When implementing business analytics technologies, many organizations face the challenge of selecting a proper BI tool for analysis, dashboards, decision making, and reporting. Here I review a few modern BI front-end tools from the BusinessObjects 4.x portfolio. Specifically, I discuss SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office, BusinessObjects Design Studio, and SAP Lumira. The remaining tools from the BusinessObjects portfolio (e.g., Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports, Dashboard Design, OLAP Analysis Edition, BusinessObjects Explorer, and BusinessObjects Predictive Analytics) are not in the scope of this article. In addition, it is my belief that 80 percent of the modern business analytics front-end needs can be addressed with the three tools covered here. I am reviewing only the most recent product versions available on the market, and do not compare them to previous versions or BusinessObjects 3.x. The same applies to the BusinessObjects universes; I only take into consideration the latest capabilities of the BusinessObjects 4.x Information Design Tool (IDT).

Typical Business Analytics Architecture and Reporting Scenarios

First, let’s consider the following reporting or planning scenario in which BI tools are sitting on top of SAP BW on SAP HANA, SAP HANA, or BusinessObjects IDT universes. I believe this represents the majority of modern scenarios involving SAP business analytics technologies. In this case, IDT universes can federate data from multiple databases, including non-SAP relational (legacy) databases.

Positioning BusinessObjects 4.0 Front-End Tools

Figure 2 demonstrates how SAP positions various BI front-end tools. There are three main categories to which front-end tools belong:

• Agile visualization: Understanding available data, big or small. Finding answers to questions in no time—using iterative data exploration.
• Dashboards and applications: Inspire and assist in faster decision making with unparalleled interactivity and what-if analysis.
• Reporting: Access, format, and deliver printable information to a large populations of users.

Additionally, front-end tools can be classified as self-service (business users can design and execute applications themselves) or as designed by IT (technical experts have to build and configure applications for business users). SAP Lumira, BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office, and BEx can be classified as self-service tools. When appropriate data models are designed, business users can create visualizations and explore data without further involving IT personnel in development or support. However, IT has to make sure proper SAP HANA views, SAP BW BEx queries, or IDT universes are available as a basis for reporting. The effort involved in preparing data models is substantial and requires qualified IT resources. Table 1 shows a comparison of these tools and their capabilities and users.

Criteria for product selection	BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office 2.0 (2013)	BusinessObjects Design Studio 1.5	SAP Lumira Desktop 1.28 and Lumira Server
Target user groups	Analysts	Managers, analysts, and budget data-entry clerks	Senior managers and analysts
Type of presentation	Reports, charts, and visualizations	Dashboards, web applications, and reports	Visualizations and story boards
Self-service vs. professionally authored	Self-service (underlying queries designed by IT)	Designed by IT (plus underlying queries designed by IT)	Self-service (underlying queries designed by IT)
BI platform operating system	Windows, Linux, AIX, and Solaris (to SAP’s Product Availability Matrix)	According to SAP’s Product Availability Matrix: Windows, Linux, AIX, and Solaris	According to SAP’s Product Availability Matrix: Windows, Linux, AIX, and Solaris. But publishing is available in SAP Lumira server only on the Windows platform (October 2015).
Possible data sources	SAP BW and SAP HANA	SAP BW, SAP HANA, BusinessObjects universes, and Event Stream Processing event streaming	SAP BW, SAP HANA, BusinessObjects universes, Hadoop, and flat files
SAP BW master data integration	Navigation/Display attributes and native SAP BW/SAP HANA hierarchies	Navigation/Display attributes and native SAP BW/SAP HANA hierarchies in the analysis template	Navigation/Display attributes and only custom built/converted hierarchies
Map-based visualizations	No	Yes. Multiple plug-ins and open-source extensions	Yes. Based on coordinates and also by country/city names
Client installations needed	Yes. SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office (adds the Analysis tab in Excel).	Just a web browser	SAP Lumira desktop requires a client installation. The SAP Lumira server needs a web browser (and is less sophisticated).
User interface (UI) customizations	Within the limits of Microsoft Office (Excel)	Fully customizable look and feel with a number of pre-built templates, including cascading style sheets (CSS) customizations	Impressive default templates with a possibility of customizations by users
Conditions, ranking, and exceptions	Underlying query based, plus standard capabilities of Microsoft Excel	Underlying query based	Users are able to introduce ranking/filtering for visible datasets in SAP Lumira itself
Calculations, formulas, and conversions	Complex calculations based on underlying queries, directly in Analysis for Office, plus Excel formulas that can be saved/shared via workbooks. Unit/Currency conversions on the fly by passing parameter to underlying queries.	Complex calculations based on underlying queries. Unit/currency conversions on the fly by passing parameter to underlying queries.	Basic calculations in the SAP Lumira engine. No currency/unit of measure conversions on the fly.
Report-to-report interface (RRI)	Yes, as a sender	Yes. Can set on click actions that will refresh another crosstab/charts based on selected parameters. Also offers jump-to functionality with Open Document.	No
Passing query parameters and BEx variables, defaults, and prompts	Yes	Flexible options for passing parameters via Dimension field drop-down list controls, selected values on the screen, pop-ups, and so on	Passing parameter to underlying queries during refresh updates the whole dataset available for analysis
Data entry capabilities, reporting, and planning	Input-ready queries allow data entry/planning functions execution within Integrated Planning	Crosstabs and standard templates based on input-ready queries allow data entry/planning function execution within Integrated Planning	No data entry capabilities
Publishing options	SAP BI platform	The SAP BI platform (preferred option as it can combine queries from multiple platforms). Also possible SAP BW platform and SAP HANA platform.	SAP Lumira desktop can publish documents on SAP Lumira Cloud. The SAP Lumira server can share applications via the SAP BI platform.
Mobile versus desktop	PC with Microsoft Office	BusinessObjects Design Studio allows formatting/previewing applications for tablets and mobile devices, and execution via the SAP BI platform	Automatically converts and allows previewing applications for tablets and mobile devices.
Portal integration	No. Limited integration with Microsoft SharePoint for Web Intelligence and Crystal Reports.	No	No
Security and authorizations	BusinessObjects folder security and SAP BW/SAP HANA authorizations are automatically applied to the underlying queries	BusinessObjects folder security and SAP BW/SAP HANA authorizations are automatically applied to the underlying queries	SAP Lumira Cloud user authorizations applied. Also SAP BW/SAP HANA authorizations are automatically applied to the whole dataset.
Bursting and distribution (broadcasting)	No. Only possible in Web Intelligence (dynamic recipients) and Crystal Reports.	No	No
Online/Offline mode	Online slicing and dicing, or locally saved workbooks	Online applications. Offline, click through capabilities available in BusinessObjects Design Studio 1.5.	The SAP Lumira desktop after refreshing keeps datasets on a local PC and allows building visualizations/storyboards
Key factors contributing to performance	During navigation, reads data from underlying queries executed on the server. Performance depends on the number of queries, how they are designed, and sequence of execution.	During navigation, reads data from underlying queries executed on the server. Performance depends on a number of queries, how they are designed, and sequence of execution.	The SAP Lumira desktop with a dataset on a local PC performs well, but there are restrictions on the size of the dataset related to the PC’s capacity

Each front-end tool has a distinct purpose and user group. When selecting a tool for a particular task you have to take into account its capabilities, UI familiarity, and limitations. Today most business analytics needs can be addressed with these three tools: BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office, SAP Lumira, and BusinessObjects Design Studio. There are a few exception cases in which Crystal Reports and Web Intelligence look stronger at the moment (as of November 2015). For example, good-looking paper (printable) documents and reports are designed best with Crystal Reports. In addition, in cases of bursting and distribution, especially scenarios in which PDF versions of reports have to be sent out to large groups of users by email, can be done more easily and quickly with Web Intelligence and Crystal Reports. Another exception case is SharePoint portal integration, which is not currently available for the three tools reviewed in this article. On the other hand, sophisticated web applications and portal pages can be designed in BusinessObjects Design Studio. Design Studio applications can deliver reports, clickable dashboards, report-to-report interfaces (RRIs), and portal data-entry pages that can be used for budgeting or planning. Users need just a web browser to execute them. SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office allows users to benefit from the in-memory technologies applied to Big Data volumes and the familiar interfaces and capabilities of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and so on. SAP Lumira has striking visualization capabilities that business users can benefit from without involving IT. With just a few clicks, impressive senior-management presentations (storyboards) can be prepared based on the data models from the underlying Enterprise Data Warehouse. In addition to all these capabilities, when selecting a front-end tool for specific needs, keep in mind that SAP has announced that it is working towards simplifying the BI front-end product landscape by keeping only SAP Lumira, BusinessObjects Design Studio, BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office, Web Intelligence, and Crystal Reports.