Logi Symphony vs. Oracle Discoverer (discontinued)

Considering it's price point in the market, Dundas BI offers a lot of functionality. They are constantly adding features and bug fixes which is great, but also means there are always updates to take if you want everything to work as expected. The standard user interface is pretty easy to understand, but it takes a while for developers and power users to become independent of documentation.

Incentivized

Discoverer is definitely well suited for a company that is working with a lot of data but does not have a large database knowledgeable team. It allows for basic database management while permitting users to access the data in a simple and efficient way. Reporting is easy to do and, again, does not require a lot of database know-how. If you are looking for more in-depth customization and multiple data sources from various vendors, though, you may want to look into a more robust platform.

Incentivized

• Project organization from Development to Production, you get a production and development license but I think the best way to do it is with DEV and Prod project in the Production box. Use the development box for testing updates and really crazy things. With the Dev and Prod projects on the same box, you just publish from Dev to Prod and you are done. Users only have access to the Prod projects so no one can mess up what you are working on.
• Security - If you have a hierarchy (subsidiaries, divisions, department, teams) and you want each group to see only their data, then Security hierarchies are for you!
• Dependent filters! What's this you ask? Here is an example of how it can be used, in your company you have departments and who works for what department is in your database. You make a dashboard that has a department filter (only show these departments), a managers filter, and employee filter. Not every manager or employee is in multiple departments usually only one. With dependent filters you can say that the manager and employee filter are dependent on what is selected in the departments filter so when you go to filter them they only show the managers or employees that are part of that department, and you can even it do so employees are not only dependent on department but on manager as well. Then it gets even better as it can be done in reverse as well so when you select a manager then go to the department it only shows the departments he works for (there are better situations where this is more useful).
• It is scriptable! From calculate columns, null replacements, button actions, load actions, hover over events there a way to do what you want.
• They are constantly improving and listens to your suggestions.

Incentivized

• Business Intelligence Discoverer helps with our Reporting team. We are able to run reports needed immediately using this tool.
• Business Intelligence Discoverer helps with getting analysis of monthly and yearly medical data from across the state.
• Business Intelligence Discoverer helps with web publishing and sending information to the trading partners.

Incentivized

• Not too many cons for how we use the application. It really is easy and powerful. Very powerful.
• Licensing is one thing that could be looked into. It is simple, but a little confusing. For example, if I get a license today, but a new release comes out tomorrow, it seems that the license doesn't work with the new release. Maybe that is by design, but it would be nice to clearly understand.

• It would be useful if users could be allowed to write subqueries.
• It would be helpful if there was a way for users to download the reports on their PC.
• Most of the functionality is awesome and I would like to see more graphics in the reports.

Incentivized

We are still in the implementation phase, but so far we are finding it to be easy to use and learn. The eLearning courses that they have made available for free, as well as User Forums and other training videos have made even difficult concepts easier to understand.

We have bi-weekly calls with our Success Manager, as well as access to support as needed. Any question that I have had, multiple people have been willing and able to jump on a call to talk me through it, or send an email with the solution

Providing that you have the client's needs well known, creating BI content using Dundas BI is a walk in the park!

We have tested Tableau prior to Dundas BI and though Tableau is a great package in itself, Dundas BI is much more cost-effective for our needs and requirements and hence zeroed in on Dundas BI. We have also tried microstrategy but it has a very dated UI and doesn't suit our needs in today's more modern world

Incentivized

Discoverer is more of a departmental BI tool. OBIEE is much more expensive compared to Discoverer. OBIEE needs an ETL and Reporting team to develop reports. OBIEE involves complex modelling of RPD whereas it is much simpler with Discoverer. With Discoverer, it is as simple as importing database tables, defining joins and running the queries. Discoverer stacks very well on top of ERP systems directly. Users can run reports on ERP tables using Discoverer. To perform similar jobs through OBIEE, one has to either use Noetix or another transactional model.

Incentivized

• Coming from an SQL based standard delivery model, Dundas BI has provided a fantastic rate of ROI.
• The preparation and delivery time has reduced from weeks to just a few hours.

Incentivized

• We have used Discoverer to respond to state sales and use tax audits and saved the company more than the cost of the product. Discoverer has thus assisted in our objective of managing costs.
• Discoverer is used to provide reports for EEOC reporting assisting our goal of complying with all government requirements.

Incentivized