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TRANSCRIPT
University of Waterloo
Faculty of Engineering
Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering
Introducing Business Intelligence to Wescom
Wescom Solutions, PointClickCare.com
Mississauga, Ontario
Name: Eugene Yiu Chun Chung
ID: 20302048
Previous academic term: 1A Mechatronics Engineering
Completion date of report: April 30, 2009
ii
149 Halterwood Circle
Markham, Ontario
L3P 7T2 April 30, 2009
Dear Ms. P. Jarvie, Executive Director
Co-operative Education & Career Services
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
N2L 3G1
Dear Ms. Jarvie:
I have tailored this report, “Introducing Business Intelligence to Wescom“, as the
first of four report submissions for graduation. This work term followed my completion
of 1A academic term in December 2008. The purpose of this report is to analyze the
selection of Wescom Solutions’ business intelligence platform from suitable business
intelligence vendors.
Wescom Solutions offers a comprehensive suite of Long Term Care software
applications to help various providers manage clinical, financial, and marketing
information. The customers can access the product from the internet and navigate through
the user-friendly features of the application to perform simple tasks that manage their
information through reports and graphical interfaces. The company has a strong mindset
on the customer satisfaction and has been steadily growing for the past few years.
At Wescom Solutions, I work as a Java Web application developer and automation
specialist. My responsibilities cover debugging code, investigating issues and oversee the
implementation of automation testing for Quality Assurance.
This report was written entirely by me and has not received any previous academic
credit at this or any other institution. I would like acknowledge Mr. David Lai, Business
Intelligence Developer, for providing clarifications on various business intelligence
concepts and guidance to external resources. I also wish to thank Rick M. for proofreading
my report. I hereby confirm that I have received no further help other than what is
mentioned above in writing this report. I also confirm this report has not been previously
submitted for academic credit at this or any other academic institution.
Sincerely,
ID: 20302048
Eugene Yiu Chun Chung
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Table of Contents
List of Tables ......................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ........................................................................................................ v Summary............................................................................................................... vi
1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background ...................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Scope ............................................................................................................... 3
2.0 Vendor Candidates ....................................................................................... 4
2.1 JasperSoft ........................................................................................................ 4 2.2 MicroStrategy ................................................................................................... 5
3.0 Concerns and Considerations ..................................................................... 6
3.1 Situation of Concern ......................................................................................... 6 3.2 Business and Technical Requirements ............................................................. 7 3.3 Potential Benefits of Business Intelligence Solution.......................................... 8
3.3.1 Reporting .................................................................................................. 8 3.3.2 Embedded Analytics ................................................................................. 9 3.3.3 Dashboards and Scorecards .................................................................... 9 3.3.4 OLAP / Interactive Analysis ...................................................................... 9
3.4 Potential Challenges ...................................................................................... 10
4.0 Vendor Analysis .......................................................................................... 11
4.1 Features and Capabilities ............................................................................... 11 4.2 Ease of Implementation .................................................................................. 14 4.3 Potential Costs ............................................................................................... 17 4.4 User Friendliness and Presentation ................................................................ 22
5.0 Conclusions ................................................................................................ 23
6.0 Recommendations ...................................................................................... 25
Glossary ............................................................................................................ 26
Works Cited ....................................................................................................... 28
iv
List of Tables
Table 1. Pricing Guidelines of JasperSoft Professional Edition......................................18
Table 2. Pricing Guidelines of JasperSoft Support..........................................................18
Table 3. Training Fees for JasperSoft and MicroStrategy...............................................21
Table 4. A Comparison Between JasperSoft Pro. Edition and MicroStrategy 9.............24
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List of Figures
Figure 1. JasperSoft Business Intelligence Suite Layout Tools.......................................11
Figure 2. Rapid deployment configurations of departmental business intelligence from
MicroStrategy....................................................................................................16
Figure 3. Open source allows faster returns on smaller investments...............................19
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Summary
The purpose of the report is to compare JasperSoft and MicroStrategy vendors and
select one that fits the business intelligence requirements of Wescom Solutions. Business
intelligence is the management of information and evaluation of corporate trends and
decision-making. The scope of the report is the benefits and costs of choosing a business
intelligence solution, excluding details on best practises.
Wescom Solutions requires a business intelligence resolution that can support
reporting, OLAP and KPIs when considering the following requirements: ease of
implementation, cost of implementation, visual appeal and ease of use. The business
intelligence tools will allow decision makers monitor metrics and information more quickly
and accurately, provide efficient reporting, develop data management and improve
customer satisfaction.
Since JasperSoft’s community edition has limited tools and distribution restrictions,
it is not a suitable choice for Wescom. However, JasperSoft’s professional edition has
proper licensing and enhanced tools. The capabilities and scalability of MicroStrategy 9
exceeds JasperSoft’s professional edition. Although both vendors offer services and
technical support, there is less technical development required and faster deployment of
departmental business intelligence solutions for MicroStrategy 9 than JasperSoft.
Commonly, the price/performance ratio of open source business intelligence such as
JasperSoft is better than proprietary software like MicroStrategy. Even taking into account
extra development and maintenance costs of JasperSoft’s professional edition, the cost to
implement MicroStrategy 9 is still higher. MicroStrategy 9 is better than JasperSoft in
terms of user friendliness and visual aesthetics.
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JasperSoft’s professional edition is the most suitable vendor for Wescom Solutions.
MicroStrategy is a black box solution where users are limited to the built-in features and
tools. JasperSoft’s open source tools can be modified and embedded within the company’s
application.
The users of business intelligence need proper training to effectively use the
software. It is important to consider the best practises of business intelligence to make the
most of benefits and savings.
1
1.0 Introduction
Wescom Solutions is entering an important phase in growth and development in
the Long Term Care market. The goal of the company is to dominate in the market by
establishing a clear leadership position and widen the gap between competitors. One of
the projects to realize this goal is the business intelligence implementation.
The project objective is to propose a new business intelligence solution for Wescom
by comparing various business intelligence vendors. This report will analyze two different
business intelligence vendors: JasperSoft and MicroStrategy. Therefore, it is necessary to
determine which vendor is best suited for the company when considering cost benefit and
functional requirements.
The objective of this report is to compare business intelligence vendors for the
company’s reporting platform implementation and the benefits as well as expenses
associated with each vendor. The solution will give clients a better reporting interface and
tools. Moreover, the clients will benefit from savings in the future, and make better
decisions.
This report serves as a reference for Wescom Solutions, and for anyone interested
in learning about business intelligence. Since the project is ongoing, the report will not
contain the effectiveness of the solution and reflections on the vendor chosen.
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1.1 Background
In today’s knowledge-based economy, companies need to manage and strategically
use information to increase their competitiveness and functionality (Bergeron 153-154;
Cody et al. 697). These organizations need to collect information in a systematic way in
order to make accurate business decisions. Since reporting is a fundamental part of making
critical business decisions, business intelligence reporting and data-mining tools will
benefit many businesses. Business intelligence, the activity of monitoring, collecting and
evaluating information and trends for better corporate decision-making, is an important
tool that improves the quantitative and qualitative value of information available to
decision makers.
Many business intelligence vendors offer suites that support OLAP, interactive
analysis tools, reporting, scorecards, KPIs and operational dashboards to deliver a unified
perspective of company information and give insights to users on demand (William;
BusinessWeek 6-8). Many business intelligence suites also enable role-based access to
information, provide alerts to business users according to user-defined parameters and
integrate multiple data sources to a single point of access. Furthermore, the business
intelligence suites can free developers from the hard work of generating reports and relieve
Information Technologists from the burden of report writing (MacVittie 31). The business
intelligence tools allow business users and analysts to have more control over the
visualization of information.
Today, business intelligence supports existing systems that aid financial forecasts,
budgets, customer service, supply chain analysis, regulatory compliance and other tasks
(BusinessWeek 7).
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1.2 Scope
The scope of this report is the selection of the business intelligence solution for
Wescom Solutions. This document describes the pros and cons of each vendor model as
well as the best recommendation for the company based on business requirements: cost,
time to implement, model features, efficiency, and user friendliness. Therefore, the
conclusions and recommendations stated in this report are suitable for Wescom Solutions
only, as the requirements for other companies may differ. In addition, this report does not
cover all aspects of business intelligence and best practices; however, it provides the non-
technical community with general knowledge on business intelligence. The pricing models
stated in the report are relative estimates because there are various circumstances that can
influence the cost.
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2.0 Vendor Candidates
In recent years, the growth of business intelligence market led to the improvements
and development of standard business intelligence tools (Howson). Many vendors have
solutions that meet a broad range of user needs. However, it becomes increasingly difficult
for users to choose the most suitable business intelligence suite for their business.
2.1 JasperSoft
JasperSoft is a global company that provides commercial open source operational
reporting since 2001 (Jaspersoft, FAQ). Their business intelligence suite is available in
two editions: community and professional (JasperSoft, An Intro. 2). The professional
edition has more tools and benefits such as technical support, better product features and
licensing for redistribution. JasperSoft can support complex reporting and general business
intelligence tools, which are embeddable within applications without being completely
decoupled. It offers operation and ad hoc reporting, dashboards, data analysis and data
integration. JasperSoft’s vision is to make business intelligence software affordable to all
businesses of various sizes and needs. As a strong open source contender, JasperSoft has
partnerships with other organizations that contribute to open and closed source components
and products. JasperSoft is a candidate for consideration because it is recognized as a
leader in open source business intelligence solutions with scalable options that is flexible
and relatively cost effective.
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2.2 MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy, founded in 1989, is a provider of business intelligence solutions
(MicroStrategy, FAQ). The company’s goal is to be the leading global provider for every
business user who desires timely and accurate decisions by selling an integrated platform
solution that supports all styles of business intelligence. According to the company, there
are five main styles that support all the needs of business users today: scorecards and
dashboards, reporting, OLAP Analysis, advanced and predictive analysis, and alert
notifications. Businesses choose MicroStrategy for its advanced technical capabilities and
excellent user scalability with good reputation for innovation. MicroStrategy is a suitable
candidate for consideration because it has the highest customer satisfaction rates and it is
one of the best business intelligence companies in the field (Pendse 2-4, 17). It is
competing well with software giants such as Microsoft and IBM, who bought out other
business intelligence vendors (Richardson et al. 4).
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3.0 Concerns and Considerations
The approach of choosing the most suitable business intelligence vendor is
analyzing the benefits and drawbacks of each vendor based on company requirement in
order to choose the best solution.
3.1 Situation of Concern
When Wescom began generating reports for clients, they did not implement a
reporting platform (Lai). As the company expanded, it quickly became a problem due to
the excessive effort in creating an increasing number of reports. An all inclusive business
intelligence suite is easier to maintain and will benefit the company. The company’s
reporting is inefficient because the reports are not stored in a repository, but rather in the
existing code. This makes reports harder to maintain because the code is not properly
organized. Since the company uses manual reporting, reports are generated by thousands
of lines of JSP code, to present clients and customers with information, report generation
is inefficient. Therefore, the existing method of reporting creates higher maintenance and
development costs especially if a report requires any modifications. If changes are
necessary for a specific report, developers will have to sift through a lot of code. As the
company expands to the enterprise level, the performance of running complex reports for
multiple clients with increased data will decrease dramatically. It is a common problem
for companies that access and manipulate large amounts of data for reporting (Cody et al.
697). In addition, the company does not have scheduling, which causes productivity
inefficiencies with clients and employees waiting for reports to run.
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3.2 Business and Technical Requirements
Although lack of user adoption is the number one reason for the failure of business
intelligence projects, there are other obstacles to avoid when implementing a business
intelligence solution (BusinessWeek 12). One of these obstacles is incomplete and
inaccurate business requirements. Therefore, it is important to define the business
requirements before choosing the right vendor.
The first business condition when selecting the business intelligence solution are
functional requirements. Wescom seeks a solution that can support operational reporting,
ad hoc reporting, OLAP and key performance indicators. Other features that will benefit
the company are scheduling, web portals and predictive analysis that dynamically slice-
and-dice, drill down, roll-up, filter and pivot information using both cross-tabs and charts.
The second requirement is the ease of implementation and the compatibility of the solution
model with the company’s application. The time to implement the solution must be
factored into its cost. The next business requirement is maintainability and scalability of
the solution. Since Wescom Solutions is heading towards the enterprise level, it is
important to ensure that the business intelligence solution is maintainable and scalable.
The last business requirement deals with user friendliness and presentation of the solution.
It is important to consider the customer’s impression and understanding of business
intelligence tools and reporting features in order to facilitate better decision-making.
Any company investing in a business intelligence solution must provide a strong
business case that defines how business intelligence will improve company performance
for specific business processes. Therefore, it is important to have a well-defined set of
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requirements before comparing and choosing the suitable model for Wescom and avoid
unnecessary expenses leading to poor return on investment.
3.3 Potential Benefits of Business Intelligence Solution
By incorporating business intelligence tools in the business, the company will be
able to generate reports more efficiently and effectively as well as improve business
decision-making. Wescom will have a standardized reporting platform that supports
dashboards, KPIs, reports and analysis through OLAP with client rich features (MacVittie
31; Lai). The solution will reduce costs, lower development and maintenance periods
while increasing customer satisfaction. The implementation is a good marketing tool for
the company and it will attract more customers with interactive business intelligence
features.
3.3.1 Reporting
Business intelligence reporting provides privileged users access to formatted and
interactive information (Richardson et al. 3). The company can respond more quickly to
changing marketplace conditions, maximize productivity and cost efficiency. The ideal
business intelligence platform should handle different reporting styles such as financial,
operational, ad-hoc and performance reports.
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3.3.2 Embedded Analytics
Embedded analytics can simplify and embed business intelligence into the
company’s operational applications (Eckerson). Rather than using stand-alone business
intelligence tools, business users will benefit from embedded business intelligence that
resides within the existing application. Users do not need to access a separate business
intelligence application. Many business intelligence platforms cannot fully utilize
embedded analytics.
3.3.3 Dashboards and Scorecards
It is important for an organization to communicate strategies throughout all levels
of the business and allow decision-makers to monitor various metrics and information.
Dashboards and scorecards are the solution that provides an interactive view of data by
combining reports, tables, charts and graphs into a single, consolidated view (JasperSoft,
FAQ). This allows decision makers to focus on key performance metrics and drill down
on the desired details, which will enhance operational performance of the company.
3.3.4 OLAP / Interactive Analysis
OLAP enables end-users to analyze data with fast query and calculation
performance (Richardson et al. 3). Users can selectively extract data and analyze it from
different perspectives by OLAP functions such as pivots, sorts and filtering. This
capability can span a variety of storage architectures such as relational, multidimensional
and in-memory.
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3.4 Potential Challenges
The challenge of managing all the available information becomes more difficult
with increasing volume of data (Cody et al. 697). This is the case with Wescom as the
company moves toward the enterprise level (Lai). The challenge of the business
intelligence project is selecting the right vendor that meets all the business requirements as
well as usability. Since business intelligence tools works with large amounts of data from
data warehouses and data marts, the performance of company databases is another issue to
address. In addition, designing an optimized data mart or data warehouse and suitable
database schema is another challenge. A team of professional data analysts are required to
accomplish this task. Since data mart and data warehouses are storage mechanisms for
read-only, consolidated historical data, it is necessary to optimize them for faster data
retrieval for business intelligence tools (Utley).
In order to conduct analysis, it is necessary to learn about the vendors, business
intelligence tools and the resources needed to ensure project completion. The factor that
might compromise the project is time constraint.
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4.0 Vendor Analysis
The goal of implementing the business intelligence solution is to improve reporting,
adding key performance indicators, OLAP and generate metrics for decision making for
the existing application.
4.1 Features and Capabilities
From Figure 1, it shows the layout of JasperSoft’s entire suite and how different
components are organized.
Figure 1. JasperSoft Business Intelligence Suite Layout Tools
Dashboards
JasperAnalysis
(OLAP)
JasperETL
Schema
Jasper
Reports
Ad hoc
Reports
JasperReport
iReport JasperServer
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Reports and queries are stored in the JasperServer, an interactive report server,
where users have access to report definition files, data sets, metadata and security
information (JasperSoft, FAQ). JasperServer is responsible for delivering information and
supports operational dashboards, reports and ad hoc queries. It has control over report
resources, methods and Web Services according to user, group and role. Reports can be
saved, shared and scheduled using JasperServer’s repository manager. Scheduling
automated reports can reduce friction, optimize resources and standardize communication,
which leads to faster decision-making.
JasperReports is an open source Java reporting library that can easily be embedded
in any Java application (JasperSoft, An Intro. 4). The iReports library is responsible for
processing and displaying data flexibly in web reports and many output formats such as
XML, PDF, HTML, CSV and etc. JasperReports has a sub-report feature that handles
many complex reports and allows the user to fully customize formats and layouts. Other
features include drill down analysis that allows users to access reports quickly across
multiple data sources.
In the community edition of JasperSoft, only JasperServer and JasperReports are
available. Although this solution satisfies the company reporting requirements,
modifications are necessary to integrate reporting within the company’s application (Lai).
Unfortunately, Wescom Solutions cannot modify and redistribute JasperSoft’s application
without purchasing the professional edition with proper licensing from Jaspersoft.
Therefore, the community edition is not an option for Wescom.
In JasperSoft’s professional edition, additional features and tools are available as
shown in Figure 1 (JasperSoft, Choosing the Jaspersoft BI. 3-9). The major enhancements
13
of the professional edition are technical support, product warranties, JasperAnalysis and
JasperETL tool. Other features include enterprise security, scalable repository services and
a flexible framework (JasperSoft, Choosing the Jaspersoft BI. 9). JasperAnalysis, another
open source tool, provides lightweight OLAP capabilities and access to relational data
stores such as operational data stores, data warehouses and data marts. Business users can
find trends, patterns and anomalies and have the option of exporting results to Excel or
PDF format. JasperETL tool extracts and transforms data from multiple sources and loads
the data into optimized data stores for reporting and analysis using a schema such as star
or snowflake for data marts or data warehouses (JasperSoft, JasperETL). Therefore, the
major requirements of Wescom are present in the professional edition
MicroStrategy 9’s Intelligence Server, the latest business intelligence platform
from MicroStrategy, provides management and analytical processing for reporting,
analysis and monitoring applications (MicroStrategy, MicroStrategy 9). It utilizes Service-
Oriented Architecture (SOA) to allow different application channels such as Web browsers,
clients and email to exchange data on a single, standard platform. The Intelligence Server
also has superior scalability, data optimization, management tools, security features and
customization for all styles of business intelligence. Therefore, the product can support
more users, data and applications on fewer servers with exceptional performance. Since
reporting is a major requirement of Wescom, MicroStrategy Report Services is a must-
have extension to the Intelligence Server. It provides integrated reporting, interactive,
multi-layout dashboards, KPIs, analysis and monitoring with drilling capabilities across
different data sources as well as exportation to PDF, Excel, Flash or HTML
(MicroStratgey, MicroStrategy Report Services). MicroStrategy OLAP Services, another
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Intelligence Server extension tool, reduces system maintenance and workload uses
Intelligence Cubes to filter, control and handle more user query or drilling requests. It also
enables fast multi-dimensional analysis. The other four extensions offer the ability to
manage report distribution, analyze or monitor multiple data sources with a single business
model, and data mining services. Furthermore, there are many development and
administration tools that support rapid development, change management, information
integrity, administrative tasks, and resource management.
Both vendors offer solutions that satisfy the major technical and business
requirements of Wescom. The capabilities of MicroStrategy 9 are superior and more
scalable than JasperSoft’s professional edition with many product extensions and
additional features. In addition, MicroStrategy covers all aspects of business intelligence,
and the application is more scalable in the enterprise level for future requirement
implementations. However, MicroStrategy is a black box solution, meaning developers
cannot modify the source code of the business intelligence application to fit the needs of
the company. MicroStrategy is limited to its built-in features and capabilities. JasperSoft’s
open source tools are capable of embedded analytics where developers can modify the
source code and embed the solution within the company’s application (Norfolk). The
business intelligence reports and tools will become part of the company’s application with
JasperSoft’s solution.
4.2 Ease of Implementation
JasperSoft’s Professional edition offers services and technical support for
customizations, report development and integration (JasperSoft, Choosing the Jaspersoft
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BI. 11). The business intelligence tools allow developers to enhance the company’s
application to suit the business, customer, visual and technical requirements. However, the
business intelligence solution requires longer preparation time and programming expertise
when embedding the business intelligent tools in the company’s application (Lai). If there
are flaws in project design, it will cause management and quality issues as well as
additional expenses. This leads to maintenance problems in the future because developers
are customizing their own code and not working with a black-box solution. Fortunately,
the company has a team of experienced developers that can handle the technical aspect of
integration, so the Professional edition is a valid business intelligence vendor for the
company.
MicroStrategy products are not open source, so the tools and visual features are
only as flexible as the product itself (MicroStratgey, MicroStrategy Report Services). It is
totally decoupled from the company’s application, meaning if there are issues with the
business intelligence tools, it will not affect the company’s application and vice-versa.
There is significantly less technical development required for MicroStrategy 9. From
Figure 2, the multi-source ROLAP and in-memory ROLAP allow users to setup
departmental business intelligence quickly with minimal IT support (MicroStrategy,
MicroStrategy 9 at a Glance 20).
Departmental Business Intelligence
User
Multi-source ROLAP
Business Intelligence
Platform
User
In-memory ROLAP
16
Figure 2. Rapid deployment configurations of departmental business intelligence from
MicroStrategy
(MicroStrategy, MicroStrategy 9 at a Glance 20)
The simplest business intelligence platform using MicroStrategy’s multi-source ROLAP is
created by accessing the operational databases directly (MicroStrategy, MicroStrategy 9 at
a Glance 20). The advantage of using multi-source option is faster development of
reusable reports, dashboards and applications even if the data resides in different data
sources (MicroStrategy, FAQ). Since Wescom does not have a single data source that
serves all its customers, this feature is an important consideration for the company (Lai).
The use of in-memory ROLAP allows businesses to create in-memory databases used for
decision support queries and save database capacity. MicroStrategy 9 has the ability to
deploy departmental business intelligence more quickly than JasperSoft.
Therefore, JasperSoft can be manipulated to satisfy company requirements with
heavier technical implementations, while MicroStrategy have better built-in tools to ease
implementation with less flexibility to suit company recommendations that are not built-in
to MicroStrategy tools.
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4.3 Potential Costs
There is always a cost to implement and evaluate a business intelligence solution,
even if it is open source (JasperSoft, Open Source BI. 2-4). Since JasperSoft is the
copyright holder of its embeddable software, there are licensing terms to consider
(JasperSoft, Choosing the JasperSoft BI. 4-5). Although the software is covered by the
GNU General Public License, Wescom cannot distribute the modified embedded software
and take ownership without purchasing the Professional edition with the OEM license.
Table 1 provides details on pricing guidelines on JasperSoft Professional edition while
table 2 includes support subscription details.
Table 1. Pricing Guidelines of JasperSoft Professional Edition (Labozzetta)
Production CPUs Test/Dev/Staging/QA
CPUs
Discount
1-2 CPUs Unlimited 1-2 CPUs Both
1 year term
subscription
$15,000 $50,000 $7,500 n/a
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3 year term
subscription
$45,000 $150,000 $22,500 Applies
5 year term
subscription
$75,000 $250,000 $37,500 Applies
Note: These are only general price ranges of the software and does not include implementation,
development, research costs as it defer based on the company and its requirements
Table 2. Pricing Guidelines of JasperSoft Support (Labozzetta)
Open Source Standard
Incident Packs
Professional Standard
Subscription
Open Source Forms √ √
Commercial License Grant √
OEM/ISV Embedding and
Distribution Rights
√
Advanced Documentation
Included
√
Web/Email/Phone Incidents 3 or 6 12
Number of Contacts 1 2
Support Hours per week 12 hours for 5 days 24 hours for 5 days
Email Support √ √
Phone Support √
Update Notification √
Downloads – Software and
Documentation (Standard and
Advanced)
√
Online Incident Management √
Defect/Enhancement
Management
√
Cost $1,000 for 3 incidents
$1,800 for 6 incidents
$3,000+ for 12 incidents
Depending on the discount, the pricing range that satisfies the needs of Wescom Solutions
is the one or three year subscription for unlimited number of users (Lai). The five year
subscription is a long investment that may put the company at risk if there are
implementation issues. Jaspersoft puts business intelligence capabilities into the
19
developers’ toolkit with little overhead, so it is possible to revert back to proprietary
software (Norfolk). Fortunately, JasperSoft has a strong reputation for customer support
(Richardson et al. 4). Therefore, the professional standard support subscription is a good
investment compared to MicroStrategy’s high pricing. The large initial investments of
proprietary software is shown more clearly in Figure 3, where proprietary software such as
MicroStrategy 9 have higher over-head costs and slower return on investments.
Figure 3. Open source allows faster returns on smaller investments
(JasperSoft, Open Source BI. 3)
In general, the price/performance ratio of open source business intelligence is better than
proprietary software. The majority of the expenses will focus on implementing and
maintaining JasperSoft’s professional edition solution. The higher cost of MicroStrategy’s
solution is more balanced between the application, training and support.
20
MicroStrategy has complex pricing strategies that changes based on the number of
users, product extensions, user interfaces, development and administration tools (Finan).
There are different pricing models combined with the main Intelligence Server which
includes any of the six product extensions, four user interfaces and six development and
administrative tools. Although MicroStrategy cannot disclose its pricing strategy due to
security and privacy issues, it is definitely a more expensive solution, at least triple the cost
of JasperSoft’s professional edition (Lai). The pricing comparison between JasperSoft and
MicroStrategy for product education is outlined in Table 3.
Table 3. Training Fees for JasperSoft and MicroStrategy
(Labozzetta; MicroStrategy, Perennial Education Pass)
JasperSoft (Online only) Professional Services Jumpstart with
training (4 days)
$10,000
Software Training per person $2,000
21
MicroStrategy
Offering Description Price
PEP Program Initial
Subscription *
Unlimited instructor-led courses and
online course for 2 named users
$6,600
Single PEP Pass (1 year) Unlimited instructor-led courses and
online course for 1 named user for 1
year
$3,300
Single PEP Pass (2 year) Unlimited instructor-led courses and
online course for 1 named user for 2
years
$6,050
Single PEP Pass (3 year) Unlimited instructor-led courses and
online course for 1 named user for 3
years
$8,250
Single PEP Pass (5 year) Unlimited instructor-led courses and
online course for 1 named user for 5
years
$11,000
PEP Program Online Pass Unlimited online course for 1 named
user
$1,650
PEP Program 5-pack (10%
discount)
Provides unlimited instructor-led
courses and online courses for 5
named users
$14,850
*Note: PEP Program Initial Subscription must be purchased first before selecting passes and
packages from MicroStrategy
According to Table 3, JasperSoft’s online training is relatively less expensive than the
complex pricing strategy of MicroStrategy. Although, MicroStrategy has a lower online
course fee for individual users than JasperSoft, the company needs to pay for the expensive
program initial subscription. While MicroStrategy development environment is robust and
flexible, there is a steep learning curve even for report developers (Richardson et al. 9).
Less training is required for JasperSoft because there are fewer applications and tools to
learn. However, MicroStrategy has a well defined global training program that is more
credible than JasperSoft’s online courses (MicroStrategy, Perennial Education Pass).
Even considering the development and maintenance cost of JasperSoft’s
Professional edition, the cost to implement MicroStrategy’s proprietary software is still
much higher.
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4.4 User Friendliness and Presentation
JasperSoft`s Content Folder View allow users to schedule, edit, manage and interact
with reports using basic Web 2.0 technology (JasperSoft, Self-Running Demos). Pop-up
descriptions and common business terms are shown to help identify and display useful
information. Users do not need to export data to a spreadsheet to perform common tasks
such as summarizing tools, editing columns, formatting and setting criteria for data
filtering. By using drag and drop, point and click techniques, anyone is capable of creating
basic reports and dashboards.
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MicroStrategy 9 has similar user friendly capabilities, but MicroStrategy has a more
intuitive Web interface, where each business user has control over their reports, data and
formats (MicroStrategy, FAQ). The user friendly features available in MicroStrategy that
is not present in JasperSoft, are internationalization, personalized interfaces, one-click
drilling across all data and threshold editor. The visual appeal of the reports, dashboards
and overall layout of MicroStrategy 9 is more attractive than JasperSoft’s simple interface.
According to the BI Survey, the leading independent survey for real-world business
intelligence implementations, MicroStrategy consistently excels in customer loyalty and
web deployment over competitors for the past few years (Pendse 17).
Therefore, MicroStrategy 9 is better than JasperSoft’s professional edition in terms
of user friendliness and visual appeal.
5.0 Conclusions
Wescom Solutions cannot modify and redistribute JasperSoft’s open source
community edition application without purchasing the professional edition with proper
licensing. Therefore, the community edition is not a viable option for the company.
Table 4 illustrates the qualitative approach of selecting the business intelligence
vendor based on the previously presented criteria.
Table 4. A Comparison Between JasperSoft Pro. Edition and MicroStrategy 9
Criterion * Weighting
Factor
[F]
JasperSoft’s Professional
Edition
MicroStrategy 9
** Score
[S]
*** Total
[T=F x S]
** Score
[S]
*** Total
[T=F x S]
Capabilities &
Functionality
3.0 8.0 24.0 9.0 27.0
Scalability 1.0 5.0 5.0 8.0 8.0
24
Ease of
Implementation
1.5 6.0 9.0 8.0 12.0
Potential Costs 2.5 8.5 21.25 2.5 6.25
User
Friendliness
1.3 7.5 9.75 8.0 10.4
Visual
Presentation
0.7 8.0 5.6 9.0 6.3
74.6 69.95
* The total value of the weighting factor is 10
** The total score for each criterion is out of 10
*** The total score has a maximum value of 100
The primary criterion for the company is the capabilities and functionality of the
vendor solution and how well it meets Wescom’s functional requirements. Therefore, it is
given the highest weighting factor. Although both vendors meet the major requirements
of the company, MicroStrategy have greater capabilities and extendable functions, so it is
given a score of 9.0. The reason for JasperSoft’s relatively high score of 8.0 is the
embeddable analytics capability and open source modification potential of the professional
edition. Since MicroStrategy cannot be embedded in the company’s application, it is not
given a perfect score in that category.
The next criterion of importance is the potential cost of the business intelligence
solution, because it is a significant investment for the company. MicroStrategy’s
proprietary software have a much higher initial cost and slower return on investments than
JasperSoft’s cost effective approach, so it is given a much lower score. The user
friendliness and scalability criteria have a lower weighting factor because it has less impact
on the implementation of the business intelligence solution than the major criteria. The
visual appearance of the application is the least significant criterion. Since MicroStrategy
is a much more scalable enterprise solution and slightly more user friendly and appealing,
it is given higher scores than JasperSoft.
25
Based on the final score, it is concluded that JasperSoft is the recommended choice
for the implementation of the business intelligence solution.
6.0 Recommendations
JasperSoft’s professional edition is the recommended choice for the business
intelligence implementation for Wescom Solutions based on functionality, cost, scalability,
aesthetics, ease of implementation and use.
Although the cost of implementation is driving interest in open source business
intelligence, it is important to establish evaluation and implementation best practises to
maximize cost savings and benefits (JasperSoft, Open Source BI. 8). It is also important
to have well defined project planning and scheduling in order to integrate the business
intelligence solution as efficiently as possible. It is more feasible to start with a smaller
implementation and gradually expand the project.
It is also recommended that the primary users of the business intelligence product
have proper training to effectively use the tools and features.
26
Glossary
Data warehousing a systematic approach in gathering business data into a single
repository, where it is analyzed, organized and presented for
business decision-making
Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs)
high-level snapshots of business performance based on
quantifiable measures and consists of any combination of
reports, spreadsheets or charts
Query a request of information from a database
Ad hoc report/query A web-based system that allows database users to customize
views for reporting by sending a data query. It is created for
the specific moment, because the report result is dependent
on the submitted query
Data mining extracting and processing data and information from a data
set to discover patterns and relationships within databases
Drill down/ up process of exploring detailed data used in creating a
summary level of data collected during sourcing
27
Online analytical
processing (OLAP)
multidimensional analysis tool used in business reporting,
data sourcing
Slice and Dice a term used to describe a complex data analysis function
provided by the business intelligence tools
28
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