What is our primary use case?
The primary use case was creating reports and distributing them over the web to my in-house colleagues, and for some departments that used certain reports, Jasper was free and very effective for presenting data from databases.
How has it helped my organization?
Some colleagues need to see data in Excel or PDF format, and when I worked with Java proprietary applications, I had to code a master meditation to save data and colors, etc. TIBCO Jaspersoft was something new to me, and I was able to create reports quickly. The benefit was that I could use Java JDBC connections to connect to any type of database, such as Oracle, MySQL, or Postgres. This was very beneficial for me as I could quickly create and present reports to those who needed proprietary reports designed for the type of sales they wanted. TIBCO Jaspersoft was great for me as I didn't have to use Java coding. I saw that as a designer, I could meet almost all customers' expectations. When I saw how the server worked, I realized I could make reports easily and deploy them to the server and scheduler. We could easily schedule and create reports to send to clients. This was very useful for me as we could schedule with different parameters and it was very configurable.
What is most valuable?
The designer is the most valuable feature. For example, I saw that Jasper has some Excel files. We can also design macros on Excel files, which is very useful for customers who need to work with them. Additionally, some customers want to look at Excel to see, the callers, and sales. With macros and formulas, I can do everything they imagine. Other solutions don't have the option to create macros on Excel. We have designed some reports and we can also use them inside of the report set to set properties for Excel. Macros, formulas, and other features are very useful for Economists. I often use these features.
What needs improvement?
For over ten years, the server was developed in Java, using the Java Spring Framework. Last year, I used version 8.0.0 and I did not think it was very good. Currently, it is a Spring Boot, which is new in our framework. I think it is in use because of the legacy of the previous versions, which can sometimes be problematic. Last year, I used a server from a rest service part. We have an in-house front-end service, and TIBCO Jaspersoft was the backend service, we used to store reports and execute reports over the rest of it, but there were many problems. Currently, JSON format is the main format we use, however, in TIBCO Jaspersoft, XML format is the default and JSON did not work because TIBCO did not fix it. For the development part, I think the best thing to do is to make a new server on some other framework. I will not upgrade the old Spring, which is version 8.0.0. That is my opinion. I will create a new server from scratch and copy stuff from the old servers, but not upgrade because the old legacy stuff will then become lost.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for over eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I give the stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable but we need to have experience in order to make sure it scales properly.
We have 15 people using the solution in our organization.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for me was easy due to my experience; I would rate it an eight out of ten. The solution has many configuration files to set up a server, and we can connect to LDAP or Active Directory. Token authorization is required for all applications, which are microservices, but the solution did not have this configuration option due to its old Spring version.
The deployment takes around one hour. We can export from the old server and import into the new server easily.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I evaluated Pentaho Business Analytics and BIRT but they were a bit slow.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution an eight out of ten.
I use the TIBCO Jaspersoft because of its free community version as well as the coding and designing.
I suggest users of TIBCO Jaspersoft learn to design, and reports can quickly be designed.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.