| QUESTION & ANSWER |
SAP improves mySAP BI |
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By Robert Westervelt, SearchSAP.com News Writer
23 Jul 2003 | SearchSAP.com |
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There are currently 6,500 installations of mySAP Business Intelligence (BI) around the globe. Now SAP is working on simplifying BI for its customers, according to Roman Bukary, director of BI marketing strategy at SAP. Bukary arrived at SAP in 2002 from San Mateo Calif.-based Talaris Corporation, a Web services company. Prior to joining Talaris, Roman was part of the management team at Informatica Corporation, a BI company, where he built the product marketing and solutions marketing teams. Bukary spoke with SearchSAP.com about the future of SAP BI. MySAP BI includes Crystal Decisions software with predefined reports based on Crystal Reports templates. Will Business Objects' acquisition of Crystal Decisions have any immediate impact on your current customers?
Bukary: Business Objects and Crystal Decisions are both certified SAP partners, and Crystal is an SAP Global Partner who has provided valuable add-on functionality for our customers requiring formatted reporting. Since Business Objects has committed to supporting Crystal's product line after the acquisition is completed, we see no reason at this time to alter our relationship with Crystal Decisions. As Business Objects completes this acquisition, we will re-evaluate the situation.
Don't most SAP customers currently use an outside vendor for BI software on their SAP systems? How is SAP getting current customers to turn to SAP for BI?
With information that is so business-critical, what can customers expect in terms of security and data protection?
What improvements are you planning for SAP's BI software?
Bukary: We're enhancing the technology and making it easier for the user. We'll be enhancing SAP NetWeaver, our open integration and application platform designed to be the foundation for new versions of mySAP CRM software. We're trying to leverage whatever hardware mySAP BI is placed on and, for any given hardware, we want to be faster. We now have an XML interface that is stable and standard in the industry. When customers are looking to build a data warehouse, they can now use XML services. The BW interface lets you see not only data warehouse workload data, but also where it originated and how fresh the information is.
How do you expect to communicate these improvements to users?
Bukary: As we get closer to the release, we will do education at our TechEd so we reach the overall field. We also send out updates to our customers. The process of educating the customers will be consistent and identical to what we've been doing all along.
How does SAP NetWeaver function with BI?
Bukary: SAP NetWeaver is both a product and a concept. In the case of BI, we want to take a business intelligence data warehouse through a portal in a mobile device and want to make sure we can get the capabilities out of the server. We want to harmonize the data through some sort of data management system. NetWeaver is a unification of all the interconnected foundational technologies to provide one unified stack. It's a set of pre-integrated components that together form this foundation.
How much customization do most SAP BI software implementations require?
Bukary: Our objective is to make the stuff turnkey. The reality is that there is some work to be required, but the burden is on us to make sure that the amount of customization is decreased toward zero, so that the customer has the ability to say 'I want this entire stack.' Overall, there will be some work that is required.
How does mySAP BI help with data warehouse management?
Bukary: It allows organizations to create and control data warehouses and align technology infrastructure with business requirements. The functions available to customers include control, monitoring and maintenance of all processes connected with data staging and processing in SAP BI. The SAP BI infrastructure supports the processing of large volumes of data within the data warehouse. It also quickly provides information for analysis at the right level of detail.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
SearchSAP.com BI seen as tool for maximizing ERP
SearchSAP.com business intelligence and third-party tool integration
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