SAP

Quick note on evolution of Business Intelligence & Microsoft’s vision for BI space:

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I attended “Enabling Familiar, Powerful Business Intelligence“ hosted by PASS BA VC last week & I got to listen to Microsoft where they shared their vision for the BI space, so I thought of posting this quick note about it:

“Corporate BI” has been around for may years. This space has established players like Microsoft, SAP, IBM, Oracle. But in recent times, “Self Service BI” space has been gaining momentum. Players like Qlikview & Tableau that lead the Self Service BI space have been ranked as leaders in the Gartner 2014 magic quadrant. Microsoft has also been making serious advancements in this space since last few years & with their latest offering called “Power BI” they have shown that they putting their bets on Self Service BI space. So, as Microsoft said in the event, they view themselves as the only player that offers a full suite of Corporate BI as well as Self Service BI:

Evolution of BI

you can watch the recorded session here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yKhxSPlykg

Mapping Business Intelligence Developer’s Tools: Microsoft SQL server & SAP Netweaver BW

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This Post is NOT about Microsoft BI VS Sap BI. Then What is it?

well, I have been playing with SAP’s Netweaver BW Tools for past three months now as a part of a Business Intelligence class that’s about to conclude – Also, I have been involved with work on Microsoft’s SQL server Business Intelligence Tools. So I thought – it would be FUN to map  SAP Netweaver BW Tools (that I got to play with in an academic capacity) and Microsoft’s Business Intelligence Tools (which is currently what I am working on) – so, here you go:

Tool in Microsoft BITool in SAP Netweaver BW
ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)SAP Netweaver BW: Data Warehousing Workbench
CubeSQL Server Analysis Services – Multidimensional Mode (SSAS)SAP Netweaver BW: Data Warehousing Workbench: Modeling
Report Design Tool and Reporting Layer(It’s not an exhaustive list and does not include third part tools)
  • SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)
  • Report Builder
  • Excel (Excel Services/Pivot Tables)
  • PerformancePoint
Business Explorer (BEx):

  1. BEx Query  Designer
  2. BEx  Analyzer (Excel Add-in)
  3. BEx web Analyzer

 

Data MiningData Mining Projects in SQL Server Analysis ServicesSAP Netweaver BW: Data mining – Analysis Process Designer

Note about SAP BusinessObjects: I mapped the Tools in Microsoft BI with the tools that I got to study in my SAP class. Then I was searching what’s the current scenario in SAP world (I know about Microsoft’s!)– I learned that SAP BI world is comprised of TOOLS in SAP Netweaver BW + SAP BusinessObjects (BO). And in the course I studied the following components of Business Objects:

  1. Web Intelligence for ad-hoc query and reporting
  2. Crystal Reports for enterprise reporting
  3. Xcelsius (BO Dashboard) for Dashboard designing

For those interested I am also mapping few terms used while cube development in Microsoft BI and SAP Netweaver BW

Microsoft: SSAS Multidimensional mode
SAP Netweaver BW
CubeInfoCubes
DimensionsCharacteristics
MeasuresKey Figures
Data Source Views (DSV’s)Data Source

Note:

1) I have not mapped the Tools in Self Service BI space.

2) This comparison is not for deciding between Microsoft BI vs. SAP Netweaver BI/SAP BusinessObjects – this post is just meant for mapping tools available in Microsoft BI and SAP Netweaver BW and so if you are an expert in say Microsoft BI – this post will help you see what corresponding tool are available in SAP Netweaver BW world. Consider it as a starting guide for your research.

3) Note the date the post was written – the name of the products may have changed in future. refer to official sites for latest & greatest!

Thanks for reading.