Recent research
Decisyon product review - A detailed look at this emerging BI development platform
Jedox Suite review - A review of the premium offering from open source player, Jedox
Oracle Hyperion Planning - Oracle's widely-used planning tool is assessed in detail
SQL Server Reporting Services - A product review focusing on Microsoft's SQL Server reporting tool
IBM Cognos BI - IBM Cognos's enterprise BI suite is reviewed in detail
Free research
Formatting Reports in BI Tools - A look at the range of different data presentation methods used in current BI tools
Business Intelligence Mergers and Acquisitions - A regularly updated running commentary on mergers and acquisitions in the ever-changing BI market
What in-memory BI ‘revolution’? - Nigel Pendse explains the facts and debunks some of the current hype about in-memory BI
Archive
The false dawn of Microsoft PerformancePoint Planning - Nigel Pendse tells the story of the rise and fall of PerformancePoint and asks what went wrong.
Panorama’s bumpy road from Microsoft to Google
- Reaction to the Panorama/Google partnership, which pledged to provide "advanced analytical, reporting and data visualization functions, all at no cost" to GoogleDocs users.
Project Gemini — Microsoft’s Brilliant OLAP Trojan Horse
- Early observations on Project Gemini, now known as Microsoft PowerPivot.
The Hyperion merger and aftermath
- An object lesson in how not to conduct a large merger or acquisition in the BI industry.
Research Notes
A series of in-depth articles and insightful commentaries from a vendor-neutral perspective. Our team of seasoned BI experts cover a variety of themes to give you the information you need to make your project a success. The Research Notes are split into sections:
- Understanding BI — Explanations of some of the technological aspects of business intelligence tools
- Advice to users — Tips and guidance guaranteed to improve the success of your project
- Understanding the market — Provides an overview of the market and the flavors of BI tools available
- Companies and strategies — Vendor portfolio guides and commentaries on vendor-related news
The BI Market Guide
A 65-page overview of the BI software market designed to help steer you through the early stages of your tool selection project. The BI Market Guide is a collection of ten of the Research Notes listed below and can now be purchased separately.
Click here for more information about The BI Market Guide including a detailed table of contents.
The Dashboard Verdict
A report by Wayne Eckerson featuring reviews of the leading BI dashboard tools, advice on product shortlisting and selection, and an overview of the dashboard software market.
Click here for more information about The Dashboard Verdict including a detailed table of contents.
Understanding BI
Formatting Reports in Business Intelligence Tools
Not all BI products are alike. Reporting and analysis tools offer a range of methods for defining report formats. This document helps you choose the right product to fit your needs by improving your understanding of the way formatting works
Semantic Metadata in Reporting Tools
A discussion of semantic (or metadata) layers, an idea originally patented by Business Objects in 1996. Since then, a number of leading BI vendors have developed the concept. This article gives an overview of four of the most popular products that use semantic layers.
Business Intelligence and Unstructured Data
An introduction to how BI tools can be used to analyze your organization's unstructured data, with a particular focus on text analysis solutions.
Relational Databases
The original concept of the relational database was first defined by Ted Codd some 40 years ago and, since the 1980s, it has emerged as the most commonly deployed database model. Here we explain the principles behind the relational model and its uses.
Business Intelligence and Web Front-ends
Web-based BI front-ends are becoming increasingly popular. This article gives the lowdown on the most significant developments in Web technologies, the pros and cons of Web-based BI deployments, the main issues to be kept in mind when selecting a Web-based business intelligence tool and a brief guide to the most common Web formats in use.
Advice to users
First steps in software selection
The first in a three part guide to choosing the right business intelligence software for your company focuses on the early stages of your project, before beginning to engage with the vendors
Assessing needs for a business intelligence project
In our experience, the majority of BI purchases are driven by the quality of the vendor’s sales and marketing, not the appropriateness of the product. Part two in our 'Choosing BI Software' series will help keep the focus of your tool selection project firmly on the needs your organization.
Evaluating and selecting BI software
The concluding part in our 'Choosing BI Software' series offers a few indispensable tips to help ensure that your formal product evaluation and selection process is both efficient and successful
Standard vs Best-of-Breed
An exploration of the arguments around the perennial debate over whether to standardize on a single BI vendor, or deploy best-of-breed solutions from various vendors.
BIaaS - Business Intelligence as a Service
A look at some of the key factors to take into account when considering deploying Business Intelligence as a service.
Commentary: Business Intelligence competency centers
The results of The BI Survey, the largest independent survey of customer satisfaction in the area of BI, show that difficulties involving people are one of the main factors causing delays and failure in BI projects. Establishing a Business Intelligence Competency Center is one way to help avoid these issues
Commentary: Proof of Concept
This brief commentary provides invaluable advice on how and why to carry out a formal proof of concept workshop during your BI tool selection process.
Commentary: Choose a product – not a vendor
Companies often purchase software from big-name players because they feel it is a safer investment. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Dr Carsten Bange explains why
The Factbase - A BI software evaluation template
This template, which serves as the basis for our own Factbases, gives you a comprehensive set of over 200 criteria by which to evaluate and compare products on your shortlist.
Understanding the Market
The BI Market Segment Guide
A guide to understanding the various flavors of BI software available, including advice on which tools fit into each product category. Essential reading in the early stages of your tool selection project.
Business Intelligence Mergers and Acquisitions
Our long-running and continually updated commentary on the mergers, acquisitions and consolidations that have taken place since the 1990s in the business intelligence industry.
Key findings from The BI Survey 10
The BI Survey is the world’s largest annual, vendor-independent BI survey. This section reveals a selection of the most interesting results and trends identified in the full BI Survey 10 report.
Companies and Strategies
Vendor Portfolio Guide: Microsoft
Having abandoned planning with the cancellation of PerformancePoint Server, Microsoft now concentrates solely on the mass market areas of business intelligence: reporting and analysis. This vendor portfolio guide examines Microsoft's unique approach to delivering BI functionality to its customers.
Vendor Portfolio Guide: Oracle
Oracle has built a large and varied BI portfolio by acquisition and is working to bring it together. This Research Note provides a handy product-by-product overview of Oracle's current Business Intelligence stack.
Vendor Portfolio Guide: IBM Cognos
A look at how the integration of Cognos has progressed and an assessment of the future prospects of products including TM1, PowerPlay, SPSS, Cognos Planning and the 'Studio' products.
Vendor Portfolio Guide: SAP BusinessObjects
An objective guide to SAP BusinessObjects' BI stack, which is now coming into shape some three years after the acquisition of Business Objects.
Vendor Portfolio Guide: SAS
SAS is the largest remaining privately-owned BI vendor. This article looks more closely at the SAS BI portfolio and reveals some of the future plans on the Cary-based vendor's roadmap.
SAP BW Open Hub Service
An overview of SAP's Open Hub Service, an optional add-in that enables users to extract data from BW. This is a must-read for anyone considering a move to SAP BW or trying to established a mixed architecture with SAP BW and non-SAP BW systems.
Archive
This section contains a selection of not-so-recent Research Notes which still make for valuable and interesting reading.
What is OLAP?
OLAP was originally defined by the late Ted Codd in terms of 12 rules, later extended to the less well-known 18 ‘features’. All 18 are analyzed, along with our preferred ‘FASMI’ test
Database explosion
One of the strange effects of multidimensional data is the alarming way that pre-calculations can grow database sizes. This popular and copiously illustrated section explains the exploding database problem and suggests solutions
Storing multidimensional data
A detailed explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of the different ways of storing multidimensional data on disk or in RAM.
Commentary: What in-memory BI 'revolution'?
If you follow the business intelligence industry, you'll have been swamped with amazing claims for 'revolutionary', 'next generation' in-memory BI tools. But what is the truth behind this development?
OLAP benchmarks
Provides in-depth analyses of the 16 benchmark tests published by Applix, Arbor/Hyperion, Microsoft and MicroStrategy. Includes the only full listing of APB-1 results available anywhere (including the first Oracle9i run), an explanation of why the APB-1 is deeply flawed and the most complete information available on the T3 project
FAQ: Open source BI/OLAP
Open source software is well established in some other sectors but is just becoming established in BI and OLAP. This FAQ provides the background and answers your questions.
OLAP Market share analysis
The latest and previous estimated market shares of the top seventeen OLAP vendors, and an indication of the expected trends. Also explains the adjustments that are required before they can be calculated
Commentary: Good things come to those who DON’T wait
Changing requirements and technologies can turn any IT project into a multi-million dollar money pit. Using supporting empirical evidence, Dr Carsten Bange argues that the success of each project ultimately depends on the speed of implementation.
Commentary: The OLAP Revival
OLAP is hip again, with all major vendors investing heavily in adding capabilities for multidimensional analysis and calculation
Commentary: The false dawn of Microsoft PerformancePoint Planning
A commentary on Microsoft's abandonment of its much hyped, but short-lived, planning tool
Commentary: Project Gemini — Microsoft’s Brilliant OLAP Trojan Horse
Nigel Pendse's reaction to the Project Gemini announcement at the Microsoft BI Conference in October 2008. The Gemini code-name is meant to imply that Excel and Analysis Services, and end-users and IT, will be twinned using the new product
Commentary: Panorama’s bumpy road from Microsoft to Google
Nigel Pendse examines the path Panorama has taken from its close relationship with Microsoft in the 1990s to the announcement that it is now working with Redmond's arch-rival, Google, to provide "advanced analytical, reporting and data visualization functions, all at no cost" to GoogleDocs users
Commentary: Hyperion Solutions merger problems
The Arbor-Hyperion merger was an object lesson in how not-to-merge. In contrast, Oracle’s subsequent acquisition of Hyperion seems to be proceeding much more smoothly.
A dozen ‘Next Big Things’ that didn’t happen
Many new developments are hyped to the rafters, then quietly fade away. This controversial piece looks at a dozen of them