Business Intelligence Reporting

Business intelligence reporting describe the practice of analyzing large amounts of data in the form of human readable reports.  For most users business intelligence reporting describes the software tools available that allow this form of reporting to take place.  In this latter definition then, business intelligence reporting is a software tool whose purpose is to harvest information, categorize the information into logical order, sum up the information, and present the chosen information in a viewable and understandable format. Business intelligence reporting uses archived or previously stored data, usually in a data warehouse. Every organization uses business intelligence reporting in some fashion, making business intelligence reporting one of the very first applications to be utilized in the business intelligence implementation. Because of business intelligence reporting, the company can get easy access to key information, quickly manipulate the information into any desired format, and ultimately provide that information to any necessary executives, employees, and consumers.

Open Source Software vs. Commercial Software

There are two classes of software when it comes to business intelligence reporting, open source software and the commercial variety.  Open source software (OSS) is sometimes referred to as “free” software, because the source code is available to the public via a public domain. By definition open source software is made available to the public in its source or uncompiled format; users are then free to modify it, use it as is and re-distribute it at will, provided that they re-publish any changes they make back to the original source.  In theory, OSS is available so that the product can be more accessible to masses and more understandable among all users. Commercial software on the other hand is exactly as it sounds- proprietary software that is designed to be marketed and sold to the public.

Business Intelligence Reporting Software

Open source business intelligence reporting software products are Agata Report, Eclipse BIRT Project, JasperReports, Pentaho and GNU Enterprise. Options of commercial business intelligence reporting software products are more extensive- Actuate, Alchemex, Cognos BI, Crystal Reports, Style Report, Information Builders’ FOCUS and WebFOCUS, Intellicus, LogiXML, Microstrategy, Oracle XML Publisher, Business Objects, DevExpress Reporting, Telerik Reporting, SQL Server Reporting Services, and Proclarity.

Example of Business Intelligence Reporting OSS

One such open source software program is the Agata Report- a cross-platform database business intelligence reporting tool which includes ability to create graphs in addition to a query tool that allows the user to access information from various applications and reformat into various useable formats. Another open source software business intelligence reporting program is the BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools) Project which has business intelligence reporting capabilities for both rich client (the computer’s central server) and web applications.

The JasperReport business intelligence reporting tool is another open source program that can actually transfer the retrieved and finalized information in written format directly onto the screen, a printer, or generate as PDF, HTML, and a variety of other file formats. This type of business intelligence reporting tool can be used in either Java or Internet-based applications.

Example of Business Intelligence Reporting Commercial Software

An example of commercial business intelligence reporting software is Crystal Reports, a business intelligence reporting tool that can devise and create final information reports from a large number of data sources. When Crystal Reports is installed on an operating system, users can highlight select data and then catalog the information into the desired format. The final report can be seen on the screen, printed, or formatted into a variety of file types (PDF, Excel, etc.).

Selecting Business Intelligence Reporting Software

The number of available alternatives for business intelligence reporting software are broad and easily identified.  The key aspect of selecting business intelligence reporting software is to ensure that you don't over-buy and that your business intelligence reporting software provides the feature set you need, without providing features that are overly expensive and that you will not use.