Enterprise Reporting - Multi-Dimensional Tools

These Enterprise Reporting Tools are classic decision support modeling languages.  Today they often are referred to as OLAP tools. They are based on some sort of multi-dimensional data store and allow for a user to do a great deal of data manipulation. Usually, the interface is very visual.  They also may have a 4GL like command language that has a number of financial modeling and/or operations research functions built in to the language.  These are often very valuable tools, and depending on the organization, will fill important niches.  A more general purpose tool is not nearly as strong in these areas. Conversely, they are not designed for general purpose reporting and are poor choices for such work.  They are targeted at sophisticated end users who have a requirement to do heavy data analysis and modeling. Some are highly specialized and are meant for a specific task such as econometric analysis. They also usually have limitations on the amount of data that can be accommodated due to the architecture of the product.  Overall these products are

• Specialized products targeted at a small sophisticated end user audience who requires strong data analysis and modeling capabilities
• Usually have data storage limitations due to architecture
• Limited or non existent support production reporting
• Limited capabilities for such activities as report distribution via e-mail etc.
• Limited Platforms
• Usually requires that the data be loaded into the multidimensional tool, which is resource intensive
• May not deal well with legacy data
• Requires a client tool, this means added support costs and network traffic issues for large cubes
• Not a  broad purpose Enterprise Reporting tool

See our Enterprise Reporting Test.