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Oracle OBIEE vs SAP Crystal Reports comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Cognos
Sponsored
Ranking in Reporting
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
134
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (7th)
Oracle OBIEE
Ranking in Reporting
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
157
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (5th)
SAP Crystal Reports
Ranking in Reporting
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of IBM Cognos is 4.4%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle OBIEE is 4.8%, down from 6.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Crystal Reports is 2.8%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Reporting
 

Featured Reviews

Carlos Larrad Salgado - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 27, 2022
Improved the quality of our KPIs, while reducing calls to the IT department
I don't like that when we use Colab packages, we get less functionality. For example, you can make groups of data with Excel or with the data sets from the packages, but when you use the Colab packages directly, you can only group the data when you analyze it with Analysis Studio. I think Cognos needs to improve more on this functionality. The user experience is also very important. Cognos is not very easy to understand sometimes, especially when they change the layout but keep the functionality the same. The help is not very graphic and they have no examples. Cognos has to make a big effort to help with understanding the functionality by improving the documentation. There is a lot of documentation, but the examples are hard to find and they should make their help section easier to understand for non-technical users.
VishnuReddy - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 18, 2024
Handles large datasets and easy to interact with and handle but performance could be better
Oracle's technical support usually recommends to upgrade when you contact them for support. They don't focus on fixing the issue at hand or providing guidance on how to do it. If you are in a lower environment, like one version down, they will blindly suggest upgrading. Additional patches are given for other Oracle products like WebLogic, databases, and apps. They fix issues and create patches based on client needs. But from an OBIEE point of view, they mostly provide bundle patches of around 5 to 6 GB that need to be applied and tested end-to-end. It's not an easy way to get small patches, and if issues arise after applying the patches, you have to contact Oracle again.
MVD Prasad - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 9, 2024
Helps analyze your data by creating richly formatted, pixel-perfect, and multiple reports from virtually any data source, delivered in over a dozen formats
We were dedicated to Crystal Reports, and now they have shifted to SAP reports. While both functionalities are similar, there might be some enhancements or additional features to look forward to in the SAP version. However, I haven't encountered any issues. I've consistently used SAP Crystal…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Previously, we were doing static reporting. Management would request a report, and it would take staff a week or more to provide it. With Cognos, we have dynamic reporting, and it has reduced both reporting and decision making times significantly. With the solution's dashboard, the company's management team has updated records at their fingertips. This means that they can directly access the data they need to make decisions."
"IBM Cognos is an excellent solution for tax, planning, budgeting, profit and loss statements and balance sheets."
"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."
"The main difference that I like about Cognos compared to other solutions is its data splitting functionality. We have all our company data inside the Cognos environment and so we prefer to split the information Cognos itself. It's more efficient this way."
"The solution's initial setup process is easy."
"The dashboarding offered by this solution is very valuable to us."
"The tool can join data from different sources, write back to databases, generate alerts, and be customized to our preferences. It's an enterprise BI tool that's more powerful than just visualization tools like Power BI or Tableau."
"I have worked on the features like dashboards and stories, and I do like them a lot."
"Oracle OBIEE is very easy to use. Looking at analytics, I think they have come a long way by adding new features like visualization, which is really cool."
"The centralized metadata model component is most valuable."
"They are introducing AI. There are good forecasting features and machine learning."
"In terms of features, everything is good. It is also stable and scalable."
"The most valuable features of the solution are the various scenarios the product offers and its stability."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to run it in Exalytics within memory coupled to a Repository on Exadata is where it flies. So it's not meant for mom and pop shops, but if you are a global 500 fortune 1000 company, this is a tool that can get you what you need on time and even in real time."
"It's the connectors, the adapters. Built in connectors with different ERPs, you can plug in XL, other sources of data. It's very easy to configure. It's very easy to use."
"The solution has great reporting and forecasting capabilities."
"We use SAP Crystal Reports for operational reporting."
"The initial setup of the solution is pretty easy."
"The most valuable feature is that from a user's point of view, it is easy to use and requires just a simple click to generate a report."
"It is an user-friendly solution."
"SAP Crystal Reports offers a plethora of features, many of which were available much earlier than in the Crystal Reports we previously used. We extensively use its capabilities for generating general reports, working with Kaspersky data, and even incorporating images into our reports. The range of functions available in SAP Crystal Reports is diverse, and we leverage them across various systems for our needs."
"I find Crystal Reports very easy to use, even for a non-technical person."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is a fantastic way of generating reports."
"The overall environment is the best. Data management, graphs, and layout – everything is the best, in my opinion."
 

Cons

"The data uploads that we do, such as Excel files, have a lot of restrictions. If we can make it a bit more user-friendly, allowing us to have more flexibility it would be a great help."
"Extending features on dashboards so it becomes a real dashboard building application, not only a data exploration tool."
"The visualization aspect needs to be improved and I believe, this is being resolved in upcoming versions."
"The tool needs to improve the connectivity since I see that, at times, there is a need to increase the memory in the database."
"It would be good if the solution had conditional formatting."
"I don't like that when we use Colab packages, we get less functionality. For example, you can make groups of data with Excel or with the data sets from the packages, but when you use the Colab packages directly, you can only group the data when you analyze it with Analysis Studio. I think Cognos needs to improve more on this functionality."
"Need improvement towards Visualization."
"Tableau and Power BI are faster than Cognos."
"There should be more integration in the solution. For example, there should be one solution with multiple functionalities so that other solutions are not needed. Having one solution with all the needed functionality would be helpful."
"It would be better if it had a wide range of visualization options. For example, Microsoft Power BI has an extensive range of visualization options, but it's not available in OBIEE. There are also some conflicts because it's complicated, but the cloud application is easier. They added some features for ETL with the on-premises application, but we need a different or a separate application for ETL in the cloud. In the next release, I would like to have more AI features."
"Retail, Finance, Wholesale"
"There's a lot of redundancy, especially in relation to creating the code."
"The drawback with the tool is that though it is well-created, its users are under-trained to use it."
"Oracle products have a lot of complications...Oracle has a history of not really providing great support."
"Oracle OBIEE can improve the ease of use. It is a lot to learn and it could be made easier."
"Expanding beyond pure data reporting and into analytics, or expanding data science, would be areas for improvement."
"SAP Crystal Reports should provide better support for dynamic connectors."
"If at all possible, a little bit of improvement on the analytical side is needed."
"There could be improvements made to the analytics capabilities."
"It has significantly enhanced security features, especially when compared to the standard security features of the earlier PeerSpot version I purchased. I've observed improvements in security, and overall, it's quite commendable. Regarding potential enhancements for the next release of this solution, I haven't closely examined SAP Crystal Reports 53. I've only encountered it briefly, perhaps once or twice. However, I anticipate that it likely offers advanced features distinct from its predecessor. I believe there may be notable improvements and additions in the latest version, and I look forward to exploring them further."
"Maybe some Power BI-related features could be added, like dashboards or direct editing in reports."
"SAP Crystal Reports has some compatibility issues with third-party products."
"A real improvement would be a simpler system that allows users to play with the visualization without needing specialized skills and code."
"The financing part needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is need to assess the purchase license accordingly so as to avoid audit penalties."
"It is averagely priced."
"On a scale from one to ten where one is low pricing and ten is high pricing, I would rate this solution at eight."
"Pricing should be improved."
"My company uses IBM Cognos with another IBM product, so I think only one license is used."
"The pricing and licensing policies are comparatively cheaper than other products in the market ."
"The solution is affordable."
"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."
"Power BI is less expensive than Oracle OBIEE. A benefit to Power BI is having the option to work with concurrent licensing."
"Oracle products are extremely expensive."
"A person only needs to pay towards the subscription costs since it is a cloud-based solution. I use the free version of Oracle OBIEE."
"This was not an expensive product for us, although the price varies depending on conditions for each company."
"I would rate it a 4 out of 5 in terms of pricing."
"For the license in part of Oracle, my company makes yearly payments."
"Simplifying the data integration process would save our clients considerable costs."
"This is a very costly product."
"SAP Crystal Reports is a very expensive solution."
"The cost of licensing can be a significant factor to consider when upgrading or transitioning to a new version of SAP Crystal Reports. It's important to evaluate the benefits and features offered by the new version against the associated costs to ensure it aligns with your organization's needs and budget."
"I feel that SAP Crystal Reports is a reasonably priced product."
"This product costs a lot of money."
"We pay fifteen hundred dollars as licensing fee."
report
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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
5%
Government
4%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

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 ...
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?
I need improvements, particularly with the Framework Manager, which has an outdated user interface from older version...
How does Oracle OBIEE compare with Microsoft BI?
Oracle OBIEE is great in allowing design and creativity per the individual needs of the organization. Dashboards are ...
Which Oracle product is better - OBIEE or Analytics Cloud?
Oracle OBIEE is designed to be relatively easy to set up and has a helpful customer support staff at the ready to ass...
What do you like most about Oracle OBIEE?
The most valuable feature of Oracle OBIEE is its ability to handle large volumes of data and provide traditional BI f...
What needs improvement with SAP Crystal Reports?
Maybe some Power BI-related features could be added, like dashboards or direct editing in reports. We use query langu...
What is your primary use case for SAP Crystal Reports?
We use SAP Crystal Reports for reporting. We use it for financial reports like statements of accounts, trial balances...
What do you like most about SAP Crystal Reports?
We use SAP Crystal Reports for operational reporting.
 

Also Known As

Cognos, Cognos Analytics, IBM Cognos Analytics
OBIEE, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, Oracle BI, Oracle BI EE 11g
No data available
 

Learn More

 

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.
Banca Transilvania, BeckmanCoulter, Hong Kong Housing Society, HealthShare, Ivanhoe Cambridge Unifies, and Home Credit, and Finance Bank.
City of Buenos Aires, ASR Group, Citrix, EarlySense, Usha International Limited, Automotive Resources International (ARI), LivePerson, Coelba (Grupo Neoenergia), RZD Russian Railways, National Basketball Association - NBA, TALLY WEiJL, El Machetazo, Young Heroes, Mozzart, Mitsui Knowledge Industry (MKI) , Surgutneftegas Open Joint Stock Company, The VELUX Group, AOK Bundesverband, AL-KO KOBER GROUP
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle OBIEE vs. SAP Crystal Reports and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.