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End User Reporting Software
Posted: 18 Jun 07 11:24 AM
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For the most part we create crystal reports and publish them either inside some of our apps such as SLX or place them on our intranet. I have been asked to find an alternative to this that would place the reporting / querying from our various apps in the hands of the users. Does anyone use any of these that they would recommend? What about any OLAP solutions?
Thanks for any imput! |
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Re: End User Reporting Software
Posted: 19 Jun 07 8:24 AM
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Someone get the BI bug? 
Look into BusinessObject Enterprise XI R2. It allows you to publish reports via a website called InfoView. You can also create 'Universes' that users use to analyze data.
We are just now trying to get into this... but it does take sometime to setup. Doing OLAP against a transactional database can introduce performance issues. You won't see this with small databases, but with larger ones there is definitely an issue. Creating a data warehouse is a best practices approach that takes time but has huge payoffs in the end.
Just my .02
John G. |
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Re: End User Reporting Software
Posted: 20 Jun 07 5:32 AM
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I agree with John that you are really talking BI and not reporting.
You could also adopt a Qlikview strategy.
They have several levels of licenses from the "I can do anything", down to the Visual Analyzer runtime that works with SalesLogix.
Qlikview can also help bypass the need for a data warehouse if you use the incremental loading features. This means that you only hit the database for stuff that is new since the last time you worked with it. (It caches the rest). It is a very slick product, and is currently residing in Gartners Magic Quadrant. www.qlikview.com
The key thing that you need to know is that none of the BI solutions are cheap.
(Which is why the Visual Analyzer package from Sage is such a bargain!!)
another .02
ws |
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Re: End User Reporting Software
Posted: 20 Jun 07 6:43 AM
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2nd Walt's posting.. If you are going down thye BI path.. SalesLogix VA is a great (and far less) expensive solution than other BI solutions.
AFAIK you can get a 30 day (time bombed) trial of VA.
--
rjl |
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Re: End User Reporting Software
Posted: 21 Jun 07 8:17 AM
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| I just viewed SLX's webinar on Visual Analyzer yesterday. They greatly expanded the capabilities beyond dashboard. It does not require a SLX license, and it can report on any ODBC data source. They said the list price is just under $400. |
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Re: End User Reporting Software
Posted: 21 Jun 07 3:13 PM
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| I am looking into several options including SLX VA. I attended the webinar and will be getting a demo in the comming months. Anyone have an opinion ( ) on SQL reporting services and the like? |
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Re: End User Reporting Software
Posted: 21 Jun 07 3:39 PM
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http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/moreover/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20070611005092&&newsLang=en&beanID=1868105982&viewID=news_view
Something recent and interesting about QlikView - which is the technology that VA is built on.
ws |
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