redeï¬ning how information empowers users

White Paper BusinessObjects XI

Redefining How Information Empowers Users�

Business Objects • BusinessObjects XI: Redefining How Information Empowers Users

Author: Darren Cunningham

Contributors: Cortney Claiborne, Jen Meegan, David Townley

Audience: CIO, database administrators, report authors, data warehouse managers, business intelligence managers

Business Objects • BusinessObjects XI: Redefining How Information Empowers Users iii

Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .iv

BusinessObjects XI: An End-to-End Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Meet the Needs of All Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Universal Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Report Design and Development Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Embedded Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Query and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Extending Analysis and Interactivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Wider Adoption, Better (and Faster) Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Taking Advantage of Multidimensional Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Performance Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Performance Management Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

The Business Intelligence Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

The Semantic Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Data Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

From Data Sources to Dashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Contents

iv Business Objects • BusinessObjects XI: Redefining How Information Empowers Users

� The HR department wants to track turnover by geography and monitor monthly hiring costs

� Line of business managers want to track daily performance and analyze the efficiency of thesupply chain

� Sales managers want to know which regions are offering the most discounts and how thataffects their quota

� Business partners want to know which products are selling the fastest so they can guaranteedeliveries

� Senior executives want to make sure the charts in their PowerPoint presentations don’t result inmeeting meltdowns because nobody agrees on the data provided

Do any of these situations sound familiar? Can you deliver integrated and reliable information—insideand outside your organization—in a format that all users can understand? And are you able to do sofrom a single management console that allows you to support your reporting, query and analysis, andperformance management end-user requirements?

Introducing BusinessObjects™ XI. With BusinessObjects XI, you can go beyond the limits oftraditional business intelligence (BI) suites. By extending the reach of information to all users inyour organization, BusinessObjects XI redefines the way your organization captures and sharesknowledge. Users get the information they need in a way they understand. And best of all,information is delivered within their current environment, where they work—accurately andsecurely.

BusinessObjects XI allows you to track key business metrics in real time; understand whichactions to take based on timely delivery of trusted data; and manage your operations efficientlyand effectively through better visibility and information transparency.

Executive Summary

Business Objects • BusinessObjects XI: Redefining How Information Empowers Users 1

BusinessObjects XI: An End-to-End Overview

BusinessObjects XI delivers extreme insight through specialized end-user tools on a single, trustedbusiness intelligence platform. BusinessObjects XI includes the industry’s best reporting, queryand analysis, and performance management dashboards, scorecards, and applications. Theseintegrated end-user interfaces are supported by the most reliable, scalable, flexible, andmanageable BI platform, and complemented by unified data integration.

End users have better business visibility with BusinessObjects XI. They can feel confident thatthey are achieving their goals on time, and they can easily align individual and group actions and decisions to the broader organizational strategy. Thanks to a unified view of enterpriseperformance, end users can measure what matters most and monitor individual and operationalgoals and metrics through intuitive, interactive, and visual displays of information.

BusinessObjects XI allows the IT department to integrate BI into any infrastructure and embed securecomponents into virtually any application. With its adaptive, services-oriented architecture, broad dataaccess, end-to-end metadata, and centralized, web-based administration—BusinessObjects XI is thebest platform to standardize on for all your BI needs and to embed into your existing applications.

BusinessObjects XI delivers extreme insight on a trusted BI platform.

2 Business Objects • BusinessObjects XI: Redefining How Information Empowers Users

Different user segments have different information needs. The cornerstone of an organizational BI strategy must address the requirements for operational reporting, the more interactiverequirements of query and analysis, and the summarized view that performance managementdashboards and scorecards provide.

BI end users require either highly formatted reports that answer known and predefined questions,or interactive reports that allow them to ask spontaneous and iterative questions. For example,while many users will only need to receive reports, others will need sophisticated query andanalysis capabilities, and some will need both. Some users will simply want a snapshot of enterpriseperformance and predefined analytic content. These requirements will not only influence how youdeliver BI to your different user communities, they will also influence the information infrastructurethat must be in place to support them. With specific requirements for production reporting, ad hocquery and analysis, and performance management, your organization needs optimized end-userinterfaces for each specification in order to maximize both IT and end-user productivity.

Additionally, as BI becomes more strategic and enterprise in scope, more and more organizationswill begin providing graphical dashboard and scorecard information displays that consolidateand deliver actionable information critical to enterprise performance. These dashboards andscorecards deliver advanced visual components that can be easily personalized and linked toanalytical or operational reports. This ensures that key metrics always map to underlyingmeasures, and individual goals map to organizational strategy.

Meet the Needs of All Users

Reporting Query and Analysis Performance Management

Authoring Requirements

• Offline design environment• Banded report layout• Pixel-perfect formatting• Open developer standards

Role: Developer, designer, IT analyst

• Web-based query creation• Rich semantic layer to mask

database complexity• Centralized business definitions

and security• Minimal IT involvement

Role: Ad hoc business analyst

• Graphical dashboard design• Metric trees, analytic templates,

and other graphical displayoptions

• User and role-based dashboardsecurity

• Access to third-party contentwithin dashboards

Role: IT/business analyst, executive,line of business manager

Consumption Requirements

• Web-based thin client• Interactive navigation and search• Highly formatted information• Ability to receive reports via any

application (email, Outlook,within other software packages)

• Flexible prompting, filtering, andguided analysis

Information relied upon to run andmanage the enterprise.

• Web-based thin-client• Flexible ad hoc interactivity• Ability to ask spontaneous, and

iterative questions• Access to historical data for

trending

Information relied upon tounderstand how the enterprise isperforming.

• Personalized dashboard andscorecard interface

• Ability to easily connect goals tostrategy

• Link to root-cause reporting andanalysis

• Automated, rules-based alerting

Information relied upon to driveenterprise performance throughalignment and visibility.

BusinessObjectsXI End-User Tools

Crystal ReportsBusinessObjects Enterprise

Web IntelligenceOLAP Intelligence

Dashboard ManagerPerformance Manager


An operational or enterprise reporting solution is ideal in situationswhere questions are predefined and the structure of each answer isfairly well known in advance. In this case, the majority of users areinformation consumers who want snapshots of business activity.Developers and designers create reports that answer the most regularly-asked questions and distribute them to hundreds orpotentially thousands of users. Some examples of these reports includeaccount statements, invoices, regulatory reports, inventory run rates,and standard internal reports. This information is ideal for sharingsecurely with customers, partners, and suppliers outside theorganization.

Universal IntegrationCrystal Reports® XI delivers powerful authoring, extensivedistribution, and flexible integration. With billions of Crystal reports(.rpt files) used in Fortune 1000 companies worldwide, it is the mostproven reporting tool on the market. Crystal Reports helps yourapidly create flexible, feature-rich reports and integrate them intoweb and Windows applications. It allows you to access and formatdata, and embed reporting into Java, .NET, and COM applicationsusing a comprehensive set of software developer kits (SDKs). In fact,

Crystal Reports is already the de facto reporting standard with over 500 independent softwarevendors, and is embedded in leading software from Microsoft, SAP, Borland, BEA, PeopleSoft,and IBM.

When delivered within the BusinessObjects Enterprise XI business intelligence platform, you canpublish Crystal reports to the web, view them in portals and applications, and manage anddeploy them using a standardized information infrastructure. With BusinessObjects Enterprise XI,organizations can deploy Crystal Reports on Windows, Unix, and Linux platforms.

Reporting

Reporting (or enterprisereporting) is the process ofaccessing, formatting, and

delivering data asinformation inside and

outside the organization. Itserves as the foundation of a

broader BI strategy byreliably and securely

providing the most-requestedpieces of information via the

web or embedded inenterprise applications.

The highly productiveCrystal Reports XIdesign environmentgives you control andflexibility over how datais presented andformatted.


Report Design and Development Innovation Crystal Reports XI lets report designers benefit from broader data access, enhancements to thedesign environment, and many new features focused on maximizing productivity. Updated XML,JDBC, DB2, and Microsoft Exchange drivers mean that you are always working with openstandards and benefiting from the latest back-end innovation. Crystal Reports also allowsorganizations to leverage their existing investment in the patented Business Objects semanticlayer by making the universe a native data source. This means that report designers can authorand distribute highly-formatted reports based on metadata formerly only available to BusinessObjects client tools such as BusinessObjects Web Intelligence.

The updated rich text format (RTF) exporting features in the Crystal Reports design environmentmake it possible for you to modify reports in any standard word processing application. It’s eveneasier to create summary or organizational reports with improved hierarchical grouping, whilenew automatic chart generation—based on self-selected variables—helps take the guess work outof creating charts. With these enhancements, report designers can be as productive as possible.And a new workbench authoring environment helps designers keep projects organized. Designerscan easily preview reports as they are designed and before they are published to the web, withone simple step. They can also build in new dynamic and cascading prompts that allow reportrecipients to easily pinpoint the information they need, when they need it.

With Crystal Reports, designers can get the information they need from personal and enterprisedata sources. They have control and flexibility over how data is presented and formatted. Andthey can quickly turn it into dynamic information without tedious, time-intensive hand coding.

Embedded ReportingCrystal Reports XI continues to innovate in the area that it pioneered—embedded reporting.Thanks to the support for open standards and extensible SDKs, Crystal Reports can fit seamlesslyinto virtually any IT infrastructure. With Crystal Reports, report developers save time on testingbecause they can now search for broken links, formula errors, and any existing dependencyissues. This means easier report maintenance. The addition of dynamic and cascading promptsalso benefits developers because they can create and distribute a single report for personalizationby multiple users. With Crystal Reports Explorer, elements of end-user interactivity can also beadded to reports that are viewed over the web. And we’ve expanded the Crystal Reportsexporting capabilities within the open SDKs, and added new Java reporting components toprovide even better performance and flexibility.

Crystal Reports XI allows you tobuild dynamic and cascadingprompts for easier report authoring,distribution, and consumption.


Query and Analysis

Query and analysis capabilities empower users to autonomously answer questions as they arise.This ad hoc query capability is ideal for data analysts and other business users who need self-service information access with moderate-to-high amounts of interactivity. With tools designedprimarily for enterprise reporting, the scope of information delivery and interactivity is typicallybased around the scope of data contained within a given report. Query and analysis solutionsexpand the scope of analysis and interactivity to the entire data management system. This canpotentially include terabytes of data stored in a centralized data warehouse, data marts, or amultidimensional OLAP cubes.

BusinessObjects XI query and analysis tools enable users toidentify trends and find root causes in data from relational and OLAP data sources. A range of users—from experiencedanalysts to mainstream business users—can easily createqueries and perform calculations without understandingcomplex database schemas or SQL. Because these clients sharethe single, trusted BusinessObjects Enterprise BI platform, users can share and even have threaded discussions about thisinformation with others across the organization, and beyond.

Extending Analysis and Interactivity BusinessObjects Web Intelligence XI enables users to easily create ad hoc queries through a zero-client, web-based interface. The robust semantic layer lets users drag and drop objects that maskunderlying data complexity by presenting information in business terms. Web Intelligence reliesupon a powerful SQL generation engine that provides a multidimensional perspective of data onthe fly, so users can edit and author reports—as well as slice, dice, and drill into data—to gaindeeper insights. Secure, self-service information access means that powerful querying andintegrated analysis capabilities are available to more than your organization’s traditional powerusers or data analysts. With Web Intelligence, ad hoc query creators can define nested query filtersand view the SQL generated behind the scenes.

A new Windows-style interface and menu options allows Web Intelligence XI to extend the reachof interactivity and analysis capabilities to more users. This interactive interface makes it easy toquickly format and edit. Users can right-click on a report and do simple things like sorting andfiltering, as well as resizing columns, rows,and charts. And deeper analysis is only aclick away. Users can create variables, editformulas, create new reports, tables, andcharts as well as change the graphicaldisplay of content. Best of all, you can enableand disable these features with securitycommands, allowing IT to retain control ofuser rights and information access.

Query and analysis toolsallow users to answer theirown questions by creating

queries and—iteratively andspontaneously—interactingwith business information.

Web Intelligence XI extends the reachof interactivity through on-reportanalysis and extreme ease of use.


Wider Adoption, Better (and Faster) DecisionsWeb Intelligence XI is built on the BusinessObjects Enterprise BI platform. As a result, both endusers and IT benefit from extreme scalability, fault tolerance and fail over, load balancing, andmature caching capabilities. Web Intelligence users can take advantage of new features like theability to save historical instances of a document, and threaded discussions between documentauthors and information consumers. Web Intelligence XI also gives users increased trust in theirdata by exposing the metadata upon which the report is based. On–screen options allow users tolook at the information in their reports and understand its lineage—object definitions (e.g. profit),applied filters and formulas, and production details about the query and the report. Increasedtrust means wider end-user adoption. Increased data transparency and integrity means better and faster decisions.

Taking Advantage of Multidimensional Data In order to standardize on a single, trusted BI platform, users must be able to access and interactdirectly with both relational and multidimensional data sources. And if your organization hasinvested in multidimensional OLAP servers, you probably have a group of users who need toperform powerful ad hoc analysis. BusinessObjects OLAP Intelligence XI is a powerful and easy-to-use query and analysis tool for today’s leading OLAP servers. It uniquely satisfies the OLAPanalysis requirements of power users as well as traditional business users and management.

Power users can perform speed-of-thought ad hoc OLAP analysis that allows them tointeractively slice and dice, drill, rank, sort, and filter on data, create calculations, and more.Business users and management can interact with OLAP workbooks using highly intuitive,summarized graphical views of business activity, guided navigation, and straightforward dataexploration. OLAP Intelligence is seamlessly integrated with BusinessObjects Enterprise,providing OLAP drill-through to relational detail and shared security and administration. Thistight platform integration and the ability of OLAP Intelligence to deliver both ad hoc andmanaged OLAP analysis make BI standardization possible and ensures that you are getting themost out of your database investments.

OLAP Intelligence XIdelivers best-of-breed adhoc and managed analysisfor today’s leadingmultidimensional OLAPservers.


Performance Management

In many organizations, BI initiatives have grown organicallybased on tactical and departmental demands. Over time, BIhas gone from a nice-to-have, to a mission-critical applicationused to sharpen organizational focus on key metrics andtransform information into a competitive weapon. In order tomake BI strategic, you must move towards a singlestandardized platform that delivers a consolidated view of thebusiness (i.e., one truth). The next step is to introducedashboards and scorecards to enhance visibility intoorganizational strategy, align actions with that strategy, andallow your users to track KPIs, assign goals, and collaborateand share knowledge. BusinessObjects XI delivers thesecapabilities through integrated performance managementsolutions powered by sophisticated analytic engines.

The BusinessObjects XI performance management dashboards and scorecards make it possible forindividuals at all levels of the organization to take corrective action sooner and feel confident thattheir decisions are based on trusted information. Users, depending on their roles, can also accessunderlying reporting and query and analysis capabilities to perform root cause analysis.

BusinessObjects Dashboard Manager XI delivers metrics, alerting, and performance managementcapabilities that help organizations monitor and understand their most critical activities. Analyticcontent can be displayed in personalized and secure visual displays that allow users to easilytrack metrics over time and identify trends, anomalies, and exceptions.

Dashboard Manager allows you to roll out personalized dashboards that may contain analytics,metrics, and alerts in order to present a consolidated view of the business without the need forprogramming. Dashboard Manager also includes a catalogue of analytic templates and a code-free, graphical design environment over the web. These features help to accelerate deployment sousers can begin to monitor their priorities a lot sooner.

Performance managementdashboards and scorecards help

users track and analyze keymetrics and goals via graphicalinformation displays that are

driven by powerful underlyinganalytic engines.

Dashboard Manager XI allowsyou to manage by exception byproviding users with personalizedviews of key metrics and alerts.


BusinessObjects Performance Manager XI helps organizations communicate strategy and managegroup decisions through scorecards and collaborative features. Performance Manager can addsignificant capabilities to your dashboard environment. It is certified by the Balance ScorecardCollaborative and lets you map strategies with cause-and-effect outcomes for a balanced view,cascade goals throughout the enterprise, and assign accountability for goals achieved.Performance Manager also lets groups of users have threaded discussions about metrics, and willeven recommend next steps based on goal status. And because Performence Manager allows youto capture and share best practices when correct actions are taken, the entire organization canlearn what appropriate actions to take in order to improve performance.

Performance Management ApplicationsBusinessObjects XI delivers focused applications designed to meet specific business requirements.Prepackaged insight and analysis allow users to take immediate action to address key businessissues. Built on the trusted BusinessObjects Enterprise business intelligence platform, theseapplications provide built-in best practices, the ability to link analytics to internal processes, andthe flexibility to extend your analytic deployment to fit your unique requirements.

The BusinessObjects XI includes applications focused on customer profiling and campaignmanagement, store assortment optimization, sales and marketing effectiveness, trade promotionspend, vendor performance, brand assortment optimization, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.With BusinessObjects XI, your organization will benefit from subject matter expertise that isapplied across all analytics and enterprise coverage of your organization’s key functional areas.

BusinessObjects XI deliversprepackaged analytics and built-inbest practices that help businessusers address key organizationalissues and take immediate action.


The BusinessObjects XI Business Intelligence Platform

BusinessObjects Enterprise XI is an adaptive, services-based BI platform that supports thereporting, query and analysis, and performance management end-user interfaces of theBusinessObjects XI suite. It is a componentized architecture designed for extreme extensibility,scalability, reliability, fault-tolerance, and 24/7 availability.

BusinessObjects Enterprise allows IT to securely manage and control all users in a BI deployment.It delivers industry-standard support for security entitlement databases, portal integrationframeworks, and Java and .NET platforms. As the use of BI grows inside and outside yourorganization, BusinessObjects Enterprise scales to meet the specific information and interactivityneeds of all users. Multi-server support, fault-tolerance, and intelligent load balancing ensure youcan extend information to all users when and how they need it. This BI platform also deliversmulti-level caching, cross-platform support, and comprehensive system administration,management, and security.

BusinessObjects Enterprise consists of separate, yet interconnected, tiers optimized for specifictasks. These tiers include the end-user interaction layer, developer services, platform services, anddata services. End users create, edit, and interact with specialized tools. System administratorsmanage and monitor the system through the central management console, central configurationmanager, import wizard, publishing wizard, business views designer, and universe designer.

BusinessObjects Enterprise also lets you deliver secure, up-to-date business intelligenceinformation within Microsoft Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPointpresentations. With Live Office, you no longer waste valuable time cutting and pasting formattedcontent from one environment to another. And the ability to confidently and securely present up-to-the-minute information helps you avoid presentation time bombs.

The BusinessObjects Enterprise XI BI platform includes a core set of shared services used acrossthe product line. Commonly referred to as a services-oriented architecture, this platform has manyadvantages including flexibility, scalability with failover and fault tolerance, and extensibility, soyou can add new services without requiring a release of the entire platform. Innovative features,such as discussion threads, allow for collaborative decision making. Integrated scheduling anddistribution make it easy to deliver information based on events, business calendars, or intervals.

User Interaction Tier

Portal & WebApplications

Rich ClientApplications

MicrosoftOffice

Dashboards &Scorecards

Data Services

ODBC, XML &Native Drivers

OLAP Servers ERP/CRM Data Integration

J2EE SDK Web Services.NET SDK

Web & Application Services

Security Caching &Failover

Repository Storage& Retrieval

Publishing& Distribution

Scheduling& Alerting

Crystal Reports

Web Intelligence

OLAP Intelligence

Excel

Powerpoint

Word

ManagementTools

Migration &Importing

Metadata Design

Adobe Acrobat

Programs

Hyperlinks

Business Rules& Metrics

ManagementCollaborationAuditingPerformance ManagementEngines

Platform Services

BI Tools & Content

Management Tools

.netMicrosoft

Metadata

BusinessObjects Enterprise XI is a reliable and proven BIplatform that allows you todeliver extreme insightthroughout your organization.


For IT management and administration, the platform provides a central repository for all contentand user profiles, access to security entitlement databases for user, role, and document security,metrics management and performance management applications, and portal and dashboardintegration components. BusinessObjects Enterprise also includes other key features such asrobust scheduling and auditing and the ability to save and store historical instances of documentsand reports for financial reporting and compliance purposes.

BusinessObjects Enterprise also provides SDKs for enterprise application developers to buildapplication and portal integrations on top of the platform. We recognize the need forcomprehensive support of different development environments, so BusinessObjects Enterprise XIprovides.NET, Java, COM, and Web Services SDKs. Integration kits for SAP, PeopleSoft, SSAGlobal/Baan, and Siebel deliver custom portal integration, powerful data drivers, and tightintegration with application security. And portal integration kits for IBM WebSphere, BEAWebLogic, SAP, and Microsoft SharePoint Portal Services help deliver insight in virtually anyenterprise information portal environment.

The Semantic LayerPart of the BusinessObjects Enterprise XI platform, the semantic layer is a business representationof corporate data that helps end users access data autonomously using common business terms.BusinessObjects Enterprise XI supports Business Objects universes and Business Views andincludes a graphical design interface for each part of the metadata layer.

The patented Business Objects semantic layer is the foundation for empowering end-user queryand analysis. It simplifies the complexity of business data by using common business terms,rather than data language, to access, manipulate, and organize information. These business termsare stored as objects in a Business Objects universe. Web Intelligence uses the universe to simplifythe user creation process required for simple to complex end-user query and analysis. Alluniverse objects and connections are stored and secured in the central management console andrequire a BusinessObjects Enterprise user login for access to the universe designer interface.

With BusinessObjects XI, Crystal Reports designers can now author universe-based reports. Upon presenting a query panel for graphical query generation, Crystal Reports designers canaccess universes as a data source, create queries graphically through the query panel interface,and generate rich SQL that can be highly formatted and delivered throughout the organization.

Business Views simplify the report creation experience and interaction by abstracting thecomplexity of data for Crystal Reports developers. Business Views also help separate the dataconnections, data access, business elements, and the overall business definition giving reportdesigners granular rights access control. Business Views not only simplify data access for CrystalReports designers and developers, they also provide detailed view-time security.

Each universe is apartial representation ofa database and isdelivered to users inbusiness language.


To ensure that BI users are always working with accurate and trustworthy information,BusinessObjects XI includes tightly integrated, industrial-strength data integration technology.Designed to deliver extreme productivity and scalability, BusinessObjects Data Integrator XIsimplifies and accelerates data extraction, transformation, and loading to and from packagedapplications, real-time message queues, mainframe systems, and relational databases.Prepackaged data warehouse solutions for enterprise applications such as SAP, PeopleSoft, Siebel, and Oracle help accelerate BI project deployment and reduce total cost of ownership.

Data Integrator extracts data from source systems and transforms it into a BI-ready format. Once the transformations are complete, the data is loaded into a target database or application,and accessed by your end users for reporting, querying, and analysis. Data Integrator is the nextgeneration of extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) technology. It provides real-time andbatch data movement capabilities and native interfaces to the metadata of packaged enterpriseresource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chainmanagement (SCM) applications. Data Integrator also provides a highly-productive singleenvironment for all of your data integration needs. It incorporates data previewing and profiling capabilities, and easily integrates with market-leading data cleansing tools.

For your IT department, this means that the right data is easily available to users without theneed for custom coding. This results in dramatically accelerated development times, reducedmaintenance costs, and a greater ROI from your existing packaged applications. Data Integratoralso provides native interfaces to enterprise application integration (EAI) tools and extensivesupport for other sources such as relational databases, mainframe and legacy systems, andtechnologies such as web services and parallel performance architecture.

Data Integration

Data Integrator XI enablesorganizations to easily explore,transform, and move dataanywhere at any frequency.


Data Integrator provides extensive business metadata imports from ERP and CRM systems.It can read data dictionaries, import live metadata (including custom tables and other objects),and graphically represent this data organized by business process. This lets you easily create datamarts and warehouses from transactional data. Data Integrator also extracts data stored inproprietary formats, such as hierarchies, and provides prebuilt, reusable transforms in a single,cohesive environment—regardless of source and target. What’s more, the built-in Data Integratorreal-time engine can pass alerts to end-user management dashboards and intelligently broker databetween the ETL process and the end-user interfaces of BusinessObjects XI.

From Data Sources to DashboardsBecause Data Integrator unites data integration with BusinessObjects Enterprise XI, end users canrely more on the information they access and analyze in their reports. Data Integrator lets youautomatically create the Business Objects universe within its ETL design interface, so you savesignificant development time and get the most out of the work already done in the datawarehouse or ETL process. Data Integrator also enables ETL developers to perform net updatesthat will pass data lineage, mapping, and other technical metadata to the semantic layer sounderlying source changes do not require you to recreate universes, associated documents, and reports.

Data Integrator delivers impact analysis reports that allow developers to follow the data lineagefrom the ETL process right through to Crystal Reports and Web Intelligence documents. End-to-end metadata analysis and the ability to automatically create and update BI metadata help toinsulate downstream users and reports from source changes and data reorganization, resulting insignificant productivity gains and enhanced data credibility. Built-in data validation and auditingfeatures help ensure that developers are always working with credible data.


Conclusion

BusinessObjects XI delivers information that works the way you do and empowers individuals atevery level of the organization to make better decisions. Now you can turn massive data volumesinto both a company asset and a competitive weapon. Thanks to BusinessObjects XI,organizations around the world can increase their insight, agility, and enterprise performance.

�With the industry’s best reporting solution, the HR director receives detailed dailyinformation that allows him to monitor hiring costs and track turnover by geography

� Sales managers can perform discount analysis over time by using market-leading query andanalysis technology to see which regions are discounting the most and understand how thataffects the bottom line

� Line of business managers are able to monitor sophisticated dashboards that allow them totrack their KPIs, understand production cycles, and manage seasonal change based on bettercontrol over all parts of the supply chain

� The IT department can deliver secure, trustworthy, integrated, and accurate data inside andoutside the organization

�With the help of BusinessObjects XI, your organization achieves compliance and the CFO is happy

� The CEO receives a weekly PowerPoint via the corporate portal showing the financial datathat she securely accesses and refreshes in real time

BusinessObjects XI redefines the way information empowers users and delivers extreme insightthrough a single, trusted business intelligence platform. With BusinessObjects XI, you can becomea high-performance organization.

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Business Objects owns the following U.S. patents, which may cover products that are offered and licensed by Business Objects: 5,555,403, 6,247,008 B1, 6,578,027 B2, 6,490,593 and

6,289,352. Business Objects and the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, Crystal Reports, Crystal Enterprise, Crystal Analysis, Web Intelligence, RapidMarts and Business Query are

trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects SA or its affiliated companies in the United States and other countries. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their

respective owners. Copyright © 2004 Business Objects. All rights reserved. PT# WP2092-A

� www.businessobjects.com

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