The usual use cases for my customers involve developing reports based upon the financial model from the SRM system as well as the finance and transactions system.
External reviews
14 reviews
from
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Optimized calculation capabilities enhance decision making and reporting needs
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform that I have found are the table widget, SQL functions, calculations, scheduling part, and the server management, which I frequently use.
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform supports my decision making with its reporting tools greatly, especially from the Business Intelligence point of view, particularly in the financial module. The Business Intelligence tools lack any planning options, which is why the SAP SCC tool and SAP Analytics Cloud tool are essential for planning, but for calculations, SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform outperforms all other tools such as Power BI and Tableau, showing more accuracy, reliability, and flexibility compared to all other BI tools worldwide.
What needs improvement?
We need to speed up the performance of our tool because it is slower compared to the SAP Analytics Cloud tool. We need to improve the optimizing areas, and I frequently face these optimizing areas, but other than that, the visual, the UI, and everything else is good.
I believe they should optimize the pricing.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform for more than four years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the scalability of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform as a nine due to performance issues related to optimizing parts.
How are customer service and support?
I have communicated with the technical support of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform. My impression of the support is good so far. Sometimes, they forward my ticket to the technical team, especially when my issue involves technical aspects that basis people may not be familiar with. There have been some hierarchy confusions, but other than that, it is good, and I rate them 8.5.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not use a different solution before SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform for these use cases because SAP Analytics Cloud tool is not reliable enough for calculations based on business requirements. I have also used Power BI and have some experience with Tableau, but in comparison, SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is significantly ahead of all those tools.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of this tool was very easy, rating a ten. The deployment took me within 30 minutes.
What about the implementation team?
For the deployment process, I need to take a backup of all the reports using the Business Intelligence compression or archive files for all users, servers, access levels, and the auditing DB, taking all the files as a BCMBR file. Then, I can deploy or upgrade from the existing system to the latest version, or alternatively, create a new server node. Ensuring backups for updating and deployment is essential, and either installing or upgrading the existing system or creating a new node for deploying all updated latest features in the Business Intelligence system is an easy task.
For the deployment, I need two people: one from the basis and one from the technical side.
For maintenance, I have managed just one person for all user level access, server management, report side, and promotion side for the past four years based upon the system landscape. I have developed more than 130 reports in the Business Intelligence tools, so we typically need one person for maintenance, one for the basis side, one for technical tasks, and one for server-side maintenance, which totals to four to five people being more than enough for maintenance activities.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment so far in the form of saved time and resources.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I rate the pricing for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform as a seven or eight.
What other advice do I have?
I have installation experience with these solutions. I use SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, and I am a consultant for this tool.
The data analysis capability that I experience with SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is that we are using the table format widget frequently while rarely using other widgets such as charts and timeline charts. The most impressive aspect of the tool is the ability to perform all levels of complex calculations, date-level calculations, and operator-level calculations. This ability to handle calculations is a significant highlight when compared to other Business Intelligence tools from SAP.
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform integrates with AI for data analytics, which is promising. After the latest patch update, they've mentioned enhancements in the data analytics part, which has become more involved with AI, similar to what is found in SAP Analytics Cloud.
I have an average of about 150 users day to day for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform. I might have plans to increase the usage of this tool in the future in my company.
I rate this solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Solution empowers self-service reporting and delivers comprehensive performance insights
What is our primary use case?
As a BusinessObjects Administrator, I work to deploy the solution, handle new installations, security setup, user management, and all of those tasks. Later, I started report development and became a BI developer, and then I did some data warehousing.
With the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, we build financial reports such as P&L and income statements for financial reporting, and we also build dashboards for top management.
Through interacting with top management in our business, I have been able to meet their needs through ad-hoc reporting capabilities.
What is most valuable?
Empowering business users means they should be able to work independently without depending on the developer. One advantage of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is self-service capabilities, allowing users to do drag and drop to build their own reports and perform analyses without needing technical know-how.
The platform has many drivers that I can use to connect to virtually all available databases, making it easy to integrate with Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and many others. With the cloud version, I can fetch data on-premises and to the cloud for analysis easily. It is so flexible that I can make choices for fetching data. For authentication in an SAP environment, I can choose to integrate with SAP logon for SSO or use AD authentication for convenience, along with the flexible integration options.
What needs improvement?
There are areas of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform that need improvement, particularly in licensing, which can make it complex and expensive for users. If SAP could split the analytics side from financial analytics, it would become more affordable and easier to learn for technicians.
The integration of the cloud product needs improvement, as I have faced challenges fetching data from SuccessFactors, which isn't as seamless compared to on-premises solutions. I expect improvements over time, and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is still superior compared to other reporting tools.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform for over 15 years now.
How are customer service and support?
I have experience with SAP technical support and have supported customers, including those in financial services. I continue to assist old clients while supporting my colleagues as well.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Setting up SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is one of the easiest things I've done. Having started my career as an SAP BusinessObjects administrator, I find it still easy due to my foundational knowledge.
What was our ROI?
For most of my clients using the on-premises version of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, the return on investment is positive due to its affordability and ability to handle diverse reporting needs while automating information distribution.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Using Power BI as an example, most customers choose it instead of SAP, primarily due to the cost, acquisition cost, and maintenance. People choose other products because of the flexibility, though I am not sure whether any other reporting tool is as flexible as SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform. Users often complain about the interface of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, saying it is not as aesthetic as Power BI, but SAC is addressing that issue. In terms of performance, other BI tools cannot compare with SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, as those reports are not as fast as those built on SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, and other tools are not as robust for financial reporting.
What other advice do I have?
Based on my years of experience with the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, I have worked with all the products, starting from Analysis for Microsoft Excel, then SAP Web Intelligence, and then the BusinessObjects dashboards, which graduated to Lumira. From Lumira, I moved to SAC, which is now the current product that SAP is positioning for reporting, and that is the cloud solution.
Currently, the organization I work for, Dangote, has close to 9,000 users in an SAP environment. We utilize SAP for our ERP, CRM, and SuccessFactors, and we also implement Power BI to enhance reporting aesthetics for specific users.
I am currently using Microsoft products for analysis and Power BI fabrics while fetching data from SAP ERP, SAP HANA, and BW, but I have not necessarily had any AI-driven projects within BusinessObjects.
I work on both the cloud and on-premises versions of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform. While the cloud version isn't popular yet in this part of the world due to costs, some users still prefer the perpetual license of the on-premises version.
I rate SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Business intelligence tools have improved decision-making with reliable performance and competitive pricing
What is our primary use case?
I am not sure about how it supports my compliance and data governance requirements.
I am working as an IT manager.
What is most valuable?
It integrates well with BW and HANA, which demonstrates strong data integration capabilities.
The solution is reliable, which is the main feature for creating insightful reports.
It helps in decision-making, which impacts ROI, especially in terms of efficiency.
What needs improvement?
The solution is performing well, and I don't think any improvement is needed.
I would appreciate integration with Outlook as an additional feature in the future to make it closer to a perfect score.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform for six years.
How are customer service and support?
I am satisfied with the technical support provided by SAP.
I would rate their technical support as excellent.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I am using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform exclusively.
What was our ROI?
It helps in decision-making, which impacts ROI, especially in terms of efficiency.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is very competitive and reliable.
What other advice do I have?
Based on my experience, I would recommend SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform to others.
The solution currently lacks AI capabilities.
I would rate SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform eight out of ten.
Dashboarding and reporting become more efficient with robust analytics capabilities
What is our primary use case?
This platform is very important to us because it offers a dashboard and includes SAP Analytics Cloud for reporting. The analytics is a reporting platform with a separate license from the planning platform. We use this primarily for dashboarding.
What is most valuable?
The important features include a dashboard and reporting capabilities through SAP Analytics Cloud, which I consider to be a better version than the initial BusinessObjects platform. We use these tools primarily for reporting and dashboarding needs.
What needs improvement?
SAP BusinessObjects is expected to be phased out by 2027 as reports are moving to SAP Analytics Cloud. The creation of stories within the platform could be enhanced to be easier than it is currently.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have eighteen years of experience working with this solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate the stability a ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate the scalability a ten.
How are customer service and support?
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate the technical support as eight.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is a straightforward process.
What was our ROI?
The return on investment from this solution is high, with the highest ROI observed.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing of the solution is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
While I recommend the SAP Analytics Cloud version, I do not recommend the on-premises version. If you are considering overall ratings, I would rate SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform as a nine.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Offers a user-friendly interface and robust security measures
What is most valuable?
What I like the most about SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform is that it has significantly improved our decision-making process by automating data injection, eliminating manual preparation, and reducing associated costs. The user-friendly interface allows for quick analysis, while robust security ensures controlled access to sensitive information.
What needs improvement?
While SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform offers powerful reporting features, I believe there is room for improvement in providing more user-friendly and versatile reporting options. Currently, users might face limitations and complexities in developing specific use cases within SAP. Unlike other business intelligence tools such as Power BI, SAP could enhance flexibility, allowing users to seamlessly integrate data from various sources like CRM systems, providing a more dynamic and adaptable reporting environment for users.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of stability, SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform has been good. It is a reliable solution, especially for injecting and integrating data from sources like SAP, Microsoft Azure, or AWS. The platform's partnerships with major systems like SAP and Oracle contribute to its overall stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform is highly scalable. You can easily upgrade the account to accommodate your specific needs. The platform's cloud capabilities allow for seamless integration of advanced analytics like machine learning or AI. Currently, we have over 20 customers using it.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform can vary in complexity depending on the customer's specific use case. For us, the process was generally straightforward. We identified the tables the customer wanted data from and extracted and injected the data accordingly. Visualization and analytics were then tailored to their specific needs. The deployment process, from development completion to implementation, involved collaboration with staff and followed a systematic approach.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing cost for SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform can be significant due to its complexity. It is crucial for customers to carefully assess the value they expect to derive from the implementation. Start with a basic version before opting for more advanced options like SAP HANA to manage initial expenses wisely.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for new users is to consider SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform, especially if they're dealing with complex organizational structures. It is beneficial for centralizing data from various departments into a unified system, providing a robust solution for analysis and decision-making. Overall, I would rate it as a nine out of ten.
A stable tool with an easy setup phase that helps with the creation and manipulation of scenarios
What is our primary use case?
In my company, the solution is used when I get involved in scenarios to get more insight into the analytics part before presenting different options to the company's CEO, because of which I stress over those scenarios related to externalities.
How has it helped my organization?
I can create and manipulate scenarios, which has helped me a lot because before we started with SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, I worked on Excel documents. Excel documents used to get modified by a lot of people in our company, so no one could follow all the patterns when working on the Excel sheet. Within SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, I have been able to follow a path and know who or why modifications were done.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that none of the users can modify a status if I don't allow it.
What needs improvement?
The financial area in the solution has certain shortcomings that need improvement. The solution's financial area needs to improve because a lot of the segment reports have been working with the finance part, so a lot of projects can be done now that our company couldn't do in the past.
Sometimes, there is a possibility that our company has to share some files with certain external users, and we find it hard to provide them with all the information that they want even after using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement.
The machine learning part in the solution is an area of concern that should be considered for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform for three months. I don't remember the version of the solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I don't use the technical support provided for the solution since I prefer to use the web or the internet to search for information related to the product.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have programming experience, and now I work on business intelligence tools like Power BI and Tableau.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform was easy since the solution is user-friendly.
The solution is deployed on-premises.
What was our ROI?
Based on my ability to understand the information related to the solution, it does help in providing me with a higher profit. I cannot be exactly sure about the ROI since I don't know the price of the solution.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend those planning to buy the solution to try it for a few days.
I rate the overall product a nine out of ten.
Easy to set up, good reporting, and very efficient
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case for BusinessObjects today is for comprehensive Business Intelligence reporting. Most organizations using BusinessObjects today primarily use Web Intelligence or Crystal Reports or both for critical enterprise reporting and ad-hoc query and analysis.
We managed multiple BO deployments for multiple organizations, from the local and federal government to healthcare providers and from insurance to manufacturing.
In all these organizations, timely and accurate reporting is essential, and BusinessObjects is solid, reliable, and versatile. You can produce professional drillable formatted reports quickly and either interact with them or publish and distribute them in commodity formats like PDF and Excel.
How has it helped my organization?
They've made it more efficient and able to respond to both report and ad-hoc requests in a timely fashion.
The world still runs on reports. Reports are needed for financial statements, compliance, auditing, and dozens of other areas.
BusinessObjects has proven to be a report engine powerhouse where we can quickly create these reports and get them to the right destination in the right format.
The speed of turning around report requests has really had the most impact on the organizations we manage.
What is most valuable?
The semantic layer or BusinessObjects universe behind the Web Intelligence report provides the ability to create contexts and calculations that can be easily shared across multiple reports.
The ability to merge dimensions in a report is great.
The new features in BI 4.3 that allow you to use a Web Intelligence report as a data source have helped to create "master" reports that can be delivered to casual users, who can then create their own derived reports from this "master" report.
Shared Elements allow commonly used charts, tables, and graphs to be saved and re-used in other reports.
What needs improvement?
We would like to see the semantic layer opened up to other popular BI tools like Tableau and PowerBI. This integration makes a lot of sense for most organizations.
We would also like to see a native version of BusinessObjects and Web Intelligence created for the cloud.
It would be nice to see some native integration with Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and capabilities to really take Web Intelligence to the next level of Business Intelligence. This could be integrated with existing popular AI tools instead of new development.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using BusinessObjects almost as long as the product has existed - 30 years, believe it or not. The most current version BI 4.3 has been out for just over 18 months and is currently at Service Pack 4 (SP4) which was released in December 2023.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very good. After 30+ years of development, this is a very solid platform.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
BusinessObjects scales all the way from one or two users to global enterprises with hundreds of thousands of users.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is not bad. Sometimes the responsiveness could be better. Once someone is assigned to the call, it is handled well.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The setup is straightforward after you have done it at least once. You would need some hand-holding the first time.
What about the implementation team?
We are the vendor team that helps with implementation.
What was our ROI?
We saw an ROI within six to 12 months.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Using Xcelsius dashboard instead of Qlikview
When I first started presenting Xcelsius dashboards back in 2006, I said that it should carry a warning sign stating “May Cause Xtreme Xcitement”!
Despite all the advances in technology and tools over the last decade that statement not only remains true today, but maybe should be changed to “Will Cause Xtreme Xcitement”.
In the last month, I have both seen and heard stories from companies singing the praises of Xcelsius and hailing it as the savior of BI user adoption in their organizations.
A company specializing in reporting and analysis of employee business travel was looking for a client facing BI application that would help sell their solution. The client showed me their current solution running in Qlikview bemoaning how rigid, limiting and unexciting it was to use. They then showed me an example of something they found on the web that was an animated PowerPoint dashboard much closer to what they were looking for. Of course, I recognized it as an Xcelsius dashboard embedded in PowerPoint immediately. It had been developed over seven years ago, but it still sizzled. So, we mocked up a new prototype in Xcelsius for the client and to say they loved it would be an understatement. The VP of Marketing came up with the best quote of the day when he said, “It’s alive!”
A multi-national vehicle leasing company developed a super cool Xcelsius dashboard for improving their vendor management with built-in location intelligence using the GMaps plug-in and the InfoBurst XML Data Caching for high data volume performance. They presented it at their annual sales meeting last month and it stole the show. The excitement generated was so contagious, the VP and Director responsible spent the evening at the bar designing the next dashboard together! (I can’t wait to see that one!).
A new finance director of a global software company needed a way to provide better visibility to their financial statements and reports. She remembered using Xcelsius many years ago and said it really helped then. We put a prototype together for her in a day and everyone loved it, so they are buying it next week.
So why is Xcelsius so amazing and still slaying the BI data visualization competition everywhere? There are dozens of reasons from its ease of use, animations, ability to embed in everything, fast prototyping to its “what if” scenarios and cool components. But it goes deeper than all these features which you can also find in other BI visualization tools. The real secret to the success of Xcelsius is that it was initially designed and developed by computer gamers. To develop a winning computer game, you need to engage your audience visually, make it cool and fun to use and have limitless possibilities. You can find all these elements in Xcelsius dashboards allowing you to create killer BI applications.
That is why Xcelsius dashboards is still the best show in town. Xcelsius lives!
Update Nov 2015 : Lots of activity around Xcelsius HTML5 for deployment on mobile and on desktop with dCode add-on (www.getdcode.com). Now that Xcelsius generates HTML5 output, I see it being around for many, many more years
Update April 2016 : Xcelsius continues to thrive with many organizations using and deploying it for the first time in 2016. SAP provided updates to it with latest BI 4.2 release including full support for Excel 2013
Update Sept. 2016 : Xcelsius HTML5 definitely seems to be the dashboard solution of choice and many new add-on HTML5 components are becoming available including D3 charts, flat components and query drag and drop discover.
Update Sept 2018 : Adobe announced end of life for Flash for Dec 31, 2020 and SAP announced it would no longer support Xcelsius after this date since the development client uses Flash. While some Xcelsius users are looking for a viable alternative solution, others vow to continue to use the tool regardless. There are some new Xcelsius compatible solutions in development so let's see what materializes in the coming months.
Update Feb 2019 : Xcelsius still heavily in use. Some companies looking to replace with Tableau or PowerBI but just not the same. Web Intelligence dashboards may be a viable alternative for simple dashboards .
Update July 2019 : SAP has announced it will no longer support Xcelsius after Dec. 31, 2020 to coincide with Adobe no longer supporting Flash in the browser. However, most Xcelsius users have been generating HTML5 dashboards for a number of years now and are continuing to do so and their Xcelsius HTML5 dashboards should not be affected. SAP has no equivalent follow-on product and is recommending customers move to SAC (cloud only) and rewrite their dashboards - this will require programming skills . An alternative to Xcelsius, called Squirrel, that requires no training for an existing Xcelsius developer and has a built-in XLF migration utility is due for beta release by InfoSol in October and will be GA in December.
Update Dec 2019 : Squirrel has been in beta for the last few weeks with multiple organizations and is scheduled for general release on Dec 31. Initial feedback is very positive with Xcelsius users who require no re-training to use it. They have been able to both migrate or recreate existing Xcelsius dashboards. This is great news for the Xcelsius community who now have another option when Flash goes away and SAP stops supporting Xcelsius in 2021.
Update May 2020 : Squirrel is now at version 1.3 with multiple Xcelsius customers having converted their dashboards and running with the Squirrel HTML5 versions in production. This appears to be a very viable path forward for those customers left with Xcelsius Flash dashboards that will probably no longer work starting in 2021.
Update Nov 2020 : Squirrel 1.6 which has a cloud based version and allows you to embed dashboards in PPT was just released last week. More and more Xcelsius customers have now successfully moved to Squirrel and companies like Salesforce are using it too. Xcelsius has about a month to go before Adobe and SAP stop all support.
Update June 2022 : Squirrel365 has now replaced hundreds of Xcelsius dashboards and has become the de facto follow-on solution for Xcelsius
Update May 2024 : Squirrel 365 can now be embedded in BusinessObjects Web Intelligence, Tableau and PowerBI bringing "What If" scenarios and write back capability to these traditional BI solutions
Disclaimer: My company is partners with several vendors including SAP BO.
Once you are stable on a BusinessObjects release, it is worth staying there for a while
It is true that there are often challenges when upgrading between releases of BusinessObjects but this has always been the case as it has been for all the other BI and software application vendors too.
A few rules of thumb for BusinessObjects software are:
1. Never upgrade to an x.0 release - always wait for at least the x.1 release and even the first or second service pack of that release
2. Never attempt to perform a release upgrade if you have not done one before. Get training and experience first or use a reputable BO Consulting company
3. Experiment with the new release on a sandbox environment to become familiar with the changes and find any major issues before attempting a migration to production
Once you are stable on a BusinessObjects release, it is worth staying there for a while.
Update April 2014 : BusinessObjects BI 4.1 has been out for 8 months now and is looking like a stable release. Expect to see a lot of activity moving to this release over the next year.
Update September 2014 : BI 4.1 is now at Service Pack 4 (SP4) which corrected multiple issues in earlier service packs (SP2 and SP3). As more customers move to BI 4.1. more experience is gained and the platform improves. Main features attracting customers to BI 4.1 are improvements in Web Intelligence, Mobile Dashboard support and support of Desktop Intelligence.
Update February 2015 : BI 4.1 is now at Service Pack 6 (SP6). Both SP5 and 6 have been stable. Most BI 4.0 customers are also migrating to BI 4.1 and many more XI 3.1 customers are also migrating since XI 3.1 goes into a maintenance only support mode ( no more service packs or fix packs) after Dec. 31, 2015. The next major release BI 4.2 is currently scheduled for end of the year.
Update December 2015 : BI 4.1 SP7 has just been released. BI 4.2 is in Customer User Validation phase and will not be released until 2016. The jury is still out regarding if the quality of software updates has improved but new QA processes have been implemented by the SAP BusinessObjects development and support teams this year.
Update May 2016 : BI 4.2 SP2 was released at the end of March. There are quite a few new features including to the Upgrade Management Tool (UMT) which is used for migrating content from previous releases. It is now possible to handle incremental updates and moving certain types of content instead of all. There is also a new mechanism that allows part of the update to be performed while the system is still running. There is also a new Recycle bin feature for public folders in case you accidently delete a report. Organizations still running BusinessObjects XI 3.1 are now looking to go straight to BI 4.2.
Update October 2016 : BI 4.2 SP03 is now the latest version released at end of August. It has a lot of new features for a service pack including additional new functionality for Web Intelligence like cascading prompts for input controls, references and further enhancements to the new discussions. The Administrators cockpit has also been further enhanced to provide more options. So far, stability looks good.
Update April 2017 : SP03 has proven to be a relatively stable service pack that many BO customers have updated to. The next service pack, SP04 is now in beta and scheduled to be released in May. Again, it promises to have a bunch of new functionality for Web Intelligence including full parity between the Java and dhtml clients, an optional new UI and many new graphics
Update September 2017 : SP04 has now been available since May and there were additional quite a few code changes . The first release release had multiple issues. Some were addressed in the two subsequent Fix Packs that have been released. The general feeling was that it was not as stable as SP03. However SP04 was the first version that included SQL Server 2016 support so many customers wanted to install it.
Update February 2018 : SP05 was released in December and there were further enhancements particularly to the new optional HTML5 Fiori portal that can now be used for consuming BO reports. This first version has some issues around installation/upgrade but too early to judge its overall stability yet.
Update July 2018 : Like all the previous BI 4.2 Service Packs, SP05 had multiple issues when first released and really did not completely stabilize until Fix Pack 200 (after Fix Pack 100). It is now at Fix Pack 400 and SP06 is in beta testing and should be released soon.
Update December 2018 : SP06 is now the current BI 4.2 Service Pack update released late July. Like all the other service packs there were some initial issues and after a couple of fix pack updates, it now is quite stable. Like its predecessors it has a lot of additional functionality especially with the new Fiori HTML5 UI and Web Intelligence (more new charts like funnels, pyramids, intra-document links and more). Nice enhancements to BO Administrators Cockpit for usage/performance monitoring. Now BI 4.3 has been announced for release at end of 2019, the next service packs may be more maintenance fixes than new functionality.
Update June 2019 : SP07 was released a couple of months ago. Unlike previous BI 4.2 Service Packs this had a very small amount of new functionality and was mainly a maintenance update. Again the first version had a few issues but a fix pack has been released and customers are upgrading to it. The remaining 4.2 service packs are also supposed to be primarily maintenance updates and fixes as new functionality will be focused in the eagerly awaited BI 4.3 release now likely to be released in early 2020.
Update December 2019 : BI 4.2 SP07 remains the current release. There have been issues with some of the Fix Packs and it is best to go with the most current. The BI 4.3 open beta is due to start this month but GA is not expected until mid 2020 now. There should also be an SP08 update to BI 4.2 coming in early 2020.
Update April 2020 : BI 4.2 SP08 was released a few weeks back and despite it being primarily a maintenance release, SAP has included some interesting new features like a direct connector to Snowflake for Webi. Some early bugs in SP08 have been reported and the first fix patch 100 has just been released. There is still much anticipation for BI 4.3, the next major release due out this Summer.
Update September 2020 : BI 4.3 SP0 was released in June and has a radically different HTML6 UI that will take some getting use to. There are a lot of other new features including Webi as a data source allowing you to use universes on top of a Webi report. a few brave souls may try out an SP0 release but most will wait till at least SP2 due out mid 2021. BI 4.2 will continue as the dominant release for at least the next couple of years with SP9 coming out later this year.
Update September 2022 : BI 4.3 SP02 is now the current release with SP03 due for release in December. BusinessObjects BI 4.2 will go into Priority 1 support mode for 2 years starting Jan 1, 2023. In addition, SAP has announced the next major release after BI 4.3 which has been code-named BI 2024 and is die for release at end of 2024/beginning of 2025. This release like all previous BI 4 releases will run both on-premise and in the cloud. This effectively means the BusinessObjects roadmap is solid for at least the next 10 years which is a testimony to both the popularity and success of the product.
Update March 2024 : BI 4.3 SP04 is now the current release but since it has only been out a couple of months, not too many people are moving it to it yet. SP03 is now at patch level 900 and there have been some issues over the last year. Again, a lot of new functionality (and therefore new code) was delivered with both SP03 and SP04. The most significant was the new Data Tab mode in Web Intelligence which allows merging and transformation of data sources. You can join sources toigether with Left Join, Inner Join, Outer Join and Append. You can also profile your data and see disticts and nulls and apply simple transforms using a Replace option.
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