The SAP BusinessObjects BI platform is evolving to incorporate the applications acquired from Business Objects. This is of great interest to organisations who have struggled to create effective, flexible BI solutions purely through the prior set of SAP BI applications, and have struggled to incorporate non-SAP data into the solution. The resulting SAP BusinessObjects BI platform enables an improved level of integration across many data sources, enabling increased flexibility and end-user innovation as well as IT managed and shared logic.

Web Intelligence puts the power of reporting into the hands of the users. Where the traditional SAP approach of managing access to data is appropriate, this can continue. Where increased flexibility and innovation is required through ad-hoc reporting and end-user business logic, this is where Web Intelligence excels.

The possibilities through Xcelcius open up new avenues of highly visual and interactive dashboards, analyses and what-if modelling, all integrated with the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform if desired. The design of these solutions requires experience and knowledge of best practices to ensure a scalable and supportable solution.

Many organisations will have distinct teams with knowledge of either SAP BI, or knowledge of Business Objects / other BI technologies. Bringing those teams together and cross training will divert valuable resources and inhibit the delivery of business reporting. Thorogood can support this transition process, training and supplementing your existing teams to ensure a smooth transition.

While SAP BusinessObjects continues to integrate the products, your organisation needs to identify an appropriate roadmap that builds towards your company vision for BI. With experience in helping organisations develop a roadmap for Business Intelligence, and knowledge of the SAP and Business Objects product sets, Thorogood is well-placed to support your needs right through from the strategy to the implementation.

The SAP Business Objects Planning and Consolidation roadmap includes further development of a version based upon the Microsoft BI stack, as well as a new version based upon the SAP NetWeaver platform. The end-user facing applications will be the same, whilst the back-end server components will have a very different architecture. For some organisations, determining the most appropriate version to implement will be clear, while for others it may require further assessment, and strong knowledge of both the Microsoft and SAP BusinessObjects BI stack. Thorogood can help your organisation compare and evaluate these solutions, as well as compare and evaluate against other vendor solutions, determining the right solution for your organisation.

For more information on SAP BusinessObjects BI contact us.