help avoid these issues.

Click here to read this commentary by OLAP Report analyst Barney Finucane.

Microsoft PerformancePoint Preview released

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:03:29 +0100
NEW: PerformancePoint Preview released

Microsoft's hotly-anticipated Performance Management offering, PerformancePoint, is now close to full release. In this 32-page preview, Nigel Pendse examines its strengths and weaknesses, as well as the impact which it has already had on the marketplace. The preview includes over 20 screenshots.

For more information, click here

Paying OLAP Report subscribers can access the full preview here

Your Opinion Needed In The BI Survey

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:25:21 +0100

Take part in The BI Survey

The OLAP Report invites you to take part in a strictly-independent study examining business intelligence (BI), performance management and OLAP implementations around the world.

We are particularly interested in your use of products such as BusinessObjects, Cognos 8, PowerPlay or Planning, any Hyperion product, Microsoft Analysis Services or ProClarity, MicroStrategy, TM1, Oracle Express and OLAP Option, SAP BW, WebFocus, arcplan, OutlookSoft and similar products.

The large-scale Survey is again being conducted in conjunction with Nigel Pendse, a world-renowned expert in BI and lead author of The OLAP Report.

In return for your participation, you will receive a summary of the research findings and will be entered into a prize draw to win one of ten $50 Amazon vouchers.

The survey takes 15-20 minutes to complete and is being conducted by Survey.com in accordance with the Market Research Society Code of Conduct. All information provided will be used in an aggregate form only and will be kept strictly confidential.

To access the survey, please click here

Thank you for your participation.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (Katmai) Preview Released

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:38:10 +0100

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (Katmai) Preview Released

Our SQL Server Analysis Services review now includes previews of SQL Server 2008 (aka Katmai) as well as PerformancePoint - the financial analytical application scheduled for release in late 2007.

The Katmai preview, which includes screenshots, highlights some of the improvements on the current version of SQL Server

OLAP Report customers can access the full review here

This 56-page in-depth review is also available for purchase to non-subscribers. Click here for details

As with all OLAP Report reviews, our coverage is detailed, critical where necessary, and 100% free of vendor bias. We do not get paid by vendors to cover their products.

Essbase Review Updated

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 12:06:21 +0100

Essbase review updated

With the Oracle purchase of Hyperion complete, this updated review now includes an introductory section on the acquisition as well as Nigel Pendse's take on the future prospects for Essbase under new ownership. As with all OLAP Report reviews, the technical capabilities of the product are also examined in detail, plus we reveal hard-to-find vendor pricing information.

OLAP Report subscribers can access the full review here

The review is also available for purchase to non-subscribers. Click here for more details

Microsoft Review Updated

Wed, 30 May 2007 16:50:39 +0100

Microsoft SQL Server & Analysis Services review updated

Following Microsoft's inaugural BI Conference in Seattle earlier this month, our SQL Server & Analysis Services review has been updated with fresh information including a preview of PerformancePoint, scheduled for release later this year.

OLAP Report subscribers can access the full review here

The review is also available for purchase to non-subscribers. Click here for details

Coming soon ... SQL Server 2008 (aka Katmai) preview

Commentary: Proof of Concept - Getting it right

Wed, 30 May 2007 10:26:25 +0100

This new commentary provides invaluable advice on how and why to carry out a formal proof of concept workshop during your BI tool selection process.

Click here to read the full article

SAP to acquire OutlookSoft

Mon, 14 May 2007 14:44:47 +0100

SAP to acquire OutlookSoft

Following last week's announcement that SAP has agreed to buy OutlookSoft, read Nigel Pendse's initial comments on the deal here.

This commentary is just a small section of The OLAP Report's comprehensive review of the history of consolidations in the BI industry over the last 13 years.

Cartesis 10 - Review Released

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:11:03 +0100

Cartesis Performance Suite 10 Review

Our Cartesis review has now been fully updated to cover Cartesis Performance Suite 10.

From its roots in financial reporting and consolidation, Cartesis has positioned itself as an integrated BPM vendor with the introduction of Cartesis Planning and Cartesis Analytics to the suite.

For more information on this new 29-page review by Nigel Pendse, click here

OLAP Report subscribers can access the full review here

Business Objects to acquire Cartesis

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:50:17 +0100

Business Objects to acquire Cartesis

Business Objects yesterday announced its intention to acquire Cartesis in a EUR 225M (USD 300M) deal. Nigel Pendse offers his observations on this news, and on Business Objects' recent acquisition strategy in general. Click here to read the commentary.

Final 2006 OLAP Market Shares

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:19:46 +0100

2006 OLAP market share analysis finalized

There are no changes from the provisional report findings announced last month. The OLAP market growth rate of 16.4% in 2006 has increased the market size to $5.7bn USD. However, as in 2005, there are no movers in the top 6 positions.

Click here to read the summary of our findings.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to access an additional top ten vendor-by-vendor market performance commentary for 2006 by Nigel Pendse.

Commentary: Good things come to those who DON’T wait

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 12:01:01 +0100

Good things come to those who DON’T wait

Changing requirements and technologies can turn any IT project into a multi-million dollar money pit. Using supporting evidence from The OLAP Survey 6, Dr Carsten Bange argues that the success of each project ultimately depends on the speed of implementation.

Click here to read the full article

The Provisional 2006 OLAP Market Shares

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:07:15 +0000

Faster Than Expected market growth in 2006
The provisional 2006 OLAP market shares are now available. While 12% growth was predicted, The OLAP Report lead analyst Nigel Pendse now estimates that a 16.4% growth rate in 2006 has increased the market size to $5.7bn USD. As in 2005, there are no changes in the top six positions in the table.

Click here to read the summary of our findings.

OLAP Report subscribers can click here to access an additional top ten vendor-by-vendor market performance commentary for 2006 by Nigel Pendse.

The OLAP Survey 6 - now available

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 17:05:01 +0000

The OLAP Survey 6 - now available

The OLAP Survey 6, the world's largest independent survey of business intelligence/OLAP users, is now available for purchase.

The findings of the survey, based on the results of 1679 responses, are presented and analyzed by Nigel Pendse in this revealing 381-page report.

Discover from real-world evidence why organizations select OLAP products, what they do with them, and with what success.

Areas such as query performance, implementation issues and web deployment are examined closely. The report also contains individual and detailed analysis on 13 market-leading OLAP products including Microsoft Analysis Services, Essbase, Cognos Analysis (Cognos 8 or PowerPlay), BusinessObjects and SAP BW.

For more information, and to download a free 26-page preview of the findings from The OLAP Survey 6, click here

Oracle to acquire Hyperion Solutions

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:29:56 +0000

In the biggest-ever BI consolidation, Oracle today announced it has agreed to buy Hyperion Solutions for $3.3bn.

Nigel Pendse believes this could signal a rough ride for both Oracle’s products and their users.

Click here to read Pendse's initial comments on the acquisition, included here in The OLAP Report's comprehensive market analysis, 'Consolidations in The BI Industry'.

Commentary: The missing 'Next Big Things'

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 11:46:16 +0000

EIS ... BI extranets ... CRM Analytics. Whatever happened to them?

Vendors regularly announce new products, or features in existing products, as 'breakthrough' achievements in product functionality that are supposed to fundamentally change the way business intelligence software works. But many of those announcements never live up to the expectations that are hyped up by overly-bold marketing statements.

In this sideways look at the BI market, Nigel Pendse and Dr Carsten Bange identify a dozen "next big things" in Business Intelligence that did not happen.

To read the full commentary, click here

Apologies for the lack of news on our feed recently. We will now be issuing regular updates on new reviews, commentaries and news from The OLAP Report.

Commentary: Choose a product – not a vendor

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 11:07:58 +0000

Companies often purchase software from big-name players because they feel it is a safer investment. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Dr Carsten Bange explains why.

This newly released commentary can be accessed here

BARC acquires The OLAP Report

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 11:02:43 +0100

BARC acquires The OLAP Report

It's been a little quiet on the RSS front over the last month. The OLAP Report has been undergoing some changes and can now announce that BARC, a respected independent German BI industry analyst and consulting firm now owns The OLAP Report.
This will increase the resources available, while continuing The OLAP Report’s consistent policy of strict independence.
Carsten Bange, founder and CEO of BARC highlights the common vision: “BARC and The OLAP Report share the same principles: strict vendor neutrality, no sponsored reviews, in-depth evaluations and a focus on the end user, not the vendor. Together we are able to bring in-depth analysis to a worldwide audience and grow to be the most influential analyst in the BI industry.”
Nigel Pendse, lead analyst for The OLAP Report, will continue with his current role whilst overseeing new and exciting content development. The OLAP Report has always aimed to offer wide ranging clear and unbiased research and this will be strengthened by a much-enlarged team of analysts from BARC, headed by Dr. Carsten Bange.
More information on what this means for The OLAP Report can be found in the full press release here

Regular RSS updates will resume shortly.

Be part of The OLAP Survey 6

Wed, 31 May 2006 15:33:36 +0100

The OLAP Survey 6

The 2006 edition of The OLAP Survey, the world's largest BI user survey, is now underway. This strictly independent Survey is unique in not being vendor sponsored, and seeks to incorporate real-world user experiences from large numbers of users and implementers around the world.
Participants in The OLAP Survey 6 will receive a summary of the findings and will be entered into a prize draw to win one of ten $50 Amazon vouchers.
To participate in The OLAP Survey 6, click here

Applix TM1 9 Review Released

Tue, 09 May 2006 15:13:20 +0100

Applix TM1 9
TM1 (Applix) - an underrated high performer
TM1 continues to build a growing following in the planning and financial applications market, and, with the launch of Version 9, offers new functionality and features. Although Applix is a fraction of the size of its main competitors, its product compares well in many key areas while outperforming the competition in some.
This 36-page review covers the latest release, including the .NET web architecture and revised user interface, along with a detailed look at all the other features of the product.
The review explains what factors could make TM1 worthy of inclusion on a short-list. Among other things, these include:
A write-back capability that outperform products such as MS Analysis Services
Ease of moving to and from a spreadsheet environment.
A true multi-cube calculation capability
TM1's RAM-based approach, making it suitable for portable use.

You will also discover its relative weaknesses, ranging from the absence of automatic exception detection or built-in time-series intelligence, to the lack of special support for currency conversion. Despite these limitations, TM1 emerges as a highly competitive product in a market dominated by well-established players such as Hyperion and Cognos. Use this review to find out exactly:

Where Applix outperforms even the biggest players
Its comparative advantages in relation to comparable products
The background to Applix's current success in the financial OLAP market

Subscribers can access the review here

Non subscribers click here for further information

Microsoft Review Updated

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 19:22:04 +0100

Microsoft Analysis Services review has been updated

A short section has been added to the Microsoft Analysis Services review in light of today's announcement that Microsoft has agreed to acquire ProClarity.

The review will further be updated once more information is available about the new Microsoft ProClarity offering and road map.

Subscribers can access the review here

Microsoft gets more aggressive with BI front-end tools by acquiring ProClarity

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 19:09:57 +0100

Microsoft agrees to aquire ProClarity

On April 3, 2006, Microsoft announced that it had agreed to acquire the privately held ProClarity. The price was not disclosed. Subject to regulatory approval, the deal is expected to close in May 2006. The OLAP Survey 5 showed that ProClarity was the most widely used third party front-end for Analysis Services, which may be one of the reasons for this acquisition.

Unlike Microsoft’s three previous BI acquisitions, where Microsoft acquired just the technology from very young companies, and not the companies themselves, this time Microsoft emphasizes that it is buying the entire ProClarity organization and business. It says it intends to build on all ProClarity’s strengths, including its technology, sales and marketing, partner networks and future plans.

Unlike those previous acquisition, ProClarity has a relatively mature product line, now on its sixth major release, and some 1200 established customers. Microsoft will therefore be keeping most of ProClarity’s products unchanged in the short term. The one exception is the ProClarity Live Server, which will be withdrawn from the market, though its capabilities are likely to surface in future Microsoft BI products.

As part of this continuity, the ProClarity organization will become a Microsoft subsidiary and continue to be based in Boise, Idaho, and most of the management and employees are expected to be retained. The ProClarity sales force is likely to be integrated into (or form the nucleus of) Microsoft’s own growing BI sales and marketing organization. Microsoft wants to be seen as a fully fledged BI vendor, not just a large software co.

Read more...

ProClarity Review Updated

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 19:06:11 +0100

Microsoft makes a bold statement of its BI ambitions by acquiring ProClarity

The ProClarity review has been updated with the announcement that Microsoft has agreed to acquire the privately held vendor.

Subscribers can access the review here

Podcast - The 2005 OLAP Market Shares

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 12:39:18 +0100

The second in a series of podcasts from The OLAP Report.

In this podcast, Nigel Pendse examines the 2005 market shares and talks about the relative rise and fall in individual vendor fortunes.

BusinessObjects Review Updated

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 21:59:36 +0000

First impressions of BusinessObjects XI Release 2

Subscribers can access the review here

The provisional 2005 OLAP market shares

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 20:16:57 +0000

As predicted, the OLAP market growth slowed slightly in 2005

The provisional 2005 OLAP market shares are now available, and show a small drop in growth rates but no changes in the top six positions in the table.

The summary article is available here

FAQ: Open Source OLAP

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 13:25:13 +0000

FAQ: Open Source OLAP

Open source software (OSS) is beginning to have a big impact on some markets, but not so far on the business intelligence market. But that may be beginning to change. This article looks at the issues in the form of an FAQ..

Subscribers can access the analysis here

Non subscribers click here for further information

Analysis: How not to buy an OLAP product!

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 12:22:27 +0000

Analysis: How not to buy an OLAP product!

Practical advice to avoid the numerous pitfalls when buying OLAP products

One that the salesmen really don’t want you to read! This penetrating analysis gives you plenty of examples of the mistakes people make when buying OLAP products and provides solid, practical advice for doing it quicker and more reliably.

Read more...

Commentary: Is your BI system firing duds?

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 12:18:10 +0000

Commentary: Is your BI system firing duds?

If you want useful answers, you need to ask the right questions. It's no good blaming the software.

This newly released commentary can be accessed here

Podcast - Visualization

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 16:06:17 +0000

The first in a series of podcasts from The OLAP Report.

Despite all the apparent advances in visualization, Nigel Pendse bemoans the lack of real progress in how people display their business data.

Commentary: Beyond collaboration

Sun, 22 Jan 2006 22:00:49 +0000

Commentary: Beyond collaboration

“Would you trust a computer enough to put your life in its hands?”

Most of us would promptly answer “No” to this question, whether or not it is based on personal work/life experience or simply an intuitive reaction. Yet every day, most of us drive cars where computers compensate for human failures during emergency braking in the form of the Anti-lock Brake System, ABS. Also, few of us doubt the abilities of the flight-control computers used in commercial airliners, which in some cases don’t even allow direct pilot access to control input without going through a computer.

Having worked in the business intelligence industry for more than a decade and in the computer industry for two decades, I have experienced my share of un-trustworthy systems where human judgment was needed to over-ride a computer’s analytical findings. However, looking at many of the business intelligence implementations in organizations I see today, I can’t help but wonder if this is the right time to take computing to a new level in organizations where we start trusting computers to achieve synergy rather than just simple efficiency.

Read more...

Tableau 1.5 Review Released

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 16:19:22 +0000

Tableau 1.5

An innovative, multi-pane multidimensional visual analysis tool for both OLAP and relational data sources.

Find out how effectively Tableau’s ‘visual analysis’ capabilities enable people of all levels of technical ability to visually investigate performance data. Tableau, incorporating many innovative features, is designed for use with other BI tools. Its purpose is to makes it easier for key insights to be achieved by ‘seeing’ trends, relationships, anomalies, and outliers - a process that leads to better decision support. How effectively it does so is revealed in this 21-page review.

The review is extensively illustrated with examples of the wide range of charts that can be selected from a ‘show-me’ menu to allow the user to rapidly switch from one chart type to another. Overall, the conclusion is that the product is flexible, easy to learn and delightfully forgiving, even for novices, with drag-and-drop functionality that allows charts to be created from multidimensional data and simple formating tools to customise on-screen presentation.

The review evaluates its suitability for:

* Ad-hoc analysis
* Different sizes of databases
* Multidimensional and relational data
* Inexperienced as well as power users.

It also looks at some of Tableau’s limitations, for example, its unsuitability for presentation graphics, its Windows-only architecture, absence of sophisticated statistical analysis, the fact that it is not an application building tool and needs to be used in conjunction with other analytical tools.

Subscribers can access the review here

Non subscribers click here for further information

Commentary: Take the ‘C’ word seriously

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 10:28:29 +0000

Commentary: Take the ‘C’ word seriously

Why those responsible for OLAP and business intelligence initiatives should take full account of culture and change management issues.

If you think that delivering OLAP, business intelligence and performance management solutions is just about delivering superior tools and smarter applications, think again. "Build it and people are bound to use it" is not a wise assumption to work on. The implications for corporate politics, the internal balance of power and self-interest are issues on which success can tip one way or the other. Get all the specifications and process issues right and you can still come unstuck if you neglect the human factor.

This newly released commentary can be accessed here

Commentary: The Microsoft effect

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 10:14:43 +0000

Commentary: The Microsoft Effect

Microsoft has already had a major impact on the OLAP market, and there is more to come. This article provides some of the background, to complement the review of Analysis Services

This updated commentary can be accessed here

Commentary: Synchronicity

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 12:13:52 +0000

Commentary: Synchronicity

New launches from major vendors bring the integration of multidimensional and relational reporting that much closer. Although there is some way to go, they promise to greatly improve the user experience.

This newly released commentary can be accessed here

IBM Finance Case Study released - Subscriber Only

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 10:57:14 +0000

IBM/arcplan Finance Case Study

A finance portal provides a highly cost-effective global solution to analysis, reporting and performance management applications.

Subscribers can access the case study here

Nigel Pendse Podcast

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 11:02:37 +0000

Nigel Pendse Podcast

For his first podcast, Chris Webb, a prominent BI blogger, invited Nigel Pendse to chat with him about the impact that SQL2005/AS2005 will have on the BI market.

You can catch the podcast at Chris Webb's blog here

Microsoft Analysis Services 2000 with Preview of 2005

Fri, 25 Nov 2005 10:32:16 +0000

Microsoft Analysis Services 2000 with Preview of 2005 Release

The 2000 and 2005 releases of Microsoft's mass market OLAP server plus coverage of the Cube Analysis Excel add-in

Find out how SQL Server 2005 differs from the previous version of Microsoft's product, its new features and the implications for the OLAP market - in particular for Microsoft's rapidly growing acceptance by large enterprises.

Although more than two years later to market than Microsoft originally had originally announced, SQL Server 2005 along with Analysis Services, represent a significant advance in many areas. For example, it represents a significant advance over the 2000 release in terms of data access, including from relational sources.

The review evaluates the extended scope of Analysis Services including:

Its closer integration with SQL Server 2005

Improved security features

Extended time-series intelligence

It explores the implications of the replacement of Data Transformation Services by Integration Services and explains other new features and functionality, including the fact that the current product is far more enterprise scalable than before.

Although Analysis Services offers a greater scalability and new features, the review warns that this version is a much more technical product than its predecessor making the product more suitable for professional developers, rather than end users.

Among high-scoring features, the review describes its database structural flexibility, security and multi-user capabilities. There is also an assessment of its relatively low scoring performance in respect of its portability support and exception alerting. It warns about the risk of possible bugs in the early release of the product and problems with patchy local support provided by Microsoft for multidimensional technology.

Subscribers can access the review here

Non subscribers click here for further information

SPM Maturity Analysis

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 14:08:10 +0000

Using the Strategic Performance Management maturity model for more effective management

Why do so many companies fail to achieve sparkling results from their business intelligence investments? The answer could depend on whether you are an Operator, Controller, Integrator or an Innovator.

Use this analysis briefing to find out how your organisation maps on to the Strategic Performance Management, SPM, Maturity Model. More importantly, find out what it takes to make the transition to the next level of performance achievement.

Based on newly researched evidence, the SPM Maturity Model, shows that every organization falls into one of four categories.

• Operators (largely focused on historical operational information in a fragmented way)
• Controllers (focused on key aspects of performance to produce well-defined results)
• Integrators (proactive users of integrated information to gain insights from information to deliver new business benefits)
• Innovators (using information and business intelligence to drive the business competitively).

From this analysis you will learn how to manage the drivers and enablers of performance improvement including leadership, critical information capabilities, data management, processes and people.

The SPM Maturity Model gives companies the ability to address critical areas of performance and target business intelligence systems to achieve the best returns.

Subscribers can access the review here

Non subscribers click here for further information

Company Results Updated

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 11:41:31 +0000

A summary of the latest financial results from public BI vendors

This section summarizes the latest declared results from public companies that are either OLAP specialists or which have a large proportion of OLAP revenues.

IBM DB2 Cube Views 8.2 Review Released

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 10:41:43 +0000

IBM DB2 Cube Views 8.2

The latest release of Cube Views, which acts as OLAP middleware in DB2 8.2.

Find out how DB2 Cube Views can improve the performance of other OLAP tools, as well as making them run faster and easier to deploy. Although not an OLAP tool as such, this middleware product is of particular relevance to OLAP deployments running on IBM databases.

In this 28 page review, extensively illustrated with screen shots and examples, you will discover how Cube Views delivers two important functions:

1. An OLAP metadata repository to share OLAP structural information between ETL and BI tools, both from IBM and third parties.

2. An improved implementation of materialized views to improve the performance of a variety of queries.

The review explains how Cube Views works with a range of BI tools from a number of vendors to improve performance, particularly in the case of applications that involve relational database queries. This includes detailed explanation of how this is achieved and the kinds of benefits that can be achieved.

Learn which BI vendors have adapted their products to take advantage of Cube Views' performance-enhancing features and how it can make multi-vendor solutions easier by sharing multidimensional metadata. You will also discover the potential for turning this product into a far more substantial and fully-featured OLAP server.

Subscribers can access the review here

Non subscribers click here for further information

The OLAP Survey 5

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 10:59:43 +0000

The OLAP Survey 5 is released

The fifth edition of The OLAP Survey is now available.

Now with five editions published, The OLAP Survey 5 includes many more analyses than previous editions. One change in 2004 was the increased sample from Germany, which allowed analysis of more German products and many more international comparisons. There was also a higher proportion of business compared to technical respondents. These trends continued in 2005. Overall, 5551 people responded to the Survey in 2005, of which 2100 provided usable product usage information. This is a big increase on the samples in previous years. Respondents were located in no fewer than 106 countries and represented organizations based in 95 countries. Four countries had 100 or more respondents, and eight had 50 or more; 26 countries had 10 or more respondents.

The OLAP Survey 5 uses the same Business Benefits Index (BBI) introduced in The OLAP Survey 2 that enables detailed comparisons of many of the aspects of projects, including how products were chosen, which applications were used, who implemented them, how long it took, performance, reliability, and many other factors. In some cases, there were big differences in the results, which provide invaluable guidance to help maximize the chances of success of future implementations. This year, the BBI was used to analyze yet more aspects of projects than in previous editions.

It was first to identify the emerging opportunity presented by Microsoft's OLAP debut and has been able to build a commanding lead on the back of this early entry. ProClarity's reputation has also been bolstered as a result of being a regular award winner, although winning awards is by no means a guarantee that a product stands head and shoulders above the competition.

As well as providing an in-depth assessment of its strengths, The OLAP Report compares performance and features of ProClarity's Standard and Professional versions. Use the review to find out about all aspects of its features, performance and capabilities.

Click here for further information

ProClarity Review Updated

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 10:56:42 +0000

ProClarity 6.0 (6.1)

One of the most popular front-end platforms for Microsoft Analysis Services. Includes information on the new 6.1 release.

This 41-page review examines the substance behind ProClarity's commercial success as the leading third-party supplier for Microsoft Analysis Services front ends. The OLAP Report confirms that its popularity owes much to its ease of use, but also examines areas of comparative weakness.

ProClarity's close relationship with Microsoft, second only to Panorama, has meant that it is well placed to make full use of Analysis Services. This is reflected in the power of its analytics, an area where ProClarity has established a market-leading niche position.

It was first to identify the emerging opportunity presented by Microsoft's OLAP debut and has been able to build a commanding lead on the back of this early entry. ProClarity's reputation has also been bolstered as a result of being a regular award winner, although winning awards is by no means a guarantee that a product stands head and shoulders above the competition.

As well as providing an in-depth assessment of its strengths, The OLAP Report compares performance and features of ProClarity's Standard and Professional versions. Use the review to find out about all aspects of its features, performance and capabilities.

The OLAP Report will also help you to evaluate the strength of the company and its status as a clear leader in the market for third-party front-ends for Microsoft's Analysis Services.

Subscribers can access the review here

Non subscribers click here for further information

Targit Analysis 2K5 Review Released

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 19:19:16 +0100

Targit Analysis 2K5

This simple BI front-end is now much better optimized for Analysis Services.

Easy deployment and practical, user-driven customization are features that have helped Targit's Analysis product to compete successfully in the OLAP market. This 17-page review evaluates this niche product's performance, both as an OLAP front-end and relational reporting tool. Use this comprehensive evaluation of its features, functionality and performance to assess Analysis's suitability for your requirements.

Find out how far Targit has gone in optimizing Analysis to work with Microsoft's Analysis Services. And, in relational reporting mode, the range of databases with which it works.

The review shows how Analysis tackles the development of typical performance management applications in areas such as dashboards and graphical presentation of results. It also evaluates its performance as a web-deployed solution, as well as its suitability for different systems operating environments.

Use this product evaluation to find out just how intuitive and flexible Analysis is for modifying multidimensional views or visualizing data compared with other competitor products from major vendors. Equally important, find out about its limitations for more heavy-duty, sophisticated and highly customized applications involving the need to handle complex queries to large multidimensional and relational databases.

The OLAP Report gives you an incisive guide to all the key facts about the product's development, as well as the company's ability to exploit the niche it has established in this growing but highly competitive market.

Subscribers can access the review here

Non subscribers click here for further information

arcplan dynaSight 4.1 Review Released

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 10:30:39 +0100

arcplan dynaSight 4.1

The versatile BI application building tool which works with a remarkable number of OLAP databases and applications.

If your requirement is for a rapid-response, web-based interface that provides well-engineered links to a host of multidimensional databases, applications and relational databases, then dynaSight has a great deal to offer.

From its beginnings as a SAP interface in the early Nineties, this German product has evolved into one of the most versatile web-based OLAP application on the market.

Subscribers can access the review here

Non subscribers click here for further information

The BI Verdict

The BI Survey 12: Best Practices - Now Available

The BI Survey 12: Results Out Now

Product Review Update: IBM Cognos TM1 10.1.0

Product Review Update: Jedox 4.0

Product Review Update: BOARD 7.4

New Product Review: Decisyon 4.0

Last Chance To Take Part In The BI Survey 11

New Product Review: Jedox Suite 3.3

The BI Survey 11: Share Your Experiences

Product Review Update: Oracle Hyperion Planning

New Product Review: Microsoft Reporting Services 2008 R2

Product Review Update: IBM Cognos BI 10

New Product Review: arcplan Enterprise 7.1

New Product Review: Cognos Express

New Product Review: Tibco Spotfire 4.0

Product Review Update: Oracle BI Enterprise Edition

Research Update: Microsoft's BI Portfolio

New Product Review: QlikTech QlikView 11

Introducing The BI Survey Analyzer

The BI Survey 10 - Results Available Now

The Dashboard Verdict by Wayne Eckerson

New: Formatting Reports in Business Intelligence Tools

New Product Review: Microsoft PowerPivot

New Factbase: BOARD 7.2

Update: Business Intelligence Mergers and Acquisitions

The BI Survey 10 - Ending soon

The BI Survey 10 - Ending soon

Who should participate?

Receive a free summary of the findings

Share your experiences

Choosing BI Software Part 3: Evaluating and Selecting BI Software

Choosing BI Software Part 3: Evaluating and Selecting BI Software

New Product Review: IBM Cognos Business Intelligence V10.1

New Product Review: IBM Cognos Business Intelligence V10.1

Choosing BI Software Part 2: Assessing Needs

Choosing BI Software Part 2: Assessing needs for a business intelligence project

New Guide to Choosing BI Software - Part 1

New Guide to Choosing BI Software Part 1: First Steps in Software Selection

The BI Survey 10

Who should participate?

Receive a free summary of the findings

Share your experiences

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New: SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Portfolio

New: SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Portfolio

New Analysis: Standard vs Best-of-Breed

New Analysis: Standard vs Best-of-Breed

New: A Guide to Oracle BI

New: A Guide to Oracle BI

New Analysis: BIaaS - Business Intelligence as a Service

New Analysis: BIaaS - Business Intelligence as a Service

New Analysis: Business Intelligence and Unstructured Data

New Analysis: Business Intelligence and Unstructured Data

New Analysis: SAP BW Open Hub Service

New Analysis: SAP BW Open Hub Service

The BI Survey 9 - Seminar with Barney Finucane & Nigel Pendse

The BI Survey 9 - Seminar with Nigel Pendse & Barney Finucane

The BI Survey summary updated

The BI Survey summary updated

New Factbase: MicroStrategy

New Product Review: BOARD

New Product Review: BOARD

Now Updated: The KPI Dashboards

Now Updated: The KPI Dashboards

Now Updated: The Customer Verdicts

Now Updated: The Customer Verdicts

Out Now: 'The BI Survey 9 - The Customer Verdict'

The BI Survey 9: Pre-order your copy now

What In-Memory BI Revolution?

The BI Market Guide - Now updated

The BI Market Guide - Now updated

New Product Review: SAP BPC

New Product Review: SAP BPC

New Vendor Strategy Guide: IBM Cognos

New Vendor Strategy Guide: IBM Cognos

New Product Review: SAS BI

New Product Review: SAS BI

Microsoft's BI Strategy

New Analysis: Microsoft's BI Strategy

Choosing BI Software Part 3:
Evaluating and Selecting BI Software

Choosing BI Software Part 2:
Assessing needs for a business intelligence project

New Guide to Choosing BI Software
Part 1: First Steps in Software Selection