SAP Business Objects Reviews

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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);

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pros

I use SAP solutions to create dashboards and visual reports.
What I like in SAP BO, that we can create powerful and innovative presentations - from 0 to our vision.
I use many of all great options like:
- maps
- charts
- gauges
- sliders.
Except that, it's possible to add external data and visual elements like shetchnotes and files from other formats.
What is very important, reports are interactive, so we can create what-if analysis in easy way, with our vision in out minds. Dashboards can be connnected to external data sources like Excel or databases.

Cons

It would be great to be able to work more without specific informatics knowledge. It would be great to see more options to share final work with others.

Pros

Its best feature, in my opinion, is the ease of building reports through its drag and drop interface. We have several data universes which we use to generate the reports. Business Objects makes it quite easy to manipulate the data fields and build professional looking reports.

Cons

My least favorite thing about this product would have to be the lack of download capability in more current versions of Excel. Currently, Business Objects only downloads in Excel 2007 format, which can sometimes complicate pulling millions of rows of data into one spreadsheet. Office 2010 and 2013 are capable of handling millions of rows of data, but B.O. cannot deliver it into those new formats.

Pros

SAP Business objects is great for storage, creation, and reports sharing. It allows us to use real time business data and prepare reports from real time data for making business major decisions.
Reports creation could be difficult for the beginners, since there is a long learning curve to master all it´s functionalities. But once you´re there, you realized how powerful this tool is.

Cons

SAP support service is not the best in my opinion. Long response times, and sometimes they don´t offer effective solutions to our problems.

Pros

Business Objects is one of the most efficient reporting software out there. It is fast, and its UI design makes use of any knowledge use the tool. It has its own server and file management tool which make using this software more productive.

Cons

To report using business objects, you have to have universes those are needed to be developed by your designers. There is a lack of functionality where the user can directly query off from SQL tables. The updates and patches those are rolled out by SAP are very slow.

Pros

SAP in our business of distribution and logistics is very complex and can gather a mass of data. It excels at drilling down to fine detail and tracking of inventory and sales down to number of turns and we use all of this data to drive our business. For this it is a great platform.

Cons

Because of it's many layers and it's complexity it creates an environment where it can be cumbersome to create orders and quotes.

Pros

The best part of SAP Business Objects is it's powerful suite of tools. You can run Analysis for Office for many end users and they are able to self serve whatever they need. You can build out powerful storyboards with Lumira. You can also create standardized formatted reporting with Crystal Reports. That doesn't even touch on Design Studio, which can also be a powerful tool.

Cons

Some of the programs are still not quite as bug free as you would expect from a vendor like SAP. I feel like we still have too many freezes, crashes, and unexplained behavior. However, I will say that SAP is very quick to respond and they are a great vendor to work with.

Pros

You can accomplish a lot with this tool. The use of universes connecting the tables is powerful. I also love the ability to set up email instances of reports - it’s always helpful when a software can do a routine task for you.

Cons

There have been some weird quarks in BO 4.0. Changes that we’ve made to a report will work one day and not the next. It’s not very friendly for someone who wants to do ad hoc analytical reporting.

Pros

Much faster than manual queries and data pulls from our internal software
The ability to build off of a saved query expedites all future queries
Features including reoccurring queries and running queries in the background so it does not interfere with your current work

Cons

There is a learning curve to understand how to use the queries, so there is some training involved
Some of the "result objects" do not pull data but that may be our data sources, not the program itself

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.

Pros

Once you know how to utilize the system, the data and information you can obtain and reports that you can set up are endless

Cons

Very challenging for non-accounting minded folks to understand, difficult for beginners to use without lots of support, customer service is non-existent