Oracle OBIEE Reviews

OBIEE is used to generate data reports and send to users' emails. The company leaders use its summary report to overview the KPIs of the company. Department operators use its detailed report to monitor daily sales. 

• A detailed data report is generated for business operators.
• Summary and aggregated data for leaders.

• It's easy to use for business analysts.

• Can utilize SQL queries to generate reports directly.

• Access and permission management.

Metadata management function: Sometimes, our business requirements need to load reference data into the data model.

One to three years.

OBIEE crashes when many people login at the same time.

When a large number of queries are running at the same time, the report fails.

The upgrade from version 10 to 11 drastically changed the perspective of our company's users from the perspective of the data analysis they can do. It's now much easier for our developers to mash up their repositories from different data sources, create new dashboards, create graphs, and send emails via agents.

I think OBIEE is going to go away and I don't see new things to be added to it. If anything, it needs a diagnostic tool for looking at logs.

Also, Oracle needs to make WebLogic much simpler to use. With WebLogic you have a vast number of things in there. If you're not an OBIEE admin, then you don't know what you're doing. You can't have developers do the admin stuff and it needs to be a little simpler to navigate between. Also, you have an enterprise manager and then you have a console manager. Combining those two in one place would make it simpler.

I don't recall for sure, but I've used it for a number of years now, from version 10 to the current version 12.

We've had no issues with deployment.

We've had issues with stability, both hiccups and large. One issue we had was difficulty with error logs. We've had to dive really deep in order to find error logs. If someone asks for them, you really have to know where to look.

We run a homogenous data set and OBIEE has been scalable.

Technical support has been nice. When we create a ticket, Oracle reps get back to us via email or phone depending on the severity of the incident. Some tickets take a while, and some don't take long at all.

The setup was challenging because we were upgrading from version 10. We had challenges with services and cores, especially with Java memory. It kept running out, particularly with the WebLogic implementation. We really didn't know where to go from there because it change the Java memory.

Before using it, make sure you really understand the product. It also helps to know Java. You also need to know how WebLogic works, as well as how the integration between EM and OMB works.

It has easy integration with Oracle DB for clients who run an Oracle Warehouse.

It has given clients visibility into their operations from a holistic viewpoint. In my current project, we are using the tool to track movement of cases, managements, and clients are able to trace where their cases are and how long they have been in the different stations in the organization. This has improved on the overall performance of the organization as there is accountability.

There is a need to improve on meta data definition, for instance we should have one Dat Dimension that allows heterogeneous definitions. At the moment, every subject area has a copy, this is repetitive effort. There is a need to easily report from different facts without having to circumvent the system's normal design.

Metadata management, more visualizations as there aren't many, i.e. heat maps. The Dashboard layout area could be enhanced to allow more intuitive designs, as the limitations of having Sections and Columns in the sort of order they can in can inhibit exciting designs. Exporting of related Physical Joins without having to go to each join to extract.

I've used it for eight years.

Yes, at one client we upgraded versions and lost functionality due to the fact that Oracle had stopped supporting Office 2007. In the newer versions, we had to go through a lot of trouble to get the functionality to work, it was a very simple thing. In the newer version, when we exported graphs it ignored the lines and the tables were merged into a single line, and you can imagine why the management were not happy with that.

Customer Service:

5/10 - I really believe that they can improve in customer service.

Technical Support:

6/10

We did use something previously, and we changed as we wanted better functionality and stability.

I have not dealt with implementations a lot.

We used a mixed team. The vendor had guys that knew what they were doing, even at some point, better than the Oracle team.

Pricing of the training should be lowered to allow more new entrants into the the field. If the price is too high, mainly existing partners can afford it, and the market does not grow. The licensing is fair, but they should try and bundle the licensing cost as licensing as almost every component tends to hike the overall price.

I have worked on Microstrategy a lot and the Microsoft platform. I find that Microstrategy is advanced in the Mobile and Visual display and is easy to use, but Microsoft is also easy to use but still has a lot of things they need to improve on.

It's a very good platform provided you have a good strategy and a strong team around.

• Governance
• Centralized metadata model
• Integration (security, external visualizations, etc.)

Better and more interactive visualizations.

8 years

Clustering and security (SSL, SSO, etc) can be tough at times.

Support team is timely with responses, but working out through issues can take some time.

Yes, used Cognos (IBM) previously. Switch was due to management decision.

Initial (simple) set up is straight forward, but complex environments (multiple nodes, complex security requirements) can be complicated. That said, once set up the tool is very flexible and addresses enterprise-wide requirements

This is a good solution, but its strengths (centralized, secure, enterprise-wide reporting) can also be seen as weaknesses if you are looking for a more flexible, lighter-footprint reporting package with better visuals. That said, newer versions of the tool have gone a long way to catch up on the visuals side (new views, external viz options, etc) and flexibility as well (BI Cloud Service).

Dashboard capability along with tightly integrated enterprise level security are really the most used features for me in OBIEE. It's also capable of delivering Scorecarding, Geo Mapping & multi source capabilities.

End users can't change their password on their own.

5+ years

Oracle support has always been quick.

Initial setup is straightforward through a wizard based interface.

OBIEE is a truly enterprise level product with the capability to scale & tight security. But it requires a specialized technical team during customization which might make it not economical for small scale customers.

The solution offers a wide range of software tools to meet various needs, such as those concerning reports, developer solutions like APEX and the integration of data. 

The ability to migrate from one version to another, such as doing so from version 11 to an upgraded 12 of Oracle business environment, can be difficult. The usage is not straightforward. 

I have been using Oracle OBIEE for perhaps two years. 

The solution has private deployment and only in respect of on-premises products.

I rate Oracle OBIEE as a ten out of ten. 

On-premises

We primarily use this product for company-wide data warehouse reporting.

The most valuable feature is the ability to set up the automated delivery of reports. It is a feature that is nice, as well as easy to do.

It takes a lot of maintenance to support the architecture, which is something that should be improved. Having a more simplified architecture would be better.

It should be easier to make changes or enhancements, as it is a long process to make a change in the system.

We have been using Oracle OBIEE for about ten years.

I don't find the stability of this product to be great.

Scalability is something that could be improved.

The initial setup was complex.

We used a consulted to assist us with deployment.

Oracle products are extremely expensive. However, the version that we have is older and we no longer pay licensing fees.

I would rate this solution a five out of ten.

On-premises