Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

IBM Cognos vs Oracle HFM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Cognos
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
134
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (7th), Reporting (4th)
Oracle HFM
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Business Performance Management (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Business Intelligence solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Cognos is designed for BI (Business Intelligence) Tools and holds a mindshare of 3.6%, down 4.2% compared to last year.
Oracle HFM, on the other hand, focuses on Business Performance Management, holds 8.8% mindshare, down 9.2% since last year.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
Business Performance Management
 

Featured Reviews

AMOL JAJU - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers ad hoc analysis reports and good for operational dashboarding
There used to be many valuable features, but in the last three or four years, whatever IBM is doing with enhancements, it has taken a lot of time to build and develop. But the best usage of Cognos is the ad hoc analysis reports. I really like that. Our customers also like that. But now the usage of Cognos and OBIE is reduced by various business users because people and business users are now more focused on analytics, slice and dice, and the dashboard, and the widgets.
AhmedHaridy - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers flexibility and ease of configuration
The initial setup of Oracle HFM is generally straightforward and not overly complex. The deployment time for Oracle HFM varies with the resources, but it usually takes around three to eight months, with an average of three to four months. The deployment process for Oracle HFM involves several key steps. It begins with the installation of Oracle software, followed by gathering requirements and relevant documents. These documents help define the report formats and service needs. Next, the team configures the system, starting with the enterprise structure, which needs to align with the ERP system. Data loading and configuration follow, with Oracle HFM typically requiring more resources compared to other systems like SuccessFactors.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Security administration tools are powerful and flexible."
"Cognos is the best application with dashboards,batch reporting, jobs, events and ad-hoc reporting for business users."
"The Report Studio that is aimed at professional report writers."
"In terms of stability, I think that Cognos is more stable than Tableau and Power Bi because of its framework manager concept that allows us to import metadata and store it in the framework manager."
"IBM Cognos is an excellent solution for tax, planning, budgeting, profit and loss statements and balance sheets."
"One of the strong suits of Cognos is its robust corporate reporting capability."
"IBM Cognos improves the effectiveness of the sales team."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable features are around consolidations, eliminations, conversions."
"It is an expensive product but delivers what it promises, ensuring regulatory compliance, reducing risks associated with spreadsheets, and providing a better return on investment based on usage."
"Financial consolidation and reporting tool with good built-in features such as currency exchange and elimination."
"It is a very user-friendly software."
"The tool is stable."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility and ease of configuration in terms of testing and formula creation."
"You can bring in data from any source and from multiple sources, and you can consolidate that data in HFM."
 

Cons

"The high cost of a license makes it hard to scale up on a budget."
"It could have more options for themes."
"Need improvement towards Visualization."
"It is a costly product; it is comparatively expensive."
"There are some problems with how Cognos handles huge data sets and when connecting with multiple sources and searching the data."
"This product could use improvement in terms of usability for those with less technical know how."
"There are many problems with the product's stability part, making it an area where improvements are required."
"They were lacking in the initial phases of development in the area of big data, and they still need to improve that aspect of the product."
"If there could be data integration between HFM and the accounting software that would be ideal."
"The intercompany reporting function in this tool needs improvement, particularly being able to run reports in batches, rather than one at a time."
"In terms of improvement, one challenge with Oracle HFM is the need for technical knowledge in writing SQL syntax for custom extensions."
"Integration is an area where it lacks and can be improved."
"The complexity is okay. I don't see it as super complex. The solution could have more functionality to make it a little bit more flexible."
"It's a difficult process to try to edit, configure, or change the business rules that exist and work within HFM."
"Improvements can be made by possibly different interfaces to modernize it, more automation in scripting, and better integration with third-party solutions and reporting capabilities."
"The solution has integration challenges. We need a simple tool that is fool-proof for the data that is submitted not only for consolidation purposes but also for performance management and reporting purposes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't know the exact cost, but I believe Cognos is quite expensive, especially when it comes to the support consultants and the procedures that need to be applied."
"The pricing and licensing policies are comparatively cheaper than other products in the market ."
"There is a standard license required to use this solution. There are some additional tools but I am not sure if they are an extra cost."
"The solution is affordable."
"On a scale from one to ten where one is low pricing and ten is high pricing, I would rate this solution at eight."
"There is some additional licensing that we needed to purchase because we were touching data outside of our core data platform. The cost was approximately $25,000 for the additional licenses, which were approximate 45 licenses. For the application itself, updates, and the core platform it was approximately $50,000. Giving a total cost of $75,000 annually for our usage of IBM Cognos."
"The pricing of this product is meant for medium to large-scale enterprises."
"Pricing should be improved."
"Oracle Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) uses the named user licensing model. There's different pricing depending on HFM and Essbase planning."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which BI (Business Intelligence) Tools solutions are best for your needs.
842,672 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user79932 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 4, 2015
Comparison of SAP BO, Tableau, QlikView, Cognos, Microsoft, OBIEE and Pentaho
1. SAP BO/BI Enterprise scalability Security Ease of use Semantic layer 2. Tableau Visualization Data discovery Turnaround time 3. IBM Cognos Enterprise scalability Security In-memory feature 4. MS BI - Flexibility 5. Pentaho - Open source but still enterprise grade 6. QlikView Data…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
57%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Seeking lightweight open source BI software
It depends on the Data architecture and the complexity of your requirement. Some great tools in the market are Qlik Sense, Power BI, OBIEE, Tableau, etc. I have recently started using Cognos Enter...
What do you like most about IBM Cognos?
The solution's most valuable feature is its ease of use, which makes it easily compatible with other tools.
What needs improvement with IBM Cognos?
There is room for improvement in self-service analytics and predictiveness.
What do you like most about Oracle HFM?
The most valuable feature is the flexibility and ease of configuration in terms of testing and formula creation.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle HFM?
It depends on the discount offered by Oracle. It is an expensive product but delivers what it promises, ensuring regulatory compliance, reducing risks associated with spreadsheets, and providing a ...
What needs improvement with Oracle HFM?
Improvements can be made by possibly different interfaces to modernize it, more automation in scripting, and better integration with third-party solutions and reporting capabilities.
 

Also Known As

Cognos, Cognos Analytics, IBM Cognos Analytics
HFM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

More than 23,000 leading organizations across multiple industries use Cognos. Some examples of Cognos customers include BMW Financial Services, Quinte Health Care, Troy Corporation, Michigan State University, and GKN Land System.
B&B Hotels, Goldwind, Drake & Scull
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools. Updated: March 2025.
842,672 professionals have used our research since 2012.