Category

Criteria

Version--->

F
u
n
c
t
i
o
n
a
l
i
t
y

Point & Click

Graphing
Stack/Nest
Dimensions on
Report
Pivot/Rotate Axis
Rearrange Axis

Print Format
Control

Hyperion Objects

Oracle Express
Objects

COGNOS

Business Objects

Microstrategy

Brio Intelligence

MS Data Analyzer

PowerAnalyzer

1.5

6.3

6.5

3.5

Application developers
can define rotation,
perspective, lighting,
and the color of charts.
It also allows end users
to change any of these
properties at run-time.
Hyperion Objects
provides more than 30
different kinds of charts
for powerful data
visualization that
automatically access
and display Hyperion
Essbase information
without programming.
Standard chart types
included are 2D and 3D
line, scatter, bar, trend,
pie, Gantt, radar,
doughnut, and many
more.

Express Objects
provides point-and-click
functionality so
developers can rapidly
create applications for
users. Express Objects
automatically populates
a table or graph with
the appropriate data
and all the dimensions
that define it. The dataaware controls in
Express Objects
understand
multidimensional data.
Users can readily
access, rotate, page
through, select, and drill
to detail.

Good desktop reporting,

plus basic Web
publishing and
interactive analysis.
Visualizer adds
sophisticated 3D
charting and advanced
chart types. Series 7
offers Greater control of
printed output (via PDF)
allows to take
advantage of paper
sizes and orientation of
reports. It can also be
specified whether a
report should have a
border to aid readability.

Supports point & click

graphing, pivot services,
format control. Supports
most of the OLAP
functionality.

Supports many views

like Grid, advanced
graphs, design view and
SQL view. Provides
attributes position
manipulation on reports.
Print Format Control on
both MSTR Agent and
MSTR WeB(options like
Page Ordering, Header &
Footer and margins are
available). Apart from
this it supports Point &
Click graphing,
rearrange axis and
stacking dimensions on
report.

Supports point & click

graphing, pivot
services, format control.
Supports most of the
OLAP functionality

Supports point & click

navigation, filtering, and
sorting. Incorporates
powerful Excel PivotTable
features, supporting most
of the OLAP functionalities.
Graphical display of
reports is limited to Bar
graphs and Pie charts.

Supports point and click

graphing, pivoting,
formatting, and other OLAP
functionalities.

Not Supported
( Although Hyperion
released a version of
Wired for OLAP that
accessed Microsoft
OLAP Services using
OLE DB for OLAP)

Supports OLE
automation

Supports OLE
automation. And also
Impromptu report
output can be saved as
Excel using the new
OLE automation

Supports OLE automation

With MSTR OLAP

Provider, users of
Cognos Power Play,
Microsoft Excel 2000
and other OLE DB for
OLAP consumers can
connect through MSTR
Intelligence Server and
access any Major
relational Database.
MSTR offers built in
support for the OLE DB
for OLAP application
programming
interface(API)

Supports OLE
automation

Supports OLE automation

that is restricted to access
Microsoft SQL Server
Analysis Services

Information not available.

The Hyperion Objects

grid control is a highperformance, 32-bit
Microsoft Excelcompatible
spreadsheet that is
integrated
transparently with the
data-server control.

Supports exporting the

report data to
Spreadsheets

Supports exporting the

report data to
Spreadsheets and
PowerPlay for Excel can
create report from
spreadsheets .
PowerPlay for Excel
sheets can be opened
with prompting for data
source

One can create reports

based on Spreadsheet and
also the reports can be
exported

Microsoft Excel 2000

works with
MicroStrategy
Intelligence Server to
translate queries (MDX
queries from Cognos
Power play, Microsoft
Excel 2000, or custom
applications) into
database-optimized
SQL.

Supports direct access

to spreadsheets. Also
supports importing and
exporting of data to
spreadsheets

Supports exporting the

Data Analyzer views data
to Excel workbooks or
PivotTables. The Export as
PivotTable command
launches a wizard
prompting the user to
specify dimensions for
columns and rows, and
select the measures to be
included. This allows to
quickly navigate through a
large cube and select
interested dimensions and
measures before creating a
PivotTable to explore in
more depth.
The MS Analysis Services
Cubes or standalone cubes
can be directly accessed
from an Excel sheet.

Integration with Excel

allows users to use Excel
functionalities within
PowerAnalyzer. Also
supports exporting report
data to Excel, Excel
Template and Pivot Table.

Copy/Paste to
other application
OLE Compliance

Seamless Spread
Sheet Access

Full ad hoc OLAP

analysis to data
updating and managed
reporting.

Ad-hoc querying is
possible thru Oracle
Discoverer. Discoverer
users can export their
workbooks to Express
Objects for further
analysis.

Supports Creation of
Calculated member on
the Fly. Additionally
Accumulate and
Exponentiation
functions are now
available.

Supports Creation of
Calculated member on the
Fly. It allows to perform
complex calculations that
manipulate data and allows
drilling from summary to
detail. A new formula
language enables users to
create custom calculations.
Formulas can be reused as
variables in different
reports in the same
document.In BO6.0 it can
be done by both Thick
client as well as WEBI. In
earlier version this feature
was not available for WEBI.

Supports ad-hoc queries Supports creation of

Supports creation of
Supports creation of ad-hoc
in which complicated
calculated members on calculated measures called calculated members.
Mathematical , Financial the fly.
as "template measures".
etc functions can be
Six "template measures"
calculated and
are provided and new
performed.
measures can be created
using the Template
Measure Editor.

Within Hyperion
Objects applications,
developers can specify
specific time periods to
take advantage of
Hyperion Essbase's
dynamic time series
functionality.
Provides
Financial and statistical
functions

Statistical and Financial

Analysis can be done
using Oracle Financial
Analyzer

A good range of time

series conversions are
now included. Provides
Financial and statistical
functions

It has advanced analytics

that support statistical and
financial functions. It also
supports segmentation,
predictive analysis and
statistical process control.
Time series can be
programmed. Real time
analysis is also provided in
rel 6

Provides Powerful
Statistical functions
(Beta Deviation,
Binomial Distribution,
Covariance, Kurtosis,
Lognormal
Distribution.etc.),
Financial functions
( Accrued Interest,
Cumulative Interest
paid, Macaulay
duration..etc.) and
Time Series analysis can
be done. Apart from this
OLAP functions like
Running count, moving
sum, Running standard
deviation are available.

Whenever time series is

on Brio automatically
adds Month, Quarter
and Year fields to the
document and then
interprets each row in
the results section to
assign it to the
appropriate category.
Regarding statistical
functions it allows very
good statistical
functions

Provides time series

Provides Time Series
analysis functionalities
analysis and financial
with predefined template
functions.
measures for "Change
from Last Year", "Change in
Year to Date", and "Change
from Previous Period".

Hyperion Objects multibyte character support

allows application
developers to deploy
multi-language
versions of
applications.

OFA, OSA, Spreadsheet

Add-in and OEA are
available in French,
Canadian French,
German, Spanish, Latin
American Spanish,
Italian, Czech,
Hungarian, Swedish,
Brazilian Portuguese,
Arabic and Japanese

PowerPlay is available in
English, French,
German, Swedish,
Spanish, Dutch and
Japanese. A double-byte
version allows for native
translations into
languages requiring
double-byte characters.
The translation includes
all character handling,
error and help
messages, dialog boxes,
and date and number
formats. The scripting
language is not
translated

BusinessObjects is available
wide range of languages,
including English, French,
German, Spanish, Italian,
Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian,
Danish, Portuguese, Hebrew
and Kanji (Japanese).
Unicode is also supported in
SDK

Both MSTR Desktop and

Web Components
support foreign
languages. It gives the
support at two levels. 1.
User-Interface
Support(For each
language supported at
user interface level,
MSTR provides a
translated version of all
phrases, terms,
instructions and
messages visible to the
user. 2. UserDocumentation
Support(Translated
version of all help files
and online user
documentation)

Reasonably good local

language
support(French, Italian,
Chinese and Japanese).

Support for multiple

Information not available.
languages. Data Analyzer
is part of the Microsoft
Office Data Analysis
Solution and provides
localized versions with
Multilingual User Interface.

Doesnt support
directly but can be
achieved using
Hyperion Currency
Conversion tool which
translates, analyzes,
and reports of foreign
financial data.

Currency conversion
can be achieved using
Oracle Financial
Analyzer

From version 6,
Multi currency functionality
PowerPlay supports
is supported including Euro
simple currency
conversion on-the-fly,
including euro currency
triangulation, with the
ability to use historically
adjusted conversion
rates.

Separate columns has to

populated in fact tables
for different currencies
in previous versions like
MicroStrategy 5.x. The
MSTR 7.1 version
supports multiple
currency conversion.

There is no currency
support per se.
However, calculated
fields can be used to
circumvent this
limitation

Microsoft Office XP
provides Euro Currency
Converter Smart Tag
available in nine
languages. But, Data
Analyzer support for
currency conversion is not
clear.

Create Ad Hoc
Calculated
Members

Statistical/Financi
al/Time Series
Analysis

Language Support

Currency Support

Information not available.

Hyperion Objects is a
comprehensive set of
OLAP-aware 32-bit
ActiveX controls for
building robust analytic
applications. Hyperion
Objects provides a
complete set of
controls for data
navigation, selection,
reporting, and
visualization.
Developers can quickly
create sophisticated
analytic applications
and they can also
deploy Hyperion
Objects applications in
a wide range of
computing
environments standalone, client/server,
Web, or distributed
processing.

To support the breadth

and depth of custom
development, the
Express Basic language
lets developers
programmatically
control the display,
behavior, and even
creation of application
objects. Express Basic
will be familiar to the
Visual Basic developer,
as the languages are
syntactically
compatible.

PowerPlay incorporates
the CognosScript
Language, a BASIC-like
language provided with
all Cognos business
intelligence products for
writing macro

Programmers can write VBA

macros or add-ins to
customize the product user
interface and extend the
product functionality. An
excellent SDK is available
using all the tasks can be
programmed. In rel 6,
Administration SDK is
introduced using which
security and administration
can be controlled thru
programming. Repetitive
admin tasks can be
automated

Provides Application
Integration & Embedded
Intelligence. I.e.
Software Development
Kit (SDK) for intelligence
server and Web
developer. It supports
the following languages:
1. VB 2. VC++ 3. VBA 4.
VBScript or Jscript(for
use in active server
pages)

Simple EIS-Style
applications can be
built with the help of
Java Scripting

Data Analyzer Object

Model provides
applications user
interface, enabling custom
third-party solutions to
incorporate the
functionalities. Developers
can embed Data Analyzer
views in a Web page or
digital dashboard with
filter, sort, and drill up or
down OLAP functionalities.
Data Analyzer can be
customized by using the
documented application
programming interface
(API). Data Analyzer
features can also be
automated with Microsoft
Visual Basic, Microsoft
Visual Basic for
Applications (VBA),
Microsoft Visual Basic
Scripting Edition, and
Microsoft VC++.

PowerAnalyzer provides
SDK with Java API, XML API,
Web Services, and Portal
Integration Kit allowing
developers for custom
development of
applications and also
embed within or integrate
with existing applications.

The Oracle Express Web

Publisher is an option to
Oracle Express Objects.
It enables power users
to publish dynamic
analysis pages to their
OLAP Web sites. One of
the strengths of the
Oracle Express Web
Publisher is that
knowledge workers are
Webmasters, not
application developers.
Therefore Webmasters
do not need to
understand HTML
programming to
maintain the site; all
OLAP web site
maintenance is done
graphically.

Web access can be

provided through
Cognos Upfront product.
Zero footprint web
reports can also be
provided

Web access can be

provided through Web
Intelligence. Bo 6 platform
provides self-service access
to all information needs
through a powerful
and intuitive web interface
that integrates ad hoc
query, reporting, and
analysis capabilities. It also
supports web services and
XML.

1. For deployment to
large user groups for
departments, the
enterprise, or beyond,
MicroStrategy Web's
fully functional, easy-touse, all HTML interface
is ideal. MSTR Provides
an Ultra-thin, all HTML
web client that allows
users to run the reports
they need.
2. MSTR Web is
available in three
versions Web Analyst
(enables the user to
interact with and
manipulate data on the
fly, Web Reporter(a
simplified version that
provides interactive
slice and dice
capabilities) and Web
Viewer(enables viewing
of static report

Web access can be

provided through
OnDemand Server and
Brio Portal

Data Analyzer can be used

to access Internet exposed
SQL Server 2000 Analysis
Server or cube (.cub) files
through HTTP. But, there's
no Web client product.

Web access is provided

through PowerAnalyzer's
thin web client. Web users
can access dashboards and
reports, and also create
their own reports using the
report wizards.

Web Access

Deploying analytic
applications is easy
and cost-effective with
Hyperion Objects.
When the end users
access a Hyperion
Objects application
through the web
browsers, the
application is
automatically
downloaded and set up
on their client
workstations.

Filtering on Numeric
values

Supports filtering on
numeric values

Supports filtering on
numeric values

Supports filtering on
numeric values

Supports filtering on
numeric values

Supports filtering on
numeric values

Supports filtering on
numeric values

Supports filtering on
numeric values

Supports filtering on
numeric values

Can dispatch
applications without
user interfaces, such as
agent and alert
systems, across
multiple processors for
additional levels of
scalability

Express Objects
supports Exception
reporting. For
streamlined building of
enterprise OLAP,
Express Objects
uniquely supports
Agents and alerts.

Good exception
highlighting, but no inbuilt agents, exception
searching or automated
drill-down. Agents can
be written as macros
that can scan data in
PowerCubes using the
API and take
appropriate actions,
such as producing and
e-mailing reports, on
detecting exceptions.

BusinessObjects includes
server based 'intelligent
agents' for automatic
exception detection. Agents
run on the Document Agent
Server and automatically
send reports to users when
conditions are met. These
conditions can be based on
data in both relational and
multidimensional sources.

Exception Handling
features are good in
Microstrategy. Event
Based Triggers and Time
based triggers sends
reports to user
community.

No built in capabilities
for exception detection,
although a spotlighter
feature in pivots and
details allow to specify
special formatting to
numbers that meet
certain conditions. Also,
If..Then..Else logic
functions in all reports
allows the user to build
exception analyses.

The Color Scale allows

recognition of patterns and
exceptions, with different
value ranges highlighted in
different colors.

Exception based
highlighting is supported in
reports and dashboards.
Based on the defined
criteria metric values can
be highlighted in different
colors or images.

Feature for Building

Application

Intelligent
Agents/Exception
Reporting

Hyperion Objects, can

integrate data from a
wide range of relational
and non-relational
databases and
Hyperion Essbase
servers in a single
application.

Supports views, user

can always see the
latest data in views.
Views can be created by
dragging a measure
from the database
browser to a page. Or
populating from a data
cube Or deriving from
an existing view.

Views Multiple data

sources is possible
through HOT files
feature.

It is possible to create the

report using the data from
multiple data sources. In
BO6.0 it can be done by
both Thick client as well as
WEBI. In earlier version this
feature was not available
for WEBI.

It is possible to create
the report using the
data from multiple data
sources.

Multiple cubes, but they Data Analyzer can create

cannot be linked.
views using the data from
SQL Server Analysis Server
on a network, or local cube
(.cub) file. No support for
third party OLAP Servers or
direct reporting from
relational databases.

PowerAnalyzer can create

reports from relational data
source (data warehouse)
which can source data from
multiple sources. No
support for MDDB engines.

Integration Server DrillThrough Enabled :Hyperion Objects

applications can access
the context-sensitive
reports available
through Hyperion
Integration Server to
retrieve related
information from
relational databases

Express Objects allows

users to seamlessly drill
from summary data in
Express to detail
transactions in
Discoverer.

Drill-down to underlying
relational databases is
now available via
Impromptu (or to other
products, using
PowerPlay macros). Via
PPConnect, definitions
of drill-though targets in
the PowerPlay stub
cube can be defined.
This will aid the
development and rollout of an "Analyze then
Query" model when
using non-PowerCube
data sources.

Drill down and seamless

drill through and pivoting is
also available. Advanced
Drill By and Drill bar
customization is possible in
ver 6

Drill Down, Drill up, Drill

across any dimensions
and keep parent while
drilling are available.

The Drill to Detail allows

to retrieve items from
the Data Model that are
not in the Results
section, without having
to rerun the original
query. This feature
provides the ability to
query interactively the
database and filter the
data that is returned.

Drill up or down on an
entire dimension or a
single member, or to
specific levels.

Supports Drill up, down and

across dimensions. Also
provides analytic workflows
with tree like structure
allowing users to select
subset of a report and
move to another linked
report with the initial report
data being the filter
criteria.

Supported by Hyperion Supports Oracle and

Essbase
Oracle Express Server

Access to all ODBC data

sources, major MDBs
and popular PC sources.
Semi-integrated drilldown to relational data.

BusinessObjects can link to Can link to a variety of

a wide range of relational
RDBMS Databases.
databases (Informix,
Ingress, MS-Access, Oracle,
Red Brick, Sybase and
others through ODBC) as
well as to local DBF, text
and Excel files. Links to
various OLAP servers
(Essbase, Oracle Express,
Microsoft OLAP Services
and Informix MetaCube)

Can access both MDD

or RDBMS using the
same graphical user
interface

Access to only Microsoft

PowerAnalyzer can link to a
SQL Server Analysis Server wide range of relational
and cubes (.cub) files.
databases, but not to
MDDB servers or cubes.

Should support as
Essbase (engine) has
good multi-write
facilities

Does not support Write

back

Does not support Write

back

Does not support Write

back

Does not support Write

back.

Views constructed from

multiple cubes/data
sources

Drill through

Common OLAP/RDBMS
GUI

Read & Write

Does not support Write

back

Supports Write back.

Information not available.

Maintainability

Information not
available

Does not support this

feature

Handles following time

series features:- a fiscal
year
-relative-time periods,
such as year-to-date,
last month, or n-period
running total
-a 52-week lunar
calendar (including 4-45 quarters)
- industry-specific
periods
- work shift periods
- hours within shift
periods
- project phases
- both standard and
fiscal years in one
dimension.

In Designer module,
Supports Time Series
automatic time hierarchy
Intelligence.
can be established between
year,Quarter, Month. But if
hierarchy has to be
established further down
the level, it has to be
established manually .

Brio added intelligent

time series capability as
a standard feature, so
any analysis involving
date manipulation can
take advantage of it.
Brio does not however,
have more complex
time series functions
such as same period
last year or quarter or
year to date
computations.

Provides time series

intelligence such as
"Change from Last Year",
"Change in Year to Date",
and "Change from Previous
Period".

Supports Time Series

Intelligence such as YTD,
QTD, MTD, This Year Vs
Last Year.

Hyperion Reports
supports Dynamic
scheduling, which
allows for automated
reporting

Does not support this

feature

Supports reports scheduling

facilities. Reports can even
be scheduled based on
alert criteria. The
scheduling activity is taken
place in "Broadcast Agent
Server" module of the BO
suite.

Supports reporting
scheduling facilities
using the on demand
server

Information not available.

Supports scheduling of
reports creating caches.

Supports Hyperion
Essbase which is a
MDDB

Supports Oracle and

Oracle Express Server.
Does not support any
other MDDB databases

Agents can now be

scheduled to run when
the data sources are
refreshed. Previous
releases
only allowed for
scheduling on time.
Transformer build
scripts or a Cognos
Enterprise Server
Administrator can
trigger associated
agents into action.
Through the use of an
agent, an
administrator or set of
users can be notified via
email of a cube refresh.
Supports most of the
databases through
ODBC connectivity.

Supports databases via

OLE DB, ODBC and other
independent middleware
such as EDA*SQL.
BrioQuery can also access
Hyperion Essbase, and
Informix MetaCube, as well
as the Microsoft OLE DB
for OLAP standard for
multidimensional
connectivity.

Supports Microsoft SQL

Supports most of the
Server Analysis Server and RDBMS. No support for
cubes (.cub) files. Does not MDDB Servers.
support any other MDDB
databases or relational
databases.

Automated Time
Dimension Rollups

Scheduling of reports

Portability

Data Accessibility

Schedules are defined

relative to time zones, to
automatically account
for daylight savings
time, date boundaries,
and other time-specific
issues. Both Time based
and event based
schedules for reports
are available.
Narrowcast Server
delivers the information
through e-mail, pager,
fax, voice, and wireless
devices.

BusinessObjects can link to Can support the

a wide range of relational
following databases
databases (Informix,
Microsoft Access 7.0
Ingress, MS-Access, Oracle, Teradata v2
Red Brick, Sybase and
DB2 OS/390
Supports OLAP (MDDB) others through ODBC) as
DB2 AS/400
databases like Essbase well as to local DBF, text
DB2 UDB AIX/NT
OLAP Server 5.0/6.0/6.1 and Excel files
DB2 DataJoiner
or Personal Essbase
Informix 7.x,8.x,9.x
5.0x via GRID Essbase
Supports with Essbase
Oracle 7.3,8.0,8.i,
API.
Server 5.0.2 patch10 and
RedBrick 5.x,6.x
API 5.02 patch10, Essbase
SQL Server 7.0, 2000
Server 6.0 and API 6.0
Sybase Adaptive
Server,11.5,12
Sybase IQ 12
Tandem
Does Not support any
other MDDB engines.

Portable Machine
Support

Security

Security Layer

Supports Microsoft
Windows 95, Windows
98, and Windows NT.
It connects to
Hyperion Essbase on all
supported server
platforms.

Full functionality on
stand-alone machines
running either Windows
95/98 or NT

Supports Microsoft
Windows 95, Windows
98, Windows NT and
2000. And HP-UX, IBM
AIX, and Sun Solaris. It
is possible to save the
data along with the
report and work offline

Excellent, automated
distribution of microcubes
to stand-alone machines.

Data can be shared on

directories or local
machines and can be
compressed.

Capable of working offline with compressed

query results.

Supports Microsoft
Windows 98, Windows NT
and 2000.

Supports Microsoft
Windows 98, Windows NT
4.0 and 2000, Unix (Solaris,
HP-UX, IBM AIX).

Application Manager
component (part of
Essbase engine)
provides global, user
level, filter and cell
level security. No
network security

Excellent dimension
member and cell level
security is built in

The Access Manager is

a user class
management system
allowing PowerPlay the
ability to show data
based on userauthenticated access.
Access Manager also
serves as a secure
repository for log-in
information, thus
providing PowerPlay
with auto-access to
data sources and
servers. In 6.5, the
security information is
stored in a LDAP
repository to simplify
security management.
In series 7, admin can
explicitly limit users
accessing the PowerPlay
Table of Contents. This
provides an
extra security level to
prevent unauthorized
access to PowerPlay
information, while using
PowerPlay from outside
upfront.

BusinessObjects
implements security via the
Supervisor tool. Access to
particular data sources,
rows, documents or
features of the product can
be controlled by user, or
groups of users. In BO 6,
Platform-level resource and
security management is
provided, using which the
task of administration is
simplified. Enterprise 6
works with multiple security
options, including
sophisticated firewall
configurations, secure
sockets layer (SSL),proxy
servers, LDAP, and
Windows authentication.

Offers security at
Network/OS Level . The
following authentication
modes is set for each
project source at the
client front end tool
A.
Standard(MicroStrategy
environment)
B. Win NT
authentication(should
link all users in MSTR
environment to Win NT
users)
C. LDAP authentication
(linking users to LDAP
servers)

The Designer also

administers user and
group-based security,
which complements the
underlying built-in
database security.
Brio uses the term
'Adaptive Reports' to
describe the enhanced
security. Adaptive
reports means that the
user's security profile
adapts on a report-byreport basis, allowing
the same user to
perform ad hoc queries
against a variety of
Data Models that
pertain to their main
line of business

Supports Analysis Services Provides Windows NT,

security model. Domain
Standard security and also
authentication is
data level security.
performed on the server
side (SQL Server 2000
Enterprise Edition Analysis
Services) rather than on
the client

Performance

Response Times

Memory Requirements

Architecture

Client Server
architecture (1,2 or 3 tier)

Compiled Hyperion
Objects analytic
applications provide up
to 20 times better
performance than
application
development tools that
use an interpreted runtime environment. For
maximum performance
and minimal resource
consumption, you can
compile Hyperion
Objects applications
into native optimized
code. Hyperion Objects
uses a thin-client
processing model that
minimizes both
network traffic and
client hardware
requirements. Hyperion
Objects delivers high
levels of developer
productivity through
object-oriented
application
development. Hyperion
Objects applications
are compiled to native
code for maximum
performance and
minimum client
resource consumption.

Although Express
Objects demands a
relatively high powered
machine, the range of
facilities that it includes
should lead
theoretically, overall, to
better performing
applications than
before, though not as
fast as compiled VB5.
Potentially good runtime performance, but
the complex data
structures can slow it
down.

Disk space: 10 MB (End

User), 20 MB
(Developer)
Minimum RAM
required: 16 MB (End
User), 32 MB
(Developer)
Additional
hardware/software
required: 486 class PC
(End User); Pentium
class PC (Developer)

Client server model

supported

Cognos has provided

benchmark figures
which indicate that the
PowerPlay Transformer
can build a PowerCube
from 50 million rows of
input data and 500,000
categories on a dual
Pentium 200 MHz PC in
under seven hours. In
the same test, a
PowerCube could be
built from ten million
rows of input data and
32,000 categories in an
average of 41 minutes,
while a PowerCube of
one million rows and
146,152 categories took
31 minutes. Additional
facilities have been
provided in series 7 for
improving performance
like improved drivers,
time partitioning, etc

The time to generate an

initial query, receive the
results and build the
microcubes. This microcube
creation task is a welloptimized process, but it
will be inevitably slower
than from a 'thin client'
OLAP product that does
most of the work on the
server, downloading only
the information to be
presented to users.
Nevertheless, it will be very
much more convenient than
other desktop OLAP
products that cannot
dynamically generate new
local cubes.

MicroStrategy is a
ROLAP Tool. Lot of
aggregate tables,
indexing should be build
to reduce query
response time. Also
saving report as caches
on local and distributes
systems increases
performance. MSTR
provides Clustering
which is a collection of
two or more machines
that provide services to
a common set of clients.
It allows to implement
following features
1. Fail over (Load
distribution, Transaction
recovery & state
recovery)
2. Load Balancing
(Database load
balancing, server load
balancing & distributed
processing)
Clustering architecture
is suggested for better
response time.

The query time is

governed by the
underlying database,
which would be the
same for any other
desktop OLAP or query
tool. Once the result set
is on the desktop,
performance will be
governed by Brio itself.
Compared to the other
desktop OLAP tools,
Brio is probably a better
multidimensional
engine than
BusinessObjects and
probably as fast as, but
less capacious than the
engine in Cognos
PowerPlay.

SQL Server 2000 Analysis

Services enables users to
perform sophisticated
analyses on large volumes
of data with exceptional
data-retrieval performance
times.

PowerAnalyzer a ROLAP
engine, provides intelligent
caching to improve
performance. Database
level aggregated fact
tables, indexing,
partitioning and other fine
tuning techniques need to
be adopted for optimal
performance.

IBM or compatible PC
Normal query will run
with an Intel 80486DX
on 64 MB Pc
running at 66 MHz (or
greater). Minimum of
24MB of RAM. At least
20MB available on hard
drive for Express
Objects files. CD-ROM
drive. Microsoft
Windows Version 3.1 or
higher with DOS Version
5.0 or higher running in
386 Enhanced Mode, or
Windows 95 or Windows
NT

BusinessObjects is now
widely used for large
applications, but we expect
that the maximum size of
data set suitable for
downloaded analysis is, at
most, a few hundred
thousand rows on a typical
128Mb PC. But it solely
depends on the number of
users and size

For a Medium MSTR 7

production configuration
for about 150 - 2000
cross product users.
MSTR suggests installing
the products across 4
separate hardware
computers with 1024
MB RAM as memory ,1
GB as storage space
required for installation
and Quad Pentium 500
MHz or equivalent
processor.

The small size of the

typically memory
resident cubes makes
them fast in practice,
but medium or larger
sized cubes are slow.

System with Pentium 133

MHz or higher processor,
PIII recommended;
Minimum Hard Disk Space:
30 MB, Minimum 64 MB
RAM required; Operating
System: Windows 98,
Windows 98 Second
Edition, Windows
Millennium Edition
(Windows Me), Microsoft
Windows NT 4.0 with
Service Pack 6 (SP6) or
later, Windows 2000, or
Windows XP or later

Server Requirements:
Operating System Windows 2000, Windows
NT 4.0, or Unix (Solaris, HPUX, IBM AIX), Memory: 512
MB RAM, Hard Disk Space:
500 MB.
Client System: MS Internet
Explorer 5.5, 6.0

Client server model

supported

Client server model

supported. Web based
deliver is also
supported.Allows clustering
of servers for load
balancing and failover
support.

Client server model

Client server model and Client server model
supported (3 tier and 4 n tier model is
supported
tier). Also it supports 2
supported
Tier Architecture. I.e.
eliminating Server. Also ,
The clustering
architecture for a 4 tier
MicroStrategy system
provides both load
balancing and failover
benefits

Client server model

supported

Support for Client Server

and Web architecture.
Allows clustering of servers
for load balancing and
failover support.

Report data can be on

screen - Default

Report data can be on

screen - Default

Report data can be on

screen - Default

Report data can be on

screen - Default

Report data can be directed Report data can be

to the printers
directed to the printers

Screen

Report data can be on

By default the report is The report data is
screen - Default(Options displayed on the screen displayed on screen by
to open reports in a
default.
new excel sheet by
running pre and post
macros are also
available.

Printer (With Graphics)

Report data can be

Report data can be
directed to the printers directed to the printers

Report data can be

directed to the printers

Plotter

Should support as the

interface is same as
that of the printer

It is assumed that
report data can be
directed to the plotter
for the interface is the
same as that of the
printer

Supports as the
interface is same as
that of the printer

Supports Excel

Supports Excel,
Delimited ASCII & PDF

Report data can be

exported to MS Access,
Excel, Word, Text File. The
reports can be shown in
variety of formats including
BusinessObjects
reports,HTML, Excel, and
Adobe Acrobat.

Report data can be

Can generate reports in Supports Excel,
exported to MS Access, HTML, XML, PDF ,Excel PowerPoint, and HTML.
Excel with plain text,
and CSV formats
Excel with Formatting,
Excel without
formatting, HTML, Lotus
with plain Text, Plain text
Delimiter(Comma, Tab,
Semicolon, and Space)
Word.

Report data can be

exported to HTML

Reports can be web

enabled using Web
Intelligence, a separate
module . WebIntelligence
provides powerful
integrated query, reporting,
and analysis functionality
for relational and OLAP data
sources all within one webbased product. Users can
create reports by
performing ad hoc queries,
analyzing the data, and
applying boardroom-quality
report formatting.

It provides Documents
which is a formatted
object of specific type
such as HTML , TML ,
Excel , XML or a
preformatted file that
acts as a container for
both static and dynamic
content. Then these
formatted information
will be send to recipients
by information
transmitters. Different
Information Transmitters
and devices are created
by administrators for
different publications.

Reports can be published

Provides Dashboards,
to the web in HTML format. reports on the web with
zero-footprint Web client.
Also reports can be
exported and published as
static HTML pages.

It provides an object
Does not directly
called Information
support voice output.
Transmitter that delivers
formatted content to
recipient devices. Here
the Information
Transmitter serves the
purpose of sending
wireless messages using
SIMS gateway.

Information not available.

Fax and Autofax (With

Graphics)
Supports Excel

Report data can be

directed to the plotters

Output Media

Web (HTML, XML)

Voicemail

Report data can be directed

to the printers

The same reports can

Support as the interface is Supports as the interface is
be directed to the
same as that of the printer same as that of the printer
plotter, this depends on
the plotter driver.

Supports Fax through

Information
Transmitters.

File (Different Formats)

Supports HTML through Express Web Agent

Hyperion Web Gateway works with any Web
server and any Web
browser

Reports can be directed Report data can be

to graphics compatible directed to the printers
printer.

The report data is

displayed on screen by
default.

Information not available.

Printing on Remote Fax

machine through
PowerAnalyzer Mobile.
Supports Excel, CSV, PDF,
HTML formats.

Information not available.

Briefings can be shared

through e-mail

Can send files through

electronic mail system.

Report data can be send to

users thru e-mails

MicroStrategy
Narrowcast Server has
services that contain
different publications to
support various devices
such as HTML, E-mail,
pagers, and WARP. For
E-mail the service
contains publication that
uses email(SMTP)
information transmitter.

The broadcast server

can e-mail the Brio
documents or just the
URL where they can be
found.

$5000 per named user

PowerPlay Client v6.6

(32 bit installation only)
695
PowerPlay
Transformation Server
v6.6 (Windows Edition)
2,900

The base module of

BusinessObjects 5.0
(whether for Windows or
WebIntelligence) for
viewing, refreshing,
scheduling, and printing
reports is InfoView, with a
US single copy list price of
$395. Two optional modules
can be purchased on top of
InfoView: a query and
reporting module called
Reporter is available for
$395 and an OLAP module
called Explorer is available
for $395.
The standard price includes
access to two server
database sources (including
OLAP), plus ODBC and local
connections. Access to each
additional server database
costs $100 per seat; the
same price also applies to
OLAP databases.
Broadcast Agent costs
$9995 on Windows NT and
$15,995 on Unix. Other
modules include the
Designer, costing $1995
(used by DBAs) and the
Supervisor, also costing
$1995 (used by people who
administer access for
groups of users). The
Developer Suite costs
$6995 per developer

MicroStrategy has
provided an excellent
price calculator called 7
Price Calculator
v2.1( This information
will be provided as an
attachment). Also the
price list is available on
the URL for each MSTR
Component. For
enterprise edition per
CPU Pricing
MicroStrategy
Desktop(Agent,
Architect, Administrator,
SDK) - 60,000 $ . Also
MSTR provides License
manager that allows you
determine the number
of licenses in use for a
specified MSTR product
or products and upgrade
those licenses as
necessary.

The Brio Enterprise

Data Analyzer is priced at
family now consists of
$179 per named user.
six products. BrioQuery
Designer costs $3995,
BrioQuery Explorer
costs $995, Brio.Insight
costs $495 and
Brio.QuickView costs
$50 (sold in packs of
100 for $4995). The
new Brio
Enterprise.Server costs
$32,495 per NT server
and $45,000 per Unix
server for unlimited
users.

e-mail

Hyperion Objects
$10,000

Price*

Price Structure

The Send to Mail Recipient PowerAnalyzer Mobile

command enables a user
supports transmission of
to share a view with other reports to emails.
Data Analyzer users who
have access to the same
cube. The command
creates a mail message
and attaches the view as
a .max file. The mail
recipients can open the file
to launch Data Analyzer
and display the view.

PowerAnalyzer is priced
starting at $50,000 on
server based licenses.

Vendor

Note

Vendor Services

Some of the information

is from secondary
sources.

Hyperion is a global
leader in business
intelligence software
and its sole focus is on
building the Hyperion
Business Intelligence
Platform featuring
world-class extensible
solutions. Hyperion's
award-winning support
organization is based
on customer-centric
principles. Hyperion's
Standard Support
provides productrelated expertise from
a broad pool of
technical and nontechnical experts.

Oracle has operations in

90 countries. Oracle
Support Services is
backed by more than
6,600 dedicated
support professionals
worldwide. Expert
Advice provides an
opportunity for
developers to get
answers to technical
questions from a pool of
70,000 technology
experts. Customers with
an Oracle support
contract can access
Oracle MetaLink to log
and update technical
assistance requests
online, receive
proactive customized
support alerts and
information tailored to
their individual needs.

Cognos has an excellent

direct sales and reseller
network, third only to
Microsoft and Oracle.

The company has direct

operations in the US,
France, Australia, Belgium,
Canada, Germany, Italy,
Japan, The Netherlands,
Sweden, Singapore, South
Africa, Spain,
Switzerland,Hong
Kong,India,Korea and the
UK. It also works with over
500 partners worldwide,
including over 100 VARs.
Almost a third of the
revenue comes from such
indirect sources.

Online help is available

for Technical support
and a dedicated
technical expert will be
allocated to look after
any installation or
configuration problems.
Direct support online is
available through
telephone in UK,
Belgium, Netherlands,
Luxembourg, France,
Germany, Spain, US.

Brio continued to invest

heavily in sales and
marketing with costs in
this area amounting to
an aggressive 58
percent of revenues in
the quarter ended
December 31, 1998.
The result is that Brio
has a much stronger
international
distribution channel
than would be expected
of a company of its size.

Microsoft is a global player

in providing software,
services and Internet
technologies for personal
and business computing.
Microsoft offers a wide
range of software products
and services, including
Operating System, Office
automation tools, Business
Intelligence tools, etc.

Informatica Corporation
founded in 1993 and
headquartered in Redwood
City, California, is a major
player in providing
business analytics software
to monitor and manage the
performance of key
business operations across
the enterprise. Informatica
data integration software
allows customers to build
and manage data
warehouses.