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BARC Score
Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH
Portfolios for planning, reporting and analysis
Authors: Christian Fuchs, Larissa Seidler, Patrick Keller, Carsten Bange, Robert Tischler
Publication: March 22, 2017
Abstract
Planning is an important element of management control to align operational business with strategic
corporate objectives. However, successful planning processes require comprehensive business in-
telligence (BI) functionality. This BARC Score focuses on the market for integrated planning and BI
products and portfolios in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) due to the im-
portance of both topics in combination for many companies, especially in the mid-market. Based on
data points from The Planning Survey, The BI Survey and numerous analyst interactions, vendors
are rated on a variety of criteria.
This document is not to be shared, distributed or reproduced in any way without prior permission of BARC
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 2
Table of contents
Overview ............................................................................................................................................. 3
Inclusion Criteria ................................................................................................................................. 3
Evaluation Criteria .............................................................................................................................. 4
Portfolio Capabilities ....................................................................................................................... 4
Market Execution ............................................................................................................................ 6
Score .................................................................................................................................................. 8
Score Regions ................................................................................................................................ 9
Evaluated Products .......................................................................................................................... 10
Vendor Evaluations .......................................................................................................................... 11
Bissantz ......................................................................................................................................... 12
BOARD International .................................................................................................................... 13
CoPlanner ..................................................................................................................................... 14
Corporate Planning ....................................................................................................................... 15
Cubeware ...................................................................................................................................... 17
cubus ............................................................................................................................................. 19
evidanza ........................................................................................................................................ 20
IBM ................................................................................................................................................ 21
IDL ................................................................................................................................................. 23
Infor ............................................................................................................................................... 24
Jedox ............................................................................................................................................. 25
Longview ....................................................................................................................................... 26
LucaNet ......................................................................................................................................... 27
Oracle ............................................................................................................................................ 29
prevero .......................................................................................................................................... 31
SAP ............................................................................................................................................... 32
Tagetik .......................................................................................................................................... 34
Other Vendors .................................................................................................................................. 36
Related Research Documents ......................................................................................................... 39
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 3
Overview
The market for planning and business intelligence (BI) products in the DACH region is highly competi-
tive. Besides a few international software generalists offering their planning and BI portfolios worldwide,
there are many local specialists challenging the big vendors. This report focuses on the German-speak-
ing planning and BI “DACH” market (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and analyzes the strengths and
challenges of all the leading vendors as well as many smaller vendors that often have less visibility, but
equally offer outstanding value to their customers.
Planning and BI initiatives always include more than just the front end products. The technical architec-
ture also includes data warehouses and data marts (e.g. for planning), data integration and data quality
components, dictionaries, repositories, and many other technologies. Organizations should have a
proper BI strategy that goes well beyond an architecture blueprint to include non-technical requirements,
alignment with corporate strategy, organizational models, outcome-based priority settings, and a proper
roadmap.
Still, when it comes to kicking off or expanding a planning and BI program, the initial focus almost always
lies on the required toolsets. While this may not be the ideal starting point, at some stage a platform,
portfolio or product decision has to be made. This document will help with the selection process by
evaluating the market leaders and most commonly used product sets.
Inclusion Criteria
There are two principal inclusion criteria for this BARC Score: the first is associated with each vendor’s
products and the other is linked to the financial results relating to those products. Functionality for plan-
ning (including write-back of planning data to a central database and other advanced planning features
like workflows, simulation, etc.) is the entrance ticket to be evaluated in this BARC Score. Moreover, a
vendor has to supply additional functionality for all four technologies from the following platform portfolio
in a solution not merely focused on one industry or use case:
Formatted Reporting
Ad Hoc Query and Reporting
Analysis
Dashboarding
In addition, the vendor has to generate a minimum of 3 million EUR in license revenue per year with the
above product set in German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland).
Vendors with an open source business model are evaluated by their total revenue because those com-
panies do not charge a license for their products, but an annual subscription fee.
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 4
Evaluation Criteria
Every vendor is evaluated on two dimensions: “Portfolio Capabilities” and “Market Execution”. Each
represents one axis on the Score. These two dimensions include the following sub-criteria.
Portfolio Capabilities
The portfolio capabilities criteria selected to rank the planning and BI vendors in this Score include the
following technologies and their corresponding weighting. In general, portfolio capabilities reflect func-
tional (planning, formatted reporting, ad hoc query, analysis, dashboarding and predictive analytics) and
architectural criteria. A special emphasis is placed on the integration of planning and BI functionality
within the vendors’ product portfolios. An additional important evaluation criterion is ease of use for
business users.
Please note: Only vendor-distinct functionality is rated in our vendor portfolio ratings, not that
of integrated OEM products or partner solutions.
Planning
Planning describes the task of creating data with a future time reference. An essential software require-
ment here is to write back planning data from planning forms in the front end to a planning data model
in a central database. The planning model consists of planning structures (master data), key figures and
planning logic, and combines different operational and financial plans. Both the planning forms and
planning model are created using a planning solution. The coordination of the various planning activities
and planners involved is handled by process control functionality (workflow). For plan data entry, specific
planning functionality (e.g. data allocation, simulation and comments) is provided.
Ad Hoc Query and Reporting
In many cases, users require more interactivity than they receive from formatted reports. Ad hoc report-
ing is geared to non-professional report developers and provides basic filtering and navigation features
(e.g. drill down, ranking and conditional formatting).
Integration
Because planning is generally not possible without reporting (e.g. results reports or reports on interme-
diate results) or analysis (e.g. analyses of planned and actual values), the seamless integration of plan-
ning and BI functionality is essential to support planning processes optimally. Having functionality for
both planning and BI in one product on one integrated database is certainly preferable to an integration,
for example, at database level between different products with the need for ETL processes to transfer
data.
Architecture
The overall architecture of each vendor’s product portfolio is also evaluated. This includes the integration
of the various components, from the perspective of the front end and user experience as well as at
infrastructure levels, including data access, models and metadata. In addition, support for different plat-
forms as well as overall performance and caching mechanisms are considered in this evaluation.
Formatted Reporting
Formatted standard reports are usually page-oriented reports run on regular schedules. These include
static reports, which usually appeal to the widest audience in a company because they are simple to
use, and prompted reports, which enable users to filter reports based on predefined parameters. Aside
from pixel-perfect displays, which provide developers with precise control over how they place report
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 5
objects and images on a screen, formatted reports also support rich printing options, dynamic page
sizing and a WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) development interface.
Virtually every BI product is able to provide some type of reports. The importance of page orientation,
scheduling and other advanced reporting features, however, varies depending on the customer’s re-
quirements.
Ease of use for business users
Ease of use considers the general user-friendliness of a planning and BI product for business users in
areas like model design, screen generation, report development, administration in business depart-
ments, etc. This criterion is included because ease of use for business users is often a very important
criterion in software selection processes.
Analysis
Data analysis differs from basic reporting in that it probes much more deeply into (operational) data and
generates new information, which can be interpreted and acted upon by the business. Further analyses
can be carried out using mathematical methods. Traditional online analytical processing (OLAP) pro-
vides dimensional (versus reporting) data views which make it easy for users to drill down, drill across
and pivot dimensions as well as apply sophisticated calculations without scripting. Certain analysis prod-
ucts also offer methods to support set-based, visual or discovery-oriented data analysis.
Dashboarding
Dashboards are also referred to as cockpits, scorecards or BI applications. They provide graphical views
of key performance indicators and the ability to drill down to details. Some dashboards offer self-service
functions so end users can create their own layouts without any outside help. Others (especially BI
applications with guided navigation) require support from technically savvy business users or program-
mers. Scorecards often incorporate strategy maps and applications to manage improvement initiatives.
Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics and data mining use various methods and (statistical) algorithms of classification
and time series analysis to forecast events and behaviors. A general goal is to identify relationships
between data and generate insights for existing data as well as new data using mathematical models.
Users have to be well trained in order to use these methods and to gain the expected insights from the
data.
Criteria Weighting
We don’t consider all components of a planning and BI portfolio to be equally important in this Score.
This is not a reference to the generated value of an individual technology, but indicates the current
customer focus and buying pattern.
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 6
Table 1: Portfolio Capabilities – Weighting of Criteria
Criteria Weighting
Planning High
Ad Hoc Query and Reporting High
Integration High
Architecture High
Formatted Reporting Medium
Ease of Use for Business Users Medium
Analysis Medium
Dashboarding Low
Predictive Analytics Low
Market Execution
On the “Market Execution” axis, we rate the planning and BI vendors in this Score using the following
criteria and corresponding weightings.
Product Strategy
This is the most important of all the criteria. Vendors are rated on their product development track record,
product roadmap and innovation, as well as the company portfolio’s alignment with current market trends
and demands.
Customer Satisfaction
In this year’s Score we included the customer satisfaction KPIs from The Planning Survey and
The BI Survey. These take into account product satisfaction, vendor support and implementer support
ratings reported by customers. The ratings of vendors that provide more than a single product are com-
bined into a single rating. Vendors not included in The Planning Survey or The BI Survey (due to a lim-
ited number of survey responses from their customers) receive an average rating. This average rating
stands for “satisfied” and does not negatively affect the score.
Ecosystem
In this category, we evaluate the extended ecosystem in which the vendor participates. This includes
business partner networks, hardware or cloud infrastructure providers, consulting firms and systems
integrators, and other technology alliances.
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 7
Financial Strength
This criterion covers the financial position of the vendor, from market capitalization, cash position and
EBITDA to profitability, burn rate and investment rounds. For vendors that are private companies or
don’t break out the numbers for individual product lines, estimated figures are used.
Organizational Strength
Vendors are rated on their organizational stability, which is influenced by consistency of corporate strat-
egy, continuity of executive leadership, but also staff turnover, reorganization and layoffs.
Marketing Strategy
A vendor’s marketing strategy is evaluated by rating its corporate and product messaging, the com-
pany’s presence in printed media, advertising and social networks, as well as its ability to run events,
such as conferences, seminar roadshows and webinars.
Sales Strategy
To rate a vendor’s sales strategy, we look at the various channels through which the company goes to
market: with both direct and indirect sales teams, through distributors, value-added resellers (VARs),
online channels as well as OEM relationships. We also evaluate the vendor’s product pricing and sales
models, such as perpetual licensing, support subscription, open source and freemium.
Criteria Weighting
The following weightings have been applied for the market execution criteria:
Table 2: Market Execution – Weighting of Criteria
Criteria Weighting
Product Strategy High
Customer Satisfaction Medium
Ecosystem Medium
Financial Strength Medium
Organizational Strength Low
Marketing Strategy Low
Sales Strategy Low
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 8
Score
Calculating the individual ratings for all criteria and all vendors produces two scores per company: the
portfolio capabilities score and the market execution score, each being plotted on the corresponding
axis and thus resulting in the vendor’s dot on the following BARC Score graphic (see Figure 1).
Please note: Only vendor-distinct functionality is rated in our vendor portfolio ratings, not that
of integrated OEM products or partner solutions.
Figure 1: BARC Score Integrated Planning and BI DACH – Portfolios for planning, reporting
and analysis
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 9
Score Regions
Vendors can be positioned in one of five regions, depending on their total score on each of the two axes.
Dominators
Dominators are vendors that drive both technology and market adoption in a highly influential manner.
They possess both a broad portfolio of market-leading products with a strong brand as well as a robust
commercial prowess through best-in-class sales and marketing programs, an extensive ecosystem of
business partners and alliances, and a rock-solid financial position. Dominators are considered a con-
tender in virtually every planned implementation.
Market Leaders
Market Leaders are well established vendors that drive strong market adoption, supported by technology
innovation and strategic acquisitions and by leveraging robust account management and a solid track
record. Their portfolio enjoys high brand awareness in the market, covers an extensive range of tech-
nologies and services with only few gaps. Market Leaders typically have a large market share, making
them a viable contender in almost all implementation scenarios.
Challengers
Challengers come in various shapes and sizes. They can be large vendors tapping into a new market
by acquisition and pushing their way in with force, small innovative companies with a promising portfolio
but limited sales and marketing resources, or vendors that attempt to disrupt a market with a new tech-
nology approach or different business model.
Specialists
Specialists are smaller vendors with a portfolio focused on a specific market segment. Vendors can be
either limited in their technical capabilities by concentrating on certain features and functions, or the
company isn’t a global enterprise and focuses on particular geographic regions.
Entrants
Entrants are usually startups that have limited reach and visibility in the market. Their product capabili-
ties are incomplete when compared to the competition, and the vendor’s long-term market potential is
still unproven.
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 10
Evaluated Products
The following products and versions are evaluated in this BARC Score.
Vendor Product(s) Version
Bissantz DeltaMaster 6.1
BOARD International BOARD 10
CoPlanner CoPlanner 9.4
Corporate Planning CP-Suite including Corporate Planner 5
Cubeware Solutions Platform C8 8
cubus Outperform 8.1
evidanza Evidanza MaC
IBM IBM Planning Analytics (formerly TM1)
Cognos Analytics
11
11
IDL CPM- and BI-Suite 2016
Infor Infor BI 11
Jedox Jedox Suite 7
Longview Longview Plan
Longview Analytics 2017
LucaNet LucaNet.Planner 10
Oracle
Hyperion Planning
Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service
BI Suite
BI Cloud Service
11.1.2.4
11
prevero prevero 10
SAP
BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
BusinessObjects Enterprise
BusinessObjects Cloud
10.1
4.2
Tagetik Tagetik 5.2
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 11
Vendor Evaluations
In the following section, we discuss each vendor and highlight their strengths and weaknesses based
on customer surveys and market research by the authors.
Each vendor description includes vendor-related information, products covered in the BARC Score, and
strengths and weaknesses.
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 12
Bissantz
Nuremberg, Germany
www.bissantz.com
Bissantz, a software vendor based in Nuremberg, Germany, was founded in 1996 as the technology
spin-off of a FORWISS research team. The company initially specialized in solutions for sophisticated
data analysis tasks in business environments. Today, it has approximately 100 employees based in
three locations in Germany. The company has over 500 customers primarily in Germany, Austria and
Switzerland, winning 50 new customers in 2016. Bissantz targets mid-sized companies and large cor-
porations across all industries to support them in controlling and planning business performance.
DeltaMaster, Bissantz’s flagship product, offers flexible and integrated functionality for (advanced) data
analysis (including statistical and data mining methods) as well as planning, ad hoc reporting and dash-
boards. The strengths of the solution lie in its analytic capabilities, which include good support for pro-
active analyses as well as automated and predefined analytic methods with comprehensive visualization
functions. Besides its BI functionality, DeltaMaster can be used to create individual planning applications
with capabilities for top-down and bottom-up planning. The product supports business departments in
building detailed operational budgets. DeltaMaster contains little predefined content (e.g. for integrated
financial planning) and has the characteristics of a development environment that requires no program-
ming.
As a pure front end, DeltaMaster supports direct connections to popular multidimensional databases
such as Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, Infor BI OLAP Server, IBM Cognos TM1, Oracle
OLAP, Oracle Essbase, SAP BW and SAP HANA. Planning applications are typically based on Mi-
crosoft SQL Server or Analysis Services. However, write-back to Infor BI OLAP Server, IBM Cognos
TM1, and SAP HANA is also possible.
Strengths
Integrated BI product for (advanced) analysis, ad hoc reporting, dashboards and planning
Vast range of analysis and visualization functionality as well as innovative chart types for data-
dense reports and dashboards
Flexibility in creating individual planning applications with options for top-down as well as bot-
tom-up planning, including comprehensive capabilities for commenting
Statistical and predefined data mining methods that can be applied by users without expert
knowledge
According to the results of The BI Survey 16, Bissantz’s customers are largely satisfied with the
vendor and the level of support it offers
Weaknesses
No predefined business content for planning tasks (e.g. integrated financial planning)
Limited workflow functionality for controlling planning processes (e.g. planning calendar, task
management with status monitoring, visual display of planning processes, and approval pro-
cesses through database modeling only, not as standard functionality)
No Excel add-in. Only export of data to Microsoft Excel provided.
High flexibility can lead to complexity (e.g. for implementing and creating complex planning and
BI applications with DeltaMaster)
Little focus on reports with page/print orientation or high levels of individual formatting
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 13
BOARD International
Chiasso, Switzerland
www.board.com
BOARD was founded in 1994 and employs more than 220 people worldwide. Both its head office and
software development headquarters with approximately 30 employees are located in Chiasso, Switzer-
land. BOARD has 23 offices worldwide and a partner network in over 30 countries. Around 3,000 cus-
tomers worldwide use BOARD to implement both planning and BI projects.
BOARD is a one-product-company and provides a combined product consisting of a front end and a
proprietary multidimensional database. It is a flexible development environment for creating planning,
dashboarding, reporting, analysis and predictive analytics applications. BOARD offers strong function-
ality, especially for planning and simulation use cases, and provides a consistent environment for ad-
ministration, development and utilization. Due to its tightly integrated front and back ends, the proprietary
BOARD database allows only limited access for third-party front ends.
BOARD’s product strategy is based on an “all-in-one” philosophy. The goal is to deliver an easy to use
and technically homogeneous environment in support of BI and Corporate Performance Management.
BOARD’s vision is to enable business users to implement solutions without significant IT support, based
on an easy-to-use toolkit with no technical programming needed. Its cloud offering, based on Microsoft
Azure, and self-service capabilities (called Data Fast Track) were two of the key enhancements in ver-
sion 10. With Data Fast Track, business users can quickly create new data models for self-service data
discovery.
BOARD receives good feedback from its customers for its self-service capabilities, performance and
especially its ease of use and flexibility for users in BARC’s BI Survey 16.
Strengths
Flexible, integrated BI product for developing planning, dashboarding, reporting, analysis and
advanced analysis applications
Graphical, business user-oriented development environment for creating (complex) planning
and BI applications without technical programming skills
Tightly integrated system architecture of multidimensional in-memory database and front ends
Functionality for bottom-up (including workflow management functionality) and top-down plan-
ning approaches
Self-service dashboard creation by end users through assembly of predefined BI objects (so-
called PinBOARDs)
Weaknesses
Limited access for third-party front ends to proprietary BOARD database
Limited capabilities for formatted print reporting, as the vendor focuses on on-screen application
delivery
Limited predefined business content provided by BOARD itself (e.g. for integrated financial plan-
ning) as the vendor focuses on enabling individually tailored solutions. However, BOARD has
created the first templates for its cloud customers with more to follow.
The product's flexibility can lead to more complex handling for inexperienced users when im-
plementing and building intricate applications
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 14
CoPlanner
Graz, Austria
www.coplanner.com
CoPlanner was founded in 1989 in Graz, Austria, with the aim of supporting enterprises in implementing
integrated BI systems by offering comprehensive business and technical expertise. The vendor currently
employs approximately 50-60 people and has, according to its own accounts, 500 customers with
2,500 implementations, primarily in Austria and Germany.
CoPlanner is a one-product-company. Since 2003, it has provided its BI and planning product CoPlan-
ner, which is available in different specifications for small, medium and large companies. Data is physi-
cally stored in Microsoft SQL Server. Additionally the vendor uses in-memory data storage on the
CoPlanner server, which is synchronized simultaneously with the relational database. The product is a
flexible development environment for all kinds of planning approaches (top-down, bottom-up, or combi-
nations of both). Business power users typically use it to create wizard-based individual planning appli-
cations requiring only minimal IT support (e.g. for data integration tasks or linking of sub-budgets in the
data model via SQL).
CoPlanner customers usually start off with planning projects but often have additional requirements for
reporting, analysis or financial consolidation. For standard formatted reporting use cases, CoPlanner
provides an integrated, business user-friendly reporting module, which allows for creating on-screen
reports as well as formatted print reports. Comprehensive options for formatting and layouting tabular
as well as graphical reports are available. Moreover, for ad hoc query and individual analyses, CoPlan-
ner Analyzer or a feature-rich Excel add-in are available. Add-ins for PowerPoint and Word are also
provided.
The core of the product is CoPlanner’s comprehensive planning functionality. The development envi-
ronment provides flexible modeling of individual planning applications and integrated financial planning
(balance sheet, profit and loss statement, liquidity) as standard. In typical implementations, CoPlanner
is used by 30 to 40 concurrent users. However, there are also implementations with much smaller and
larger numbers of users.
Strengths
Business user oriented integrated product for planning, reporting, analysis and financial consol-
idation with flexible modeling of individual planning applications and comprehensive planning
functionality
Predefined model for integrated financial planning (balance sheet, P&L, cash flow)
Feature-rich Excel add-in with cell-based and formula-based (dynamic) mode
Integrated engine to present relationally stored data multidimensionally, including the option of
third-party product access
Weaknesses
Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services is typically used for data integration tasks – it’s not
very business user-friendly and usually requires IT support
Limited capabilities for predictive analytics and advanced analysis
Comparatively small vendor with a strong presence in Austria
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 15
Corporate Planning
Hamburg, Germany
www.corporate-planning.com
CP Corporate Planning AG (CP) is a software vendor and consultancy based in Hamburg, Germany.
The company, which was founded in 1989, currently has approximately 130 employees worldwide. CP
has regional and international offices in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK.
The company is one of the largest planning software vendors in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
CP offers solutions for operational management, integrated financial planning, financial consolidation
and strategic management. A few years ago, CP combined its separate products into an integrated suite
called CP-Suite with comprehensive functionality for users, including workflows, roles and rights. All
modules have a common user interface and are based on an integrated database in Microsoft SQL
Server. 3,900 customers worldwide use various modules of CP-Suite.
Corporate Planner, the planning product in CP-Suite, is targeted at business departments. The solution
can be deployed both as a single desktop application as well as an enterprise solution for CPM and
financial consolidation with over 100 individual planners as users. Across its entire customer base, Cor-
porate Planner is used by an average of 10+ users per installation, yet it also supports installations with
significantly larger numbers of users.
Among CP’s strengths are its intricate dialog boxes, wizards, comprehensive planning functionality and
predefined reports and analyses that support business power users in a variety of tasks. The product
provides centralized top-down planning, decentralized bottom-up planning as well as a combination of
both approaches. For reporting, Corporate Planner offers various report types with many different pos-
sibilities. A comprehensive library of predefined business analyses is also available (e.g. variance, ABC
and portfolio analysis), which users can run directly on their data. However, because CP doesn’t regard
itself as a typical BI product for individual analyses, a so-called BI-Exit is available for accessing CP
data with third-party front ends: Connectivity BI and Connectivity Qlik can be used to transfer data from
CP-Server (including logics, calculations, etc.) into separate databases (e.g. for using Microsoft Power
BI) and the Qlik-specific proprietary data structures that QlikView and Qlik Sense require. In the latest
version, a new CP-Sales module provides functionality for sales controlling with enhanced flexibility for
navigation in data and improved dashboarding capabilities. These new developments are a first step to
enhancing CP’s BI functionality for dashboarding, ad hoc queries and analysis.
Strengths
Integrated BI suite for operational management, integrated financial planning, financial consol-
idation and strategic management
Business user oriented product with usually low installation effort and short implementation cy-
cles
Predefined planning functions and business analyses included as standard functionality
Flexible capabilities for top-down and bottom-up planning. Predefined model for financial plan-
ning.
Weaknesses
Limited suitability for environments with large numbers of users (>100 concurrent users) and
complex structures
Limited flexibility due to high degree of prefabrication and restricted capabilities for reporting
and (ad hoc) analyses – Complements third-party products (typically Qlik) and BI-Exit (Connec-
tivity BI). In the latest version, functionality for BI has been extended. However, initially these
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 16
functions are only available in the CP-Sales module and are not generally available to all cus-
tomers.
Limited functionality for formatted print-oriented reporting (the vendor recommends its own
Word add-in for this purpose)
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 17
Cubeware
Rosenheim, Germany
www.cubeware.com
Founded in 1997 and based in Rosenheim, Germany, Cubeware currently has 125 employees in five
German offices as well as subsidiaries in the DACH region; San Jose, USA; and Bangalore, India (ad-
ditional off-shore development). In July 2008 Cubeware was acquired by Cranes, a vendor based in
India. Primrose Investments GmbH now owns Cubeware, having acquired it from Cranes Group in 2016.
Cubeware’s BI platform CSP C8 was first released in September 2014. Its main components are BI front
ends C8 Cockpit, C8 Mobile and C8 Snack; the application server C8 Server; and C8 Importer, a prod-
uct for data integration and modeling. All products are developed by Cubeware itself and are primarily
sold directly by the vendor in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where they are used by approximately
4,000 customers. Cubeware technology is also used worldwide through partner channels and various
OEM versions.
C8 Cockpit, the main BI front end component of CSP C8, is an integrated BI product for dashboards, ad
hoc reporting, analysis and planning. The product, which is targeted at business power users, can run
on various multidimensional databases (Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, IBM Cognos TM1, In-
for BI OLAP Server, Oracle Essbase and SAP BW). Direct access to relational data is provided using
ODBC and OLE-DB connectivity. A fine-tuned combination of CSP C8 and IBM Cognos TM1 (named
CW1 database powered by IBM) became available in November 2016, combining Cubeware’s products
with IBM’s in-memory technology and Excel integration.
CSP C8 is aimed at usage scenarios in a range of business departments without any industry-specific
focus. C8 Cockpit, a visual environment for building and displaying screen-based reports, analyses and
dashboards, offers good layout, graphic and interactive capabilities. In terms of planning, Cubeware
positions itself as a vendor of operational planning and detailed budget planning solutions. The vendor
extends the financial planning solutions of partners like IDL and Denzhorn with BI and data management
functionality.
Strengths
Integrated BI product for dashboards, ad hoc reporting, (OLAP) analysis and planning with var-
ious front ends
Runs on various multidimensional databases and is targeted at business power users
Visual environment for building interactive, screen-based BI and planning applications with good
layout functions and good ad hoc reporting features targeted at business users
Data integration and modeling functions in C8 Importer are designed for business users with
certified SAP connectivity
Weaknesses
Compared to its competitors, it has limited planning capabilities (e.g. lacks advanced workflow
functionality such as task management; planning calendars do not come as standard; offline
planning is only possible with workarounds; and no detailed business content - such as logic,
data models and wizards for data entry - is available from the vendor itself)
Limited functionality for formatted, print-oriented reporting
No proprietary Excel add-in, although the Excel add-ins of underlying databases can be used if
required (e.g. Perspectives/CAFE Excel add-ins with CW1 database powered by IBM)
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 18
Limited support for advanced statistical analysis. However, integration with R is provided using
C8 Importer.
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 19
cubus
Herrenberg, Germany
www.cubus.eu
Founded in 1992 and based near Stuttgart, Germany, cubus AG currently has approximately 35 em-
ployees. According to its own accounts, more than 350 companies use its software.
Its product, cubus outperform, is an integrated performance management solution with functionality for
planning, simulation, strategy implementation (balanced scorecard) and project portfolio management.
For ad hoc reporting and dynamic OLAP analyses on the Web, cubus EV Analytics (formerly
IBM Cognos Executive Viewer) is integrated in outperform. The product offers predefined business con-
tent, data models and logic. Aimed at business power users, outperform has a Web-based user interface
resembling Excel.
outperform provides a flexible platform for building individual, complex business logic for planning ap-
plications. The solution has no specific market or industry focus and is used by companies of various
sizes and industries. outperform, however, does have predefined models and logic for integrated profit
and financial planning (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow), revenue and sales planning, human resource
planning, cost center planning, cost allocations, investment planning and project portfolio management.
Customers can completely adapt and extend the models and logic to meet their specific requirements.
Following initial implementation, business power users can work well with the solution. cubus EV ex-
tends outperform’s range of functions with comprehensive functionality for OLAP analysis, ad hoc re-
porting and data visualization.
outperform uses multidimensional (Oracle Essbase, IBM Cognos TM1 or Microsoft SQL Server Analysis
Services) and relational databases (Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server) for data storage. cubus has been
rated as the most popular third-party client product for Oracle Essbase for the last two years in The BI
Survey, underlining the fact that most cubus customers use the Oracle database rather than the Mi-
crosoft SQL Server Analysis Services or IBM Cognos TM1 database options.
Strengths
Integrated platform for planning, balanced scorecard and project portfolio management with
predefined business content, models and logic
Excel-like interface and Web functionality, suitable for business users
cubus consultants possess strong business expertise
cubus achieves excellent vendor support and implementer support ratings in The BI Survey 16.
Good vendor support invariably leads to customer satisfaction.
Weaknesses
Small vendor with international presence through partners
Limited functionality for print reports
Creating planning forms with the Excel add-in is rather complex yet offers a broad scope of
functionality to experienced users
Availability of Office add-ins with write-back functionality depends on the database technology
used (available with Oracle Essbase and IBM Cognos TM1 only)
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 20
evidanza
Regensburg, Germany
www.evidanza.de
evidanza was established in 2004 as a software vendor developing its own BI and planning solutions,
most of which are based on Microsoft technologies. The company is based in Regensburg, Germany,
has about 25 employees and currently serves approximately 250 clients in larger mid-sized companies.
The vendor has a network of national and international partners.
evidanza targets its product to clients requiring an integrated reporting, analysis and planning solution
with additional functionality for collaboration as well as governance, risk and compliance (GRC). The
evidanza platform offers flexible capabilities for building individual top-down and bottom-up planning and
BI applications with no specific market or industry focus. evidanza provides strong functionality, partic-
ularly for print reporting and use of corporate designs.
evidanza can access any source system using the ETL product Microsoft SQL Server Integration Ser-
vices. However, administration and particularly ETL in evidanza is relatively technical and requires sup-
port from IT or tech-savvy business users. Comprehensive wizards support modeling of business and
structural models as well as planning structures in SQL Server. Business departments can manage
ongoing operations as well as build planning models, sub-budgets and budget templates on their own.
In particular, to speed up the storage of mass data within planning processes, evidanza has developed
its own proprietary in-memory database called speedBase. speedBase is optimized for parallel data-
base access by many users for the specific case of data collection (multi-user storage optimization).
evidanza is capable of addressing numerous requirements across the BI and performance management
spectrum. This broad approach gives customers the convenience of being able to standardize on evi-
danza. The vendor’s multi-client strategy offers many different ways to access the solution wherever
users want – including desktop, browser, tablets, ERP systems and SharePoint.
Strengths
Integrated platform for reporting, analysis and planning with supplementary modules
Flexibility for building individual planning solutions including complex, multidimensional applica-
tions for top-down and bottom-up planning
Multi-client strategy with many different ways to access the solution
Wizards support modeling of business and structural models as well as planning structures in
SQL Server
Good functionality for print reporting
Weaknesses
Small German vendor with limited resources
No Microsoft Office integration (i.e. no Excel add-in)
Relatively technical administration and data integration; support required from IT or tech-savvy
business users (ongoing operations can be managed by tech-savvy business users)
Solution supports OLAP analysis. Support for other types of analyses (such as advanced anal-
yses) is limited.
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 21
IBM
Armonk, NY, USA
www.ibm.com
Being one of the world’s largest vendors of IT hardware, software and services, IBM has a global work-
force of approximately 380,000 employees and is active in over 170 countries. At the end of 2007, IBM
purchased the software vendor Cognos for about $5 billion to extend its existing business intelligence
product portfolio.
IBM offers a comprehensive portfolio of business intelligence, performance management and advanced
analytics solutions. For this BARC Score, we evaluated IBM Cognos Analytics (formerly IBM Cognos BI)
– the company’s enterprise business intelligence solution – and IBM Planning Analytics (formerly
IBM Cognos TM1) – the strategic planning product. Both solutions are available on-premises or in the
cloud.
IBM Planning Analytics (TM1) has been on the market since the early 1980s. Cognos acquired the
product as part of its takeover of Applix shortly before Cognos itself was purchased by IBM. Due to
Planning Analytics’ rich functionality for analysis and planning, and its in-memory technology, the prod-
uct plays a strategic role for IBM. It is essentially a high-performance, multidimensional in-memory da-
tabase for planning and (OLAP) analysis. Planning Analytics is targeted at power users who build indi-
vidual planning and analysis applications based on the in-memory database. The solution offers Web
and Excel front ends and has capabilities for publishing content on the Web.
IBM’s BI suite Cognos Analytics provides functions for many different categories of BI applications in-
cluding dashboards, formatted reporting, ad hoc reporting and OLAP analyses in Web-based and inte-
grated modules. The suite is typically used in large scenarios supporting the needs of many concurrent
users as well as large data volumes. In 2015 IBM started to modernize Cognos Analytics providing new
HTML5 based web front ends, which offer additional data modeling features besides dashboarding and
reporting functionality.
Today, IBM’s strategic goal and positioning of its BI and analytics portfolio is to provide capabilities that
are accessible to every type of user in customer organizations. This goal is supported through the addi-
tion of IBM Watson Analytics, a cloud-based self-service data prep and data discovery product, and
continued development of the IBM SPSS Predictive Analytics portfolio.
Strengths
Planning Analytics is a flexible product for business users with both Web and Excel front ends
for planning and analysis based on a high performance in-memory OLAP database
Extensive product offering for formatted and ad hoc reporting; OLAP, visual and advanced anal-
ysis, and dashboard creation with IBM Cognos Analytics
Broad capabilities for data mining and advanced analysis with SPSS: creation and deployment
of individual models as well as business-user-oriented encapsulated capabilities available; vis-
ual business-user-oriented data discovery and cognitive BI with IBM Watson Analytics
Well established and expansive partner community with global product support and know-how
Weaknesses
Limited integration between the Cognos Analytics, Planning Analytics, SPSS and Watson Ana-
lytics products
High flexibility of Planning Analytics can lead to complex handling, especially when implement-
ing and building intricate applications
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 22
Limited functionality for advanced analysis in the Cognos Analytics solution (however, SPSS is
available as a dedicated product)
Relatively expensive BI and planning products, although the cloud versions of Cognos Analytics
and Planning Analytics offer alternatives for cost savings and faster time to value
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 23
IDL
Schmitten, Germany
www.idl.eu
IDL GmbH Mitte is a solutions partner offering business, methodological and technological competen-
cies in all aspects of financial consolidation, planning, reporting and analysis. The company was founded
in 1990 and currently employs 120 people, based in its offices in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and
France.
IDL offers a flexible CPM suite, which includes solutions for financial consolidation (IDL.KONSIS), finan-
cial planning (IDL.FORECAST) and reporting and analysis (IDL.DESIGNER). It also has complementary
products for annual reports (IDL.PUBLISHER), e-balance filings (IDL.EBILANZ) and XBRL reporting
requirements in banks (IDL.FINREP). According to its own accounts, around 850 corporate groups,
each with 50 to 60 individual companies on average, currently use IDL solutions. IDL also enhances its
own product portfolio with third-party OEM products (e.g. to support data integration and operational
planning scenarios that go beyond the inbuilt financial planning functionality). The vendor currently main-
tains a very close partnership with Cubeware (providing the OEM products IDL.IMPORTER and
IDL.COCKPIT).
IDL’s planning product IDL.FORECAST is targeted at business departments, which often belong to a
group of companies. Company-wide financial results plans (balance sheets, profit and loss statements,
liquidity) can be created using the product. To address operational planning scenarios other than finan-
cial planning (e.g. sales, HR, procurement planning, etc.), IDL.FORECAST is complemented by
IDL.COCKPIT. Detailed operational plans are integrated with financial plans at data level with prede-
fined routines for data integration using IDL.IMPORTER. IDL.DESIGNER, a central component of the
IDL reporting platform, completes the IDL portfolio with user-friendly, Web-based functions to create ad
hoc reports, analyses and dashboards. Its modern tile interface and Windows look and feel provide a
user-friendly environment for designing individual reports and analyses with custom layouts. IDL solu-
tions can either run on-premises or as SaaS and cloud services, based on Microsoft Azure.
Strengths
Comprehensive product portfolio for financial planning, financial consolidation, and report-
ing/analysis enhanced with OEM products
Extensive predefined business rules for financial management
Transparent status monitoring for controlling planning and financial consolidation processes
(completeness of delivered data, plausibility)
Business user-friendly, Web-based solution for ad hoc reporting, OLAP analysis and dashboard
design with IDL.DESIGNER
Weaknesses
Operational detailed plans are done in a separate OEM product (IDL.COCKPIT), integrated at
data level only. Therefore, there’s significantly higher systems complexity due to different data-
base environments, modeling techniques, user interfaces, (planning) functionality, etc.
IDL.DESIGNER is still a young product and platform support is currently limited to Microsoft
SQL Server Analysis Services and IBM Cognos TM1 cubes
Limited support for print-oriented reporting
Implementation of complex financial management applications can require external business
consulting know-how
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 24
Infor
New York, NY, USA
www.infor.com
Infor is a global US-based vendor of ERP, CRM, BI, SCM and other business software solutions with
venture capital funding from Golden Gate Capital Partners. The company was founded in 2002, has
more than 150 offices worldwide and supports over 73,000 customers in around 200 countries.
The Infor BI suite comprises the following components: Application Studio (for building Web-based BI
applications), Office Plus (an add-in for Excel, Word and PowerPoint), Dashboards (for building and
administering dashboards for the Web and mobile devices), OLAP Server and Designer (for modeling
OLAP cubes). Predefined BI and performance management applications are also available for various
business functions and industries with Infor Dynamic Enterprise Performance Management (d/EPM),
including strategy management, budgeting, planning and financial consolidation. OEM partnerships with
Cubeware, Bissantz and IBM Cognos address additional areas such as data integration, advanced an-
alytics and print reporting.
All components use Infor’s OLAP Server, which stores data in multidimensional structures. Infor requires
a relational database, most often Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle, for storing the repository (users, roles
and reports from Application Studio and Office Plus). Through a meta layer named DataLinks, Infor has
improved structured access to data in Infor or third party systems and the platform also supports access
to Amazon Redshift.
Infor BI provides a multifaceted development environment for building custom BI and planning applica-
tions. Application Studio serves as the central component for building applications and, in the case of
Infor d/EPM, business content. The product is marketed to mid-sized companies and large corporations
in all industries and is designed for tech-savvy business power users who build BI applications in an
environment similar to Excel.
Strengths
Integrated application suite for dashboards, reporting, analysis, planning and forecasting as well
as consolidation with proprietary multidimensional data storage
Flexible, Web-based BI applications that can be built by tech-savvy business power users
Strong functionality for ad hoc analysis and planning integrated in Excel (Infor BI Office Plus)
Good mobile BI offering including dashboard creation capabilities and write-back for planning
Predefined analytics, BI and performance management applications with Infor d/EPM
Weaknesses
High flexibility can lead to more complex handling when implementing intricate Infor BI applica-
tions from scratch
Only passive positioning of Infor BI’s capabilities in trending market areas such as self-service
BI, visual analysis and predictive analytics
Limited functionality for data mining and advanced analysis; R integration available; supple-
mented by partner products
Exceptionally negative feedback from Infor’s customers in this year’s BI Survey 16, particularly
in important areas like customer experience (performance satisfaction, recommendation), cus-
tomer satisfaction (product satisfaction, vendor support), innovation and business benefits
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 25
Jedox
Freiburg, Germany
www.jedox.com
Established in 2002, Jedox has grown into a team of more than 150 employees. The vendor serves
clients worldwide through its headquarters in Freiburg, Germany, its seven international offices, and a
partner network.
The company’s flagship product is Jedox Suite, a flexible BI and performance management product with
planning, reporting and analysis capabilities. The suite runs on the company’s own multidimensional in-
memory database. The underlying philosophy of Jedox Suite is to extend the familiar Excel environment
with specific BI functionality. The solution, which offers both an Excel client and Web interface resem-
bling a spreadsheet as front ends, was first launched in 2004. The Excel add-in is a classic spreadsheet
interface combining well-known Excel functions with additional Jedox features. The Web client has a
browser-based spreadsheet interface – a type of Excel on the Web – with additional functions. According
to the company, more than 1,900 clients worldwide use the Jedox product today.
The product is aimed at business power users who create individual planning, reporting and analysis
applications with the flexible multidimensional in-memory database in a familiar spreadsheet environ-
ment. However, tasks such as integrating data into Jedox OLAP Server may require IT support. Trained
business users can later take on responsibility for the administration and further development of Jedox
applications. These applications can be published to large groups of users through Jedox Web and
Jedox Mobile. Both centralized top-down and decentralized bottom-up planning scenarios can be im-
plemented with Jedox. Classified as a development environment, in its latest version Jedox now pro-
vides predefined planning models for P&L, cost center, sales and HR via its own marketplace integrated
in Jedox Suite.
The BI Survey 16 again revealed a high level of satisfaction with vendor, product and functionality
among Jedox customers confirming its good price-to-value-perception.
Strengths
Flexible BI product for planning, reporting and analysis. Designed for business users
Uses Excel and spreadsheet resembling Excel in the Web client as user interfaces
Good integration between Excel and Web clients. Mobile access to Jedox content
Web-based modeling (OLAP database and ETL processes)
Good customer feedback and top-ranked in several important KPIs in The BI Survey 16
Weaknesses
Handling can get complicated, especially during the implementation and initial development of
complex BI applications
Compared to its competition, it still has limited predefined business content (e.g. for integrated
financial planning). However, several models and a marketplace were introduced with the cur-
rent release which is likely to be enhanced in the future
Limited predefined workflow functions (e.g. planning calendar, task assignment, status monitor-
ing, approval process) and collaboration functions
Limited functionality for page-based print reporting within Excel client and the Web client
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 26
Longview
Markham, Canada
www.longview.com
In March 2015, Longview Solutions and arcplan merged to form an integrated CPM and BI company,
operating under the name Longview. Longview today has 190 employees serving 1,100 customers
mainly located in North America and Europe. Longview is a privately held company backed by Marlin
Equity Partners, a global investment firm with over $3 billion (USD) of capital under management.
The merger brings together Longview’s CPM and tax solutions (Longview Plan, Longview Tax and
Longview Close) with arcplan’s BI and analytics solutions. In the overall portfolio, arcplan is now called
Longview Analytics. Whereas Longview Analytics provides functionality for building individual BI appli-
cations for dashboards, reporting, analysis and planning, Longview’s products bring capabilities for cor-
porate performance management and tax management. Using the so-called arcplan Longview commu-
nication interface, it is possible to apply arcplan’s BI capabilities in Longview 7, the engine behind
Longview CPM and Tax. Longview typically operates on either Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle as da-
tabases. Leveraging relational data storage, Longview provides a multidimensional in-memory data en-
gine, accelerating performance and adding financial intelligence for planning and closing processes.
The Longview product offers functionality for tax provisioning, planning, budgeting and forecasting, stat-
utory consolidation and reporting as well as disclosure management to support finance and tax pro-
cesses. Longview Analytics complements these functions with mobile reporting, operational planning,
dashboarding and analytics solutions. Longview Analytics is a versatile platform for the development of
tailor-made BI applications across all major databases, applications and systems. Users typically access
these analytics applications via a Web browser.
Strengths
Strong individual product offerings for Corporate Performance Management and individual BI
applications available on-premises or in the cloud
Functionality for strategic as well as operational planning and forecasting
Good flexibility for building individual, tailor-made BI applications with Longview Analytics (re-
porting, analysis and dashboarding use cases)
Large number of supported data sources that can be combined in BI applications as required
with Longview Analytics (Longview and other third-party data sources)
Weaknesses
Integration of products is incomplete (e.g. integration currently includes metadata exchange,
integrated data access and common authentication methods, but products continue to have
different UIs, separate Excel add-ins for Longview Plan and Longview Analytics, etc.)
Integration of product lines is progressing rather slowly. The vendor is also behind the compe-
tition in addressing new trending topics (e.g. in The BI Survey 16, customers express dissatis-
faction at Longview Analytics’ innovative capabilities in terms of data discovery/visualization,
self-service and collaboration)
Developing BI applications with Longview Analytics requires some technical knowledge and is
only suitable for trained business users. However, once created, experienced business users
can usually administer these applications.
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 27
LucaNet
Berlin, Germany
www.lucanet.com
Founded in 1999, LucaNet is a German vendor of software, seminars and consulting focused on BI in
accountancy. The company is headquartered in Berlin with additional offices in Germany, Europe, Asia
and the United States. According to its own accounts, LucaNet employs more than 250 people and
serves over 1,700 customers worldwide. LucaNet’s software portfolio comprises standardized and tes-
tified (IDW) solutions for financial planning and controlling, legal and management consolidation, mu-
nicipal consolidated financial accounts, e-balance filings, collection and validation of data, controlling of
equity holdings, and data transfers which can be used in any desired combination. All products are
based on a proprietary multidimensional, in-memory database called LucaNet.Financial OLAP Server.
Within the database, a predefined financial (planning) data model with intertwined business rules for
creating balance sheets as well as profit and loss statements and derived cash flows is provided. In
recent versions, the product’s flexibility has been enhanced beyond its traditional focus on finance-spe-
cific content (dimensions, KPIs, etc.). It is now possible to name dimensions in the data model individu-
ally and to reuse and/or use them multiple times for different purposes. Moreover, an integrated devel-
opment environment provides functionality to design individual forms, calculation rules and applications.
Usually, a data warehouse layer (LucaNet.Financial Warehouse) based on a relational database tech-
nology is implemented as an interlayer between operational systems (e.g. ERP) and LucaNet.Financial
OLAP Server for storing mass data and additional information.
As the planning module of the portfolio, LucaNet.Planner focuses on integrated corporate and financial
planning as well as financial reporting and analyses in individual subsidiaries or at group level. For
individual, flexible (ad hoc) reporting and analyses, LucaNet recommends its Excel add-in as a front
end, or the enhanced functionality of various BI products available on the market (e.g. Qlik, Tableau,
BOARD, Cubeware, etc.). Due to its open architecture, BI front ends that are capable of accessing
OLAP data sources can access the LucaNet.Financial OLAP Server including all structures, hierarchies
and values via XMLA.
Operational planning scenarios outside the area of finance (e.g. sales, HR, production, etc.) can either
be addressed with LucaNet’s enhanced flexibility (however, the number of dimensions in the data model
is technically still limited to a maximum of 11), its integrated development environment or with third-party
products (e.g. BOARD, Cubeware, etc.). Using the integrated development environment, LucaNet pro-
vides apps for several operational planning scenarios (e.g. HR planning, project planning, tax planning,
etc.) that can be used to feed the vendor’s inherent financial planning model.
Strengths
Business user oriented platform for integrated financial management for individual subsidiaries
or at group level based on a proprietary multidimensional database
Extensive predefined business rules for financial management
Plan data entry with full client, Web client and Excel add-in
Great collection of 120 predefined connectors to operational systems with semantic support
including drill down functionality (e.g. SAP, Navision, Diamant, proALPHA, DATEV, Sage, etc.).
Tight integration of (financial) planning and financial consolidation
Weaknesses
Support for operational plans in LucaNet (apart from integrated financial planning) is limited by
LucaNet’s flexibility. Predefined apps for various operational plans are available. Alternatively,
third-party products (such as BOARD, Cubeware, etc.) can be used, although in these cases
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 28
integration is at data level only and necessitates data transfers between environments which
can be done using the vendor’s script-based ETL tool LucaNet.Importer.
Limited functionality for individual reporting and analysis. However, OLAP cubes in LucaNet.Fi-
nancial OLAP Server can be accessed by certain BI front ends using XMLA. Moreover, the
vendor’s bidirectional Excel add-in can be used with Excel’s native functionality or the proprie-
tary database can be replicated in a standard DBMS and accessed with an appropriate third-
party product.
Implementation of (complex) financial management applications can require external business
consulting know-how
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 29
Oracle
Redwood Shores, CA, USA
www.oracle.com
Oracle is one of the world’s largest software companies, with offices in more than 145 countries. It has
long been the largest RDBMS vendor and, through a series of acquisitions, is now the second largest
applications vendor. With its purchase of Sun in 2010, Oracle entered the hardware market as well.
In the BI and performance management area, Oracle offers various on-premises and cloud products.
The well-known Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) portfolio as well as Ora-
cle BI suite and Oracle Big Data Discovery are available as on-premises products. However, in 2014,
Oracle changed its general release strategy to “Cloud First”, and the vendor now has a major strategic
focus on enhancing its cloud-based portfolio. Oracle’s cloud portfolio includes Oracle Enterprise Perfor-
mance Management Cloud, which includes EPM applications such as Oracle Planning and Budgeting
Cloud Service for planning, and Oracle BI Cloud Service (part of the Oracle Analytics Cloud). A variety
of other on-premises and cloud offerings complete Oracle’s product portfolio.
Oracle Hyperion Planning was acquired with Hyperion Solutions in 2007. Based on the Essbase multi-
dimensional database, Hyperion Planning is a platform for corporate planning as well as integrated fi-
nancial planning. It is especially suited to centrally controlled, standardized planning applications in mid-
size to large scenarios. Hyperion Planning is integrated with Oracle’s other EPM products, and with
thousands of implementations it is possibly the most widely used planning product in the world. As a
cloud-based alternative, Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service can be used via the Web, Mi-
crosoft Office and mobile clients.
Oracle BI is a platform with modules for developing and deploying dashboards, formatted reporting, ad
hoc reporting and analysis. Oracle BI Cloud Service extends Oracle’s BI suite in the cloud in terms of
data loading and modeling. With its Data Visualization offering, Oracle continues to deliver expanded
capabilities for advanced visualizations and self-service in a business user-oriented solution focused on
explorative data analysis (data discovery). For transformation and analysis of Hadoop-based data, Or-
acle also has a visualization and analysis solution called Oracle Big Data Discovery.
Strengths
Web-based BI product portfolio for data preparation, data discovery, formatted and ad hoc re-
porting, analysis, dashboarding and scorecards in one suite available on-premises and in the
cloud
Hyperion Planning and Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service offer comprehensive
functionality for Web-based, integrated corporate planning in top-down and bottom-up planning
scenarios
Variety of predefined applications available for EPM and BI/Analytics
High-performance multidimensional in-memory database with Oracle Essbase
Suitable for enterprise BI and planning scenarios in mid-size to large companies
Weaknesses
No seamless integration between product packages such as Oracle BI and the Hyperion prod-
uct family (except predefined applications). Integration mainly at data level and shared access
in EPM Workspace portal.
Hyperion Planning is not well suited to a self-service approach in line of business. Due to its
comprehensive functionality and setting options, the back end requires tech-savvy power users
for administration tasks and to set up individual planning applications. However, with the cloud
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 30
offering – Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service – back end complexity is reduced since Oracle
looks after the technical operation of the system.
Cloud-first strategy for the BI and EPM portfolio might lead to transient functional disparity be-
tween cloud and on-premises offerings
Compared to the competition, Oracle’s BI and planning products are rather expensive
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 31
prevero
Munich, Germany
www.prevero.com
prevero was originally founded as a consultancy in 1994. The company is based in Munich, Germany,
and has a workforce of approximately 180 employees worldwide as well as an international partner
network. In recent years, prevero has grown into one of the largest performance management vendors
in the DACH region in terms of software revenues, and claims to have a client base of more than 4,500
companies in over 30 countries. Its growth has been largely organic but was also boosted considerably
by the acquisition of software vendors Winterheller in 2011 and MIK in 2015. In July 2016 prevero itself
agreed to be acquired by Unit4, a Dutch provider of enterprise applications (e.g. ERP) for service or-
ganizations.
prevero’s product portfolio includes its platform technology prevero.core that can be used for various BI
and performance management use cases. prevero is positioned as a flexible platform for tailor-made
planning and BI solutions. The company also offers a Web-based financial consolidation solution called
prevero Consolidation (OEM SigmaConso), which is integrated with prevero at database level.
prevero is targeted to business users who build BI and performance management applications with the
help of wizards. The tool provides a flexible development environment for building individual applications
for planning, reporting and analysis, which is supported by dialog boxes and requires no knowledge of
scripting.
For historical reasons, prevero has a strong focus on the utilities sector and it offers pre-built content
specifically for this industry. Approximately 20-30 percent of prevero’s clients come from this sector.
Despite this, prevero positions itself as industry-neutral and now wins more new clients outside the
utilities sector. An additional predefined industry model is available for airports, and prevero also offers
predefined business applications for areas such as project portfolio management, strategic controlling
and risk management.
Strengths
Flexible, integrated platform for planning, reporting, analysis and dashboarding aimed at busi-
ness users
Strong functionality for reporting with development in a spreadsheet environment resembling
Excel (full client)
Comprehensive functionality for top-down, bottom-up and mixed planning methods
Microsoft Office integration (Excel, PowerPoint and Word)
Predefined business applications and content available
Weaknesses
Product's flexibility can lead to more complex handling when implementing and building (com-
plex) applications
Scheduled, periodic report distribution is rather technical and has to be done by administrators
using macros and Windows tasks on the prevero server
As of today, limited capabilities for advanced and predictive analysis
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 32
SAP
Walldorf, Germany
www.sap.com
SAP was founded in 1972 as a business applications company, long before it entered the BI market
with the large acquisition of Business Objects in 2008. Today SAP is one of the largest applications
vendors worldwide. Its original strategy was to view BI as an extension of its all-inclusive ERP offerings.
In 1998 SAP launched SAP Business Warehouse (BW), a completely packaged BI solution designed to
complement SAP ERP applications. To meet the growing BI needs of its customers, SAP acquired
Business Objects (BO), OutlookSoft and Pilot Software back in 2007 and 2008. The portfolio of BI and
analytics solutions, also called SAP BusinessObjects Analytics, encompasses solutions in the following
categories: business intelligence, predictive analytics and performance management on-premises and
in the cloud.
SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation (BPC), the on-premises planning product in SAP’s
performance management portfolio, was originally developed by OutlookSoft and based on Microsoft
SQL Server as a database platform. Since the acquisition, SAP has developed a second version for
BW, and it now sells both versions. With release 10.1, BW Integrated Planning (BW-IP) capabilities were
introduced into BPC, SAP’s own former BW-based planning product. BPC 10.1 runs on BW on HANA
and combines IP’s integration in BW with BPC’s ease of use. BPC is an integrated, Microsoft Excel and
Web-based solution for planning and financial consolidation that can be used to develop individual,
workflow-based planning applications for various kinds of planning topics (sales, financials, etc.) in a
flexible manner. It is targeted at mid-size and large companies. According to SAP, more than 5,500 cus-
tomers use BPC as a planning and financial consolidation product (approximately 60% with BW and
40% with Microsoft).
BI capabilities in the SAP BO Analytics portfolio are available in the SAP BusinessObjects Cloud pack-
age and SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise for on-premises deployments. SAP BusinessObjects Cloud
is designed specifically for the cloud and combines the traditionally separate processes of data model-
ing, planning, reporting, visualization and predictive analytics into one solution aimed at business users.
SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise is an on-premises BI offering which incorporates various end-user
tools with a moderate level of integration. The suite contains strong individual products as well as several
clients for various types of analysis and capabilities for building custom guided BI applications that can
be published to the Web or mobile devices. The suite currently consists of the following products: SAP
Crystal Reports (highly formatted standard reporting), SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence (ad hoc
reporting and analysis), SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio (custom dashboards and individual guided
BI applications), SAP BusinessObjects Analysis (multidimensional OLAP analysis) and SAP Busi-
nessObjects Lumira (self-service data discovery and visual analysis).
Strengths
Extensive BI platform – SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise – for formatted and ad hoc reporting,
analysis, dashboarding and custom application development as well as performance manage-
ment
Suitable for large deployments
Integrated cloud solution – SAP BusinessObjects Cloud – which combines BI, planning and
predictive capabilities in one product and also serves as the platform for the SAP Digital Board-
room solution
Business-user-friendly experience for ad hoc reporting, analysis and visual analysis
BPC is a flexible, integrated product for planning and financial consolidation, providing function-
ality for Web and workflow-based planning scenarios
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 33
Well established and expansive partner community with worldwide product support and
knowledge; knowledge of SAP products in the DACH region is especially strong
Weaknesses
Product integration in the BI portfolio remains a work in progress with a strategy to converge
user experiences. However, with SAP BusinessObjects Analysis for Office, a common Excel-
based front end is available for planning and BI (comprising the Analysis, EPM and BPC plug-
ins as single tabs).
BPC’s backend in BW requires technical staff to set up the database (cubes) and queries – not
very business user friendly
SAP offers a broad portfolio of separate BI and planning products for different use cases. Cus-
tomers have to decide which product(s) best suit(s) their requirements
Compared to the competition, SAP’s BI and planning products are rather expensive
Moderate customer feedback and level of satisfaction with vendor, products and functionality in
The BI Survey 16 and The Planning Survey 16
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 34
Tagetik
Lucca, Italy
www.tagetik.com
Tagetik is an Italian software vendor and solutions partner for CPM and finance-oriented corporate man-
agement. Founded in 1986 in Lucca (Italy) as a management consultancy, Tagetik now specializes in
performance management solutions. According to the vendor’s accounts, more than 1,000 customers
worldwide use its solutions, including over a hundred in the DACH region. Tagetik employs a total of
480 people spread across more than 30 offices worldwide. In March 2017 Tagetik was acquired by
Wolters Kluwer, a global company with revenues of 4.2bn Euro in 2015 that provides information, soft-
ware, and services to a variety of industries, including tax and accounting. In the future Tagetik will be
a strategic element in the Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting division.
Its product is a unified Web-based software for performance management (financial consolidation, plan-
ning and budgeting), financial corporate management, risk management and compliance as well as
disclosure management. Tagetik targets mid-size and large companies (or groups of affiliated compa-
nies) with lots of users involved in corporate planning and/or financial consolidation processes.
From a planning perspective, Tagetik is focused on integrated financial planning and budgeting, with
top-down, bottom-up and mixed approaches all supported. Comprehensive workflow functionality (es-
pecially for bottom-up approaches) is available to control planning processes involving lots of planners.
Tagetik contains a predefined model for integrated financial planning (balance sheet, profit and loss
statement, liquidity) that can be used by individual subsidiaries or at group level. Consolidation of plans
is possible due to Tagetik’s integrated functionality for financial consolidation.
In terms of reporting and analysis, Tagetik’s integrated reporting product and dashboards are geared to
on-screen display (not printing) of reports and dashboards. In version 5.2, a new analysis panel in the
Web client and Excel add-in was introduced for analyses by cell (drill down to details in a specific cell),
by cube (pivot analysis for a specific range of data) or anywhere (free filtering of data room). Moreover,
Tagetik enables wizard-driven automatic cube generation for Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services
and third-party BI products (partly OEM) from XLCubed, Microsoft, pmOne and Qlik. The relational Ta-
getik data model, usually stored in Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle or (since 2014) SAP HANA, is open to
third-party access.
Strengths
Integrated product for financial planning (balance sheet, P&L, liquidity) for individual subsidiar-
ies or at group level with additional performance management functionality (financial consolida-
tion, risk management, disclosure management)
Comprehensive predefined set of business rules for financial corporate management and se-
lected operational plans
Comprehensive Web-based workflow functionality with transparent status monitoring
Business user friendly Excel add-in as well as Web-based planning forms for data entry
Weaknesses
For individual operational plans (e.g. sales) not covered by Tagetik’s standard modules (e.g.
finance planning), five additional dimensions can be used freely in the data model (on top of
eleven predefined dimensions)
Limited functionality for reporting and analysis in Tagetik itself – this is supplemented by inte-
grated third-party BI products
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 35
Depending on complexity and scope, the implementation of Tagetik applications can require
external business know-how from consultants
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 36
Other Vendors
There are many other established software vendors in the DACH region that provide mature and very
useful technology, which may be ideal for organizations looking for a planning and BI solution. However,
due to the inclusion criteria applied in this report, those vendors are not evaluated in detail. To complete
the market overview, here is a selection of those providers (this does not claim to be a complete list).
Adaptive Insights
Palo Alto, CA, USA
www.adaptiveinsights.com
Cloud-based BI and planning product with modules for planning, financial consolidation, reporting and
analysis.
anaplan
San Francisco, CA, USA
www.anaplan.com
Flexible, cloud-based planning product with additional functionality for reporting and analysis. Planning
applications for miscellaneous topics available.
Denzhorn
Ulm-Jungingen, Germany
www.denzhorn.de
Standardized software product for integrated financial, results, sales, investment and HR planning.
elKomSolutions
Tuttlingen, Germany
www.elkomsolutions.de
Software for integrated corporate planning and financial consolidation based on IBM Cognos TM1 tech-
nology (database, data integration and front ends).
Kern Allevo
Freiburg, Germany
www.kern.ag
Allevo integrates with SAP ERP CO to provide Excel-based operational planning, analysis and visuali-
zation of SAP ERP CO data in the field of operational BI.
macs Software
Zimmern, Germany
www.macscontrolling.com
Modular software product family for accounting and controlling with integrated planning functionality.
Flexible combination of different software modules is possible.
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 37
OneStream Software
Rochester, MI, USA
www.onestreamsoftware.com
Corporate performance management product with functionality for financial consolidation, planning and
analytics.
Procos
Vaduz, Liechtenstein
www.procos.com
Flexible budgeting and planning software for operational as well as strategic planning (balanced score-
carding).
Prophix
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
www.prophix.com
Integrated BI product for planning, analysis, reporting, dashboarding and financial consolidation focused
on mid-sized companies and based on the Microsoft BI platform.
PST
Freising, Germany
www.pst.de
Integrated software for dashboarding, reporting, OLAP analysis and planning based on the Microsoft BI
platform.
Software4You
Munich, Germany
www.software4you.com
Software for planning and corporate controlling with a particular focus on HR planning.
Solvistas
Linz, Austria
www.solvistas.com
Software suite with separate modules for planning (financials, costs, liquidity, sales), analysis based on
key figures and balanced scorecarding.
SWOT
Berlin, Germany
www.swot.de
Standardized software product for integrated financial planning and corporate controlling focused on
small to medium-sized enterprises.
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 38
Thinking Networks
Aachen, Germany
www.thinking-networks.com
Flexible planning software for creating tailored applications focused on sophisticated planning require-
ments and innovative planning approaches.
Valsight
Potsdam, Germany
www.valsight.com
New platform for interactive, driver-based simulation and corporate management based on operational
and strategic drivers. Scenario simulation of action alternatives and measures considering uncertainties
and risk simulations (Monte-Carlo).
BARC Score Integrated Planning and Business Intelligence DACH 39
Related Research Documents
The following BARC and CXP Group documents complement this BARC Score report:
BARC Access: Access to BARC’s complete research portfolio, including product reviews with
detailed insights into more than 35 BI solutions, covering all the major players in the BI space
http://barc-research.com/research/business-intelligence/
BARC Study “Softwarewerkzeuge für die Planung”: Comprehensive detailed information on
the market-leading planning products in the DACH region. The study scores products from dif-
ferent vendors for use in mid-size and large companies (in German only).
http://barc.de/planung
BARC Score Business Intelligence: A quick and clear overview of the international BI prod-
ucts market based on a combination of detailed end-user feedback and thorough analysis of
products and vendors.
http://barc-research.com/barc-score/bi-score/
BARC Score Advanced Analytics Platforms: This report focuses on vendors offering ad-
vanced analytics and data mining platforms in the DACH region, and analyzes the strengths
and challenges of all the leading vendors in the market as well as a number of smaller vendors
that often have less visibility, but equally offer outstanding value to their customers.
http://barc-research.com/barc-score/barc-score-advanced-analytics-platforms-2016/
BARC Score Data Integration Platforms: The market for data integration (DI) tools is highly
competitive, with some large international incumbents, many successful vendors with a track
record spanning decades, and countless smaller specialists that approach DI challenges from
a niche perspective. This report analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of all of the leading
vendors in the DI market.
http://barc-research.com/barc-score/barc-score-data-integration-platforms-2016/
The BI Survey 16: The world’s largest annual survey of BI end users analyzes the latest trends
and reveals how real-world users currently rate their BI vendors and products.
http://barc-research.com/bi-survey-16/
The Planning Survey 16: The world’s largest vendor-independent survey on the use of plan-
ning products looks at the latest trends and features user ratings of the leading planning vendors
and products.
http://barc-research.com/planning-survey-16/
BARC BI Trend Monitor 2017: BARC’s BI Trend Monitor 2017 study gives BI practitioners a
platform to have their say on the trends currently shaping the BI and data management market,
supplemented by additional commentary and analysis from BARC analysts.
http://barc-research.com/research/bi-trend-monitor/
The PAC SITSI Research Platform: Market and vendor analyses on Analytics and many other
topics
https://www.pac-online.com/sitsi
Copyright © BARC GmbH 2017. All rights reserved.
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