SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Reviews

We use this SAP solution for designing reports. This is a purely analytic application for designing reports to cater to higher management and specific business use cases.

There are features within Business Objects that can be leveraged to scale out, and scale up. All SAP products are scalable these days. 

Some configurations related to business objects are a little tricky. Integrations with things like Active Directory and LDAP tend to be a little complex. There's not enough documentation available on the net. 

We've been using this solution for almost 10 years. 

Stability can be affected by configurations related to business objects which tend to be somewhat complex. It's not a very widely used product and that in itself is a problem.

The solution is scalable. There are features that can be leveraged to scale. 

The customer support is pretty good. 

The installation can take anywhere from three to five days. The solution has installers that are directly available for download from the SAP download center. There are certain prerequisites that have to be carried out on the server. The host has to be prepared, there's a runtime environment and a database that needs to be pre-installed. We use two to three admin people per deployment. 

The ROI depends on whether there's a significant volume. If there's not enough volume there might not be a return. 

The SAP model for licensing is quite complex and they generally don't deal with service providers.

There are mixed reviews on this product from our customers. You won't find as many companies use it as you'd find with HANA. It's not widely used. 

I rate this solution seven out of 10. 

I'm currently using the solution for a client. We use it for general reporting in the bank.

The web intelligence reporting tool and universe designer are the most valuable aspects of the solution.

Recently, it's become less stable if I am working on Citrix. 

If you want to make a change in one part of it, you cannot track the change. They need something to help track changes. That would make it better. 

I've been using the solution for over ten years.

I don't use it to do any system administration. Therefore, it's hard to really gauge the scalability.

I don't know how many people use it currently. I'm on the client-side. I'm only in one department, and I don't know who else is using it or where in the company.

From SAP, I honestly have never used technical support. I usually have enough knowledge to figure out any adjustment that's needed. I have not used support in over ten years. It's been a long time. I can't provide good feedback.

I didn't install it, however, it's not simple as just using a cloud group. You have to install it and provide services. I'm using the onsite version. It is, I'd say, relatively complex.

I'd rate the solution a three out of five in terms of the ease of setup.

I don't deal with the licensing. I can't speak to the costs. 

I know it has a reputation for being expensive. The thing is, it ensures that you do have continuity. It's also easy to use, whereas other tools that people build on their own don't offer that. You can control everything much easier and make it much more user-friendly for non-SAP users.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

We are integrators and implementers. It's purely technical instead of functional. I take care of all the servers and do server configuration, capacity planning, sizing, capacity planning, and performance tuning.

Mainly, my work is not in the reporting part. We support the users and the business, and we take care of all the BusinessObjects servers.

We are using version 4.2 right now. In that, we have a reporting tool called Web Intelligence. We haven't explored 4.3 yet.

The reports are most valuable. If it is a single-source universe, based on only one database, the performance, and the reporting tool is user-friendly, and users are very familiar with the tool and are comfortable using it. In the VB, we developed a dashboard in Xcelsius in the same way we can report in the VB.

The dashboard can easily be accessed by users. Right now with version 4.3, SAP is saying that they're coming with a query feature, where they can have a single platform and access all the reports. In 4.2, they have that one from SP4 onwards, but none of the users are using that one, so there needs to be more education with that. 

Also, reporting on the CMS database is a little bit of a headache. That is one problem that we are facing right now. With SP3 onwards, they have provided it. But right now, with version 4.3 onwards, it is very much integrated within that BO suite, so it was very easy. Right now there is a separate driver we need to install and take it further from there. That part is a little bit of a challenge.

The performance could be improved, like when we extract a large amount of data. Especially in the last project, what I've seen is multi-source. If we are developing a universe, based on Db2, SQL, Oracle and SAP BW, and developing a report on top of the multi-source universe, then there are some performance-related issues and data federation service instability.

There is a data federation administration tool, but that configuration is not very easy to use. That needs to be improved.

The solution could be more user-friendly. Right now, there is self-service functionality like how we have in Tableau, and a split view. Whatever the self-service functionalities, that needs to be improved. SAP has apparently improved it in version 4.3, but I haven't tested it.

The solution is stable. In 4.2, after SP4 onwards, there are a few patches and we have had some issues, but it's okay. SP7 and SP8 are stable.

The solution is scalable.

Technical support is very good. We can raise an incident with SAP, in the SAP portal, and they respond based on the priority.

I would rate technical support 4 out of 5.

The setup is straightforward.

Integrating earlier versions like 3.0 and 3.1 with SAP was challenging, especially when you have multiple domains, for example, and you are in the SAP domain and also if you want to integrate with SAP America. So if you want to have a multi-domain environment, that is a little bit challenging.

That is also one issue which we have faced. There are multiple changes, even from the Windows side. Otherwise, we have certain challenges in that configuration.

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10. 

Crystal Report and the enterprise reporting is very good. It's very detailed. In the VB report, they have also come up with various features, not only setting up the security at the back-end. Even at the database-level, if a customer doesn't want to do any security setup or changes, and they want to do a report-level or the universe-level restrictions, that is in the IDT tool. From version 4.2 onwards, we have that functionality. Last time, we tested it in SP6 and it worked well. 

If they don't want to have any security at the back-end and want to go with the security at the BO level, and if they want to make sure that the report is accessible by the higher management, mid-level management, that kind of a security, we can do it. We have seen that feature in SP6.

The most important feature of BusinessObjects is its integration with the SAP ERP system. If an organization is using SAP as its ERP system, and they want to do business intelligence, reporting, or analysis, SAP BusinessObjects is the only tool that I see doing that quite efficiently. That's because of the fact it is tightly integrated, and it gives a good user experience in terms of faster reporting. Its integration is the feature that I have found most valuable, but there are also other factors. 

SAP BusinessObjects is one of the oldest business intelligence tools. SAP has been in the market for quite a long time, and it is truly an enterprise company. They make sure that they talk to every component of the enterprise. 

They are evolving quickly. They are quite innovative. They understand a user's viewpoint. The best part is their enterprise presence. They're already market leaders in ERP, and they already have a large user base. Having a business intelligence suite and an established product makes things easier for them.

I really want SAP to focus on the dashboarding side. Based on what I have seen in the past 10 years, dashboarding has captured a lot of markets. Executives at the top-level want data that is summarized, looks good, and tells you a story. That's where Tableau, Qlik, and Power BI have an upper edge. It doesn't mean SAP doesn't give you dashboarding. They do have a dashboarding solution, but Tableau, Qlik, and Power BI are more intuitive and more attractive. I would like SAP to capture the dashboarding market as well, wherein they give at least some competition to other competitors. Presently, Tableau, Qlik, and Power BI are leading the market. 

I have seen other organizations such as Need4Viz that are creating beautiful charts. They are a partner of SAP.  SAP needs to onboard companies that are developing open-source charts. They need to improve their user experience in terms of dashboarding.

Another thing that I would like SAP to improve is its licensing. Because of their licensing model, they are losing the market.

It has been more than 10 years. I am an SAP BusinessObjects consultant. I've been working with the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Suite. I have worked on the ETL side, reporting side, and infrastructure side.

It is absolutely trustworthy. Once you develop a BI solution and it is signed off, you can definitely rely on it. I have seen big enterprises that have the finance or other critical reports going out from the system. It is reliable. I don't see any problem there. The problem only comes if it is not properly deployed, or you do not understand the product or don't know what you want from the product. Your business goals should be clear. Reliability is not an issue. It is an enterprise product at the end of the day.

SP Business Objects is a Scalable Product and allows you to Scale your application Vertically & Horizontally both ,We can Scale up either by adding resources on a Single machine or add a Separate machine to increase the Performance.

Scaling up the Application is quite simple & can ensure performance & Reliability.

I have seen thousand of reports running on the platform without a performance overhead. 

Initially, it was not that good, but SAP took the feedback from their customers, consultants, partners, and Gold/Platinum partners, and then they improved that process and the user experience. They set up a community, and there was a lot of engagement at SAP's level. At one point, SAP involved their experienced engineers to write blogs to have a community engagement, which eventually improved the experience when it comes to their support. SAP understands customers. They have their strategies in place.

At this point in time, there is still scope for improvement, but their support is not bad. I would rate them at least seven out of 10.

I do work for enterprise customers, and in the past 10 years, I have seen more presence of SAP, Tableau, and Qlik, but now Power BI has also started capturing the market. Power BI is cheap. Its per-user license fee is cheaper than SAP. That is the key reason why people are switching from SAP to Power BI, but at the end of the day, when customers who have been using SAP for ages do the PoC on Power BI, they are not getting the ROI that they're expecting. They already have a solution that is proven, working, and giving them what they are looking for.

All the tools have certain technical challenges in terms of the whole landscape or whole ecosystem, and our clients use tools as per their requirements. 

Its integration with the SAP ERP system is a pro. Another pro is that SAP is already in the enterprise market. They understand the landscape of big companies, and that's how they actually enhanced their product. They also have a very good user community. However, SAP's dashboard capability needs to be further improved. It is improving, but Tableau, Power BI, and Qlik have already captured a big share of the market, and regaining that share of the market would be quite difficult.

SAP's deployment is not straightforward. As compared to how it used to be 10 years ago, it is not that difficult. That's because SAP has worked on things that were lacking when it comes to deployment. They also worked on the other factors such as how good the support is, how good the product is, and how much help is provided on the internet. They have a user community of experienced people. They have worked on these factors, and now, it is much easier than it used to be about 10 years ago.

Its deployment cannot be compared with Tableau, Qlik, or Power BI because these are light tools. SAP has many more components than these solutions. SAP has more functionality, which makes the deployment a little bit tricky. When you have thousands of reports, it becomes more difficult. That's why its deployment needs more expertise than other tools. It is an enterprise solution, and at the end of the day, you need to scale it. When you have hundreds or thousands of reports, you need to scale your environment. When you have a large user base, you can come across issues, but it has improved over the period of time. 

SAP is losing market to its competitors because of its costly user license and licensing model. They can do much better on the licensing side. That's what Microsoft has been doing, and that's why Power BI is gaining market share at the moment. 

SAP needs to relax a little bit on the licensing part. If Microsoft is giving people a solution that is half of the cost of SAP, people will definitely go with Power BI.

They're evolving very quickly. They are giving users new features. They are taking feedback from the users, and they are making sure that they are not losing the trends. They understand the user needs and where the industry is moving in terms of cloud, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies that are going to be the driving force in the future. It is really amazing how SAP is doing it. I have been working with their tools for the last 10 years, and I've seen that they are coming up with almost everything that users need. 

Now that everything is moving to the cloud, they are also working on the cloud side of their business. For example, SAP BusinessObjects is not good with dashboarding. It is basically for financial reporting and drill-down reporting. So, they came up with a cloud product that is not only for reporting but also for dashboarding. They have given a one-stop solution wherein you can do your reporting, dashboarding, and storytelling.

If you are completely new to business intelligence but you are already using SAP solutions, this is the best tool that you can use to leverage your financial systems or logistic systems. It is not a self-BI type of tool. It needs an IT expert. If your data is important and you are a big company or a mid-scale company, you should go with SAP BusinessObjects because it is already in the market, and it has integration with SAP ERP. The user experience will be good. You'll not see any performance issues with the queries. At the end of the day, when a business user sees a report, he doesn't understand which tool it is, whether it is SAP, Power BI, or something else. They want the experience to be good. They want the functionalities.

The advice for a new company is to first find out the integration. If you're using Power BI with SQL Server, it will work wonders, but if you are using it with SAP HANA or SAP BW, you'll not get the experience that SAP can give you. You need to understand the landscape and different applications that are there and then decide whether it would work for your use case. SAP doesn't fit everywhere. Similarly, Power BI doesn't fit everywhere. 

An organization that is completely new to BI should try to identify:

• What type of reports do they want? Do they want aggregated reports or operational reports?
• Who is the target audience?

There are a lot of processes that are involved depending on whether the data is coming from your data warehouse, or you're querying the OLAP system directly. 

I read a very good article where a company did this exercise and asked enterprises about the BI tools they use. What they ended up seeing was that no organization was using one BI tool. There were two, three, or even four BI tools. So, it all depends on your source systems. It is always a combination, and there can't be only one BI tool. It is difficult to have a single, centralized BI tool.

I would rate this solution a nine out of 10.

BusinessObjects has a lot of tools, including Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports, Analysis for Office, SAP Lumira, and Analytical Cloud. SAP also has a new tool for HANA-based applications it introduced around 2018. Analysis for Office is an SAP add-on inside Microsoft Office. It works inside of Office tools like Excel, so you have the option to get data from Excel, and there's a direct connection with SAP. You can point that to your HANA database or a BEx query also. 

You can also connect SAP to PowerPoint, so you can create presentations from the HANA database or a BEx query.  We had more than 180 to 200 reports on Analysis for Office in my last implementation. Most of our company users were good at Excel, so it was easy to use an external data connection to Excel.

For example, say we have different sheets in Excel. We populate the data from the BEx query or the HANA database in the first sheet. In the second, we'll do some options like the lookup function for Match Index and the reports. The data will be constantly refreshed in the backend. Finally, we have to create the report and publish it to the SAP BI Launchpad to be shared with everyone. 

The other thing is the WEBI, or Web Intelligence report. That's the most powerful reporting feature inside BusinessObjects. We normally use WEBI for ad hoc reporting, not for dashboarding, because the dashboard visualization is not that great. WEBI will work even if you have more than 10 million rows. 

WEBI will work with any amount of data. I have more than 100 gigabytes of data in WEBI. It's best for ad hoc reporting instead of dashboards. SAP has its own dashboard tool inside BusinessObjects dedicated to dashboards and visualizations. You cannot do any ad-hoc reporting inside that.

In terms of the dashboard, they introduced another tool called Design Studio. Design Studio is another took inside SAP BusinessObjects. Design Studio is better for dashboarding and summary reporting. For example, you can take a data table and create a graphical representation. That's SAP Design Studio, and WEBI is a tool we use globally. 

All of our SAP Businessthey will always prefer to work in WEBI, Web Intelligence. WEBI has two versions. One is inside the launch pad that is a browser-based tool. Second, you can have a tool of WEBI inside your desktop itself, that is called Web Intelligence Rich Client. Web Intelligence Rich Client is the same tool as the second version, there are two versions of WEBI, one is inside the browser, and the second is, you can install it on the desktop. Lumira is comparable to Tableau, or Power BI. Lumira was introduced in 2013 or 2014. I forgot the year, but it was introduced after Tableau. Lumira has a great story function. There is a story option in Tableau, but that started in Lumira.

SAP had another tool called Explorer. Explorer is a simple tool to preview the data that can be used for both ad hoc reporting and visualization, but they discontinued Explorer in December 2020. Adobe Flash Player was discontinued, and Explorer was completely dependent on Flash. The last tool, SAP Analytics Cloud, is currently strong in the market, and it was introduced in 2020, I think. They prefer SAC. SAC can be used for both ad hoc and dashboard reporting. 

There are two tools inside BusinessObjects' schematic layout called the Universal Design Tool and Information Design Tool. These are the most powerful tools that set BusinessObjects' reporting from other solutions.

If my organization has 300 or 400 tables, I can combine all of them into one universe, and everyone can use that. It is just a schematic layout that does not hold any data but the table relationships.

UDT is perfect, and you can do anything in it. There are never any issues when joining the tables because there are a lot of options. In terms of tables, two things always come to mind: looping and traps. These are the main difficulties we face when joining tables, but loops and traps are easily resolved inside BusinessOjbects UDT and IDT. We have API functions and contact operators that resolve these issues.

IDT and UDT form the backbone of BusinessObjects. There is one more thing called publication. I haven't seen this feature in any other tools. Publication is useful for bulk reporting. For example, say I want to send reports to 200 Indian salespeople, and I want to apply a filter so the reports only go to specific cities. This can be done in BusinessObjects in five minutes. This cannot be done in any other tool like Tableau or Power BI. 

BusinessObjects reporting tools have not been perfected yet. However, there are two ETL tools inside the BusinessObjects. They are ETL tools in the schematic between the database and the reporting. 

But if we're talking negative aspects of BusinessObjects, it's like comparing a bus and a bike. If you want to reach somewhere nearby within five minutes, you can use a bike instead of the bus because there will be a lot of traffic and lots of people inside the bus. If you have large amounts of data, then go for BusinessObjects. If you have a light amount of data, it's better to use Tableau or Power BI tools.

I've worked with SAP BusinessObjects for 10 to 15 years.

BusinessObjects' stability is awesome with a huge amount of data, but you're often running three or four tools at a time. For example, say I want to do reporting in BusinessObjects. First, I have to think about the type of schematic layer I must use: UDT or IDT.  Second, I have to think about what type of reporting tool I'll need: ad hoc, detailed summary, or dashboard reporting. 

If it is an ad hoc report, I will go for Crystal Report. If it is just dashboard reporting, I've to go for SAC or Lumira. These confusions will be there for every user. If someone wants to really work on BusinessObjects, they should understand at least three or four of its tools. With Tableau, you only need to know about Tableau. You don't have to think about other tools because everything is inside Tableau or Power BI.

BusinessObjects will give you a lot of options. There will be a proper category, like schematic layout developer, report developer, report viewers, etc. And there are different categories of users inside BusinessObjects. Tableau and Power BI don't have such categories.

Factoring in total implementation and maintenance costs, SAP BusinessObjects is too expensive. If you deal with a huge amount of data, you can go with BusinessObjects. However, if you are a medium-sized company with a modest amount of data, you can opt for another solution. 

I rate SAP BusinessObjects eight out of 10.

This tool has worked with relational databases and others since 2002, when it involved PeopleSoft and an SAP ERP-type of back end. The tool extracts the structural data onto the front end and creates reports for our interactive end-users. So the primary function of BusinessObjects is reporting or BI access.

There is a factor table in the back end and a dimensional table with a tool called IDT. IDT stands for Information Design Tool. You create a file called the "universe," which generates SQL code and sends it back to the back end relational database or another type of back end to draw data from the front end. But the universe file itself doesn't affect any storage of the data. It's only code. So based on the universe, you can do a report or multiple reports. And when you click "refresh," a package of SQL code from the universe file will be sent back to back in the database system based on the particular table in the fields. Then you get the data, package it again, and send it back to report. Crystal Reports is the reporting and intelligence component. It's the dashboard tool.

BusinessObjects is an enterprise reporting system that includes a content management system, security model, and report distribution system. They all merge nicely. These features are all integrated, and BusinessObjects can handle a lot of usage on the front end, and many users can view these reports.  It's a relatively stable and secure tool. 

I worked on a project with around 3,000 users around the globe. People from China, France, South America, and locally here in the United States were reporting on BusinessObjects 24 hours a day. It's a reliable, stable, secure, and mature tool for business intelligence and other functions, like standard reports. BusinessObjects has been around for nearly 30 years. A French person created it in 1994, so they've constantly improved and upgraded this tool ever since.

BusinessObjects originated in France, and then it was bought by SAP, a German company. Some things don't totally fit into the American culture of software development. For example, German software always uses detailed steps, whereas Oracle and Microsoft are very straightforward. Everything in this tool is stepwise. There are so many steps, but it is pretty good functionally. 

I've been using BusinessObjects since 2001.

BusinessObjects is perfectly stable. I seldom have a problem. I'm an administrator who is on-call 24/7, but I rarely get a call at midnight about an issue with BusinessInsights. With some tools, I get a call at least once per week. BusinessObjects has set up a server type they call the Server Intelligence Agent. This autonomously handles the situation right away by restarting or automatically debugging to resolve the issues. The whole server doesn't shut down when there is a problem. 

BusinessObjects is scalable. At this organization, we have around 1,000 end-users working with it. At my previous job, it was upwards of 3,000 some. We are constantly increasing usage. Every month, we're raising the capacity. 

I'm the administrator, and I haven't had any significant issues, so I don't usually need specific technical support. In business usage, we don't need a lot of technical support. The developers need to create new things, so it's not support but development. I would rate SAP support between eight and nine out of 10.

When we implemented BusinessObjects, the setup was straightforward. After SAP bought BusinessObjects, it gradually became more and more stepwise. There are too many steps, and they take too much time. For maintenance and deployment, we have a team of fewer than 10 people, including the developer.

We also use Tableau and Power BI alongside BusinessObjects, but we have been using BusinessObjects the longest. In my job, I have been confused when working with some other type of tool, like Microsoft Power BI and some other type of non-structured data. This type of tool is okay, but it's not smart. It has too many steps. And at a given stage, you might make a mistake. It's not really scalable.

I rate BusinessObjects nine out of 10. It's a mature, complete product with a long history and a decent reputation on the market. Many organizations and commercial companies are using it right now. It's reliable, scalable, and stable too. I would recommend it.

We primarily use the solution more for analysis and reporting.

The solution is very easy to use.

We find the product to be very stable. 

The solution is scalable.

SAP does force users to manage it a certain way. specifically around queries, and does not integrate well with other platforms, or lacks a certain level of flexibility. It needs to be more flexible for the end-user.

For example, we have been using Cognos also for years now, however, if a user has to do a query on their own then it doesn't work. That's why we are now gradually trying to migrate to Power BI. And, while it's easy to integrate on the SAP landscape, when it comes to the flexibility for the user to create a report on their own, there isn't really an option to do that. 

I've been dealing with the solution for over ten years at this point. It's been around a decade since I started working with it. It's been a while. 

The level of stability is very good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable and the performance is good. 

The solution can scale if you need it to as an organization. 

Globally, we have almost 2,000 users on this product.

We are also using Power BI.

When we moved into the SAP landscape we had two choices. We had IBM Cognos and could integrate SAP with Cognos or we go for an SAP solution which is an SAP BI that automatically integrated with SAP ECC. We chose SAP BI. However, now, we are moving more towards Power BI and moving away from SAP.

I did not handle the implementation and therefore cannot speak to the process. I'm not sure if it's easy or difficult. 

We have our own support and architecture teams and they are able to handle any maintenance necessary if it comes up. We generally have five to six people who could handle such tasks. 

We pay for an enterprise license. We pay yearly when we renew our license. 

I'm not sure which version of the solution we're currently using. What we have is completely on-premise as we are still on ECC. We are using the HANA architecture, and we are still on-premise.

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

I would recommend the solution to other users and companies. 

We use it almost exclusively for our analytics for the Epic environment. So, a lot of healthcare-related reporting and financial reporting is done on it. It is not geared towards the operational world. It is geared towards the analytical world where we're looking at a month of data, a year of data, or a quarter of data.

We try to use its current version.

On the first of the month, when we get ready to close the books, we run a lot of analytics through the BI platform. The analytics are available to our financial team within 10 hours, and we typically run around 21,000 jobs at the beginning of every month. We schedule them, and they get downloaded as CSVs and then people consume them.

I like the fact that we can integrate it seamlessly within our Epic environment, but probably the best thing that Crystal Reports offers is the ability to do visualizations. They're simple to do, and they're catchy. So, it is a really great tool.

It has got great flexibility. As a reporting tool, it has a great deal of flexibility for numerous data resources that you can bring into it. It allows you to write your SQL query directly within the product. So, it allows you to do server-side joins instead of pulling all the data into Crystal Report to aggregate that data. It has great visualization. For the most part, it operates quite efficiently.

It is a really solid product. It has been out there for some time, and it gives you exactly what you need.

We're an Epic shop, and Epic is moving away from Crystal. It would be nice if it had tighter integration with products like Epic. It would be awesome to have better integration with third-party products.

They could reduce the licensing expenses. There is nothing really wrong with the product in terms of what it does. It works well. If you are a part of BI Launch Pad, then you could run ad hoc reporting, but for the integration, you need access to BI Launch Pad, which is quite expensive. We're an organization with 18,000 employees. It is not really practical to give people access to BI Launch Pad. So, from a customer perspective, in terms of saturating our employee base, we don't really have great saturation because of the expense. 

I have been probably using it for close to eight years.

It has been a solid product. We have had no issues. Any issues that we had were self-inflicted. They were not consequences of the product.

We run around 21,000 reports at the beginning of every month, and we get them done in 10 hours. These are not operational reports. These are analytics reports. Some of those reports pull a year's worth of data, aggregate that data, and then spit it out with visualizations and everything else. So, it operates efficiently.

We're a healthcare system in Dallas, Texas. We have 11 hospitals. A vast majority of the leaders, probably more than 2,000 leaders, use the results of the products we create from Crystal Reports, etc. A significant amount of the other staff also uses the results. Our finance team uses it almost exclusively to generate their data. We have probably more than 18,000 people working through our facilities, and probably half of them in some fashion or another touch the SAP environment at some point during the course of a month. So, it is being used extensively. We rely on this product.

We don't call SAP directly. We work through Epic. Our licensing with SAP is through Epic. So, Epic has a direct relationship with SAP, not us.

I have used other products, but my company hasn't really used any other product or any big data solution like this.

It is pretty straightforward. We had no complications at all in installing it. We had some complications getting it to work with Epic, but once it was set up, it has been sitting there and doing its thing. We don't ever have to mess with it. It has been a solid product. It just works.

For its implementation, we used a consultant, but he was not associated with SAP. We took the help of a gentleman who was DBA experienced in implementing this product in an Epic environment, but he was not an SAP employee.

For its maintenance, I have one staff member who's the admin of SAP. She has additional duties with the maintenance of this product, which probably takes up 10% of her time.

We purchase licenses through Epic. So, we get an Epic price as opposed to the SAP price. If we were going to use other products like Webi that they offer or exclusively use BI Launch Pad, it would cost a lot because half of our employees would touch it in some fashion. So, we use Epic-Crystal integration to keep the licensing cost down. I believe the BI Launch Pad licensing is something like $800 for each, and the Crystal Report licensing is something like $500 for each, but that's not what we pay.

I would advise others to get somebody who knows what they're doing when they install it. That's what we did. It is a complex product, and trying to fumble through all the bits and pieces and the nuances of it is challenging.

It has been around for years. It has been there ever since I went to software engineering. It does what it does. It is built to do that every year. It just needs to get more efficient at doing it. It just needs better integration with third parties and maybe a price reduction for the licensing.

I would rate this solution an eight out of 10.