Oracle Business Intelligence

The family of the solutions Oracle Business Intelligence is the integrated complex of analytical tools which is developed with the purpose to provide the best vision and understanding of business to a wide range of users and allows any user of the organization to receive fast Web access to up-to-date information.

Oracle Business Intelligence Suite integrates several products which can be used both together, and independently of each other:

• OracleBI Server is the scalable, high-end server of requests and the analysis integrating data from a set unstructured, OLAP and the ready applications sources developed both by Oracle, and other producers.
• OracleBI Answers is the powerful tool for accomplishment of any requests and the analysis in the Web interface. At the same time, users work with logical information representation from different data sources.
• OracleBI Interactive Dashboard is the interactive dashboards with broad functionality constructed in Web architecture and displaying the personalized information which helps users to make exact and effective decisions.
• OracleBI Publisher is the scalable server of report generation allowing generirovatyotcheta in different formats on the basis of the sources given from a set and to send them on different channels.
• OracleBI Briefing Books is the means allowing to take "instant pictures" of dashboards and then to browse offline information.
• OracleBI Disconnected Analytics is the solution allowing users to get access to opportunities of Answers and Dashboards during the work on offline computers.
• OracleBI Office Plug-In is the tool allowing to work with the analytical server by means of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint.
• OracleBI Delivers is the mechanism of the notification using which it is possible to distribute on different channels the notifying messages at emergence of this or that event.
• Oracle Mobile Application Designer is the solution allowing to create the reports adapted for mobile devices based on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, etc. Applications are created with the help drag&drop the interface, do not require knowledge of the SQL language, can use already available reports. There is an opportunity to publish the developed reports in internal "shop" of reports.

Oracle Business Intelligence (OBIEE) supports a set of different data sources among which there are relational bases, the OLAP systems, files and Apache Hadoop. A system integrates data from different sources in one report, doing it according to the set rules.

Architecture

In the center of a system there is a uniform data model (which is also called by a repository) - the description of a logical model of business area and its binding to physical data sources. The model consists of three layers - presentation, business and physical. In a business layer the logical model (which is clear to end users), in the form of multidimensional model - the facts and measurements is described and also the binding of logical attributes to physical sources is described. Presentation allows to break a logical model into several data domains and to limit access for users to different indicators and attributes. The physical layer contains the description of data sources - tables, fields, keys, cubes of data. Creation of a data model (repository) is executed by the developer using the special program - Oracle BI Administration Tool.

When the user opens the report, the server of the presentations (Presentation Server) generates a request in the Logical SQL language to the BI server. The BI server sorts a request, and transfers it to requests to data sources in their "native" languages - sql, mdx, etc. After data acquisition from sources the server integrates them, carries out different actions over data (for example, calculates units if it is necessary), and returns the result to the server of the presentations. The server of the presentations, in turn, draws data retrieveds in the web interface or generates the static report.

Server part of OBIEE includes several separate components, a part from which is controlled the Weblogic application server, and other part exists as normal (native) programs and is controlled the Oracle process manager component (opmn). Also OBIEE uses for storage of a part of service data relational base (Oracle MS SQL IBM DB2 or MySQL). Management of the domain OBIEE is implemented using web interfaces Weblogic Administration Console and Fusion Middleware Enterprise Management Console.

Features of the solution

The line of the Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition software products (Oracle BI Suite EE) is one of the most powerful and most dynamically developing platforms of the business analysis in the world. With implementation of Oracle BI Suite EE of the company purchase an opportunity to receive complete, and, above all timely idea of a status of the business, without resorting to the help of IT service. Oracle BI Suite EE gives the chance to users in terms of data domain to analyze information which is in the different systems implemented on diverse platforms quickly and to qualitatively prepare the necessary corporate reporting.

According to Gartner, in 2011 the Oracle BI platform, including the main component – Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, continued to save the leading positions in the world market of a business intelligence. Analysts point that the prevalence of Oracle BI is broadest among all other platforms provided in "a magic square". The number of users of the platform is about 3 thousand, and volumes of data warehouses reach 5 Tb. At the same time for 70% of participants of the research Oracle BI became the industry standard.

Be necessary to note that recently Oracle completed a company takeover of Endeca, provider of analytical solutions and solutions of e-commerce that, undoubtedly, will be used by corporation for development of a line by own BI. An exit in October, 2011 of the analytical hardware and software system Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine which integrated possibilities of Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition and powerful server base became an important event in the market.

Among weaknesses of the platform of analytics of Gartner call a slow response to data discovery trend gaining relevance, lack of a number of relevant functions in Oracle Exalytics. The guarding factor is also that among the polled Gartner of the companies of 10% are going to refuse use of Oracle BI in the next three years that is the highest rate among all vendors.

Versions

2015: Oracle Business Intelligence 12c

On November 17, 2015 the Oracle corporation announced the beginning of sales of the version of Oracle Business Intelligence 12c (BI 12c). It is focused on qualitatively new level of consolidation and the visual analysis of any data in the analytical systems of a corporate class.

Oracle BI 12c, being a core of analytical solutions of Oracle, allows all users of the company to use the single integrated platform for independent visual examination of the answers to topical issues of business given for the purpose of fast receiving, being at the same time in office or beyond its limits.

Modern analytical solutions present the organizations with a difficult choice between flexibility and application of analytics on the scale of all company. The desktop systems offer fast visual analytics, but are limited to use only of local data or data of separate business division. Traditional solutions for the business analysis (BI) are proposed scalable performance for processing of corporate data with assistance of IT department, however they limit flexibility and initiative of users that, finally, slows down transition to payback. Only Oracle BI 12c offers the modern platform which gives to the companies tremendous opportunities of visual analytics in combination with analytical panels and effective remedies of data analysis, both local, and the level of division and corporate. The innovations in Oracle BI 12c implemented on the scale of the integrated platform cover functions of independent visual analytics, the updated user interface, the optimized data processing mechanism in RAM (in-memory) and the simplified instruments of administration.

As a part of Oracle BI 12c are added:

• integration of opportunities of data visualization and independent consolidation of data with advantages of the platform of a corporate class in single solution that allows clients to reach the maximum business flexibility and the highest reliability managed by infrastructure;
• intuitive search the mechanism which allows users to ask questions by a text or voice method and to receive answers in a visual form;
• the optimized processing in RAM that allows to use most fully resources and to analyze more local data given the level of department, corporate data and also Big Data;
• the simplified administration and the optimized updating process that allows the companies to reduce total cost of ownership significantly.

Oracle BI 12c provides compatibility and integration with a stack of the analytical solutions of Oracle deployed as directly in the company, and in a cloud. Such approach guarantees compatibility and portability of the software for all portfolio of analytical products of Oracle in any configurations of deployment that facilitates to customers creation and implementation of the environment, the most preferable to requirements of their business, and the subsequent scaling of this Wednesday in process of change of requirements.

2014: Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite 11.1.1.8.1

On May 16, 2014 the Oracle corporation announced updating of the version of ready-made solutions for the business analysis of Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Applications which are designed to improve information idea of the organizations of business performance and to increase their flexibility and dynamism. Offering new methods of data analysis about purchases and also the new module for data analysis about valued employees, Oracle continues to expand possibilities of the organizations for extraction of information, important and useful to business, from a broad spectrum of data sources and applications.

The version of Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) of Applications 11.1.1.8.1 contains the preconfigured instruments of integration ("connectors") between the solution Oracle Procurement and Spend Analytics and the Oracle JD Edwards system. Besides, Oracle provided the new analytical module Oracle Human Resources Analytics intended for formation, development and support of skilled staff.

Oracle BI Applications, constructed on a technology platform for the business analysis of new generation of Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite, allow the organizations to expand corporate environment of the business analysis with ease or to create own BI-applications for satisfaction of specific analytical needs of managers of divisions and bosses.

The solutions Oracle BI Applications are also certified for work on the optimized hardware and software system Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine, minimizing project risks of implementation and guaranteeing powerful advantages to business thanks to the highest performance and at the maximum loads.

Updated a packet of Oracle BI Applications offers the new adapter which performs integration between the products Oracle Procurement and Spend Analytics and Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, allowing the purchasing and supplying organizations to define quickly opportunities for economy and to increase operational efficiency using the analytics constructed on the best industry practices and facilitating decision making process.

The heads, managers and employees using JD Edwards EnterpriseOne will be able to improve considerably idea of corporate expenses and a full purchasing stroke of "procure-to-pay" thanks to comprehensive efficiency analysis of accomplishment of purchases and works of suppliers, trends of payment for the services of suppliers and costs for labor power.

The solution Oracle Procurement and Spend Analytics is closely integrated with other Oracle applications of BI Applications. They integrate data from management systems for purchases with other corporate data of the organization, giving to heads of divisions a complete idea of efficiency of their activity, allowing to study and understand more deeply problems and promoting achievement of the best results.

Oracle Talent Profile Analytics – the new module Oracle Human Resources Analytics – helps human resources managers and heads of divisions to estimate strengths and potential leader opportunities of the most valued employees, providing more exact and complete analytical information about professional knowledge and skills, job responsibilities, skill level and personality characteristics.

The built-in system of key performance indicators in combination with the improved data visualization opportunities (including a matrix "efficiency/potential") allows to provide HR services and managers with evident analytical information which helps them to approve initiatives and the strategy of talent management with the business purposes.

Using Oracle Talent Profile Analytics, human resources managers can make the analysis of "spaces in qualification" (skill gap analysis) to have an opportunity precisely to define the shortage of necessary professional knowledge and skills, to improve the made decisions on hiring of employees and to develop new courses of advanced training for achievement of maximum efficiency of personnel and also for collection of information which helps to estimate the requirements and problems connected with rotation of employees.

Oracle Talent Profile Analytics contains the preconfigured integration tools with business applications of Oracle PeopleSoft for fast deployment with smaller costs.

2013: Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite 11.1.1.7.1

The version of Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite 11.1.1.7.1 is completely processed to increase efficiency of analytical applications. She contains the important improvements covering all BI Applications family and also offers the new applications working in RAM (In-Memory Analytic Applications) for planning of indirect (indirect) costs and information analysis about students (for scientific educational institutions).

Now, thanks to Oracle Data Integrator, Oracle GoldenGate and new utilities for installation and configuring, analytical applications can be developed quicker, with smaller costs and enhanced capabilities for analytics in real time, claim in Oracle. New visual opportunities, the optimized user interface and considerable updates in data access allow users to interact easily with analytical tools for obtaining information, valuable to business.

The packet of the preconfigured Oracle BI Applications analytical applications for a number of data sources and the existing business applications gives intuitive analytical opportunities, the role-based and designed to improve decision makings and support of business processes.

Ready Oracle applications of BI Applications are created on a technology platform of Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite and are a part of the product Oracle Business Analytics portfolio. They give to the organizations the chance to use possibilities of full-function solutions for the business analysis (BI). The uniform BI architecture allows clients to expand these solutions for satisfaction of individual requirements of the business or to create own analytical BI-applications, noted in corporation.

Oracle Indirect Spend Planning represents the application for planning working in RAM. It is intended for the analysis and cost forecasting, allows departments of supply and business divisions of the companies to define possible areas for cost reduction, to trace and estimate cost efficiency and also to improve quality of planning cycles.

Thanks to a combination of means of the analysis "that-if" (what-if), scenarios of modeling and historical data users can predict volumes and expense allocation, to quickly develop detailed expense plans that will allow to buy necessary products and materials at the optimal price from the best suppliers.

Uses the new application OLAP- the server Oracle Essbase as the modeling environment with high-performance functions of aggregation and calculations. Besides, the application is directly integrated with ERP systems Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle PeopleSoft for support of the set business rules and restrictions in the field of planning and resource management of the enterprise that allows to build more realistic models and scenarios and to perform exact planning.

In turn, the preconfigured Oracle application of Student Information Analytics provides to scientific and educational institutions analytical means and tools of the reporting for increase in efficiency of personnel, teachers and students and also for business process optimization and a guarantee of successful training of young specialists.

The new analytical application working in RAM is designed to help higher educational institutions with approval of the available resources of needs of students. It allows educational institutions to optimize process of involvement of students, to reduce time for education, to reduce dropout rate of students, to define successful and unsuccessful training courses and to optimize teachers workload.

To accelerate implementation and payback, Oracle application of Student Information Analytics provides adapters for Oracle application of PeopleSoft Campus Solutions and supports applications of other suppliers via multiple device adapters.

The new set-up solution using Oracle GoldenGate technology proposed optionally practically excludes need of a so-called "temporary window of loading" (batch window) and minimizes impact on a system source, providing at the same time polzovetel with reports in the mode, close to real time.

New features in the Oracle Financial Analytics analytical applications give to managers enhanced capabilities of control over budgets and assets, helping them to trace and improve financial and economic indicators: Fixed Assets Analysis (the analysis of fixed assets) — gives complete idea of lifecycle of assets, from acquisition before retirement; Budgetary Control Analysis (budget control) — allows heads to control more effectively the budget and expenses, helping to define the most expensive areas and to timely reveal deviations from the budget.

The Optimzirovanny Oracle Human Resources Analytics analytical applications provide the organizations with the valuable information helping to increase efficiency of personnel and it is better to correlate the salary to labor productivity. New opportunities include: Time and Labor Analysis (the analysis of working time and labor resources) — helps heads to understand the hidden reasons and costs connected with overtime works, absences and poor performance of work of personnel by reduction in compliance of reporting time with the terms set in projects; Payroll Analysis (the analysis of the wages fund) — provides the complete information about income, taxes and other obligatory payments and assignments for employees, allowing heads how to browse general information about the salary of personnel, and to obtain more detailed information, to analyze data on compensations, privileges, benefits, taxes and overtime works; Workforce Gains and Losses (dynamics of number of staff) — provides information on number of staff on divisions, departments and the working groups on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis, giving to the organizations the chance to control and analyze a staff turnover.

In turn, the Oracle Project Analytics analytical application is added with new functionality which allows project managers and accountants to trace a projects status and to control the risks leading to an overexpenditure of means and resources. Innovations and improvements of the application include: Resource Management Analysis (the analysis of resource management) — provides to all parties participating in the project, information on requirements of the project, the involved resources and the personnel, material security of the project with the purpose of control of use of these assets, determination of the inefficient working groups or services and forecasting of a potential lack of resources; Project Subledger Reconciliation (reconciliation of the auxiliary ledger on the project) — helps the accountants keeping the project to reveal and eliminate discrepancies in accounting of transactions between the auxiliary ledger (subledger) and the main (main) ledger of the enterprise.

The analytical solution Oracle Supply Chain and Order Management Analytics offers expanded information on the inventory level and their cost, promoting growth of efficiency of a chain of formation of cost. Among new modules: Enhanced Inventory Analysis (expanded stock analysis) — gives more complete and faithful idea of the level of the current stocks, including data on cycle inventory counting, obsolescence, obsolescence, the action/storage expiration and also on balance; Item Cost History Analysis (the analysis of cost of positions) — helps to trace statistics of cost of positions in a supply chain.

Oracle application of Procurement and Spend Analytics is expanded functionality for the analysis of the choice of suppliers of Sourcing Analysis which helps to understand and estimate better corporate expenses and all cycle source-to-pay (from search of the supplier before payment), including the analysis of conditions, reactions of the supplier and opportunities for economy of costs.

Thanks to the support of Oracle E-Business Suite implemented in the analytical solution Oracle Price Analytics, the organizations receive ready means for pricing efficiency evaluation and also for prevention of loss of income and profit. Support of Oracle E-Business Suite in Oracle application of Service Analytics provides to the organizations direct access to data on customer service, helping to increase efficiency of customer interaction centers and, thereby, to raise customer satisfaction degree.

Solution price

In 2012 in the price list there was a packet which is called Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite which switches off in itself(himself) everything that there was in BI Suite EE + Scorecard and Strategy Management, but that is still interesting, also the OLAP Oracle Essbase server enters here.

Even more interestingly the fact that separately BI+Scorecard+Essbase cost $5895 for the user, and Foundation Suite costs $3675. So for those who want to use BI EE with Essbase is an obvious choice. Actually even for those who want to buy only Essbase (which separately costs $2900) there is an occasion to think, but whether not to pay in addition $775 more and to receive complete BI+Essbase?

One more news concerns Oracle Business Intelligence Standard Edition One. The question whether it is possible to upgrade BI SE One to BI 11g is constantly set. In case of observance of all license restrictions of BI SE One, it is possible to use software of BI 11g.

2013: Oracle seriously reduced the prices of BI

At the beginning of July, 2013 Oracle announced reduction of prices of flagship products of the BI line. So, if earlier processor license for BI Foundation Suite made $450 thousand, then since June 25, 2013 its price was $300 thousand. User licenses, however, remained invariable in the price - $3675. BI Foundation Suite includes Oracle BI Enterprise Edition 11g, BI Publisher, Essbase, Scorecard and Strategy Management and also Essbase Analytics Link.

According to the new price list, also the reduced price for BI Suite Enterprise Edition Plus from $295 thousand to $221.25 thousand and also Scorecard and Strategy Management from $149.25 thousand to $89.55 thousand.

In the first half of 2013 Oracle updated the BI platform, having added support of data from Hadoop, popular open source of the database for calculations of large volumes of information and also the connector for Microsoft Office for the most complete interaction with Excel.

As most large vendors provides to the clients discounts at considerable number of licenses within an implementation project, reduction of prices of Oracle BI in July, 2013 means not that other that the corporation is ready to begin to conduct negotiations of this sort from much lower starting point.

According to the analyst of Forrester Research Boris Evelson, the world market of BI systems is characterized by an intense competitive situation so all vendors, both big, and niche,

In Miro Consulting company which mediates at the conclusion of transactions between Oracle and customers, said that in the fourth quarter 2012 many potential clients considered software of Oracle, but very few people from them finally signed the supplier contract software.

According to Gartner company, the world market of BI systems in 2012 grew only by 7% in comparison with 17% in 2011. In 2012 the market of BI systems made $13.1 billion, and SAP with revenue of $2.9 billion became the largest vendor, Oracle became vendor number two with revenue to $1.9 billion. Nevertheless, in 2012 revenue of Oracle from the BI direction increased by 2%, and at SAP – only for 0.6%.