Business Objects suite allows ad hoc query and analysis
What is it?
Like other business intelligence suppliers, Business Objects has
been expanding its product suite from its origins in query and
reporting. Datawarehousing capabilities - extracting, transforming
and loading data from corporate databases, enterprise resource
planning and customer relationship management systems - came with
the acquisition of Acta Technology in 2002. In December 2003,
Business Objects bought enterprise reporting supplier Crystal
Decisions.
The range of users has been extended from senior management and
professional business analysts, with tools that can be deployed at
low cost throughout the organisation.
Business Objects is also striving to take the lead in business
performance metrics and management.
Business intelligence suppliers (and jobs) are likely to get a
boost from new corporate compliance legislation, which requires
more stringent reporting.
Where did it originate?
Business Objects was founded in France in 1990. Although its
headquarters are in San Jose, California, the company shows strong
evidence of its Gallic roots: the chief executive and head of
R&D are based in Paris.
What's it for?
The Business Objects suite includes web-based query, reporting and
analysis tools, a business intelligence portal, a datawarehouse,
and integration with enterprise software using native interfaces
acquired with Acta Technology. What chief executive Bernard
Liautaud calls the "democratisation" of business intelligence comes
from Web Intelligence, which allows ad hoc query and analysis.
What makes it special?
Business Objects says it is moving from being "report-centric" to
"metric centric", from reporting on past events to providing more
timely information. Real-time alerts can be sent from operational
systems to enterprise management dashboards. The object is to make
such dashboards a daily business tool for most users.
How difficult is it to master?
You will need a grasp of relational database concepts and an
understanding of report creation from the user perspective.
Where is it used?
According to Business Objects, it has more than 24,000 users in 80
countries - this surged from 18,000 users with the Crystal
acquisition. More than 80 of the Fortune 100 companies use Business
Objects, but most use up to four other business intelligence
packages too. The largest deployment is 70,000 users. Customers
include BT, BAT, Ikea, Time Warner, Nestl' and Scottish
Power.
Not to be confused with...
The Object Management Group's Common Business Objects, which
represents semantics common across most businesses.
What systems does it run on?
Most current operating systems; Olap servers, including Hyperion
Essbase, IBM DB2 Olap Server, Oracle9i Olap, Microsoft SQL Server
Analysis Services and SAP BW; and open standards such as LDap, Soap
and J2EE application servers.
What's coming up?
Integration with Crystal Decisions, to be completed by the end of
2005. The next release will be Business Objects 6.5, integrating
with Crystal Decisions 10, but Philip Howard of Bloor Research said
the following release will be Business Objects 11. "So, and this is
the big surprise, the combined product set will be based on the
Crystal infrastructure and not that of Business Objects," he said.
"It will be much easier for people to migrate to Business Objects
from Crystal environments than from the existing Business Objects
environment."
Training
Training is available from Business Objects' regional training
centres and independent trainers.
www.uk.businessobjects.com/services/educationRates of pay
Junior analysts can expect £25,000 to £30,000, and senior analysts
and designers are paid £30,000 to £35,000.