Business intelligence software

Business intelligence tools are a type of application software designed to report, analyze and present data. The tools generally read data that have been previously stored, often, though not necessarily, in a data warehouse or data mart.

Types of business intelligence tools

The key general categories of business intelligence tools are:

• Spreadsheets
• Reporting and querying software: tools that extract, sort, summarize, and present selected data
• OLAP: Online analytical processing
• Digital Dashboards
• Data mining
• Decision engineering
• Process mining
• Business performance management
• Local information systems

Except for spreadsheets, these tools are sold as standalone tools, suites of tools, components of ERP systems, or as components of software targeted to a specific industry. The tools are sometimes packaged into data warehouse appliances.

Open source free products

• Eclipse BIRT Project
• JasperSoft
• Pentaho Community Edition
• RapidMiner
• SpagoBI

Open source commercial products

• Palo (OLAP database): OLAP Server, Worksheet Server and ETL Server
• Pentaho: Reporting, analysis, dashboard, data mining and workflow capabilities

Proprietary free products

• InetSoft
• MicroStrategy
  • MicroStrategy Reporting Suite

Proprietary products

• ActiveReports
• Actuate
• Advanced Business Solutions
• ApeSoft
• ComArch
• Data Applied
• Decision Support Panel
• Dundas Data Visualization, Inc.
• Dimensional Insight
• IBM Cognos
• IDV Solutions Visual Fusion
• InetSoft
• Informatica
• Information Builders
• InfoZoom
• Izenda
• Jreport
• Klipfolio Dashboard
• LogiXML
• Microsoft
  • SQL Server Reporting Services
  • SQL Server Analysis Services
  • PerformancePoint Server 2007
  • Proclarity
• MicroStrategy
• Oracle
  • Hyperion Solutions Corporation
  • Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition
• Panorama Software
• Pentaho
• Pervasive DataRush
• PRELYTIS
• Qliktech
• SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence
  • Business Objects
  • OutlookSoft
• SAS
• Siebel Systems
• Spotfire (now Tibco)
• Sybase IQ
• Tableau Software
• [TARGIT]
• Teradata
• Thomson Data Analyzer
• XLCubed
• Zoho Reports (as part of the Zoho Office Suite)

External links

• BusinessWeek Magazine: Giving the Boss the Big Picture: A dashboard pulls up everything the CEO needs to run the show (February 2006)
• Bloomberg Businessweek: "Business Intelligence Software's Time Is Now" (March, 2009)
• Gartner Research: Gartner Research Report on Business Intelligence Platforms, 2010