QlikView vs SAP BusinessObjects GRC comparison

Hi,
We haVE experience with both, so my summary is as follows:

SAP BO lost positions at every angle compared to QlikView because:
1/ Qlik is in-memory - and much-much faster
2/ Qlik is licensed fairly cheaper
3/ Qlik is more stable on highload
4/ Qlik package is more complete compared with same functionality package from BO (like ETL, …)

QlikView = SAP BO * 1000 at a reporting level.
Nowadays, SAP BI solutions developed by IT department's try to have a solution in memory like QlikView for reporting: fast, easy to use (SAP BO is too hard) for end user, low cost (human, time).

In my experience,

Business Objects has enterprise administration and controls, so reasonably
good governance. It is very good for creating standard reports so if you
have a need to create and burst out 200 reports on a Monday morning say, it
is very good for that.

It is based on creating a Universe so their is quite an intensive build
period before beginning to drive and insights. The Universe acts as a data
map and the data continues to reside in the database. The issue with this
is that if you ask for frequent updates this hits the databases and
depending on the latency there may be a significant time lag to see your
results.

It is not good at agile data discovery and visualisation and as such could
be seen as a traditional BI tool ie people know what data they have and
what they want to see.

QLikview is very much in the category of data visualisation and
exploration. unlike the traditional BI tool it is very good for exploring
things you dont know in the data. That said, a bit like Business Objects
you do need to build a Qlikview DataMart (QVD) to hold the data in-memory.
QLikview does work in database up to a point but a numer of users have
commented on how clunky this is and not very efficeint. The number of
databases supported is poerhaps limited as well.

in a way there is a similar problem to that found with BObj in that in
order to see and explore the data in a Qlikview application, or document
(dashboard) you have to decide what data you want to appear in the QVD.
This involves scripting of the data access to build the QVD as well as
scripting of the front end app to presen the data. there is therefore quite
an overhead and again, you only see what you have prepared for.

The concept of exploring Big Data in a free way ois therefore, difficult
with QLikview. For those who know what they want to see it can be an
attractive experience with the ability to explore and filter data quickly
but within the constraints of the QVD(s)

Overall, both have significant strengths but both are looking a little
dated compared to other tools in the market.

In terms of the specific question " which is better for reporting" - that
would have to be Business Objects.

Hope this helps

Regards
Alan

Our company evaluated QlikView but found SAP BO meeting our needs. Hence we went with SAP BO and have found it good.

I would say they serve different audiences but can also be used at the same time in an organization.

If we look at QlikView it is more for the business then IT, however if you
want to use all the possibilities, you can program a lot. With that part in
mind, maintaining will get problematic unless you use QlikView server and
let a general department (like IT) handle the most used official templates.

It has great visuals which you can use to define a dashboard to your
likings. But to make use of it all, you would have to spend some time on
it. If I would look at people who are making analysis, I wouldn't like to
get to know all that stuff. But as a BI Consultant it is a good product to
work with it.

SAP BO, I have used the different versions for lets say more then 10 years,
is more for enterprise companies with a good integration with the other SAP
software. It is used from the portal and for reporting I think it is one of
the better reporting tools. They have got Webi for interactive reporting,
Crystal Reports for pixelperfect reporting. Next to that they also have
dashboarding tools.

The Webi is mostly used by business for making adhoc reporting. The other
parts are mainly maintained by the IT department, so more an IT tool then
for the business.

If you combine both, you actually get a good solution. Give the business
for analyzing what they want to do on their own (although there is also
Tableau or SAP Lumira) and do the more official stuff, reporting and
dashboarding within the IT.

If you would like to make a comparison on Enterprise software, then I would
say SAP BO vs Jaspersoft (Open Source). I am currently busy with Jaspersoft
server (multi-tenant version) and that has some interesting parts.

The tools have total different approach : in BO you have to build your "world" from your data base and that's the reason IT people recommend this tool but it is more report generator than a BI tool
With QLIK - VIEW you start with the need and then analyze the insights you are looking for . QLIK - VIEW can serve you in more complicated information reports. with QV you can build report applications that you can not do with BO

QlikView does an excellent job of evolving with an organization as it can move faster than an organization thinks. As clients work with their data, their business understanding grows.

In my experience the two are different tools for different purposes. QlikView is a very good data exploration tool, but not so much a traditional reporting tool for batch type reports.  SAP BO is more traditional ,but in my experience pretty buggy, to the extent that we are replacing it with Microstrategy.
 
Thanks,
Rich