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The more information you have, the better your decision. A certain technology area in the business world helps individuals make better decisions with the help of the correct data. The field is business intelligence or BI.
The idea behind business intelligence is to take data and present it appropriately. Although BI can't help you decide whether it's the right time to go for a walk or propose marriage, it is incredibly useful when it comes to making business decisions. The popularity of BI has led to the growth of BI solutions.
If you find the market a dense forest, you may want to stick with recognizable vendors such as RapidSight or Microsoft Power BI. Today, we will talk about SAP BI. The article provides general information on the SAP BI Platform and its various solutions. This article will also provide a general overview of the SAP BI platform, including its strengths and weaknesses.
What is SAP Business Intelligence?
SAP BI is a term that refers to tools and processes used for evaluating the information you have collected during your business operations. The process does not end with the analysis of the information. It can turn that information into useful insight to help make better decisions. SAP BI is no different. The benefits of SAP Business Intelligence are far more than what can be achieved by a basic BI tool. Continue reading the article to learn more.
Database and Data Management Solutions
The user interface of business intelligence is where end users (data analysts or business users) can interact with data pipeline technologies and the data. This performs three functions to make the data available and consumable via the user interface:
- Extraction of raw data sources.
- Data transformation and storage in warehouses.
- Give access to the data of certain users via the end-user interface.
SAP's database management and storage products are a great way to store and manage data. The set includes four products:
SAP HANA and Database are managed databases or tools for database management. Data Warehousing, also known as a warehouse service, is used to store and organize all of the corporate data in one place. Enterprise Information Management is an all-purpose tool that manages data, metadata, and data quality. Cybersecurity Governance Risk and Compliance are self-explanatory. They are tools to support fraud prevention, risk management, and data security.
Both SAP HANA Data Warehousing and Data Warehousing can be used together. The benefits of each solution are available on-premise, in the cloud, or hybrid. The analytical platform, and the instruments that it contains, are also included in these features.
Analytics Solutions
SAP BI database solutions are concerned with data storage and transformation. They also include data management. Analytics solutions are a collection of tools that improve your analytical abilities and provide you with access to data. Analytical solutions, in simple terms, are the front end of a business intelligence system. They provide reports, dashboards, or other data exploration tools to analysts. Analytics solutions include the following products to support business intelligence and data analytics:
SAP Analytics Cloud is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business intelligence solution that provides access to all corporate analytics from one place. Think of Analytics Cloud as a BI interface. Analytics Cloud gives you access to the entire database solution and brings together different analytical tools in one location.
Collaborative Enterprise Planning is planning for the corporate world, where departments can plan their actions together based on information-driven decisions. This is a Google Calendar for companies that make strategic financial and business decisions.
The tool Predictive Analytics allows you to use machine-learning algorithms to forecast future trends using your data. The predictive analytics tool comes pre-built with machine learning models and algorithms. SAP Business Intelligence. This product is a combination of tools for business analysis, reports, and visualizations.
SAP Business Intelligence is the core product and includes several tools for data access. SAP Business Intelligence instruments can be categorized by groups of end users. Business Users (or Data Consumers) are the first user group.
This group queries data without having to deal with the internal structure of the databases. A data analyst (or IT department) is the second group. These users work within databases to explore and add metadata, as well as support queries.
SAP BusinessObjects is an on-premises BI platform that provides access to real-time information. Self-service BI allows business users to work with data without the IT department's involvement. BusinessObjects provides a variety of capabilities, including reporting, instant reports (ad-hoc), interactive dashboards, and data visualization.
BusinessObjects, like most BI software tools, has built-in instruments that allow business users to create visualizations using a drag-and-drop interface. APIs allow it to be easily integrated into many other products. Integrating additional data sources or applications, such as ERP, can be done through APIs.
SAP Lumira is a tool for creating data visualizations/dashboards. Lumira, a BusinessObjects component, helps data analysts and business users to analyze data. The results of the visualizations are also shared within the company and can be used in Microsoft Office documents.
SAP Crystal Solutions is a BI suite designed for small and midsize businesses. It comes with a variety of reporting features, as well as sharing capabilities. Performance numbers are the difference between BusinessObjects Solutions and Crystal. Trustradius.com user reviews show that crystal solutions are used by small businesses and enterprises.
Analytical instruments, like database solutions, can be installed on-premises or in the Cloud. The architecture that you select will determine the flexibility of the products and the deployment options. After a thorough understanding of SAP's BI product suite and its interrelationship, let's move on to the overall platform.
Business Intelligence Tools and Systems
The SAP BI System has a wide range of tools. We have discussed a few. Hopefully, this will make it easier to understand them.
1: Business Intelligence Reporting
It is important to provide end users with data and insights in a way that they can understand. Reports from the same are often visual and summarized to show different trends within a certain time frame. The BI report is interactive. If you wish, you may slice the tables to make them more detailed. The reports are also automated and can be sent on a schedule or generated instantly.
2: BI Dashboards
The dashboard is one of the most popular tools for BI. It allows you to see everything happening within your company. The tool offers constantly updated graphs and charts to help you track KPIs.
You can then prepare for your future business activities by gaining a better understanding of how you are performing. You can also customize the information that you view by using interactive tools. After you have checked the metrics, you can share them within your company and begin a collaboration feature. Here you can also perform manual analyses.
3: Querying
Querying tools allow users to quickly ask about the current status of a business through a variety of intuitive interfaces. Modern querying tools make it easier than ever for users to ask questions and receive answers.
If you're worried about the sales you're making, for example, you could ask, "How many watches did we sell today?" This will help you to learn more and get motivated.
4: Data Visualization
You can use it to see the collected data in context and visualize them. You can find it in charts, maps, and graphs. This technology is interactive and can help you better understand something.
The data visualization technique can be applied to almost any type of information. It's most popular when used to visualize outliers or trends. Different patterns and colors can also be used to highlight a certain part of data. In general, data visualization can be found in all business intelligence systems - for example, in reports and dashboards.
5: Data Preparation
Data preparation is usually a process that involves combining multiple data sources to make data analysis easier. To obtain the data, an extract procedure is used. The information is then categorized, cleaned, and loaded into the data warehouse. Good BI systems automate these processes and allow you to define the dimensions and measures.
Read More: What is Power BI?: Architecture, and Features Explained
What is Business Intelligence Reporting?
Business intelligence has been briefly touched upon before. We will now try to expand on the topic we introduced previously to give a more complete understanding. Business intelligence reporting (also known as BI Reporting) is the use of software or data analytics to gather, prepare, and present information. The data is then easily accessible to be evaluated and consumed. It will also be a reliable tool for guiding and informing future business decisions.
What is HTML Used For?
BI reports are designed to make it easy for employees to measure, track, display, and access data. This usually does not require technical or other knowledge to be understood. You can also elaborate on key metrics if necessary.
BI reports are also highly interactive and visual. It will be much easier to collect data and present it correctly. This is a very different approach to operational reporting, which tends to be more technical and theoretical.
Benefits of Business Intelligence Reporting
The goal of BI reporting, then, is to collect data in a way that people can understand. This feature is not limited to just reporting. It's much more than that.
- Data that is reliable and more informed for better decision-making.
- Reporting business performance and output is easier and quicker.
- Differentiation and competitive advantage.
- Optimized proceeding and improved operational efficiency.
- Encourage a data-driven culture in your organization.
Reporting BI can help share accumulated data and analyze it within the company. You don't have to be concerned about data loss since the SAP cloud-based system will store all of your information.
The business intelligence system is also known as a decision-support system (DSS). It analyzes historical and current data and presents the results in easy-to-read reports and charts, dashboards, graphs, and maps that can be shared with other employees within an organization.
Business intelligence systems, also known as decision support systems (DSS), analyze historical and current data. The results are presented in reports, charts, dashboards, and graphs that employees can easily read.
This type of analysis is sometimes called "descriptive" as it describes the current performance and the past. This can help answer questions such as "What happened?" It can answer questions like "What has happened?" and "What should be changed?" But it can't tell you why or what might happen next.
SAP Business Intelligence: The Seven Pros
SAP, according to the 2018 report on market share data, is an important player. It accounts for over 16.5% of the global market. The list of SAP's BI products is extensive, and it includes products to suit different business sizes. According to the report, SAP has a good reputation among more than 1,000 employees. Here are some of the advantages that SAP Business Intelligence Services can provide.
1. Seamless Graphical Interface
The business intelligence tool looks like a cave drawing because it is not the primary goal of the company to provide self-service and a user interface. The result is a heavy interface that's designed for experienced programmers and data analysts.
SAP Business Intelligence offers a variety of useful tools that are easy to use. The SAP interface may take some expertise and time to learn (just like any other business intelligence software), but it is simple. By allowing users to access all tools through one interface online, you can manage user onboarding more easily.
2. A wider Audience Of Users Can Now Access Self-Service Tools
The data-related field requires extensive technical and data knowledge. Although the main function of BI tools is to automate data extraction from large storage systems and present them to users, they sometimes require human assistance. This is typically done by the BI Developer, ETL developers, or an IT Department.
SAP BI provides several tools designed for non-expert users (BusinessObjects, Lumira, and BusinessObjects). It doesn't necessarily mean that your users will not need any help. It can reduce maintenance costs as well as the amount of time you spend working on reports.
3. Data Source Integrations
It's worth a separate section. We have already discussed integration with external sources. SAP App Development offers integration via two SAP data storage systems: SAP HANA and Data Warehouse. Other services, such as Apache Hadoop and Hive, are also supported. It is particularly useful for large data sets and when using a BI tool as a data-exploration tool.
4. A Full Range of Business Intelligence Products
When you think of an established, old business like SAP, then it's no surprise that they should be viewed as professionals. SAP provides all of the technical components needed to create an information platform for your company and provides reporting tools.
Depending on your needs, each product offers a variety of options. You can deploy it either locally or in the cloud. The Database and Analytic solutions offer cloud, on-premise or hybrid options.
Analytics Cloud can also be used to group all your BI instruments. This platform allows you to restrict access to data based on permission. Each user has an interface that only allows them to access the data they need to finish their tasks.
5. Microsoft Office Compatibility And Sharing Functions
It's not enough to have access to data. Business intelligence is only valuable if you can share the insights and reports that it provides. Two things are remarkable about business intelligence:
The majority of SAP Analytics reporting and dashboarding solutions come with the ability to share data. It allows your executives or employees to exchange essential information easily. Reporting can refer to visual reports, texts, or dashboards that are shared.
You can also download data into Excel or Spreadsheets and then share them across different organizations using the traditional method.
Assume that your main concern is security. You can then set rules and permissions by using the SQL database permissions or data management tools.
6. Performance and Real-time Database of SAP HANA
When evaluating all the aspects of SAP BI, it is important to include the HANA Database in our list. This database allows real-time data access, allowing for quick data processing and rapid response. HANA is compatible with a variety of database management systems. Data integration is made easier across the company.
7. Flexible
SAP's BI solutions are most often cloud-based and easy to use and integrate. SAP Services offers a variety of deployment options for almost every product. Depending on your preferences, you can have some flexibility in terms of deployment equipment, maintenance, deployment, and management.
Business Intelligence Examples in Action
The latest BI tools make it easier for employees to access and analyze information, both from historical and current sources, as well as take action. Here are some BI scenarios that can be applied in different areas of the business processes.
- Business Intelligence: Marketers can use this business intelligence tool to analyze campaign results such as email open rates, click-through rates, and landing page conversions and then adapt their future campaigns to increase their effectiveness.
- Financial Intelligence: Finance departments can track expenses and margins, cash flows in real time. The finance department can monitor their profits and make decisions that will increase the bottom line.
- SAP BI Services for HR: SAP BI can be used by HR teams to track critical metrics such as attendance, time, and productivity, as well as turnover and employee engagement. The HR department can make better hiring decisions using BI data, determine the need for employee training, and streamline schedules.
Cons of SAP Business Intelligence
Licenses And Pricing Are Expensive
SAP BI software is known for being expensive. 2019 SAP BI pricing starts at $14,00 per year for BusinessObjects. Your package price can rise to $50,000, even before maintenance fees. The absence of BusinessObjects' free trial is much more frustrating. However, you can test the Analytics Cloud for free to see what the software offers.
Customer Service And Platform Management Are Poor
Many users of trustradius.com have complained about unreliable support. SAP has taken steps to improve the support team. This improvement was in the form of a customer success team, which supports Lumira users and BusinessObjects users. Platform administration is different.
Platform Heterogeneity
SAP has a history of acquiring a large number of companies. In reality, almost all BI products were acquired from smaller players on the market, such as BusinessObjects, in 2007. Integration between new products can be less than seamless, as is often the case.
Reporting On Performance And Quality
We have to deal with the contrary view. While many users consider SAP BusinessObjects performant, we must also address this opinion. According to the reported case description on testing SAP's BI and warehousing solutions, the results push "performative status" away. Reports are either delayed or disappearing. On trustradius.com and financeonline.com, the same comments can be seen that reporting delays or disappearances is a problem.
Heavy Load Causes Server To Shut Down
The same issue has been reported by users across TrustRadius. When a report is complex, the main problem is that servers will shut down. SAP HANA also shuts down as query volumes increase. It could be an issue on any server. Still, we felt it was important to mention this particular one because it is so savage compared with SAP BI licensing and pricing.
Which Sap Business Intelligence Solution Is Best For You?
Who should be the one to look into an SAP BI proposal in the beginning? Using the features, problems, and benefits mentioned, we can identify a few scenarios:
Fit For Enterprise Needs: The majority of SAP users are large companies. The product line's primary goal is to meet enterprise requirements. BusinessObjects Analytics Cloud is a good way to distribute content across a wide range of consumers. Enterprise Planner, and the overall integration list (specifically with SAP ERP), are good options for companies with large amounts of data. You can get the best solution by adding costs and an entire service offering for BI.
SAP provides several options for integrating data from multiple sources. This is largely because SAP HANA sources need to be more specific. There are many integrations. Integration with MS Office, the most popular data format for storage, is not the least.
The Bottom Line
SAP BI is not for beginners. It is, therefore, better to learn more about it. You could always hire a consultant if you are not sure enough to do it yourself. You will learn everything you need about technology; they can help you implement it in your company.
