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Usage of Reporting tools in Business Organizations

Success and growth are the main objectives of every organization. But, how can one consider that there is growth in a company at a certain period of time. For this, one has to maintain data and analyze it in a proper manner to find out whether company is heading towards growth or failure. Right information at correct time period should be accessible while taking effective and strategic decisions in an organization. These decisions are very crucial to lead an organization in a successful path. Every organization should understand their business and strategies properly. To build proper strategies: usage of reporting tools, performing various spontaneous queries and planned decision making skills are necessary in an organization.

In the current market scenario, many reporting tools are being used for taking better strategic decisions in many organizations, for example: financial sectors, government and private industries and so on. Most of the organizations have achieved success in taking necessary steps in a faster and easier way by using these reporting tools. Many companies like Sarbanes-Oxley Act; Basel II provided information in the form of reports very quickly and very effectively by using reporting tools. Data models are used in most of the reporting tools for data analyzing, data gathering and storing information in precise and accurate fields. This process plays major role in every organization to make changes in their strategies. Data drilling and segmenting data in proper format plays a vital role in analyzing data in most of the reporting tools. In the current market, there are so many reporting tools, but most of the tools follow same process. The major difference in tools comes in the features offered and benefits that can be obtained from those products. In this article, we discuss two major reporting tools that are leading in the present market i.e. SAP Business Objects and IBM Cognos.

Let’s start with IBM Cognos. Cognos is a product from IBM, one of the competitive organizations in the Information technology market. Cognos is a frontrunner in the business intelligence and commercial performance management. The services can help in observing and understanding business performance. Planning and operational performance software from Cognos is very commonly used. Theirs services are also available through more than 3,000 partners worldwide. This reporting tool consists of Report Studio, Query Studio, Analysis Studio, Metrics Studio, and Events Studio. The tool has undergone many modifications before it is released and final product came out as Cognos 8 Business Intelligence which becomes one of the leading reporting tools. According to one report, Cognos is at least used in 135 countries. This Business Intelligence reporting tool is accessed mostly for analyzing data accurately, absolutely, and quickly. Cognos is a performance management tool that was developed on service-oriented architecture platform and is also very user-friendly. IT developers can have easy access to deploying reports and can manage the system by using this Cognos tool. Cognos is a performance management framework which provides better analytical applications with full capability of BICC services and free training services for business partners.

Even though there are many positive aspects of IBM Cognos, there are few negative aspects that have to be considered before purchasing the product. Some of them are as follows: cognos do not have its own ETL (Extract Transform Load) tool which is very important for extracting data from database’s and load into databases. This is very helpful in creating a cube that makes multidimensional data accessible to the users. While using Cognos, we have to buy ETL tool from some other third party vendors. Latest version of Cognos does not provide offline analysis and reporting. While implementing larger data, the performance of Cognos tool will be slow based on Report Net. Visualization of all the analytics are also not up to the mark while using IBM Cognos. In Cognos, major backlog is the tool which stores proper documentation of the application, this is the reason summarization of the analysis report is not up to the mark while using Cognos.

Business Objects is the IBM tool which is also one of the major reporting tools used by most of the organizations. The major advantage of this tool is, it is very user-friendly and can be used by any individual who is having basic knowledge on computer, for example: running and using databases. This is a productive tool with high performance and efficiency. Data analyzing and accuracy of data are maintained while extracting data into reports by using this business objects tool. The tool helps in improving performance and productivity of the reports. Access to data is very quick as one can access backend directly and easily by using business object. The tool is very much helpful in modifying the queries easily by connecting to database directly and can bring a problem free connectivity. Accurate and efficient data can be retrieved from a complex data. The data retrieved can be placed in format of regular excel sheet or pie chart or bar code diagrams. This feature is very efficient and can be used easily by business analysts to perform data analysis. Security of data is also high when compared to other reporting tools and can reduce efficiency of different users when many users are using the efficacy of data in reporting. The negative side of Business Objects is that the data which comes as output can be inconsistent and data integration is not up to the mark as they should be. Migration path is not consistent when compared to other reporting tools. Performance management tool is also weak when compared to other tools.

Conclusions: Usage of reporting tools always helped in developing the growth of every organization. Future of any organization always depends on the strategies which can be made by proper data analysis and by proper data usage. This can be done accurately by using proper reporting tool and by retrieving data in proper format depending on the requirements given by end user.

References:

• Abukari, K., & Jog, V. (2002). Business intelligence tools. CMA Management, 76(2), 45-46. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.bellevue.edu:80/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/197793488?accountid=28125 • Graves, R. (2005). Business intelligence tools: The smart way to achieve compliance. DM Review, 15(12), 16-16. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.bellevue.edu:80/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/214671721?accountid=28125 • Cognos announces new cognos go! search service. (2006, Apr 17). Middle East Company News, pp. 1-1. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.bellevue.edu:80/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/232887913?accountid=28125 • Cognos builds on performance management vision. (2007, Dec 27). Middle East Company News, pp. 1. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.bellevue.edu:80/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/232834220?accountid=28125 • Cognos launches cognos 8 BI v3 worldwide. (2008, Jan 15). Business Wire, Retrieved from http://ezproxy.bellevue.edu:80/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/444755283?accountid=28125 • Sullivan, Elisabeth A (04/01/2008). "COGNOS INC". Marketing news (0025-3790), 42(6), p.10. http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.bellevue.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=031da767-ceb6-4fa7-aa59-26d437775140%40sessionmgr112&vid=2&hid=125 • IBM Cognos 8 Planning. Performance begins with enterprise planning. Data Sheet. Information Management. http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/data/sw-library/cognos/pdfs/factsheets/fs_ibm_cognos_8_planning.pdf • bidw directory. Business Intelligence Data Warehousing. http://www.bi-dw.info/businessobjects-vs-cognos.htm

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Usage of Reporting tools in Business Organizations

Success and growth are the main objectives of every organization. But, how can one consider that there is growth in a company at a certain period of time. For this, one has to maintain data and analyze it in a proper manner to find out whether company is heading towards growth or failure. Right information at correct time period should be accessible while taking effective and strategic decisions in an organization. These decisions are very crucial to lead an organization in a successful path. Every organization should understand their business and strategies properly. To build proper strategies: usage of reporting tools, performing various spontaneous queries and planned decision making skills are necessary in an organization.

In the current market scenario, many reporting tools are being used for taking better strategic decisions in many organizations, for example: financial sectors, government and private industries and so on. Most of the organizations have achieved success in taking necessary steps in a faster and easier way by using these reporting tools. Many companies like Sarbanes-Oxley Act; Basel II provided information in the form of reports very quickly and very effectively by using reporting tools. Data models are used in most of the reporting tools for data analyzing, data gathering and storing information in precise and accurate fields. This process plays major role in every organization to make changes in their strategies. Data drilling and segmenting data in proper format plays a vital role in analyzing data in most of the reporting tools. In the current market, there are so many reporting tools, but most of the tools follow same process. The major difference in tools comes in the features offered and benefits that can be obtained from those products. In this article, we discuss two major reporting tools that are leading in the present market i.e. SAP Business Objects and IBM Cognos.

Let’s start with IBM Cognos. Cognos is a product from IBM, one of the competitive organizations in the Information technology market. Cognos is a frontrunner in the business intelligence and commercial performance management. The services can help in observing and understanding business performance. Planning and operational performance software from Cognos is very commonly used. Theirs services are also available through more than 3,000 partners worldwide. This reporting tool consists of Report Studio, Query Studio, Analysis Studio, Metrics Studio, and Events Studio. The tool has undergone many modifications before it is released and final product came out as Cognos 8 Business Intelligence which becomes one of the leading reporting tools. According to one report, Cognos is at least used in 135 countries. This Business Intelligence reporting tool is accessed mostly for analyzing data accurately, absolutely, and quickly. Cognos is a performance management tool that was developed on service-oriented architecture platform and is also very user-friendly. IT developers can have easy access to deploying reports and can manage the system by using this Cognos tool. Cognos is a performance management framework which provides better analytical applications with full capability of BICC services and free training services for business partners.

Even though there are many positive aspects of IBM Cognos, there are few negative aspects that have to be considered before purchasing the product. Some of them are as follows: cognos do not have its own ETL (Extract Transform Load) tool which is very important for extracting data from database’s and load into databases. This is very helpful in creating a cube that makes multidimensional data accessible to the users. While using Cognos, we have to buy ETL tool from some other third party vendors. Latest version of Cognos does not provide offline analysis and reporting. While implementing larger data, the performance of Cognos tool will be slow based on Report Net. Visualization of all the analytics are also not up to the mark while using IBM Cognos. In Cognos, major backlog is the tool which stores proper documentation of the application, this is the reason summarization of the analysis report is not up to the mark while using Cognos.

Business Objects is the IBM tool which is also one of the major reporting tools used by most of the organizations. The major advantage of this tool is, it is very user-friendly and can be used by any individual who is having basic knowledge on computer, for example: running and using databases. This is a productive tool with high performance and efficiency. Data analyzing and accuracy of data are maintained while extracting data into reports by using this business objects tool. The tool helps in improving performance and productivity of the reports. Access to data is very quick as one can access backend directly and easily by using business object. The tool is very much helpful in modifying the queries easily by connecting to database directly and can bring a problem free connectivity. Accurate and efficient data can be retrieved from a complex data. The data retrieved can be placed in format of regular excel sheet or pie chart or bar code diagrams. This feature is very efficient and can be used easily by business analysts to perform data analysis. Security of data is also high when compared to other reporting tools and can reduce efficiency of different users when many users are using the efficacy of data in reporting. The negative side of Business Objects is that the data which comes as output can be inconsistent and data integration is not up to the mark as they should be. Migration path is not consistent when compared to other reporting tools. Performance management tool is also weak when compared to other tools.

Conclusions: Usage of reporting tools always helped in developing the growth of every organization. Future of any organization always depends on the strategies which can be made by proper data analysis and by proper data usage. This can be done accurately by using proper reporting tool and by retrieving data in proper format depending on the requirements given by end user.

References:

• Abukari, K., & Jog, V. (2002). Business intelligence tools. CMA Management, 76(2), 45-46. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.bellevue.edu:80/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/197793488?accountid=28125 • Graves, R. (2005). Business intelligence tools: The smart way to achieve compliance. DM Review, 15(12), 16-16. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.bellevue.edu:80/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/214671721?accountid=28125 • Cognos announces new cognos go! search service. (2006, Apr 17). Middle East Company News, pp. 1-1. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.bellevue.edu:80/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/232887913?accountid=28125 • Cognos builds on performance management vision. (2007, Dec 27). Middle East Company News, pp. 1. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.bellevue.edu:80/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/232834220?accountid=28125 • Cognos launches cognos 8 BI v3 worldwide. (2008, Jan 15). Business Wire, Retrieved from http://ezproxy.bellevue.edu:80/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/444755283?accountid=28125 • Sullivan, Elisabeth A (04/01/2008). "COGNOS INC". Marketing news (0025-3790), 42(6), p.10. http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.bellevue.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=031da767-ceb6-4fa7-aa59-26d437775140%40sessionmgr112&vid=2&hid=125 • IBM Cognos 8 Planning. Performance begins with enterprise planning. Data Sheet. Information Management. http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/data/sw-library/cognos/pdfs/factsheets/fs_ibm_cognos_8_planning.pdf • bidw directory. Business Intelligence Data Warehousing. http://www.bi-dw.info/businessobjects-vs-cognos.htm