I was recently asked - how can you explain to a user about the difference between OBIEE, BI Publisher and Polaris Reporting Workbench to a business user in simple terms. More specifically, how would you assess the business situation of a client and suggest one of the three reporting tools mentioned below.
I asked a few people around about their opinion, did some research (a.k.a. Google Search) and tried to put down some key features which I hope will highlight the key differences between what these products can offer.
Read on ... and I will be happy to hear your feedback via comments:
I asked a few people around about their opinion, did some research (a.k.a. Google Search) and tried to put down some key features which I hope will highlight the key differences between what these products can offer.
Read on ... and I will be happy to hear your feedback via comments:
Feature
|
OBIEE
|
BI
Publisher
|
Reporting
Workbench
|
In
brief?
|
Dynamic
and interactive ad-hoc reporting capabilities; dashboard type reporting.
|
Meant for operational reporting, not
analytical reporting. Mainly for creation of pixel perfect operational
reports (where (say) the space between
each line has to be specific, the colors, the fond and layouts among all the
fields have to be arranged in specific ways.)
|
Self
Service solution for real-time Operational Intelligence; integrated
with EBS and BI Publisher to produce pixel perfect reports
|
Audience
|
Upper
management and middle management
|
Line
Managers and operational staff
|
A broad
spectrum: From operational staff to upper level management (via dashboards)
|
Main
Features
|
1. Hierarchy Drilling
2. Graphical Reporting (Charts, Pivots, Gauges, etc)
3. Ad Hoc Analysis
4. Actionable framework |
1. Pixel perfect reports (e.g. Payment Summary,
Invoice, etc.)
2. Scheduled Report Generation
3. Once the underlying data extraction logic is
ready, the output can be produced in a variety of formats - .pdf, excel,
word, etc.
4. Document bursting available
|
1. Deliver real time ad-hoc reports and Business
Analytics to users and Executives
2. Comes with 700+ ready-to-use reports across
Oracle HCM, Financials and Supply Chain modules
3. Report output in a variety of formats
4. Run right away or schedule for later
5. Advanced
Document bursting features allowing users to set up single reports to be
automatically sliced and diced, and then emailed to the appropriate users.
(For example, notify all supervisors regarding their employees – run a single
reports and it will automatically slice the reports and send to their
respective supervisors)
|
User
Interactivity
|
Interactivity
underpins OBIEE. Allows users to dynamically change queries on the dashboard
as well as interacting with other areas on the dashboard through action
links.
|
There is no concept of real user
interactivity
|
Advanced
Data Visualizations, including Dashboards and Drill to Detail
|
Real-time
information
|
Time-delayed,
depending on refresh frequency. Not suited where real-time reports are needed
|
Real-time
(if used as part of EBS)
|
Real-time
|
Integration
with EBS
|
Can be
designed to pull data from a variety of sources, including EBS
|
BI
Publisher is a part of OBIEE as well as EBS
|
Out of box
|
Benefits
|
1. Once the underlying data model is designed,
the rich user interface makes this a very able tool for end users to present
data
2. Reduces time to produce reports, enabling more
time to analyse the results
3. Provides “Actionable Insight” i.e. it Highlights where action is required 4. Enterprise grade reporting tool, which can consume data from various sources and enable a Single Version of the Truth across the enterprise |
Format pixel
perfect output in specific ways, provide support for multiple outputs, allows output bursting. However, it does not have the
ability to drill down. *
* I stand corrected on the ability to drill down. Pankaj Nawghare pointed out that the Oracle Data Sheet specifically mentions that BI Publisher has a drill down ability. Thanks Pankaj! |
1. Sits
directly on top of Oracle E-business suite requiring no additional hardware.
2. Administrators
and end users access the tool and its capabilities directly from Oracle EBS,
meaning less training costs and a higher end user adoption rate.
3. Does
not require an additional layer of security, leveraging your Oracle security
directly from the box.
|
Technology
|
The
framework for OBIEE comes from the erstwhile best-of-breed Siebel Analytics
product.
|
BI
Publisher was originally a different application, which is now part of OBIEE.
The best way to put it is, BI Publisher is another technology that has been
integrated with OBIEE, so now the two are both parts of Oracle Business
Intelligence. BI Publisher is also available in EBS.
|
Built
using OA Framework, so completely compatible with EBS.
|
Implementation
Tips
|
A
full-fledged OBIEE implementation requires careful thought and planning and
cross department co-ordination. Unless there is clearly defined reporting
outcome, undertaking a full-fledged OBIEE implementation project rarely
yields the business benefits to justify the investment.
In
such cases, an incremental approach is recommended.
1.
Run a small POC
2. Identify the benefits to your organisation, but don’t ‘boil the ocean’ – Keep work packages small enough to get regular delivery 3. Use OBIEE experienced Business Analysts 4. Work with the end users in an ‘Agile / RAD’ way
In
short, OBIEE implementation is a full scale project.
|
Unlike OBIEE, which imposes a Kimball
methodology in modeling its central model, BI Publisher will let you use any
old SQL as the basis for a “data model.” In the hands of non-technical users,
this is a recipe for disaster in terms of maintenance costs and overall
durability of those reports over time.
|
Plug and
Play solution – installs in less than 3 hours with an implementation plan of
less than 2 weeks (includes installation, setups and training).
|
So then the question: Which component should I use for my work?
OBIEE
|
BI
Publisher
|
Reporting
Workbench
|
|
Q.
Send a daily report in a fixed format to senior management, updated with the latest
data?
|
Schedule report and send by email
|
Schedule report and send by email
|
|
Q.
Give teams a set of standard reports that highlight issues on KPI’s
|
Create a standard set of reports (using Answers)
and place these on Team dashboards.
|
Publish a dashboard using a standard set of
reports.
|
|
Q.
Create Pixel perfect documents?
|
Use
BI Publisher (using EBS) to produce reports
|
XML output allows creation of such reports
|
|
Q. Improve Data Quality?
|
1. Expose as much data as possible in the
dashboards. Do not hide ‘odd’ data.
2. Make sure that all senior management reports come from the OBIEE system.(This will also aid user adoption) |
||
Q.
Run a daily Invoice run
|
|||
Q.
Store Reports for Audit Purposes
|
1. Use Delivers to email a copy of a report or
dashboard to a storage account
2. Use Briefing Books to store data
3. Save a report in PDF or HTML format and save in a share drive |
||
Q:
Show Trending information
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No
|
No
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