Oracle BI Update Delivers a Mixed Bag

Make no mistake, OBIEE+ 11g is one of the most important happenings in BI this year. But Oracle's BI technology consolidation continues to produce some confusion. Here's a brief take.

In a nutshell, OBIEE+ 11g is Oracle's business intelligence "platform" (my quotes), which essentially consists of the following:

Right away, we begin to see where the two lanes on the roadmap don't quite merge into one -- for example, the glaring overlap in reporting tools. If OBIEE+ is now one big happy family, why do we need two separate reporting tools for formatted reports, and two separate tools for interactive reporting? Then, how well does Hyperion/Essbase integrate with the EIM metadata management tool? Unfortunately not too well -- for example, you can use Essbase as a source to the EIM, but you cannot enforce the use of EIM to regulate all the Hyperion data access.

For some other perspectives, see this write-up on the release.

For my fellow New Jersey Turnpike sufferers, I'd say that OBIEE+ is now approaching Intersection 8A, where the car and truck lanes merge. It's the time to be alert and aware of the confusion and risks of merging into the combined lane.

With the rapidly spinning OBIEE rubber meeting the high-speed enterprise IT road, it's only fair to expect some squealing sounds and burning smells. And we will know soon enough how effective is the cockpit. However, all that shouldn't take away from the fact that we have a solid engine under the hood, getting noticeably better.Make no mistake, OBIEE+ 11g is one of the most important happenings in BI this year. But Oracle's BI technology consolidation continues to produce some confusion. Here's a brief take.