PUBLICATIONS

Decision Tree for Guiding BI Front-End Strategy in SAP NetWeaver BI and Business Objects Landscapes

By David Dixon, Vice President in Inforte's BI Practice

When deciding on which front-end tool to use from the combined product portfolio of SAP and Business Objects a lot of customer-specific criteria need to be factored in (such as specific requirements, organizational mandates, existing landscape, in-house skill sets and the cultural setting) in addition to the vendor-specific considerations (such as the roadmap and software maturity). However, there are general rules of thumb that can be applied to properly position the options in order to match the right tool for the right job at hand. This decision tree is centered on the nature of the job at hand considering factors such as the accomplishment goal, where the work is being done and who is doing the work. If you are interested in a more detailed decision tree with more evaluative criteria (such as Inforte's weightings and scorings) that also encompasses a greater portion of the combined SAP and Business Objects portfolio (such as the backend tools and financial performance management applications), please contact us at sales@inforte.com learn more 

Designing Compelling Business Intelligence Business Cases for an SAP Software Landscape

By David Dixon, Vice President in Inforte's BI Practice

Now that the SAP acquisition of Business Objects has officially come to pass and the first unified Business Intelligence (BI) product roadmap been shared, organizations should be reviewing their own BI portfolios and roadmaps to understand the opportunities and impacts. While Dave Dixon's previous white paper focused on the architecture and integration options for leveraging complementary solutions to SAP NetWeaver BI, this white paper explicitly focuses on the combined functionalities of the Business Objects and SAP portfolios. It provides a series of use case scenarios to help build business cases for leveraging what is now possible with the combined portfolio. This white paper specifically addresses the functionalities of named SAP and Business Objects BI products as opposed to talking about complementary BI solutions in general. The intended audience is the Office of the CIO whose main focus is to understand how to extract value from Business Intelligence in an SAP software landscape. This white paper will highlight why BI has become so important and what SAP is doing about it. learn more 

Business Intelligence in SAP Environments: Understanding the Value of Complementary BI Solutions

By David Dixon, Vice President in Inforte's BI Practice

With the recent SAP offer to acquire Business Objects, understanding how to maximize the value of hybrid architectures with SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence becomes even more pertinent and important. This timely white paper talks about how Specialist BI solutions can complement the native SAP capabilities: It provides a condensed executive summary for decision makers, holistic coverage for decision support teams, and appendices which include historical and technical details that give the assertions made in this document context and support for the experts. David Dixon expands the vision of SAP NetWeaver where his definitive book, Mastering the SAP Business Information Warehouse: Leveraging the Business Intelligence Capabilities of SAP NetWeaver, left off by demonstrating how "best-of-breed" has evolved into "best-of-hybrid" solutions that leverage complementary Specialist BI suites in SAP environments. learn more 

How to Load a Flat File in SAP BI Integrated Planning Using BEx

By Jarrett Bialek and Jens Koerner

New functionality in SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning allows end users to upload data directly into transactional cubes via BEx. This Inforte/B&D how-to white paper outlines the exact steps needed to create flat file upload functionality in BEx. It also shows step-by-step how to use a query to preview the data uploaded before deciding whether to save (write) the data to the target cube. These steps replicate BPS file upload functionality in BI-IP. The final solution depicted in this paper provides the user with the familiarity of BEx with the flexibility of Integrated Planning. learn more 

The supporting files referenced in this whitepaper can be found here

CRM Unplugged: Releasing CRM's Strategic Value

By Philip Bligh, Inforte Founder, and Douglas Turk

The stories are as painful as they are widespread. Companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on CRM initiatives, and yet experts estimate that more than 50 percent of these implementations will be viewed as failures. However, with the proper oversight and strategic thinking, CRM is a useful, profit-enhancing, even vital business tool. CRM Unplugged: Releasing CRM's Strategic Value, by Inforte Founder Philip Bligh and Douglas Turk, demonstrates how to define, approach and profitably apply CRM to any business. With CRM Unplugged, businesses now have a concrete, step-by-step guide to maximizing their CRM investment. learn more 

Mastering The SAP Business Information Warehouse: Leveraging the Business Intelligence Capabilities of SAP NetWeaver

By David Dixon, Vice President in Inforte's BI Practice; Andreas Wilmsmeier; Kevin McDonald and William Inmon

The Business Intelligence capabilities of NetWeaver are now an integral part of almost every SAP solution. Not only does SAP BI enable reporting and analytics, but it integrates with business processes via the NetWeaver platform. In order to leverage the power of NetWeaver, proper architecture and design through rigorous planning and information engineering is needed. Inforte's David Dixon shares his implementation insight and years of expertise in an in-depth guide to getting the most out of your SAP investments with his definitive book Mastering the SAP Business Information Warehouse. learn more