Dashboard

Comparing Enterprise Reporting Platforms? The recent focus on enterprise reporting and executive dashboard vendors has been well received by the Dashboard Spy readership. Thanks for the feedback. One Dashboard Spy recently did an analysis of several enterprise business intelligence / reporting products and wanted to share. I’m happy to offer his analysis in full. Feel free to just scan this post if it’s not of interest to you. We’ll be back to featuring the enterprise dashboards of the vendors featured in the Meta Group study tomorrow.

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Reporting tools
DEFINITION: Software designed to generate reports based on a wide variety of sources to allow organizations to better understand business.
The major players in the field of reporting tools include Cognos, Actuate, Business Objects, Microsoft, Oracle and Hyperion. Each of these provide comprehensive BI packages of which reporting is an integral function. Generally, in reporting packages, users judge the following:
·          Easy to use interface
·          Customization features
·          Export formats and platforms
·          Data access and integration with other applications
·          WYSIWYG formatting
·          Ability to create adhoc reports
Let’s have a look at the features of some of the leading reporting application service providers.
Enterprise Reporting Applications from Actuate
Actuate provides a software platform for Enterprise Reporting Applications. Actuate Enterprise Reporting Applications combine executive dashboards, web reports, ad hoc query, business intelligence analytics, and server-managed spreadsheets to deliver a unified user experience.
Actuate BIRT is a flexible, Java reporting tool for building and publishing reports against data sources ranging from typical business SQL databases, to XML data sources, to in-memory Java objects. Actuate BIRT is based on the Open Source Eclipse Business Intelligence Reporting and Tools (BIRT) project.
Features of Actuate BIRT
·          Flexible report output formats. Delivers single or multi-page PDF or HTML reports in multiple viewing and printed formats using parameters, multiple sections, grouping levels, charts, and more. Report content can also easily be exported to CSV format.
·          Build reports from any data source. Access and generate reports from SQL databases via JDBC, in-memory Java objects, text files, XML, or EJB.
·          Design reports in a powerful, easy-to-use environment or with Java code. Includes a robust visual design environment with intuitive wizards that enable you to create and deliver reports in minutes. You can also create and control reports programmatically with scripting and provided APIs if required.
·          Preserve formatting from screen to paper. Deliver reports that print as they appear in a browser.
Concerns: based on open source software. Issues with open source software include: a lack of indemnification, which could increase legal risks, a lack of maintenance and support, so no entity is accountable to address and resolve product defects in a timely manner, and a lack of enforceable Service Level Agreements (SLAs). However, in order to offset these, Actuate BIRT has provided the added benefit of an indemnified license along with maintenance and support, on an annual subscription basis.  These services provide subscribers with accountability for issues and bugs, legal indemnification and experienced support. 
Actuate Analytics: analytics as an offering is for organizations that want to provide analytic reporting functionality to users who aren’t comfortable with ad hoc reporting tools or sophisticated multidimensional analysis.  Actuate Analytics comprises several components, including Cube viewer, an interface program that lets users analyze cubes, define reports and save multidimensional cubes for offline analysis. In addition, Actuate Analytics features a wizard-driven designed tool—dubbed Cube Designer—that lets users define and create lightweight OLAP cubes.
Actuate Analytics is a customizable OLAP tool that looks pretty much like other OLAP viewers. It allows personalization as well as support for customization, in much the same way that a portal provides both these sorts of capabilities. It works on the basis of user roles and supports LDAP directories (and Active Directory) again in much the same way that portals do. Another useful facility is the ability to run off-line. On the other hand, there are some features that it does not have for example, there is no time series forecasting yet.
There’s also an integration option for Actuate’s iServer report distribution and management platform, called Analytics Option for iServer. Users can tap integration with iServer to generate cubes, while iServer itself can be configured to cache and deliver cubes and cube reports to consumers of Actuate’s reporting applications.
Actuate Analytics is comprised of three components:
·         Actuate Cube Viewer: An easy-to-use interface that empowers users to analyze cubes, define reports and save multidimensional cubes for offline analysis.
·         Actuate Cube Designer: A wizard driven designer that enables the user to define and create lightweight OLAP cubes step-by-step.
·         Actuate Analytics Option for iServer: A server-based component that generates on-demand or scheduled cubes, caches and delivers cubes and cube reports to users of Enterprise Reporting Applications.
Key Features:
·         One-click access: provides single click access to data cubes from anywhere that hyperlinks are supported, including users’ home pages, Web-based reports, Acrobat report files and Excel spreadsheets.
·         Personalized cubes: Secure and user-specific content for rapidly accessing relevant and specific business information.
·         Customizable interface: interface can include or exclude functionality, thereby tailoring the front end to each user’s skill level.
·         Mobile analysis: enables users to analyze anywhere for offline, remote analysis.
Parameter analysis

Crystal Reports: is an offering from Business Objects. It is another application providing reporting services to users. It can help you create flexible, high-fidelity reports and seamlessly integrate them into applications. Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET provides a comprehensive reporting solution for .NET developers that is thoroughly integrated with both the Visual Studio .NET IDE and the .NET Framework. Crystal Reports supports ADO.NET, XML Web Services, and ASP.NET server controls and caching. It also integrates seamlessly with the Visual Studio .NET Server Explorer, toolbox, and design environment. It has a rich programming model and flexible options for customizing and deploying reports.  
Crystal Reports Version XI features enhanced exporting configurations, including RTF exports, HTML previews, a workbench and enhanced sorting functions. Report prompts, which help users, interact with reports at each execution. Prompt definitions now can be shared among multiple reports, simplifying the design process. Sorting group values now can have their own formulas, with sorted reports being consolidated via a parameter mechanism. Sorting formulas used in parameters allow users with different sorting requirements to access the same report. This feature reduces the number of reports that need to be maintained.
Crystal Reports’ HTML WYSIWYG preview feature speeds development time as it eliminates the need to publish reports every time an update is made to a design. There is an automated method of adding report data into charting and cross-tab features without having to create any links. Charts and cross tabs can now be generated automatically during the design process. Through a native XML driver, Version XI can convert raw XML files into formatted reports and even transform XML into other formats such as HTML and WML. The driver accepts both DTD (Document Type Definition) and schemas, and works on top of Java’s J2SE 1.4 SDK. The software also arrives with a DataDirect that accepts XML over ODBC data sources. This access is limited to specific structures but can accept multiple file types such as data island, ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) and hierarchical formatted files.
Crystal Reports’ OLAP Expert in Report Designer provides six steps for processing OLAP cubes. The software provides OLAP connectivity to IBM’s DB2 OLAP Server, Hyperion Essbase, Holos HDC Cube and Microsoft’s OLAP Services. In addition to OLAP server connectivity, Crystal Reports provides direct access to OLAP cubes on local files and distributed as HTTP cubes. By allowing access to cube files, Crystal Reports provides better access to OLAP data outside of supported servers. Crystal Reports separates OLAP dimensions into tree structures, allowing report designers to work with OLAP data in the same way as relational data. Within the function repository, developers now can add custom Java functions. This signifies that any data accessed from Java-based applications using Enterprise JavaBeans or Java message queues now can be used by Crystal Reports. Java Server Faces are available through a new JSF developer kit. Crystal Reports provides a full programming control of every function through its API.
Features of crystal reports:
·          Data access: access any kind of data with more than 35 data drivers, custom data access, and tight control over database connectivity.
·          Specific information can be highlighted for end users
·          It provides the user with the option of previewing reports before publishing the same on the web.
·          Drill down on relational and OLAP data for uncovering details which could have gone unnoticed.
·          Formatting and design: it can help you in designing professional-looking, interactive reports using features like the visual report designer and dynamic prompts.
·          Report viewing and interaction: end users can view and work with their reports by customizing them to match their needs.
Crystal Reports has been a popular report generator. But, due to the inherent shortcoming of its architectural design, Crystal Reports has some limitations including
Unable to Modify Generated Reports - Once you use Crystal Reports to generate reports at runtime, you do not have the option to allow your users to edit and/or modify the reports.

Incapable of Technical Drawings - You can not create and include sophisticated technical drawings in your text-based reports created by Crystal Reports.
Parameter analysis

Hyperion System 9 BI+ is a business intelligence platform that provides the full spectrum of management reporting capabilities that combine both operational and financial information. You can customize high-volume, pixel-perfect reports for publishing tens of thousands of consumers over the Web with superior throughput. A specialized financial reporting module with predefined formatting and built-in financial intelligence lets you quickly assemble and publish production-quality report books for management control and regulatory filings. And for ad hoc query and reporting, line of business users can create their own interactive reports for monitoring their performance and spotting trends.
The product is strong in the field of analytic functionality which is provided by an OLAP engine along with unification of the interface, with general metadata functionality, application scalability, report layout, and Microsoft Office integration. Hyperion offers both analytic and enterprise reporting capabilities on an integrated platform.
Parameter analysis

Cognos 8 Business Intelligence, Reporting
Reporting is a key capability within Cognos 8 Business Intelligence. Reporting gives you access to a complete list of self-serve report types, is adaptable to any data source, and operates from a single metadata layer for a variety of benefits such as multilingual reporting.
Cognos ReportNet
·          One authoring environment for creating all report types, including dashboards.
·          Federated queries—one query drawing on multivendor data sources—even within a single reporting object.
·          Adaptive authoring automatically adjusts report layout when objects are added, moved or removed.
·          Embed live applications, Web sites and non-BI content within a report.
·          Drag-and-drop authoring incorporates data, text, charts, graphs, and images.
·          Edit reports with prompts and toolbar commands.
·          Advanced visualisations and charting abilities through Cognos Visualizer.
·          Use a variety of charts: crosstabs, bar/3D bar, pie/doughnut, line, gauge, funnel, scatter, dot density, waterfall, and more.
·          Create complex, multi-page layouts using different data sources without programming or workarounds.
·          Complete connectivity regardless of environment - relational databases, SAP® BW, Excel, XML, JDBC, LDAP and Web Services.
·          Support for Windows, UNIX, and Linux operating systems, including mixed platform deployments.
·          Multiple export formats: Excel, PDF, XML, HTML, and CSV.
Parameter analysisReporting is a key capability within Cognos 8 Business Intelligence. Reporting gives you access to a complete list of self-serve report types, is adaptable to any data source, and operates from a single metadata layer for a variety of benefits such as multilingual reporting.·          One authoring environment for creating all report types, including dashboards.·          Federated queries—one query drawing on multivendor data sources—even within a single reporting object.·          Adaptive authoring automatically adjusts report layout when objects are added, moved or removed.·          Embed live applications, Web sites and non-BI content within a report.·          Drag-and-drop authoring incorporates data, text, charts, graphs, and images.·          Edit reports with prompts and toolbar commands.·          Advanced visualisations and charting abilities through Cognos Visualizer.·          Use a variety of charts: crosstabs, bar/3D bar, pie/doughnut, line, gauge, funnel, scatter, dot density, waterfall, and more.·          Create complex, multi-page layouts using different data sources without programming or workarounds.·          Complete connectivity regardless of environment - relational databases, , , XML, JDBC, LDAP and Web Services.·          Support for Windows, UNIX, and operating systems, including mixed platform deployments.·          Multiple export formats: , PDF, XML, HTML, and CSV.

Microsoft SSRS:
Along with the SQL Server 2005 comes a group of interrelated applications, known as the SQL Server Reporting Service (SSRS). SSRS includes all development and management pieces necessary to publish end user reports in HTML, PDF, Excel, and CSV formats. SQL Server Reporting Services can be used to create end user reports in several different formats including HTML, PDF, and Excel. All the tools necessary for report creation and management are included with SQL Server.
If you have experience with working with tools such as Crystal Reports, or Microsoft Access, then SQL Server Reporting Services will be quite familiar as it includes a drag and drop report builder called Report Designer. In addition to the drag and drop report builder, SSRS also includes an application for letting power users generate their own ad hoc reports called Report Builder. One unique feature of SSRS is the ability to create report subscriptions, where users can request reports to be emailed to them automatically at various intervals.
Another feature is the Report Manager which is a web-based application for organizing, securing, and displaying created reports. Report Manager performs the following functions:

• Viewing Reports
• Searching and browsing for specific reports
• Configuring report viewing security
• Creating schedules and subscriptions
• Launching Report Builder for ad hoc reports

Features
·         SSRS can be used across the enterprise by various users simultaneously.
·         SSRS leverages .NET data providers and can query a variety of data sources. Examples of the .NET providers are SQL Server, Oracle, Analysis Services, Microsoft Access, and many more. If needed, SSRS can also be extended through the custom data-processing extensions.
·         SSRS includes delivery mechanisms to distribute reports to individual users on demand or on a scheduled basis.
·         SSRS reports can be rendered to a number of formats, including Excel or HTML. The reports themselves can also be used as data sources for other applications when rendered to XML.
·         SSRS provides mechanisms for ad hoc reporting.
Limitations
SQL Server Reporting Services, on the surface, appears to have a simpler license model: it’s free with the purchase of a SQL Server license. Of course, when you look at it in more detail, things are not so simple. If you want to install SSRS on a standalone server, you must buy an additional license of SQL Server for each computer. The reason this is important is because SSRS is very resource intensive. Rendering reports consumes additional CPU resources and memory and these are the same resources that SQL Server is competing for. Many companies find that it isn’t practical to keep SSRS on the same server as SQL Server.   
The SSRS report designer has a few limitations that you should be aware of. First is that it is not a true WYSIWYG designer. The way a report appears in preview mode can be different than how the report is printed.  SSRS isn’t as accurate as say Crystal reports because it is a 1.0 product and this creates problems for users who require precise formatting for report objects. This however is not of much concern for the general business user. Though SRSS provides depth for sub reports upto 20 levels, one problem with sub-reports here is that it has trouble exporting them to Excel. The Excel export only supports nested List objects. SRSS also does not support different formatting within objects. You have to create multiple objects, each with their own formatting, and place them next to each other. SRSS is also said to have issues with providing WYSIWYG formatting.
SSRS isn’t as accurate because it’s a 1.0 product. This is primarily a problem for users who require precise formatting of report objects. It doesn’t have much impact on the general business user.
Parameter analysis

Oracle reports
Oracle Reports is Oracle’s enterprise-reporting tool. Oracle Reports Service provides a stable environment to create and distribute reports to their users via a virtually endless list of distribution channels.
Oracle reports comes with flexible layout models which allow you to create optimized reports for both paginated output, such as printing, as well as Web-oriented output. Based on standards, the reporting environment can be extended to solve a customer’s exact needs. Oracle Reports consists of two components – Reports Builder and Reports Services. Reports Builder can be used to connect to any data source like relational database, text files, XML, or OLAP.
Reports Services allows you to generate the report output in any format once your report is designed. For example, you can generate reports in PDF, RTF, XML, HTML, Excel, and other formats. These reports can be sent to any destination like file system, e-mail, printer, or FTP server.
With Oracle reports, you can:
a)      Publish reports on the web: Formatted data can be published on the web in PDF, HTML (3.2), HTML Cascading Style Sheets (HTML 4.01), and XML formats. You can also inject dynamic content into existing web page.
b)      Use the report wizard, to quickly create reports with commonly used formats.
c)       Use layout to create new report styles. New report templates can also be created
d)      Create and embed graphs in the report
e)      Included reports in java applications
f)        Describe an entire report definition in XML
Parameter analysis
Oracle Reports is Oracle’s enterprise-reporting tool. Oracle Reports Service provides a stable environment to create and distribute reports to their users via a virtually endless list of distribution channels.Oracle reports comes with flexible layout models which allow you to create optimized reports for both paginated output, such as printing, as well as Web-oriented output. Based on standards, the reporting environment can be extended to solve a customer’s exact needs. Oracle Reports consists of two components – Reports Builder and Reports Services. Reports Builder can be used to connect to any data source like relational database, text files, XML, or OLAP.Reports Services allows you to generate the report output in any format once your report is designed. For example, you can generate reports in PDF, RTF, XML, HTML, Excel, and other formats. These reports can be sent to any destination like file system, e-mail, printer, or FTP server.With Oracle reports, you can:a)      Publish reports on the web: Formatted data can be published on the web in PDF, b)      c)       d)      e)      f)        Describe an entire report definition in XML

MicroStrategy Enterprise Reporting
MicroStrategy’s reporting technology allows companies to create full range of report formats from classic business reports to very detailed operational reports that are typically paper-based. One of the most important and unique aspects of this solution is the ability to combine traditional banded report layout techniques used in operational reporting with the powerful, graphical zone-based layout used to produce scorecards and dashboards.
Features:
·          Drag and drop method used for creating reports.
·          Excellent formatting for quality presentation
·          Parameter-driven Reporting: Users can answer any number of questions prior to running a report, letting their answers dictate what content will be displayed in that report. Advanced prompting based on a Prompt Engine that allows users to pick and choose report content completely independent of the report design.
·          Automatically Customized Content: BI administrators only need to create one report that the system automatically slices into the different views appropriate for each user. Multiple variations of this report are then automatically generated and distributed based on each user’s role and group affiliation.
·          Personalized user interface based on the user profile: 
·          With a single web based interface the user gets enterprise reporting, cube analysis, adhoc analysis, data mining facilities. 
Parameter analysis

In conclusion:
How they fare:

Among the reporting tools evaluated, Business Objects and Cognos have been identified as the leading contenders. Both score high in terms of query, usability and metadata. Crystal Reports XI, the solution from Business Objects offers comprehensive layout and formatting, report development, and ease of use with limitations in process association. Business Objects’ combination of Web Intelligence, OLAP Intelligence, and Desktop Intelligence within the Business Objects XI platform — all leveraging the metadata “Universes” make for a strong, integrated offering that includes products for both analytic and enterprise reporting. Cognos scores in terms of layout, formatting, and metadata but showed limitations in application scalability and report development.
Crystal Reports is the most flexible tool on the market and is widely recognized and recommended.
Cognos takes a single product approach with Cognos 8 Business Intelligence, which contains analysis, query, and reporting capabilities that leverage the metadata “Framework Manager. The product is strong in all three areas — analytic functionality, application development, and usability with comprehensive support for unification, internationalization, and open APIs, and strong support for OLAP, query, metadata, dashboards, and scorecards.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005, provides a strong OLAP engine and has advanced analytic capabilities but it has limitations in the front-end capabilities for most of its core engines. Oracle Business Intelligence 10.1.2 provides general OLAP, query, and advanced analytic capabilities, as well as strong Open APIs with BI Beans, but lags in metadata and overall usability.
Actuate has a strong language for professional report writers, and something nicely sets up data relations for users who know their data but don’t understand database concepts.

Cognos Vs Crystal reports XI

After studying the features offered by leading enterprise reporting tools, Crystal reports XI emerges as the clear choice. This solution has many important features for meeting various requirements.

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The above report was written and shared by a Dashboard Spy and represents opinion based on research of the vendor’s marketing material. The scoring system may not be as scientific as it appears. Consider it a “gut” reaction.

Tags: Enterprise Reporting Software, Enterprise Reporting Platform Review, Enterprise Dashboard,

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Last Modified: Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 @ 10:01

This business intelligence dashboard blog entry was posted on Thursday, November 30th, 2006 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Dashboard Screenshots. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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