SAP BusinessObjects
Self-service business intelligence (BI) platform
4,3 /5 (150 reviews) Write a Review!
Good application
Pros
This is good time management tool with simple user interface
Cons
User interface can be modified for more simplicity.
Easy and Convenient
It's easy and fun to drag and drop columns, but as I mentioned above, the Informatin Design Tool application is a bit slow. I recommend Sap Bo in general.
Pros
I can easily find the solution in internet. And I can easily drag and drop the columns of the tables I selected in DFX to BLX.
Cons
Information Design Tool app to be accelerated for the designer
Easy BI tool
Apart for loading speedn, its well designed, intuitive and easy to maintain.
Pros
Easy to set up the backoffice part of the tool.
Simple way how to organize and manage access rights.
Perfect for dashboard customization, its even possible to add some html code and thus custom designs and outputs.
Cons
The data universes takes some time to load.
It takes time for system end users to learn how to create and format their ad-hoc reports.
SAP Business Objects - Watch your wallet
This company has draconian licensing and contract renewal process. They are not willing to work with consumers on any part of renegotiating a contract. For this reason alone I would never recommend this product to a colleague.
Pros
Business Objects has a great number of features. Report scheduling, dashboarding, and data file exports were some of the major features I used in this package.
Cons
Version upgrades are extremely difficult to perform without consulting. Troubleshooting messages tend to be cryptic which makes troubleshooting a laborious and tedious process.
Global reports standardization
A good tool, but with a medium learning curve for new users
Pros
Possibility to apply to different regions of company operations in the world, make it standard.
Crosschecks rules to ensure consistent reports
Cons
No low code
It demands techinal team queue to update business needs.
Excellent software for data analysis
Overall, really great product used by many international banks.
Pros
This software is excellent to use for data analytics, to create graphs, tables, and overall financial reporting.
Cons
The software is locking a really good support team to address user's issues. The 24 hours support is necessary
Great tool, reliable architecture and very useful
In space, the area that I address is the customer service through this fantastic tool we can keep a real-time control of the requests for services from our customers, assigning numbers of events that link the whole process with the areas involved, from that the service request is made until it ends with the invoicing process of it.
Pros
The scope advantages and the ability to link the data available in our organization by SAP BusinessObjects has allowed us to optimize the administrative and operational processes in a way that allows us to access the correct information.
Cons
I do not have negative opinions of the tool, within the organization has been very useful the use of it.
Good product, but poor support
The applications is good and very flexible. But there is a very complicated licencing system, much like that of Oracle. Be sure that you get proper advice from SAP of your SAP Partner.
Pros
Business Objects has many capabilities, for me, the ease of publication of reports is the most important.
Cons
SAP is a large company, if you work for a relatively small company (700 people), then you have to go through a partner. The quality of these partners varies.
versatile program
overall it has been a game changer for our company
Pros
Love how quick and easy it is to use this program . A lot of our major software programs are SAP based and very user friendly
Cons
sometimes the layout of things was a little confusing or too cluttered for my taste. i would probably change the layout
Easy to use reporting tool for SAP
Very valuable tool for my department which uses sap modules and finds ABAP reports cumbersome and slow.
Pros
I have worked as an SAP Consultant so I know the importance of reporting for clients. SAP business objects are the best way to quickly design and integrate reporting tools with SAP source systems.
Cons
For an end user, there is limited flexibility when it comes to modifying reports once deployed. I would like some more customization options.
Good for reporting, but a bit clunky at times
Pros
Not very difficult to set up universes (both .unv and .unx) and develop reports, schedule them, etc. So from a functionality standpoint, this tool is good.
Cons
1. It doesn't always behave the way it is expected. For example, I could not modify a report to point to a different table within the same universe (one table points to production schema data and another to test schema data).
2. When modifying a report to say, add a section, the alignment gets messed up and it takes some ninja mouse skills to get the section to appear where you want. Should not be that difficult to accomplish a simple task like this.
3. Sometimes the errors that pop up have a very cryptic message and troubleshooting where the problem is occurring is almost impossible. For example, the query that the system generates runs fine and produces results in a tool like Toad or SQL Developer, but the report does not execute due to some error (ORA-01830: Date format picture ends before conversion). It would be helpful to get some context around the error to help with troubleshooting.
4. Developers don't have the ability to look at basic information about the universe that the report is pointing to (e.g. location in CMS) which makes it hard to know whether the report is pointing to the development version of the universe or the production version.
BOBJ is a good option for complex data analysis
Pros : Complete product from Giant Vendor and has a great Echo system, Good for Complex/Huge Data Analysis models, Mass Publishing is a great advantage with this Product as i don't see this much of handy with any other Front end products, Robust model, With Design Studio and Lumira it has gain more strength in the BI Market, Great product to integrate with any kind business model,
Cons:
Increasing number of tools in the suit confusing customers to choose what for what, Bit Expensive compare to other Reporting products, Recovery is not simple as we think in Failure cases, It requires huge amount of Hardware resources to build a medium/Large landscape, not simple as an end user product for all type of Developments...
Pros
Complete product from Giant Vendor and has a great Echo system, Good for Complex/Huge Data Analysis models, Mass Publishing is a great advantage with this Product as i dont see this much of handy with any other Front end products, Robust model, With Design Studio and Lumira it could be a great product to integrate with any kind business model
Cons
Increasing number of tools in the suit confusing customers to choose what for what, Bit Expensive compare to other Reporting products, Recovery is not simple as we think in Failure cases, It requires huge amount of Hardware resources to build a medium/Large landscape, not simple as an end user product for all type of Developments...
Great tool for report automization, analysis and calculation
It's a very powerful tool to download data, however, requires some trainings for users.
Pros
It's intergrated in Microsoft Excel, so I can use all function of Excel on the data download by SAP Business Object.
Normally we have to go to the web version of the reporting tool and download report one by one, but with SAP business Object (Analysis Office), we can insert the data source one time, format it, do calculation with it (using all other Excel function). The next time when you need to update the data. Just simply refresh data source in your formatted file. All data are refreshed while your calculation/format are still there.
You can even write Excel VBA to load data with Analysis Office. It saves you a lot of time to download all reports based on different filter criterion.
Cons
First, it takes time to load if the data is too bid
Second, there is a limit (55 000 lines) on Excel. You can, of course, change the limit, but not everybody knows how to do it (or allowed to do it)
Thirdly, the prompts are not so well-designed and user-friendly. I normally have to scroll down a lot to find the filter. (imagine you have 10 different sheet, scrolling down will take long time).
Fourthly, VBA and Analysis Office are quite complicated to use and the trouble-shooting is quite annoying.
Makes it easy to build complex queries without knowing SQL, I love it!
I use BusinessObjects every single day, multiple times a day. We are transitioning to start having all reporting come from BO as once the reports are setup and scheduled its "set it and forget it" in many cases. We put a lot of focus on automation and reducing the amount of time spent building custom reports and one-off analyses. So we have built numerous reports to support our sales team, operations teams, vendors, and c-suite that are all easily refreshed and filtered by the users on their own. And our analytics and reporting teams now have time to work on larger scope projects rather than being bogged down by requests.
Pros
I love most everything about BusinessObjects. It's a great way for our employees to self-service in many cases as previously they had no way to get access to larger data sets unless they put in a request with analytics. But now our Directors have access to data and reports at their fingertips with minimal training (they don't need an in-depth understanding of databases or SQL queries to use the software).
Cons
A con that is worth mentioning is that exporting large data sets can be a bit slow. But the ease of use and other benefits definitely outweigh that.
SAB BO Administration
Check every the status of all the services.
Publish and schedule a report
Create a report with Crystal Report
Create triggers
Pros
Possibility to schedule a report with different parameter and send it by mail to different user.
You can send a report in many format (xlsx, Pdf, etc)
Triggers features when you schedule a report
Cons
Administration is not easy, many services to check every day.
Consume a lot of Memory and CPU.
In case of crash, the reinstallation is very difficult and too long.
Sap business object overall review
Sap business object is very ease to use for end user.there are someR very useful and user friendly tools which can be operate or handle by end user like web intelligence , explorer, lumira etc.
In other end, there are other functionality and tools like dashboard,design studio , information design tool.
Sap business object is platform independent and robust.
Having great features of drill down,dynamic receipent ,enterprise reciepent.
Pros
Sap business object is very ease to use for end user.there are someR very useful and user friendly tools which can be operate or handle by end user like web intelligence , explorer, lumira etc.
In other end, there are other functionality and tools like dashboard,design studio , information design tool.
Sap business object is platform independent and robust.
Having great features of drill down,dynamic receipent ,enterprise recipient.
Cons
Sap business object , for create the universe need knowldge of database and query and fundametals.
Unbeatable End to End Enterprize Business Intelligence solution
I have been working on SAP BO for past 10 years across different domanins like banking, manufacture and health care and built hundreds of application on BO. This is my primary skill set.
Pros
1. It is a massive BI tool which can support thousands of reports within the company
2. The security implementation is much far advanced
3. The different tools of the package WebI, Crystal, analytical tools serves/covers all needs
4. Lot of intelligence applied building this software and latest versions 4.2 is much advanced and feature rich
5. It also has ETL tool BODS providing end to end solution
6. It connects to all most all RDBS databases
Cons
1. Platform administration is too challenging
2. software version and patch takes lot of time
3. Too many features sometime confuses the developer and users (till there is scope for user friendly)
4. New release are too late and other side competitor like Tableau are moving very fast
5. Lumira still lacks lot than equivalent competitor tools
Great Front End reporting tool which enhances the business decisions more effectively on the fly
I have been using the tool from past 9+ years for the development of reports to our clients and the improvements to the overall BO product suite over a period of time are absolutely fantastic and you will have a wide range of products in the suite which will cater all your business requirements irrespective of the domain you are in
It is highly recommendable to the business who wants a better results,growth and improvements in the areas where they are lagging because the kind of visualizations and stunning dashboards that Business objects provides will give business head a clear cut idea on their improvement areas so that they can concentrate more on improvements and decision makings
I have had an experience from various clients in different sectors like Finance,Telecom,Oil and Gas, Fleet and so on where they always gave a positive and really a five star rating about the product feasibility and various options SAP Business Objects provides
As a developer and Technical specialist working on SAP BO I had a wonderful experience with the customer support from SAP and also whenever we raise an OSS Message or case about the product functionality the kind of response we got is really great and helped us a lot to solve the customer issues at the earliest
It is ultimately a great product which sustained nearly a decade after SAP acquired now due to its tremendous capabilities and improvements in reporting and universe modelling and various versions of product releasing as and when required based on customers feedback
Overall I would highly recommend SAP BO to any client be it small , medium and large due to its robust sizing guide lines this will be the best product and also this is one of the world's best reporting tool till date, no wonder after the introduction of SAP Design studio this will become the number one in the space of reporting
Also I would like to mention about some of the important reporting tools in the product like WebIntelligence, SAP BO Exlorer, SAP Lumira which will definitely add an advantage to the organizations growth in providing the most thoughtful decisions on the fly to the clients
Stunning,Astonishing,Intelligent and Beautiful Dashboards and Visualizations will only be possible with SAP Business Objects!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SAP BOBJ BI
One of the best tools from SAP BusinessObjects BI is a suite of front-end applications that allow business users to view, sort and analyze business intelligence data for all integration and reporting management within the diversified organizations.
Best features include Dashboards -- Allows us to create interactive dashboards that contain charts and graphs for visualizing data and reports.
Web Intelligence -- Provides a self-service environment for creating ad-hoc queries and analysis of data both online and offline.
Integration with an outlook for easy extraction and transformation of reports into excel.
Good usage fro Business Explorer (BEx) Suite (BEx Analyzer, BEx Web reporting).
Highly formatted layout (print focused) Parameterized / dynamic layout Self Service / Freeform Layout Hierarchical awareness Dashboarding & visualization Interoperability.
Pros
Fast, robust and compatible with third party integrations.
Scheduling Event: This event is used to run reports or any BI objects sequentially one after the other.
Cons
Development seems bit deep dig process which takes a long time for customizations
Greatest business investment
I've used multiple sections of SAP and throughly enjoyed how each section works so smoothly with the others. It has the added bonus for companies that are global being able to link all business as well.
Pros
Once it's been implemented for the entire company it integrates every aspect smoothly. The ability to link every part of the business is invaluable. From HR to logistics to production, managing warehouse inventory cost saving are realized.
Cons
Implementation can be tricky if the people setting it up dont take the time to learn the business from one end to the other. It takes a team working in unison to develop a fully functional system. I've seem great things from SAP and I've seen a company sinking from a poor implementation.
Great tool for big data analysis, visualization, and automation.
It frees up time
Pros
Every day I learn something new about the software and I'm always blown away but the capabilities. I dont know that I can pick out one thing I like most although a big one is how it allows me to take reports that to refresh previously would take quite a fair length of time but now that I have built the same reports in Business Objects I have automated most, if not all, of them. And many are even emailed to me at a time which I've scheduled so now that the reports are built, all I do is nothing. Just wait for them to be sent to my email inbox.
Cons
I wish there was an easy way to have my scheduled reports send to SharePoint (if there is a way please let me know);
powerful and customizable analytics
Establishing a culture of self service analytics within the organization with initial training and support as and when required.
Pros
SAP business objects is an easy to learn and use analytical tool especially in the context of self service analytics by end users. One is able to re-use the same query and also share the query with other users as well and modify the query at any given time for customization purposes. It is also fast.
Cons
As with any new tool, there is an initial learning curve to get ramped up - however there is fairly good documentation available for this purpose. In addition, need good network bandwidth especially when there are multiple users trying to run queries at the same time
Used as Central Management Console
Pros
We use SAP Business Objects in conjunction with Crystal Reports to provide web based links for our employees to run on their own within the constraints of the parameters. I like that it is easy to navigate and sort by file name. The organization of information is clear and straightforward and it is easy to customize how you want to see things.
Cons
I wish there were options to add certain columns to your view. For example if I want to sort by name or last update, I can, no problem. But if i want to get any details on frequency or last time a user ran a report, i have to either go into the settings or run a report.
Satisfied but I can still see a lot of rooms for improvement of the products.
Pros
SAP BusinessObjects is a wide collection of softwares that businesses can use to handle different functions such as reporting, business analytics, forecasting, etc.
Based on my experience, the softwares are easy to use with interactive graphical user interface. Also, with its point and click functionality, new users can easily familiarize with the system. In addition, the ability to customize the system for more advanced users is absolutely commendable. Few systems are flexible enough like SAP BusinessObjects. The integration of SQL Database Management makes it easier for more advanced users to customize the system according to the company's needs and demands.
Cons
Since the software is mostly Window-based, computers using other programming language might have some difficulty in using the system. The wide variety of functionality also makes it a little bit confusing with new users especially those with no knowledge of SQL syntax.
SAP Business Objects Helping Us Gain Visibility and Transparency
Pros
In my opinion, not all SAP BO offerings are equal, but several are very useful. The offerings we have chosen to utilize will, without doubt, help us to transform our business.
The offerings I find most useful for helping our field personnel and leadership get a better understanding of their environment are Lumira, Crystal Reports, Information Design Tool and HANA Studio. The Implementation of HANA is critical for reaching the next level of performance as well.
SAP has very good customer service and the free education and learning resources are very useful.
Cons
As with any new product there are bugs and errors. I have been frustrated at times with the newer software and sometimes even the more mature software can be frustrating.
