Pentaho: More Open Source Business Intelligence Moxie
March 31, 2009
Business intelligence gets knocks for complexity and performance. In my work, I hear about the direct and indirect costs of business intelligence systems. Those buying BI suites and systems drink the KoolAid and then seemed amazed that the manager of customer support doesn’t know what reports mean or how to get reports that answer specific questions. One of these three weaknesses can be addressed in part by the new Pentaho release. Open source business intelligence lets a customer sidestep some of the licensing fees. Alas, some of the other costs remain.
Pentaho, an open source business intelligence vendor, released a new version of its BI suite. You can read the details here. The company’s tag line for version 3.0 is “User friendly, cloud ready, and community powered.”
This new version includes an updated dashboard design tool. The idea is that an authorized user with no training can create a display of metrics without having to wait in a queue for a developer. The notion of personalization eliminates the grousing that canned reports are of minimal use to most line managers. This new version hooks into Amazon’s cloud services. The design of Version 3.0 makes it easier to integrate specialized functions or “hook in” other enterprise data.
There are basic search tools, but like other business intelligence systems, finding information via a key word query lags the more traditional analytic functions. More information is available here. A demonstration is available, but I had to register my trusty boxer dog as a prospect in order to gain access to the information. I much prefer basic information to be available without requiring me to register an animal. When I know I have a need for more detail, that’s when I would be willing to register. Your mileage may vary, of course.
Stephen Arnold, March 31, 2009
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really cool website, the web needs more sites like this. I will visit again