As a core component of SAP NetWeaver, Business Warehouse (BW) provides data warehousing and business intelligence functionality for analyzing business data from SAP ERP (R/3). Unfortunately, performance issues and functionality limitations have plagued SAP BW installations. The scope of data in SAP BW is often limited to SAP ERP data, and users lack the self-service access needed to effectively drive fact-based decision making. As a result, many SAP BW customers are failing to unlock the full potential of their SAP business data.
Birst for SAP Business Warehouse (BW) addresses these limitations, helping businesses to get more from their SAP BW deployments. Birst provides dashboarding, reporting, and ad hoc analysis through a cloud-based solution that is quicker to deploy, easier to use, and more affordable than traditional, on-premise BI solutions. Birst enables the combination of SAP BW InfoCubes with other data sources to extend their analytical utility, and boosts query performance through its intelligent caching capabilities.
Query performance boost via massive-scale, cloud-based caching
A common complaint of SAP BW customers is the lack of performance. In order to improve query performance, SAP BW customers are forced to implement the costly SAP BW Accelerator package. Birst eliminates the need for SAP BW Accelerator by boosting query performance via its massive-scale, cloud-based caching capabilities. Using exact and fuzzy cache matching techniques, Birst’s unique caching layer generates dynamic, cube-like cache structures that maximize query re-use, guarantee fast response times and minimize the load on SAP BW InfoCubes.
Logical integration with any other data source
To get the most value from SAP business data, it must be combined with data from other systems and sources. Adding new data sources, in particular those external to SAP, to a SAP BW InfoCube is painful. The cube has to be rebuilt, resulting in significant downtime for end users. Birst can dramatically increase the utility of SAP BW InfoCubes by combining them logically with other data from both on-premise and cloud-based sources.
Birst’s universal semantic layer enables the rapid integration of SAP BW InfoCubes with practically any other data source to provide a powerful reporting and analysis environment for all types of users.
Self-service access for all types of users
Birst provides a superior front end to SAP BW InfoCubes. From pixel-perfect, banded report writing to interactive dashboards and ad hoc analysis, Birst empowers executives, analysts, and other business users with access to critical business insights for fact-based decision making. Furthermore, Birst features an iPad application that enables mobile users to interact with dashboards built on top of SAP BW InfoCubes while on the go.
