Oracle Analytics Cloud Reviews

My role was to administer, develop, create, or enhance the reporting in analytics that was based on the Oracle Business Intelligence products including the cloud, publisher, or some of the embedded reporting capabilities of the Primavera suite.

Each business has its own use cases developed by the analyst, but most of the use cases were related to financial reporting or purchasing. Purchasing has been a very solid use of it and also project management. For project management, OAC was tied to an Oracle installation of Primavera, which is project management software. They were hand in hand. It not only involved logistics but also the financial aspects of projects.

In terms of deployment and version, it's provided by Oracle. Oracle Cloud solutions are always going to be of the latest version. Nobody has an old version of a cloud application.

The stability of the product itself by virtue of the fact that it's a cloud product and Oracle is responsible for its hosting is valuable. There is no question about its uptime, reliability, and so forth. 

It's robust. It has the ability to handle massive amounts. After reporting has been developed, there is an ease of use or a user-friendly interface for a trained workforce.

It's not a failure of the product; it's just an architectural choice. It has to do with data modeling. I'm comparing this to another product, which is Oracle's developer client and probably called Oracle BI Developer Client Tool. The data modeler, which is cloud-based, and Oracle BI Developer Client Tool, which is local or on-premises-based, both can do the same thing in data modeling. However, the cloud tool does not have as many features as the Oracle BI Developer Client Tool, which is closest to the OBIEE Administration Tool with full feature data modeling, metadata development, and so forth. In a complex environment or implementation, that is the capability that you need. The data modeler, which is cloud-based, simply does its job well, but it just doesn't have as many fine-tuning capabilities. It does not allow as much performance tuning as the Oracle BI Developer Client Tool, which is the closest thing to the older OBIEE Administration Tool.

I have about 10 to 11 years of experience with Oracle products and before that, 8 years with Crystal products. I haven't used Crystal in the last 12 months because not a lot of people use Crystal anymore unless they're using SAP products, but in the last 12 months, I spent nine months working with project teams servicing their clients in cloud technology, specifically in project management.

There is no question about its uptime, reliability, and so forth.

It's absolutely scalable. The engagement that I worked on was still in the proof of concept phase. I was on the front end of the development of the project, and I didn't administer the product. When it moved to production, it transitioned to a different team, and they handled about 500 users. I know it's capable of handling thousands, but in the particular implementations I've worked on, it wasn't offered to thousands.

I certainly have plans to increase its usage because I'm getting a certification in it. I hope more companies are going to be using the product. I'm relying on that.

I did not have direct experience with their technical support.

The cloud products that I worked on were already established. However, I do know how to set it up because it's very similar to the OBIEE implementations that I've done. So, even though I have not set up the cloud instance, from going through not only setting up test cloud environments that I've been studying from, I would say that there are two parts. One is getting the initial credentials all set up. This is way before you even get to the software. This is an Oracle thing. Sometimes, getting the credentials worked out properly to be able to access all the pieces that you need can be a little sticky. Getting the credentials is not as simple as it could be.

The second part of setting up the cloud would be complex if you don't have prior experience in the architecture that it was based on, which was the OBIEE on-premises implementation. So, if you don't have that background, it's very complex. Even if you have that background, sometimes, the cloud installation just doesn't exactly match, and you've got to scratch your head and say, "Okay, what's the thing that's not in the documentation that I need to figure out how to do to make it work?"

You can deploy it with one person. I've deployed an entire OBIEE installation entirely by myself. It's not recommended, and it's not the best way, but it can be done. I know, I've done it. To administer or manage it once it's in place, the ideal team would be at a minimum a three to four-person team. Some companies, when they say, "We need to put in BI, and we need people to do that," they're also, without saying it, asking for someone to set up a data warehouse, run ETL, build and maintain that, run the BI, build the interface, do the reports, and teach or train the employees, which is something I've done. In that kind of situation, you need a three or four-person team at minimum to distribute everything from the data warehouse work, ETL, report development, training, and so on. If something is already set up or we're talking about a cloud environment, there may be no data warehouse. If it's all cloud-based, there's no maintenance there. There may also be no ETL because it can be built in. It's just maintaining the BI instance. If the person you're asking to maintain the BI system is not asked to train users, you don't need that skill either. So, it can be done by one person. It depends on what the client desires and is expecting, and for the cloud implementation, what other services the client is already paying for.

There is absolutely a return on investment with this.

I would rate it a 5 out of 5 in terms of the value received for the price charge.

I have been involved in evaluating other BI solutions for clients, such as Birst, Tableau, and Cognos.

I would advise finding somebody who has done OBIEE because the foundation, the learning, and the experience of that is absolutely essential or integral, if not critical, to success in Oracle Analytics Cloud.

I would rate it a 9 out of 10 because everything can be improved. It's great, and it's capable. There are a lot of excellent things about it, but there's always room for improvement.

I use the solution for the dashboards and basic reporting. 

Oracle Analytics Cloud's most valuable feature is its visualization. 

The product should improve its user interface. It should be welcoming and modern. Developers should also find it easier to build data models. Oracle Analytics Cloud needs to have better visualizations and more options in the marketplace. 

I have been using the product for three years. 

I rate the product's stability a nine out of ten. 

I rate the tool's scalability an eight out of ten. 

I used Tableau before Oracle Analytics Cloud. We switched to Oracle Analytics Cloud due to company decision. 

Oracle Analytics Cloud's deployment is straightforward. You need to create connections and ensure that proper syntax is made. Also, proper configuration is needed to be made in OCI. 

The tool's pricing is not unreasonable or non-competitive. 

You need to overcome a learning curve to utilize the tool's benefits. I rate it a seven out of ten. 

We use a solution incorporating machine learning and diction to word instructions for student appointments.

The solution is user-friendly.

The CLEAR report has room for improvement. 

The AI features can be improved.

I would like to have extra visualization such as geographical, more advanced org charts, and interactive charts and dashboards.

The scalability has room for improvement.

I have been using the solution for one year.

I give the scalability a six out of ten. The solution is not very scalable.

We have 20 people using the solution.

I give the initial setup a seven out of ten. I had some difficulty with the query and the report flush. The deployment took one month.

The implementation was completed in-house.

The solution is not very expensive. I give the cost an eight out of ten.

We pay on a monthly basis and it is $10 per user each month.

I give the solution an eight out of ten.

The maintenance requires one person.

Oracle Analytics Cloud is the gold standard, but new users need to also take into account the price.

It's rather user-friendly.

The solution can scale.

The stability is good.

It's easy to set up.

The cost factor needs to be improved. When you want to scale up and improve the computing power, it becomes extremely costly. 

They could improve the ease of developing the dashboard and interacting with it.

They can also improve, quite critically, the user interface. It's not as intuitive as Qlik Sense.

There should be improvements in Auto ML, automated machine learning, and, if possible, even robotics process automation.

I've used Oracle Analytics Cloud for two years now. The company has been using it for close to five or six years now.

It's quite stable and quite sustainable. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

While you can scale, it can get expensive.

When you want to scale it up, you eat resources in terms of computing power, storage, querying, and everything else. It becomes very expensive.

While It's possible to scale anytime upwards or downwards, the cost factor becomes an impediment.

While technical support is quite good, it's slow. We need to raise a ticket. After that, it can take up to two to three or four hours for them to respond. For Qlik Sense, in contrast, it's just direct. We just call them or we just email them or even Whatsapp them, and they will immediately respond, set up a call, and that's it. They solve it. 

We also are familiar with Qlik Sense. For Qlik Sense, we are proceeding to be ISA partners and have used it for six months.

The initial setup is straightforward. It's not overly complex. The deployment itself took about a year.

We have two people that are available to maintain the solution.

We handled the implementation completely in-house, without the assistance of any integrators or consultants. 

The pricing could be a bit lower. it's a bit expensive right now, especially as you scale up.

We pay $50,000 on a yearly basis.

We are an ISA partner.

We are using the latest version of the product.

If there is a simpler, faster, or cheaper solution, then a company should go for it. Look at the Gartner Quadrant, as, clearly, Oracle is not yet a leader. We have Microsoft, we have Qlik Sense. If a company can factor in other solutions first, it's best. The key advantage of Oracle is, that once you've got your account, at least you have access to the autonomous data warehouse and you have access to automated machine learning, (AutoML) and so on and so forth. Beyond that, it's just so expensive. I wouldn't advocate for somebody to go for it.

I'd rate the solution a six out of ten.

I have been using it only for reporting. I am trying to conduct some usage regarding the self-service BI, however, I haven't been able to implement it in that way. What I have been using is only BI reporting.

Previous to using Oracle Analytics Cloud, we had several issues consolidating information in one report. Using this tool, we were able to forget about using Excel and keep using it as the only source of data.

The main functionality is great and everything is pretty standard and easy to use. 

It's great for consolidation and creating one source of truth. 

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. 

The user interaction with the solution could be better. It can be frustrating at times. Sometimes it depends on the database performance. When we have, for example, a table with low performance, we have several issues with drawing some graphics in the Oracle cloud.

I've been using the solution since 2018. it's been about four years now. 

The solution is stable. The only stuff I have some issues with was related to some communication with the database. I had some lack of communication that was an issue over there, however, most of the time, it was very stable.

It's not a scalable product. We have about 40 people using the solution and they are mostly data analysts. 

There is only one business area using the product and we have no plans to expand the usage.

We did not have a positive experience with technical support. 

Negative

We did assessments of other solutions. We were also trying to use Tableau and Power BI. The main difference was the self-service functionality. 

The solution is pretty straightforward and simple. I'd rate it a three out of five in terms of ease of setup. We did the full deployment twice and it took us about eight months. 

We had a team of six people who handled the deployment and maintenance tasks. 

We handled the implementation with our in-house team. We didn't use outside consultants or anyone like that. 

We have not yet witnessed any ROI. 

I cannot speak to the exact licensing costs of the solution. In previous experiences, however, I recall it being quite expensive. I would rate it five out of five in terms of the level of expense to expect. That said, beyond the licensing fee, there are no other add-on fees to expect. 

When I was onboarded for the project, I was told to use Oracle Analytics Cloud. The assessment of other options is being done right now.

We have a hybrid cloud deployment and use both AWS and Azure. I tried to use the Oracle cloud, however, I was unable to due to the budget.

I'd rate the solution two out of ten. It really isn't the best.

This product is used for reporting and visualization.

We are not using the latest version but rather, one version back.

From a financial or bank perspective, this product is secure enough.

The dashboards, analytics, visualizations, and different reports are valuable for business analytics.

The AI/ML enablement is useful, as many reporting tools do not offer machine learning models as of now, without writing customized code.

This product does not support custom charts in the visualization.

At this time, dataflows cannot be shared, but I think that this should be enhanced.

There are a couple of other limitations. For example, many reporting tools offer good features and oracle should learn from that.

There should be tool tech enhancements.

We have been using Oracle Analytics Cloud for approximately three years.

This is a stable solution and we plan to continue using it for at least another year.

I believe that this is a scalable product.

We have been in contact with Oracle technical support and we are satisfied with it.

I have worked with many reporting tools including SAS Visual Analytics, Spotfire, and Activu.

There was no specific reason for switching to Oracle Analytics Cloud. This was a decision driven by the priorities of the moment.

The time required for deployment is almost an hour.

Deployment requires a small team of people. One from admin, another from the development team, and one more.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

It's really an enterprise solution. It has a dashboard, like standard dashboarding functionality. It also has reporting capabilities for producing pixel-perfect reports, bursting large volumes of a document if you need to.

It has interactive data discovery functionality, which you would use to explore your data, bring your own data, and merge it with maybe the data from an enterprise data warehouse to get new insights from the pre-existing data. 

It has machine learning embedded in the solution. If you're new to machine learning, it's a really good way to get into it, because it's all within this platform, and it's really easy to use.

As with most BI tools, the visualizations can be made much nicer. Currently, it has standard visualizations. They've been adding new visualizations, but we see animated visualizations from other vendors. It would be nice to have similar visualizations, such as the swarming visualizations, which are fairly new and very popular at the moment. I haven't seen that with Oracle. That would be nice.

I have been using this solution for about a year. We are using the most current version. 

I find the stability of this solution excellent. I haven't encountered any problems, but that would be my expectation. 

It's excellent. Its scalability is really what makes it stand out. You can on the fly increase the processing capacity of your instance for as long as you need it and then bring it back to whatever minimum setting you had. It's done on the fly with no downtime. That is very impressive. I love this.

It's very easy to set up. It's extremely easy because it's in the cloud. You spin up your instance, which takes two minutes. You can also natively connect to an autonomous data warehouse.

I've given some thought to Power BI because it's so widely used, but my area of expertise is really around or has always been around Oracle. So, it was more of a natural choice for me.

It really has everything that I want and need. It's very easy.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. It would be nice to see swarming kind of visualizations. Other than that, it's a complete product.

We use Analytics Cloud to generate reports about data other Oracle solutions produce. 

Analytics Cloud generates reports that drive the company's strategic decision-making. 

Analytics Cloud allows you to merge various data types and structure data from multiple sources.

Analytics Cloud is highly stable

I rate Oracle Analytics Cloud 10 out of 10 for scalability.

Oracle customer service is perfect. 

Positive

Setting up Analytics Cloud was straightforward because I got help from Oracle. 

Oracle is expensive compared to tools by AWS and other cloud providers.

I rate Oracle Analytics Cloud 10 out of 10.