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Oracle Essbase vs SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform comparison

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Database Development and Management
May 2024
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Oracle Essbase and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle, Quest Software, SolarWinds and others in Database Development and Management.
To learn more, read our detailed Database Development and Management Report (Updated: May 2024).
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771,170 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Ricardo Giampaoli
Everybody uses it for financial purposes, but it can also be used for other analytic purposes, such as mathematical...
It provides for faster and more assertive forecast cycles. It enables businesses to improve their process since with this tool, you can do things... Read more →
Paul Grill
Easy to set up, good reporting, and very efficient
They've made it more efficient and able to respond to both report and ad-hoc requests in a timely fashion. The world still runs on reports. Reports... Read more →
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"It is very fast compared to other normal databases, like SQL and MySQL.""Unlike relational, where you're linking together multiple tables, with Essbase, you basically define what the dimensions are beforehand, and you define the hierarchy, and then load the data. This allows you to do a pretty sophisticated analysis so that you can drill into it and slice and dice the data.""Essbase is extremely stable and low-maintenance.""The solution is scalable.""I have found the most valuable aspect is the user-friendly environment and current features.""It's a very powerful analytical engine with Essbase as the back end. We can analyze, transform, or utilize a big chunk of data for our calculations.""It helps us fetch specific data sets per users' requirements.""The solution can handle a large volume of data."

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"​It is a very good product, stable, and has good technical capabilities.​""The features which the solution has been awesome. The way the data is fetched from the database, and the queries are executed, is unique using the Universe of Business Objects. That makes it unique and we could not find another solution that functions in a similar way. It's has a great way of receiving and executing queries.""This reporting and broadcasting solution has a lot of flexibilities and can connect to multiple source systems.""The development using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is very good.""The ability to merge dimensions in a report is great.""The common metadata environment means that the entire organisation has the same definition of core measures rather than these being derived in spreadsheets or specific reports.""It has been extremely valuable, to combine data from various data sources.""We find the product to be very stable."

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Cons
"The initial setup could be simplified.""Essbase has a programming language, and it has a couple of functions to do forecasting, however, their feature set for that is not that good.""The ability to drive external reporting out for development could be improved.""The initial setup is pretty complex.""They should improve the solution's performance.""The consolidation engine, which is HFM or FCCS, needs some room for improvement.""I would like to see an integration with application performance management and a version control management tool.""It's an expensive product to use."

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"The financial area in the solution has certain shortcomings that need improvement.""This solution is complex to configure and administer.""The interface could be slicker and more user-friendly.""The performance could be improved, like when we extract a large amount of data.""Currently, we can use Explore to do data discovering, but cannot generate charts.""The initial setup could be simplified.""SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform should be made easier for the end-users and the performance could be improved.""The admin features for disk space management need work. It's very difficult to manage the disk space by the application; good admin features and not included to allow you to do that. I don't believe that is in the latest version of the product either."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Essbase is competitively priced."
  • "I believe the licensing is on a monthly base."
  • "It is a costly solution."
  • "The solution is expensive."

    • More Oracle Essbase Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Just work with SAP to make sure you have enough licenses but don't go overboard."
  • "​It is not an expensive platform. The licensing is for a package of users starting at 10 users."
  • "It has an option of a Cloud Platform (SAP Analytics Cloud) which has a lower price than the on-premise platform, and you can buy individual licences per user.​"
  • "Depending on your size, try to stick with SAP BusinessObjects BI Edge. Most people tend to overthink the licensing. Remember that one concurrent user means that one person can be performing a task at a given time. That does not mean that only one user can be on the system at a time, it means that only one person can be refreshing a report or designing a dashboard. There are tons of ways you can access your data or reports without consuming a license. I've seen cases where five concurrent licenses support thousands of users."
  • "There's no additional charge for a Development environment license, so build an additional development server."
  • "Its price is fair."
  • "It is not cost-effective. It is expensive."
  • "I have always found SAP BI to be expensive. It is expensive even when you compare SAP BI Cloud with Microsoft Power BI. Power BI is probably around $9.99 per month, and the cheapest SAP BI is around $20, which is double. In terms of price, Power BI is definitely a lot better. If you have budget issues, you may want to go for Power BI."

    • More SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Anonymous User
    SAP Business Objects vs. Microsoft BI
    A quick look at the whole idea on another weblogs gives you a sense that all of them just talked about very brief things like report refresh feature in BO or cube feature in MS Analysis Service. I choose MS BI and I want to share my reasons and opinions on why I choose it and give you another quick but a little deeper compare on these two BI platforms. As we all know both Business Objects and Microsoft are big companies who are working on BI solutions and both have their own advantages. It’s not true to compare them in term of which one is better, we have to check what is our requirements and then depend on requirements take the decision whether MS or BO. A vision like this could help us relief from religious decisions against a software or technology. In a BI architect first of all we have the data store level, I mean the storage of the raw data not the stage or olap cubes or universe data source, I mean the first place of our data. This is important to know that where your raw data is and what is the type of storage used to store them. Whether file system or Access or Fox database or a complex database solution like oracle, sqlserver or a web service can made our place of raw data. We have to check our tools against them; check to see which one gives us a smooth way to transfer them among ETL process to destination. So take a look at what Business Objects gives us. There is a Data Integration platform in Business objects but the problem is that you have to buy that… Read more →
    Questions from the Community
    What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Essbase?
    Top Answer:It is a costly solution. This is because we require high-performance servers with substantial CPU and RAM capacities to handle our extensive datasets effectively.
    Read all 5 answers   →
    What needs improvement with Oracle Essbase?
    Top Answer:There is room for improvement in terms of cost-effectiveness.
    Read all 7 answers   →
    What is your primary use case for Oracle Essbase?
    Top Answer:We are a telecommunications company operating in Iran, and we manage a vast amount of data related to our network infrastructure. We have hundreds of data points specifically pertaining to our network… more »
    Read all 7 answers   →
    Seeking lightweight open source BI software
    Top Answer:There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows:  1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle  - look for SAP… more »
    Read all 8 answers   →
    Tableau vs. Business Objects - Which is a better solution for visualizati...
    Top Answer:Both tools have their positives and negatives. First, I should mention that I am relatively new to Tableau. I have been working on and off Tableau for about a year, but getting to work on it… more »
    Read all 18 answers   →
    What do you like most about SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Pla...
    Top Answer:What I like the most about SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform is that it has significantly improved our decision-making process.
    Read all 39 answers   →
    Ranking
    10th
    out of 62 in Database Development and Management
    Views
    182
    Comparisons
    130
    Reviews
    8
    Average Words per Review
    381
    Rating
    8.4
    6th
    out of 114 in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
    Views
    8,659
    Comparisons
    6,737
    Reviews
    15
    Average Words per Review
    562
    Rating
    7.9
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Essbase
    SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform, SAP BusinessObjects, Business Objects
    Learn More
    Oracle
    SAP
    Overview

    Oracle Essbase is an OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) Server that provides an environment for deploying pre-packaged applications or developing custom analytic and enterprise performance management applications.

    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is a versatile and flexible solution for reporting and dashboards, focusing on analytics and ad hoc reporting. It can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud. The solution includes tools such as Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports, SAP Lumira, and Analytical Cloud and is primarily used for comprehensive business intelligence reporting.

    The most valuable features include excellent reporting features, good technical support, scalability, and the ability to translate database data into business language. The solution has helped organizations by providing analytics, monitoring KPIs, and making important decisions as a financial business.

    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Key Features

    • Central management: Access all your BI from a single, central launchpad that can be customized to meet user-specific needs. The launchpad provides business users with access to all their BI tools, reports, notifications, and applications in a single place. This includes the ability to launch SAP Analytics Cloud.

    • Data visualization and analytics: Create powerful visualizations, dashboards, and applications to assess risk, improve efficiency, identify opportunities, and enable users to analyze developments and data. Business insights can be shared with colleagues across enterprises.

    • Integration with Microsoft Office: Integrate with SAP Business Warehouse and SAP HANA to power real-time analytics. For large-scale data analysis, you can integrate with Microsoft Excel to discover in-depth business insights and forecasts. Data analytics information can also be embedded into Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

    • Cloud support: Extend and expand your BI on the cloud. SAP Analytics Cloud connects your BI to the cloud and offers enterprise planning and advanced analytics from a single online solution.

    Reviews from Real Users

    SAP BusinessObjects BI stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Several major ones are its user-friendly dashboard, its impressive reporting and analytic features, and its ability to integrate with multiple solutions.

    A managing partner at a tech services company writes, "One of the most valuable features of SAP BusinessObjects is that it's not a dashboarding solution. It's a real product. You can create operational reports and publish it to anyone. You can create schedules. You can create a Universe, semantic layers. There's also a security configuration. It's a huge product, so if there is a business need, SAP BusinessObjects can cover it."

    An associate manager at a consultancy notes, "It provides flexibility for creating reports. It is very good for creating highly complex reports. I like this solution because when I buy BusinessObjects, it comes with many components, such as reporting, dashboard, and data visualization tools. Its performance is good. It is running on top of SAP BW and SAP HANA."

    A manager of data analytics and interfaces at a healthcare company says, "It has got great flexibility. As a reporting tool, it has a great deal of flexibility for numerous data resources that you can bring into it. It allows you to write your SQL query directly within the product. It has great visualization. 

    Sample Customers
    CHU de Rennes, Bellco Credit Union, Akindo Sushiro Co. Ltd, Deutsche Telekom AG, Samarco MineraÊo S.A., PCCW Ltd., QDQ media S.A.U., Boiron Italia, Specialized Bicycle Components Inc., Akindo Sushiro Co. Ltd., Air Canada, Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd.
    SRAM, Kennametal, Fairfax Water, British American Tobacco, Velux, and FedEx.
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm50%
    Retailer25%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm23%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Retailer7%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company20%
    Healthcare Company11%
    Energy/Utilities Company9%
    Insurance Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business23%
    Large Enterprise77%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business14%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise76%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise56%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise71%
    Buyer's Guide
    Database Development and Management
    May 2024
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    Oracle Essbase is ranked 10th in Database Development and Management with 12 reviews while SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is ranked 6th in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools with 103 reviews. Oracle Essbase is rated 8.4, while SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Oracle Essbase writes " Handles a huge amount of data at a time and offers good processing speed". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform writes "Web intelligence will work with any amount of data even if you have 10 million rows". Oracle Essbase is most compared with Microsoft Power BI, SAP Analytics Cloud, Oracle Analytics Cloud, Tableau and IBM Planning Analytics, whereas SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is most compared with SAP Analytics Cloud, Microsoft Power BI, Oracle OBIEE, IBM Cognos and Looker.

    We monitor all Database Development and Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.