SAP BI vs. BOBJ
Many clients are unclear on the strategic direction of SAP Business Intelligence after SAP's acquisition of Business Objects in October of 2007. Many questions have arisen over the long-term integration of the two products and how new and existing customers should tailor their implementations accordingly.
Metrinsic Solutions Inc. has worked to understand the key ideas and concepts that are driving the SAP BI and BOBJ integration roadmap.
New SAP BI customers have three potential implementation routes:
- Implement BOBJ as their warehouse and reporting solution
- Implement a Netweaver BI warehouse solution in conjunction with Business Objects reporting tools
- Implement the Netweaver BI warehousing solution along with native Business Explorer Analyzer- based reporting tools
For enterprise Data Warehousing initiatives based on an SAP transactional system, Metrinsic Solutions Inc. recommends SAP BI (BW) as a complete warehousing tool because it leverages strong integration with SAP-based transaction systems such as ECC. For customers where non-SAP based transactional systems have been implemented (third party), the BOBJ warehousing tool could provide an efficient, cost-effective solution as Business Objects provides additional enhancements for extracting data from third party systems . Though the SAP BI solution also has the capability to load third party data effectively, customers should weigh the expense of both products against their warehousing and reporting needs.
For front-end reporting, SAP's roadmap is a phased transition to Business Objects front-end tools, such as Crystal Reporting (In-House for them already) vs. BEx Report Designer and XSelsior (dashboards) vs. SAP BI Web Application Designer. This does not mean that all SAP NetWeaver front-end tools are sun setting (i.e. SAP BI Query Designer) nor does it mean that the aforementioned products are obsolete at this point in time.
For further information on Business Objects (BOBJ) and SAP, please contact us at sales@metrinsic.com.