SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

Score6.5 out of 10

844 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Continuous Report Refresh: Users have praised the continuous refresh feature, ensuring they always have up-to-date information at their fingertips. This functionality allows users to make informed decisions based on the most recent data available.

Easy Customizations: Reviewers find the easy customizations valuable, allowing them to tailor reports to meet specific needs effortlessly. The flexibility provided by this feature streamlines the reporting process for users across different departments.

Scheduling Reports Functionality: The ability to schedule and broadcast reports on time is highlighted as a key function that users appreciate for timely delivery of important information. By automating report distribution, users can ensure stakeholders receive critical updates promptly.

Reviews

74 Reviews

Time for a change

Rating: 6 out of 10

April 29, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have been using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence for many years now as the front-end tool across multiple sources, but it has very limited functions. What we mostly use it now is a tool to schedule running a report after loading has completed and save that report to a shared drive. Most users prefer using the Analysis for office or Power BI as they can use online and offline data. I think SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence is a bit older than SAC and now people are liking stories and other functions in SAC and are moving away from SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

Pros

Scheduling the report run with prompts
Front end too that can get data from multiple sources
Roles synced from BW can be added to limit data access

Cons

Flexibility of multiple drill down options
Combining data in system and offline data from computer
The need of Universe designer so less self service ability

Likelihood to Recommend

Suited for static data or dashboard that just gets refreshed and sent to email or shared drive

Rica Camus

SAP Analytics Lead in Information Technology at Fonterra (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

14 years of experience

View profile

Awesome tool for analytics, visualization and Planning with AI/ML

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

December 23, 2024

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We mainly use this to perform business reporting, and visualization for a broader range of audience. We perform large scale data analytics to discuss in-depth business insights and perform forecasts for the rest of the financial year. The best of this application we can perform cross-enterprise sharing which helps in sharing business insights with colleagues and makes decision-making easier. Before this, we used to use an internal product developed that gets crashed for a large set of data. Now using this we can load huge datasets that helps filtering things very easier.

Pros

Cross enterprise sharing where sharing the insights are easier across organisation.
Creative role based dashboards helps to provide information to specific users that way they can make decisions easier any time any where across any device.
Large scale data analytics is one where data from large sets are used to discover in depth business insights and perform the forecast for rest of the financial year to make decisions easier.

Cons

UI part need much improvements as every one don't have complete idea of the components.
The transfer of the data between the system seems to be tricky if you have a system with one data type and different system with different data type the kind of conversion is harder.
The features that are available in Desktop version are not available in mobile which is big drawback for this sap.

Likelihood to Recommend

As mentioned earlier reporting was a big headache for us and the tools we used didn't support large data sets and visualization Performing analytics with such data sets was cumbersome and later post using this SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence we were able to correlate different data sets and prepare the dashboard pretty easier which were helpful and easier to understand.

irfan shaik

Technical Consultant in Information Technology at Numeric technologies inc (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Verified on LinkedIn

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence helping your organization in share and distribute data

Rating: 6 out of 10

Incentivized

November 18, 2024

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence is heavily used in our company. Since we moved all the workbooks from BW Analyzer to SAP Analysis for Office, all the workbooks are saved in the BI Launchpad platform. The folder structure is based on the company organization and connected to BW roles which shows to the end user only the folder they are able to see.

Pros

Scheduling workbooks
Organization of SAP Analysis workbooks
Central repository of Lumira Dashboards

Cons

Better interface for the end users
No technical content. Example: report to show the BW queries used by AfO workbooks

Likelihood to Recommend

If you need a powerful tool to help the end users to share SAP AfO workbooks the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform is great. I wouldn’t recommend the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform if you are starting now. I would start using SAC.

Verified User

Manager in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

5 years of experience

Great SAP data analytics product

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

July 27, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SAP Business Objects and Business Intelligence is one of the flagship products of SAP. I remember the BW days and then the acquisition of BO and eventually the rollout of the new SAP data analytics platform i.e. BI. The product is good for large data volumes, month-end closings, analytical analysis, generating 360-degree reports, handling workload, managing process chain, etc. However more the data, more the memory needed.

Pros

Analytics
Continuous refresh of reports
Easy customizations using ABAP

Cons

Memory requirements
Hardware requirements
Continuous operational support

Likelihood to Recommend

SAP BI product was improved a lot in terms of performance as BW on HANA ( suite on HANA ) product however the product was optimized to run on the HANA database. Anyone new planning to go for BI should consider BW4HANA which is a new optimized product running on SAP's flagship HANA DB. This has excellent integration with FIORI and SAP cloud platform ( Analytics Cloud ).

Gaurav Pandey - PMP,ITIL,CSM

SAP Application Manager in Information Technology at Flynn Restaurant Group (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

9 years of experience

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Happy User

Rating: 7 out of 10

July 21, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards to broadcast reports to our customers. This is our analytical suite for reporting and monitoring our baseline data for procurement and logistics operations. Our organization is an Information Technology group that manages a very large amount of assets along with procurement activities. SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards is our only way to manage reporting and soon-to-be SAC.

Pros

Broadcasting reports on schedule
Showing data analytics that have drill down capabilities
Monitoring and managing custom report by user

Cons

Ease of use
Reports building can be a challenge unless your an excel wiz
Easier use of adding in other data sources

Likelihood to Recommend

The proper management of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards requires an expert on the team to manage and build reports. If an organization does not have the proper expertise on board to build and deploy reports it will fail. Data analytics, dropping into excel, and broadcasting of information are major bonuses for the use of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards.

Jim Myers

Chief, IT Asset management in Information Technology at USG (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

15 years of experience

SAP BO - Great for Operational Reporting

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

January 10, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio is used to create reports for different business users as per their requirement. The logic is built on the backend through SQL. Business Objects is used to schedule the report at a fixed frequency as well as to provide the same to business users for an Adhoc use.

Pros

Scheduling of Reports
Formatting the report as per business requirements
Good user interface for users and developers

Cons

Not able to paste multiple values without semi-colon while filtering the data. Adding semi-colon makes the functionality difficult to use.
User interface can be improved
It is costly
The performance of the report decreases if complex logic/functions are added

Likelihood to Recommend

SAP Business Objects is well suited for the scenarios where most of the logic is written on the backend (in some other application) and one can expose that data for the business users through Business Objects. It is easy to schedule the report, format the same and download the data for analysis. Some simple calculations can also be added on the BO side as needed It is not very appropriate for complex calculations/logic.

Verified User

Employee in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

December 21, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

the product is used to manage applications and dashboards created for various organizations which use the corporate data warehouse along with SAP

Pros

visualize data
enable interactions
real-time connectivity

Cons

browser crashes sometimes

Likelihood to Recommend

the product is suited very well when pulling data from SAP data sources including Hana. other scenarios where it is less appropriate is for hadoop data sources, the connection requires ODBC.

Verified User

Professional in Research & Development (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

6 years of experience

SAP BusinesssObjects Business Intelligence Review by Saurabh Raheja

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

December 20, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SAP BO BI Platform can be used for reporting purposes. There are reporting tools available within this suite e.g. Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports, etc. These reporting tools help us to develop reports on top of the data available in the database. We can build interactive and beautiful visualizations which help the organization in decision makings. Getting hold of meaningful data in the vast scope of backend data and displaying that in form of interactive reports and visualization help the organization in planning, decision making, and overall growth of the organization. These are the scope of the use case of the SAP BI BO Platform. One can even schedule the reports to get the reports delivered to their email, BI Inbox at any frequency like daily, weekly, monthly, and so on and so forth.

Pros

Maintaining users and user groups in CMC.
Scheduling Web Reports through CMC to get reports delivered to emails at any given frequency.
Maintaining roles and securities for different users, users group and BO servers

Cons

Regarding improvement, there is very little scope now as it has already grown up so well from BO BI 3.1 to BO BI 4.0, then BO BI 4.1, then BO BI 4.2 and now the latest is BO BI 4.3
One improvement I can think of is that it can go on the cloud. For example, a physical box may not be required for the installation of SAP BI BO.

Likelihood to Recommend

A best-suited scenario which I experienced in the SAP BO BI platform was the scheduling of the web reports in any format, e.g. PDF, Excel, etc, and getting those delivered to BI Inbox, emails, DLs, etc. at any frequency e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, etc. This will help users to get hold of the latest data and get the output handy within their email whenever they need it. This is turn will help in important decision makings, planning, etc of the organizations. The less appropriate scenario that I faced was creating different user and user groups with respect to location, data involvement, etc. Managing the huge list of user and user groups and assigning appropriate roles, e.g. admin role, read-only role, etc can be a tedious task at one go.

Saurabh Raheja

Technology Lead in Information Technology at Infosys Limited (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

9 years of experience

View profile

SAP Business Objects is a must have for your organisations Reporting and Analysis needs

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

December 14, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SAP Bi reporting tool is our companies primary software for Reporting and Analysis. I use it heavily daily and have done it for over a decade. It's highly nimble and allows me to connect to various data sources that have been set up. I can connect and report on Financial values from our Accounting System to our Point of Sale data that holds key sales and product information. Our Account system does not hold detailed product level information but is good for P&L Reporting by Centre and Divisional level. For stock level and margin data, we use Business Objects to build custom reports and conduct various analyses from the required data source.

Pros

Connects to various data sources
Excellent for building adhoc reports and doing analysis on the fly
The scheduling and publication functions are great time savers and allow us to manage many regular and recurring reports.

Cons

At the moment we are experiencing some performance issues, but this may be down to our own companies network/infrastructure and not the BI tool
The older Client version I thought was more stable than the 4.2 web-based version. But this again could be down to the companies network/infrastructure

Likelihood to Recommend

It is great if you have many data sources where you need to draw information from. We use it to pull data from the Accounting system universe and the Point of Sale Universe to combine customer, product, and P&L data where needed.

McMillan Hung

Financial Analyst in Finance and Accounting at European Tyre Enterprise Limited (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

12 years of experience

Business Insights at Your Fingertips

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

September 20, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform is being used by our Operations team to monitor performance and the impact of changes made to code, to measure KPIs, and the success or failure of a newly introduced feature or code.

Pros

Deep insights on performance.

Cons

Ease of use for inexperienced users.

Likelihood to Recommend

It is a great tool for teams who are trained in understanding the metrics it can provide. It is not suited for users with little understanding of performance trends and how this tool works.

Verified User

Account Manager in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

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SAP BusinesssObjects Business Intelligence Review by Saurabh Raheja

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

December 20, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros

Maintaining users and user groups in CMC.
Scheduling Web Reports through CMC to get reports delivered to emails at any given frequency.
Maintaining roles and securities for different users, users group and BO servers

Cons

Regarding improvement, there is very little scope now as it has already grown up so well from BO BI 3.1 to BO BI 4.0, then BO BI 4.1, then BO BI 4.2 and now the latest is BO BI 4.3
One improvement I can think of is that it can go on the cloud. For example, a physical box may not be required for the installation of SAP BI BO.

Likelihood to Recommend

Saurabh Raheja

Technology Lead in Information Technology at Infosys Limited (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

9 years of experience

View profile