Analysis vs WebI (Web Intelligence)

[Former Member]

I've searched all over SCN as well as the rest of the web and can't find a good comparison between the two tools. I did see a post on here comparing WebI 3.X with Analysis 4.0 but we're specifically looking at 4.0 tools. We're working on a side by side comparison of BusinessObjects Analysis vs Web Intelligence and what situations, if any, you would want to use WebI over Analysis, especially when you have Crystal Reports as an option for formatted reports. To us it seems that Analysis gives you much more flexibility without the restrictions of WebI. Any input on this or links to relevant articles is much appreciated and points will be awarded for helpful answers!

[CdnConnection · Accepted solution]

Chris,

    Here are some pointer to keep in mind:

Analysis for Office:

- Can only be used against SAP BW sources

- Meant to replace SAP BEx tool only

- Can NOT cross report between multiple sources

- Users must have Analysis Add-in installed on their & SAP Gui must be installed and maintained locally.

- Can NOT user over the Web

- Uses users local resources (Memory & CPU). 32-bit ver limited to 4Gig memory limit

- Limited graph functional, depends on MS Excel

- NO Mobile deployment option

WebI:

- Can be used again SAP BW (BICS) directly or any other datasource using UNV or UNX

- Completely web based tool.  You can create complex and highly formatted reports that users can slice and dice and create their own version for analysis.

- Fully support Ad-hoc reporting.

- Support some of the latest graph formats like Waterfall, Heat, Bubble, ....

- Support well over 500 calculation functions

- Can cross report against multiple datasources.  Such as BW / SQL / Excel / ....

- Supports Mobile functional for deployment of iPad

Here are just some that I can think of, each tool has its place and best practices.  I would only recommend Analysis for OLAP for SAP BEx users.  I would also strongly recommend checking articles by Ingo Hilgefort, he has several documents that explain when to use what tools for the best job.

Regards,

Ajay Gupta

Hope this help you somewhat.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Ajay,

Thank you, your post was very helpful! I'm wondering if you can add similar bullet points for Analysis for OLAP? We're looking to compare both versions against WebI.

Thank You!

Chris

[CdnConnection · Accepted solution]

Chris,

       Here are some points for Analysis for OLAP over the Web:

- Completely web based tool

- Can be used against any type of OLAP source ( BW, SQL, ...)

- Has limited functional as compared to Analysis for Office

- Can save as Analysis View, which can be used as a data source by Crystal, Analysis fir Office and WebI.

- Can NOT cross report between multiple data sources.

- Need to extra tune you BI Platform for optional usage over the web.

Regards,

Ajay Gupta

Let me know if this additional information was helpful.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

This was all very helpful, thank you for you input!

[TammyPowlas · Accepted solution]

Ajay Gupta

Ajay Gupta wrote:
Chris,
       Here are some points for Analysis for OLAP over the Web:
- Has limited functional as compared to Analysis for Office
- 
- Can NOT cross report between multiple data sources.
- 
Regards,
Ajay Gupta
Let me know if this additional information was helpful. 

Ajay - I have concerns over these two comments - for sure you can have multiple queries in sheets in a workspace and to generalize that it has limited functionality over Analysis Office concerns me - if you know one Analysis Office you can use Analysis OLAP.  Analysis OLAP gives you a conditional formatting preview feature, reordering feature, etc. 

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I actually did come up with another question - regarding saving Analysis views - can this be done both ways (from OLAP to Office and from Office to OLAP)?

[TammyPowlas · Accepted solution]

Yes you can do from both Analysis Office / OLAP

There are tutorials at sap.com/learnbi to walk you through those steps

[CdnConnection · Accepted solution]

Tammy,

    OLAP version is still missing many of of the advanced features like:

- Style Sheets

- TWO cross tab on ONE Tab from multiple sources

- Many of the advanced Excel functions not supported

- Fit to page for printing

Regards,

Ajay

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Those statements are not entirely accurate. Analysis OLAP does support two Crosstabs on one tab from multiple sources. And, there is also a "Fit to Page Width" option when performing a "Data" print.

Philip

[TammyPowlas · Accepted solution]

I agree with

When it comes to Analysis Office/OLAP it is a matter of deployment - do you want to do your analysis in Excel (Analysis Office) or over the web (Analysis OLAP)?

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hello Ajay,

Can we combine the data from two different BEx queries and display as a single block in Analysis?

In WebI, we can combine result set of two BEx queries (provided that both queries had common dimension and we can use them for merging) using merge dimensions and can display the combined result as a single block i.e. in a single table.

Thanks and Regards,

Aashutosh

[Henry_Banks · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Please refer to the aplication's Help documentation. Namely this topic:

Creating and administrating workbooks

You can insert SAP BEx Queries, query views and SAP Netweaver BW InfoProvider as data
sources in a workbook. These data sources are stored in a SAP NetWeaver BW
system. You can add multiple crosstabs to worksheet or workbook. The crosstabs
can contain data from the same data source or from different sources. You can
also use data sources that are stored in different systems in one workbook.

I hope this helps.
Regards,
H

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Aashutosh,

Have you able to merge 2 queries into One Analysis Workbook? I am also trying to merge 2 Bex queries into one block by using Analysis for Office.Can you let me know how to do that or whether its possible?

Appreciate your help.

Regards,

Murali.

[Henry_Banks · Accepted solution]

Yes in Analysis edition for OLAP (i.e. Analysis Web)

regards,H

[TammyPowlas]

Also consider Analysis OLAP, which is a web-based OLAP tool.

Please see presentation "How to Select the Right BI Tool" http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/d0db4050-c83e-2f10-fd99-b5b981431...

I think that may be what you are looking for

Tammy

[TammyPowlas]

Also, Ingo had a very popular session at TechEd last week - you can watch online here:

http://www.sapvirtualevents.com/teched/sessiondetails.aspx?sId=3320&replay=yes

Regards

Tammy

[Former Member]

Hi,

I am able to bring 2 BEx queries into one Analysis workbook (Analysis for office) but couldnt find how to combine both queries and display in one block. Can you please guide me how to connect those 2 queries in Analysis for Office workbook?

Thanks,

Raj

[Former Member]

Hi Raj,

You Can have Two query in the same report,

1-  Data

2- Connect to data data source

3- Selmect your BEX query

but you cannot merge tow query in the same crosstab this option will be available in BI 4.1 see the document below (P 10)

Thanks

ILYAEBI

[Former Member]

Hi Raj,

You Can have Two query in the same report,

1-  Data

2- Connect to data data source

3- Selmect your BEX query

but you cannot merge tow query in the same crosstab this option will be available in BI 4.1 see the document below (P 10)

Thanks

ILYAEBI