The BusinessObjects portfolio contains many different tools for different usages. And some of the tools cross over each other a little bit.
In a nutshell, most of the tools are surrounding the BusinessObjects Enterprise which is typically sold at CPU licenses. it contains 2 report development tools called Web Intelligence (short for WebI) and Desktop Intelligence (short for DeskI). WebI is a thin client and DeskI is a fat client. DeskI is supposed to be an interim tool to bring the users from legacy versions of BusinessObjects over to WebI. But since WebI still cannot do everything (although it is getting closer and closer) DeskI can do, people are reluctant to let go, and SAP BusinessObjects has to continue to carry this tool for now. If you are starting new, you can ignore DeskI as it will eventually be phased out.
There is another reporting tool called Crystal Report which requires separate licenses. It is the most powerful and most popular reporting tool on this planet. But it requires good technical knowledge to use it. Crystal can connect to the data source either through a Universe (the metadata layer) or directly. WebI requires a Universe to connect, but it is more user friendly and it is meant to be used by power users and not IT developers.
The BusinessObjects suite also provides a pseudo-reporting/visualization tool called Xcelsius, which can present information graphically. It is very easy to use and it is supposed to display information at very high level view for quick "health-check" of your organization. It can also be used for "what-if" analysis. But very often, people tend to dump too much data into the tool to make it unusable.
The BusinessObjects portfolio also include numerous miscellaneous tools for different purposes and usage. But what I have provided to you above should give you a good starting point.
Hope this helps.
Bluesky
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