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Infor Birst vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Infor Birst

    Score5.3 out of 10
    N/AInfor Birst offers multi-tenant cloud BI for deployment in a public or private cloud, or on-premises. It provides an in-memory columnar data store and a BI layer comprising a reporting engine, predictive analytics tools, mobile native apps, dashboards, discovery tools, and an open client interface.N/A

    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

    Score6.4 out of 10
    N/AThe SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence Platform provides users with ad hoc queries, reporting, data visualizations, and analysis tools. Its integrated, unified infrastructure aims to offer scalability from one-to-many tools and interfaces on-premise, in the cloud, or as a hybrid approach.N/A
    Pricing
    Infor BirstSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Infor BirstSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Infor BirstSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Considered Both Products
    Infor
    No answer on this topic
    SAP
    Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    I had to choose between Tableau, Birst and BO.
    I liked BO over these as the features like derived tables, merge dimensions, context operators are not there in other tools.
    Incentivized
    Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    We selected SAP Business Objects in the previous instance because we were implementing SAP ERP and the choice of Business Objects was favorable from an integration and cost perspective. We did not choose SAP Business Objects most recently because of the predicted long …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Would buy again
    10 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Happy with the feature set
    10 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    88%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    8 Answers
    Features
    Infor BirstSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Infor Birst and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    7.4
    77 Ratings
    10% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    8.2
    51 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Pixel Perfect reports7.068 Ratings8.646 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards8.077 Ratings7.747 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates7.159 Ratings8.347 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Infor Birst and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    7.0
    78 Ratings
    14% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.8
    48 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Drill-down analysis8.078 Ratings7.247 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities7.077 Ratings8.347 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages6.127 Ratings7.333 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration7.068 Ratings8.647 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Infor Birst and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    8.0
    75 Ratings
    4% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.9
    48 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Publish to Web8.052 Ratings9.040 Ratings
    Publish to PDF8.067 Ratings7.546 Ratings
    Report Versioning7.28 Ratings6.742 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling9.066 Ratings8.447 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings7.726 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Infor Birst and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    6.9
    72 Ratings
    15% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.3
    43 Ratings
    9% below category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.072 Ratings6.941 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.058 Ratings6.939 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics5.833 Ratings7.938 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings7.32 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Infor Birst and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    8.3
    72 Ratings
    2% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    9.2
    48 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)9.070 Ratings9.048 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model8.068 Ratings9.646 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.069 Ratings9.045 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings9.62 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings9.029 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Infor Birst and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    5.0
    54 Ratings
    44% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    5.8
    34 Ratings
    30% below category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access7.052 Ratings6.733 Ratings
    Mobile Application3.034 Ratings3.828 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile3.042 Ratings3.830 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Infor Birst and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    -
    Ratings
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.1
    24 Ratings
    9% below category average
    REST API00 Ratings6.721 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings7.319 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings7.318 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings7.222 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings7.321 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings6.720 Ratings
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    Score8.7 out of 10
    Zendesk Explore
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    Enterprises
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    Score9.7 out of 10
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    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Infor BirstSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (96 ratings)
    7.7
    (73 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (35 ratings)
    8.3
    (24 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (12 ratings)
    7.6
    (16 ratings)
    Availability
    4.1
    (6 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Performance
    7.5
    (6 ratings)
    9.0
    (10 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.0
    (19 ratings)
    8.6
    (16 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    5.3
    (6 ratings)
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    Configurability
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    6.0
    (24 ratings)
    8.2
    (45 ratings)
    Data Sources
    7.6
    (76 ratings)
    8.3
    (45 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    5.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    6.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    5.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Infor BirstSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Infor
    Infor Birst OEM and embedded analytics are well suited for advanced analytics and business intelligence. It has flexible deployment features and a lot of configuration ability with low code - no coding ability. Ability to ingest data from multiple live data sources. Source data from multiple sources can be segregated into multiple sections based on business criteria. Easily searchable business terms (metadata) across all enterprise analytic content.
    Read full review
    SAP
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Infor
    • End-to-end solution, from raw source data, ETL, warehousing and reporting, Birst is able to do everything we need in one package instead of needing to develop and maintain multiple technologies
    • Intuitive report development. The drag and drop creation of reports is simple. More complicated queries are easy to generate.
    • Very user-friendly and interactive. A lot of nice features are available both for developers and end users to streamline the process of preparing and consuming data
    • Rich API which allows us to programmatically interact with Birst
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    • This software is easy to initially learn, and very powerful in producing reusable reports.
    • It is much faster than my company's internal manual queries. The ability to build off of a saved query and share queries to other users is a great positive.
    • My favorite part is that you can run queries in the background and it does not interfere with your current work or slow your computer down.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Infor
    • Birst prices are fairly expensive. License plus cost of users can add up pretty quickly
    • Depending on the size of data, rendering of reports can take a little bit. Need faster processing of data
    • Takes a little time to understand how to build reports, not the most intuitive UI
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    • The installation can be very complex and time-consuming, it requires a lot of planning and foresight as to what role the software will play in the organization.
    • The software has a relatively large learning curve that takes dedicated users months to get comfortable with, the UI is a bit intimidating for new users.
    • SAP could organize their help better, it can be difficult to find dependable solutions to issues via their website and support channels.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Infor
    We have been able to overcome any of the drawbacks we've found with Birst easily and it has fulfilled almost all of our analytic needs to date. Having seen their roadmap it would be highly unlikely we would move away from this platform any time soon. You simply can't beat the functionality that Birst provides for the price and the things I see coming out of the company solidify that our decision to choose Birst was the best possible choice. We have never regretted the decision.
    Read full review
    SAP
    The institution has decided to move in a different direction, and will be using MSBI for reporting. I have been very happy with the Business Objects suite of tools, and will continue to use them heavily until we make the transition.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Infor
    I would like to see additional usability put into the ETL scripting. Recently, Birst added a nice function reference inline to formula creation which has kept me from having to return to documentation so much. The same in ETL would be very beneficial. The interface problems related to the Flex framework are being addressed in a rewrite to HTML 5, but for now they are still a hindrance to a higher usability rating.
    Read full review
    SAP
    From a server and client side perspective. the Business Intelligence Platform provides a foundation for all aspects of content development, distribution, analysis, collaboration and self service. Ease of use from targeted content delivery through controlled accessibility. Content exporting in the format of the users choice. Scheduling for internal or external delivery. Public and private folders for secure content access when requied. Web based for viewing on the users device of choice without the need to download additional applications.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Infor
    We frequently experience -103 errors due to us using the Live Connect functionality, which does not seem to handle even minor interruptions in connectivity, and treats all future connection attempts or data requests as errors, even if the issue does not exist any longer
    Read full review
    SAP
    When we implemented 3.1, we had a tough time managing the system: It took almost a year to stabilize.

    With 4.0, we want to roll out to more users, and are holding back because of fears about the performance issue
    Read full review
    Performance
    Infor
    Everything runs very fast and smoothly. The only process that I wish was faster would be processing the data after uploading new data or making changes to the existing data model. It can take 15-20 minutes (roughly) to upload and process new data once you start getting into 10's of millions of rows. Given my experience with how long it takes me to pull the same data using SQL Server Management Studio, I don't think Birst is unreasonably slow - but for me to give a higher rating, I would want it to be unreasonably fast
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    SAP
    Overall, the tool (Web Intelligence 4.2) is fast and solid. One issue is a dependability on JAVA for a full feature report creation/edit capabilities (as opposed to limited HTML option). Second, planned end of JAVA support by major browsers (Chrome is already not supporting JAVA applet).
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Infor
    • Poor turnaround time
    • Low response rate when the problem at hand are large
    • Lack of infrastructural knowledge when it comes to scaling solutions
    • Lack of inter team work noticed
    • Most of the tickets are open for a long period of time
    Incentivized
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    SAP
    SAP has released various versions of SAP BO BI. starting from 3.1 and going to 4.0,4.1,4.2 and latest being 4.3. SAP provides support to these new versions. As new versions keep on coming, support for the very old software goes out of scope from SAP. it is when the different organization plans to get their BO content migrated from a lower version to a newer version. The newer version had definitely added functionality and features which ease the work of users.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Infor
    I have attended two different training sessions. The first one was my initial training on the system. It was well paced, clear and concise. If there were questions that were not able to be answered by the instructor, he took down the question and actually followed up and provided us a response quickly. The second session was specific to the dashboard and report design components. This training was very good though there were some attendants who had little or no experience and their questions slowed the class.
    Read full review
    SAP
    SAP authorized training is best, Please go ahead with it. Even lot of online training options/videos available for self learning
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Infor
    Although I found the online resources helpful, a lack of appropriate examples for certain tasks key to report creation and advanced modeling make the online training/documentation less than perfect. For an inexperienced BI professional, the online training would not enable a streamlined launch of the product.
    Read full review
    SAP
    I haven't used it or got feedback from the end user.

    Content looks to be pretty detailed. Focused on SQL but not BW.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Infor
    Have clean data! Birst flexibility allows - Start small, then introduce functionality and complexity along the way. If you try to present all the functionality [bells and whistles] and wow them, but bad data is uncovered, the end user blames the new application and turns away.
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    SAP
    Hire specialists and experienced staff. Mix some beginners so that everyone is not a leader but a learner too. Plan well; architect well; break down implementation in small steps and move towards larger steps. Create a centralized and authorized SAP Business Objects implementation team.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Infor
    Birst was better than Domo for our needs because we could get in and tinker with it. Our impression of Domo was that it had a lot of connectors and ready to go reports, but it made too many assumptions about applications we use. We customize too much to use a "ready to go" solution like that. When we looked at Tableau, we liked its visualization capabilities, but it wasn't going to help us do the extractions, ETL, and warehousing of data. It may have come some distance since then.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    We selected SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) based on price. It can stack up against others in terms of price and honestly, that's about it. Salesforce Commerce does a hell of a better job at handling it. However, in the space of Business Intelligence, SAP can do more, and that's why at the end we went with it
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Infor
    we can see that loading a lot of data can cause a noticable slow down in performance. Birst support indicated that they don't really consider anything less than 30 seconds to be an issue, but that is not the case for our customers, so we have had to change some of implementation to address this
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    SAP
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform supports SOA Service Oriented Architecture. You can start/restart/enable/disable all the servers. You can seamless do load balancing and clustering. It supports all leading application and web server. Supports LDAP SSO integration. People who can work on excel with training they can work on SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence, dashboard, Lumira, Information design tool product suite. Tool is very user friendly and easy to learn and implement
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Infor
    • Being a manufacturing company we tend to lag behind technologically. But having all the data for different ERP systems in one place has been an eye opener for the executives. It has lessened the need to convert some legacy ERP systems.
    • Having such a simple reporting tool is a great asset to some of our sites that have traditionally had trouble gathering data from AS400 systems.
    Incentivized
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    SAP
    • By generating and distributing reports in a timely manner, we were able to save millions of dollars for the company which otherwise would not have been visible.
    • Almost realtime dashboard, saved the company a huge amount by showing the outages and kept the company from buying a tool to do just that.
    • It showed the customers who were not paying the bills and were missing in the system due to some loophole. This was visible by doing reporting on the theft usage of electricity.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Infor Birst Screenshots

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