Hitesh Shah
17th December 2007, 15:14
Expert Perspective: What We Need to Get to Operational BI (http://www.intelligententerprise.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=RSCYJBE5SGABWQSNDLOSKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=204800445&pgno=1) . dated 10th Dec 2007 .
Some snippets for those not able to read the complete article .
Developers don't need all the fancy BI tool features either. They need a simple interface that lets them specify attributes, metrics and selection criteria, and that gives them the data in a usable form. This is not possible today. BI tools don't offer a stripped-down report definition interfaces, catalogs of available reports or queries, or the ability to make these available in on-demand fashion in different formats via different APIs.
A monolithic BI tool (as we have today with all the BI vendors) is not well-suited to adding BI services to an application.
One problem BI vendors face in addressing operational approaches is that they are largely driven by the economics of per-seat pricing, plus the big server engine charge.
Most BI tools are very poor as embedded tools within an application framework.
In Baan context application framework / interface / context means baan environment .
Apart from the simple challenge of making a report or graph an integral part of an application interface, there are the complexities of program-level integration.
Most BI vendors have stand-alone UIs that don't operate well in these environments, so it will be difficult for them to embed conventional reports or graphs. You can't easily take a report from most tools and incorporate it seamlessly into an enterprise or web application
With the acquisitions of Hyperion, Business Objects and Cognos, and Microsoft's entry into the BI market, there are plenty of opportunities for companies to explore new architectures for operational business intelligence. Expect slow progress from these big vendors as they go through the acquisition process and figure out how to operate as part of a larger application or infrastructure vendor.
Some snippets for those not able to read the complete article .
Developers don't need all the fancy BI tool features either. They need a simple interface that lets them specify attributes, metrics and selection criteria, and that gives them the data in a usable form. This is not possible today. BI tools don't offer a stripped-down report definition interfaces, catalogs of available reports or queries, or the ability to make these available in on-demand fashion in different formats via different APIs.
A monolithic BI tool (as we have today with all the BI vendors) is not well-suited to adding BI services to an application.
One problem BI vendors face in addressing operational approaches is that they are largely driven by the economics of per-seat pricing, plus the big server engine charge.
Most BI tools are very poor as embedded tools within an application framework.
In Baan context application framework / interface / context means baan environment .
Apart from the simple challenge of making a report or graph an integral part of an application interface, there are the complexities of program-level integration.
Most BI vendors have stand-alone UIs that don't operate well in these environments, so it will be difficult for them to embed conventional reports or graphs. You can't easily take a report from most tools and incorporate it seamlessly into an enterprise or web application
With the acquisitions of Hyperion, Business Objects and Cognos, and Microsoft's entry into the BI market, there are plenty of opportunities for companies to explore new architectures for operational business intelligence. Expect slow progress from these big vendors as they go through the acquisition process and figure out how to operate as part of a larger application or infrastructure vendor.