Executive Summary

  • This is the Brightwork Research & Analysis software rating series.
  • We rate both the software and estimate the risk of implementing each application.

MUFI Rating & Risk for Oracle BI

MUFI: Maintainability, Usability, Functionality, Implement ability

Vendor: Oracle (Select For Vendor Profile)

Introduction

Oracle BI is rebadged Hyperion, which was acquired by Oracle in 2007.

Application Detail

Oracle BI is a high maintenance product. Along with the other large acquired BI vendors like Oracle BI and IBM Cognos, Business Objects that have received little investment since their joint 2007 acquisitions, Business Objects is on the wrong side of the self-service/maintenance continuum. Oracle BI increasingly has scalability problems as its code ages, and it is not able to keep up with other BI platforms which are more advanced under the covers. However, it does still have a good user interface and a logical layout, and that may be why it still scores well in buyer satisfaction.

Oracle BI

We found Oracle BI to be tedious use. It’s an older generation product with moderate to poor productivity, which is often associated with being a leading edge product because of Oracle’s good reputation in databases. However, developing a good relational database and a good BI platform are not the same thing, as evidenced by the fact that Oracle was not able to build it own BI platform but had to acquire one. The reports Oracle can generate are uninspiring, and the observations that can be gained from them quite limited. We don’t include many screenshots because anything that can be done in Oracle BI can be done better and faster in other BI applications. There are no “best” things to highlight. 

Seeing Oracle BI versus the newer BI applications, it is clear how BI applications have progressed throughout the years. Unfortunately, Oracle BI is the “before” picture, that is the old picture you find in the attic where you can’t believe what your family members were wearing.

This is too often the same story with Oracle. Its products are old acquisitions which have not been upgraded, while Oracle continues to be either the most challenging software vendor or one of the most challenging software vendors to deal with. The only way to top it off would be to buy Oracle BI and then hire a significant consulting company to implement the application. This would achieve the maximum TCO with one of the worst technologies at the second longest implementation time assuring failure in multiple dimensions.

Oracle makes a great deal of sales noise about what a long history it has in databases – and it does. But it does not have a long history in analytics, and it seriously lags other BI knowledge. As with most acquisitions, the employees of the Hyperion acquisition have been subordinated to the Oracle monster, many have left, and those that remain have had their opinions devalued by executive decision makers with no analytics background. The advice given by Oracle concerning BI is so poor that they should never be relied upon for anything other than tactical configuration work. Oracle continually makes claims regarding its BI platform/functionality that turns out to be not particularly relevant to practical BI usage, and therefore are far less than advertised. They are not an innovator in the BI space but are one of the nosiest vendors in BI, and one of their strategies is announcing this or that high specification usage of Oracle BI (see our article on Fake Innovators).

They are all style over substance with much of their marketing directed towards low information buyers. Oracle’s biggest market for Oracle BI is of course “Oracle Shops,” but also clients that don’t have a good understanding of BI and how to differentiate between the different vendors and technologies — BI has extremely little to do with relational database technologies. Looking at how long in the tooth Oracle BI is, and how we can predict it will receive either no or insufficient development, that Oracle, as IBM will be searching for a BI acquisition. Oracle BI is not a serious alternative for buyers, and a purchase is a virtual guarantee of a bad outcome.

MUFI Scores

All scores out of a possible 10.

MUFI Scores

Search for the vendor in this table using the search bar in the upper right of the table. Shortening Key: 
  • Ma. = Maintainability
  • Us. = Usability
  • Fu. = Functionality
  • Im. = Implementability
AppMa.Us.Ft.Im.Cat.
Average Score for Big ERP5.14.85.25.4Big ERP
Average Score for CRM6.26.25.15.9CRM
Average Score for Small and Medium ERP8.386.78.5Small and Medium ERP
Average Score for Finance8.88.888.8Finance
Average Score for Demand Planning7.67.277.1Demand Planning
Average Score for Supply Planning6.76.976.8Supply Planning
Average Score for Production Planning6.86.976.9Production Planning
Average Score for BI Heavy5.55.36.95.3BI Heavy
Average Score for PLM77.26.87.3PLM
Average Score for BI Light7.78.798.3BI Light
Arena Solutions Arena PLM 10101010PLM
AspenTech AspenOne48107Production Planning
Birst 88.5108BI Light
ERPNext10107.510Small and Medium ERP
Delfoi Planner866.57Production Planning
Demand Works Smoothie SP910710Supply Planning
Hamilton Grant RM1098.59PLM
IBM Cognos2.731.53BI Heavy
Infor Epiphany7865CRM
Infor Lawson8767Big ERP
Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions9959Finance
JDA DM97.588Demand Planning
Microsoft Dynamics CRM2322CRM
NetSuite CRM6433CRM
Netsuite OneWorld7788Big ERP
OpenERP788.587
Oracle BI4436BI Heavy
Oracle CRM On Demand4535CRM
Oracle Demantra533.54.5Demand Planning
Oracle JD Edwards World4136Big ERP
Oracle RightNow6745CRM
PlanetTogether Galaxy APS10101010Production Planning
Preactor8737Production Planning
QlikTech QlikView99109BI Light
Rootstock9899Small and Medium ERP
Sage X38878Big ERP
Salesforce Enterprise88.597.5CRM
SAP APO DP3432Demand Planning
SAP APO PP/DS2243Production Planning
SAP APO SNP3484Supply Planning
SAP BI/BW1.5242BI Heavy
SAP Business Objects32.573BI Heavy
SAP CRM4364CRM
SAP ECC336.53Big ERP
SAP PLM12.523PLM
SAP SmartOps4475.5Supply Planning
SAS BI6.5796BI Heavy
SAS Demand Driven Forecasting7897Demand Planning
Tableau (BI)9101010BI Light
Tableau (Forecasting)10859Demand Planning
Teradata86.39.76BI Heavy
ToolsGroup SO99 (Forecasting)7897Demand Planning
ToolsGroup SO99 (Supply)56107Supply Planning

Vendor and Application Risk

Oracle BI is an average product but from a difficult to deal with the vendor. Consulting for the implementation will most frequently come from a major consulting company. Therefore the implementation will be expensive. Expectations should be kept in line with the product. Oracle has a powerful brand in the marketplace, but Oracle BI only has models capabilities.

Likelihood of Implementation Success

This accounts for both the application and vendor-specific risk. In our formula, the total implementation risk is application + vendor + buyer risk. The buyer specific risk could increase or decrease this overall likelihood and adjust the values that you see below.

Likelihood of Application Implementation Success and Failure

Estimates are for a typical project. A specific implementation requires details from the project to make a project-specific estimate.

Search for the application in this table using the search bar in the upper right of the table.
ApplicationProb of Implementation SuccessProb of Implementation Failure
Actuate0.770.23
SAP Smartops0.390.61
NetSuite CRM0.460.54
Sugar CRM0.620.48
Base CRM0.910.09
SAP CRM0.350.65
Salesforce Enterprise0.720.28
QlikTech QlikView0.820.18
Tableau (BI)0.980.02
SAP Crystal Reports0.460.54
Brist0.830.17
MicroStrategy0.70.3
SAS BI0.760.24
Oracle BI0.350.65
IBM Cognos0.230.77
Infor Epiphany0.580.42
Microsoft Dynamics CRM0.260.74
Oracle RightNow CRM0.410.59
Oracle CRM On Demand0.360.64
Teradata0.760.24
SAP Business Objects0.320.68
SAP BI/BW0.250.75
SAP PLM0.290.71
Hamilton Grant RM0.890.11
Arena Solutions0.960.04
Delfoi Planner0.70.3
Preactor0.640.36
PlanetTogether Galaxy APS0.960.04
AspenTech AspenOne0.550.45
SAP APO PP/DS0.270.73
Demand Works Smoothie SP0.930.07
ToolsGroup SO99 (Supply)0.820.18
Demand Works Smoothie0.960.04
Tableau (Forecasting)0.90.1
SAS Demand Driven Forecasting0.820.18
ToolsGroup SO99 (Forecasting)0.860.14
JDA DM0.570.43
Oracle Demantra0.330.67
SAP APO DP0.280.72
FinancialForce0.920.08
Intacct0.980.02
Intuit QB Enterprise0.80.2
ERPNext0.90.1
OpenERP0.780.22
Rootstock0.910.09
ProcessPro0.930.07
Microsoft Dynamics AX0.40.6
SAP Business One0.490.51
Sage X30.620.38
Infor Lawson0.580.42
Epicor ERP0.40.6
Oracle JD Edwards World0.310.69
Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne0.360.64
SAP ERP ECC/R/30.320.68
NetSuite OneWorld0.650.35

Risk Definition

See this link for more on our categorizations of risk. We also offer a Buyer Specific Risk Estimation as a service for those that want a comprehensive analysis.

Risk Management Approach

Buyers should be careful not to allow the decision to purchase of Oracle BI to influence other purchases, on the basis that they will “integrate” to Oracle BI. Oracle BI/Hyperion has been around for some time, meaning that independent consultants can be found to do the work and offer opinions on the best way forward. Oracle and the major consulting companies they outsource their work to can’t be trusted to look out for the buyer’s interests, and neither entity will every contradict the other as they are tied at the hip at the highest levels. Getting an independent viewpoint will be a precious addition to risk management, and we predict that buyers that do this will get a lower priced and higher quality implementation.

Finished With Your Analysis?

To go back to the Software Selection Package page for the BI Heavy software category. Or go to this link to see other analytical products for Oracle BI.