Business Objects-Query and Analysis ???

[OrionStar]

Dear Forum:

Does anyone currenlty utilize Business Object's Query and Analysis system? I've only seen information from their website --

http://www.businessobjects.com/products/queryanalysis/enterprise/default.asp

I'm interested in how it works in the real world. One of the main things I'm interested in is how much SETUP is involved with this product? How much Security and Administration is needed to run it?

Anyway, if you have this product I'd welcome any comments on how it works for you and what you think about it.

Thanks
Mike

 

[skrandel]

Most all the members of this board and others are Business Objects customers.

No one can easily answer your questions. It all depends on what database you plan on attaching to.

Server setup is relatively easy. Building of Metadata pertaining to you application is the effort involved.

It is by far the #1 ad-hoc query tool on the maket. My company has almost 2000 users.

Steve Krandel
VERITAS Software

 

[OrionStar]

Thank you for your reply. When you say "Metadata" are our internal reporting setup? We have no experience with a product of this type as of yet and we just now started using Crystal Reports 9. One of our Senior Mgrs here saw the Business Objects Query and Analysis product and was interested in it.

http://www.businessobjects.com/products/queryanalysis/enterprise/default.asp

If you click on this link it takes you to the product that we are looking at. Question: I understand the Reporting, Query and Analysis, and the Performance Management sections, but I'm unclear on WHAT IS INVOLVED with the INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE? Will support personnel be need to build reports, monitor databases...etc.etc.. ?

Thank you for your help.
Mike

 

[jimbopalmer]

I maintain BO in a small end shop (66 users), we use BO to report on 11 apps (They provided templates for the Oracle Financials, we wrote the others) once written (about 3 days work per app) I maintain BO in about 1/2 hour a week. Users will discover new fields on Forms we have never reported on before and ask for new Definitions in BO, usually it is a one to one mapping in a database table and takes under 5 minutes. Sometimes it is a calculated field and takes twice that. Very rarely, I get involved in helping a user write a report he can't do on his own, but usually the users help each other, they know the data better.

Users always get to name fields with names that they use (different users can each have different names for the same field if they like), they are not forced to learn some programmers abreviations, users never need to worry about how to join tables, users never need to learn a database language. But they CAN do these things, BO allows you to be as naive or techie as you like.

As an I/S guy, users can only view data not alter it, I control how data is JOINed, and I can set CPU time and row count limits. I can implement as much security as I need in a simple GUI. I often make the user happy before he hangs up, how often does THAT happen now?

Users make reports fast without waiting on I/S, I/S spend so little time on support, that what support is needed can be fast. Everyone likes that part!

(If you are spearheading this from the user side, bargin with I/S that their reporting time will go WAY down, so what reporting support you DO need should be high priority. BO fails if I/S won't spend the 5 minutes RIGHT NOW to keep the user focused on his reporting needs. Even the slower tasks: adding a new table, writing a stored procedure, should be done in one business day)



I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[OrionStar]

Thank you for your input. So regarding the "Users", what type of training will they need? Will they need a report generator background? Most of our personel has very little report creation experience. Is there a "training curve" that we would need to be aware of during the initial startup?

Thanks
Mike

"A man is only as happy,... as he makes up his mind to be...

 

[OrionStar]

Also, can you please verify YOUR relationship? Do you OWN the BO product OR are you a 3rd party provider?

Can you share with me the COST please? Both Startup costs and ongoing expenses.

Thanks.

"A man is only as happy,... as he makes up his mind to be...

 

[jimbopalmer]

While they frequently teach each other, we try to have a 1/2 day long BO course mostly to show them how to format the data better, the default format looks pretty much like spreadsheet output. We chose BO (in 1994 I think) because it seemed to require less 'programming' skills to get started for the users.

I have noticed that BO is most used where the users know their data, and just want to see it in ways the app does not allow. For new projects, where no one knows what the data looks like, BO is less useful, as they do not know if they are making correct reports. (It is hard for I/S to design metadata (BO calls them Universes) when the users do not know yet which forms fields are important)

I am the I/S tech who supports BO at our site, my real job is DBA/network admin. We bought BO in 1994, I feel sure pricing is way different now.

I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[skrandel]

Users will need training. Many of your users will simply open and refresh reports. Because of the simplicity of the tool, many will also develop ad-hoc reports.

All users will need some training. It may be 10 minutes for some or a day for others.

Developers will need to learn how to build Universes (BO Metadata) and complex reports.

Steve Krandel
VERITAS Software

 

[xlbo]

cbmcleaning - At the end of the day, BO and its deployment will be as complex as you make it. If you have a small business model with few processes then it will be easy to implement and report on. If you have a large business and lots of data, you may require multiple "universes" (these are the way BO describes database structures in a non technical sense) which could be complex both to build and to write accurate queries on.

To be honest, you are asking us to provide consultant type information which is not what these fora are about - this is a place for technical questions regarding the utilisation of an application.

My suggestion would be to contact Business Objects, tell them you are interested and ask if they can provide a presentation / demo as your questions are really too general to answer here

Rgds, Geoff

"Three things are certain: Death, taxes and lost data. Guess which has occurred"

Please read FAQ222-2244 before you ask a question

 

[OrionStar]

Thank you for all your help. Geoff please feel free to only provide information that you feel "comfortable" with. If you feel like it's crossing over into consulting, believe me there is no need to offer any advice. I've been a part of forums and I use them for INFORMATION purposes only.

Just a little additional info on our databases,... we have 313 separate databases. Of course not all of them are being used, but we are a Legal Firm, and as you can guess our databases are VERY extensive.

I'm using Crystal Reports to access and report on data and finding it very time consuming (at least initially) to identify the data elements and test the LINKING elements for each database. I never thought that BO would be the end all answer to our delima because I always knew that SOMEONE would need to tell BO how to access the data or where to find the data so that the END USER could create reports easier.

I do appreciate your insight.

Mike

"A man is only as happy,... as he makes up his mind to be...

 

[sh4kil]

Crystal Reports now has Business Views that is a take on the Meta Layer provided in Business Objects called the Universe. It simplifies the reporting process as you create the joins only once (in the Business View) and then you base the Crystal Report on the Business View.

Also, you can use a Business Objects universe within Crystal Reports as a Data Source.

As a developer and consultant in both products, I would say Business Objects is the best option.