Name: SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Brand: SAP
Rating: 3.9 (114 reviews)

President & CEO at Infosol Inc

Sep 9, 2025

Once you are stable on a BusinessObjects release, it is worth staying there for a while

It is true that there are often challenges when upgrading between releases of BusinessObjects but this has always been the case as it has been for all the other BI and software application vendors too.

A few rules of thumb for BusinessObjects software are:

1. Never upgrade to an x.0 release - always wait for at least the x.1 release and even the first or second service pack of that release

2. Never attempt to perform a release upgrade if you have not done one before. Get training and experience first or use a reputable BO Consulting company

3. Experiment with the new release on a sandbox environment to become familiar with the changes and find any major issues before attempting a migration to production

Once you are stable on a BusinessObjects release, it is worth staying there for a while.

Update April 2014 : BusinessObjects BI 4.1 has been out for 8 months now and is looking like a stable release. Expect to see a lot of activity moving to this release over the next year.

Update September 2014 : BI 4.1 is now at Service Pack 4 (SP4) which corrected multiple issues in earlier service packs (SP2 and SP3). As more customers move to BI 4.1. more experience is gained and the platform improves. Main features attracting customers to BI 4.1 are improvements in Web Intelligence, Mobile Dashboard support and support of Desktop Intelligence.

Update February 2015 : BI 4.1 is now at Service Pack 6 (SP6). Both SP5 and 6 have been stable. Most BI 4.0 customers are also migrating to BI 4.1 and many more XI 3.1 customers are also migrating since XI 3.1 goes into a maintenance only support mode ( no more service packs or fix packs) after Dec. 31, 2015. The next major release BI 4.2 is currently scheduled for end of the year.

Update December 2015 : BI 4.1 SP7 has just been released. BI 4.2 is in Customer User Validation phase and will not be released until 2016. The jury is still out regarding if the quality of software updates has improved but new QA processes have been implemented by the SAP BusinessObjects development and support teams this year.

Update May 2016 : BI 4.2 SP2 was released at the end of March. There are quite a few new features including to the Upgrade Management Tool (UMT) which is used for migrating content from previous releases. It is now possible to handle incremental updates and moving certain types of content instead of all. There is also a new mechanism that allows part of the update to be performed while the system is still running. There is also a new Recycle bin feature for public folders in case you accidently delete a report. Organizations still running BusinessObjects XI 3.1 are now looking to go straight to BI 4.2.

Update October 2016 : BI 4.2 SP03 is now the latest version released at end of August. It has a lot of new features for a service pack including additional new functionality for Web Intelligence like cascading prompts for input controls, references and further enhancements to the new discussions. The Administrators cockpit has also been further enhanced to provide more options. So far, stability looks good.

Update April 2017 : SP03 has proven to be a relatively stable service pack that many BO customers have updated to. The next service pack, SP04 is now in beta and scheduled to be released in May. Again, it promises to have a bunch of new functionality for Web Intelligence including full parity between the Java and dhtml clients, an optional new UI and many new graphics

Update September 2017 : SP04 has now been available since May and there were additional quite a few code changes . The first release release had multiple issues. Some were addressed in the two subsequent Fix Packs that have been released. The general feeling was that it was not as stable as SP03. However SP04 was the first version that included SQL Server 2016 support so many customers wanted to install it.

Update February 2018 : SP05 was released in December and there were further enhancements particularly to the new optional HTML5 Fiori portal that can now be used for consuming BO reports. This first version has some issues around installation/upgrade but too early to judge its overall stability yet.

Update July 2018 : Like all the previous BI 4.2 Service Packs, SP05 had multiple issues when first released and really did not completely stabilize until Fix Pack 200 (after Fix Pack 100). It is now at Fix Pack 400 and SP06 is in beta testing and should be released soon.

Update December 2018 : SP06 is now the current BI 4.2 Service Pack update released late July. Like all the other service packs there were some initial issues and after a couple of fix pack updates, it now is quite stable. Like its predecessors it has a lot of additional functionality especially with the new Fiori HTML5 UI and Web Intelligence (more new charts like funnels, pyramids, intra-document links and more). Nice enhancements to BO Administrators Cockpit for usage/performance monitoring. Now BI 4.3 has been announced for release at end of 2019, the next service packs may be more maintenance fixes than new functionality.

Update June 2019 : SP07 was released a couple of months ago. Unlike previous BI 4.2 Service Packs this had a very small amount of new functionality and was mainly a maintenance update. Again the first version had a few issues but a fix pack has been released and customers are upgrading to it. The remaining 4.2 service packs are also supposed to be primarily maintenance updates and fixes as new functionality will be focused in the eagerly awaited BI 4.3 release now likely to be released in early 2020.

Update December 2019 : BI 4.2 SP07 remains the current release. There have been issues with some of the Fix Packs and it is best to go with the most current. The BI 4.3 open beta is due to start this month but GA is not expected until mid 2020 now. There should also be an SP08 update to BI 4.2 coming in early 2020.

Update April 2020 : BI 4.2 SP08 was released a few weeks back and despite it being primarily a maintenance release, SAP has included some interesting new features like a direct connector to Snowflake for Webi. Some early bugs in SP08 have been reported and the first fix patch 100 has just been released. There is still much anticipation for BI 4.3, the next major release due out this Summer.

Update September 2020 : BI 4.3 SP0 was released in June and has a radically different HTML6 UI that will take some getting use to. There are a lot of other new features including Webi as a data source allowing you to use universes on top of a Webi report. a few brave souls may try out an SP0 release but most will wait till at least SP2 due out mid 2021. BI 4.2 will continue as the dominant release for at least the next couple of years with SP9 coming out later this year.

Update September 2022 : BI 4.3 SP02 is now the current release with SP03 due for release in December. BusinessObjects BI 4.2 will go into Priority 1 support mode for 2 years starting Jan 1, 2023. In addition, SAP has announced the next major release after BI 4.3 which has been code-named BI 2024 and is die for release at end of 2024/beginning of 2025. This release like all previous BI 4 releases will run both on-premise and in the cloud. This effectively means the BusinessObjects roadmap is solid for at least the next 10 years which is a testimony to both the popularity and success of the product.

Update March 2024 : BI 4.3 SP04 is now the current release but since it has only been out a couple of months, not too many people are moving it to it yet. SP03 is now at patch level 900 and there have been some issues over the last year. Again, a lot of new functionality (and therefore new code) was delivered with both SP03 and SP04. The most significant was the new Data Tab mode in Web Intelligence which allows merging and transformation of data sources. You can join sources toigether with Left Join, Inner Join, Outer Join and Append. You can also profile your data and see disticts and nulls and apply simple transforms using a Replace option.

Update September 2025 : The next major BusinessObjects release, BI 2025, was released in March 2025 and continues with new innovations including new UI5 dashboard components and the ability to create offline reports/dashboards for no additional license fees. There are also some super cool features with Tool Tips allowing drill down and report viewing in a tool tip and haveing a tool tip within a tool tip. Further additions to Data Tab mode allowing creation of Variables, Access to a Formula Editor and new joins (Right Join and Right Join without intersection). BusinessObjects just keeps getting better and better!

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. My company is a SAP BO partner - http://www.infosol.com/about/partners/

Last updated: Sep 9, 2025

it_user282606SAP BusinessObjects Reporting Cookbook Author at a media company with 501-1,000 employees

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Jul 30, 2015

The Free hand SQL is a none issue ,there are even better dynamic solutions for implementing free hand SQL with edit abilities even in Web intelligence 3.1

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reviewer2329704

Head of Data at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jan 10, 2024

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Comprehensive product with valuable dashboard and reporting features

Pros and Cons

"It includes valuable features like a dashboard, reporting, visualization, etc."

"The platform's pricing needs improvement."

What is most valuable?

SAP BusinessObjects offers a comprehensive solution with all BI functionalities. It includes valuable features like a dashboard, reporting, visualization, etc.

What needs improvement?

The platform's pricing needs improvement. It is very expensive. They should work on this particular area.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio for five years.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support services are good. However, the response time could be better.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have worked with Oracle BI and IBM Cognos before.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The platform's pricing needs to be revised, and thus, one of its disadvantages.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated various options to replace Tableau, considering products like BusinessObjects, Apache Superset, and other BI tools. For us, pricing is the major factor in deciding, as we have a limited budget. We are trying to find the best option.

What other advice do I have?

I rate SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio an eight out of ten. However, if someone doesn't have a budget, it could be rated a one out of ten in such scenarios.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

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SergeNdin

Assistant SAP at ipscnam

Mar 30, 2023

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It has improved our work but is difficult to use

Pros and Cons

"I have seen improvement in our work after using the solution."

"It is not simple to use."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution to manage our databases.

What needs improvement?

The solution is more difficult to use than other products.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for five years.

What other advice do I have?

I have seen improvement in our work after using the solution. I rate the solution as a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner

reviewer1470402

Strategic Account Manager at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees

Jan 31, 2022

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Useful for development, reliable, and scalable

Pros and Cons

"The development using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is very good."
"The development using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is very good."

"The solution can improve by having more analytical features."
"The solution can improve by having more analytical features."

What is our primary use case?

The solution can be deployed on-premise and in cloud environments. We are using Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS for cloud services.

Our main use case for the use of this solution is for reporting.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution has given us multi-systems and databases that have been very good for us.

What is most valuable?

The development using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is very good.

What needs improvement?

The solution can improve by having more analytical features.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform for approximately nine years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of the solution has been good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found the scalability to be good.

What other advice do I have?

I rate SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

reviewer1311126

Managing Partner at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jan 8, 2022

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Can cover any business need, but SAP needs to focus on customers and quality first instead of money

Pros and Cons

"One of the most valuable features of SAP BusinessObjects is that it's not a dashboarding solution. It's a real product. You can create operational reports and publish it to anyone. You can create schedules. You can create a Universe, semantic layers. There's also a security configuration. It's a huge product, so if there is a business need, SAP BusinessObjects can cover it."
"One of the most valuable features of SAP BusinessObjects is that it's not a dashboarding solution; it's a real product where you can create operational reports, publish them to anyone, create schedules, build a Universe and semantic layers, and configure security, making it a huge product that can cover almost any business need."

"The integration could be improved. The SAP suite has some integration problems and it has some huge development needs. For example, when you use Power BI, if you publish a dataset to the web, there is no issue in seeing the data with the report. The data and report are integrated automatically. Or when you use QlikView, when you publish the QVD file, the report is integrated with QVD. Also, with Tableau, when you publish the data, it's in the hyper database, in the memory, and the dashboard with data is integrated seamlessly. In the SAP side, it's not easy. There are lots of business layers. There are also some performance issues in the SAP BusinessObjects suite. They should focus on the technologies. We are partners and every step of the way, SAP asks us for money. If you want to see the products, the PDFs, if you want to learn the product, online training, etc., everything has a cost on the SAP site. Because of this, partners try to get to know the products on their own. SAP only focuses on the sales side—only money is important for SAP, not the quality. In that way, the operation is not easy on the SAP side. As a suggestion, they should focus on customers first instead of money."
"SAP only focuses on the sales side—only money is important for SAP, not the quality."

What is our primary use case?

SAP BusinessObjects can be used for operational reporting. It is an enterprise solution and a suite of products.

What is most valuable?

One of the most valuable features of SAP BusinessObjects is that it's not a dashboarding solution. It's a real product. You can create operational reports and publish it to anyone. You can create schedules. You can create a Universe, semantic layers. There's also a security configuration. It's a huge product, so if there is a business need, SAP BusinessObjects can cover it.

What needs improvement?

The integration could be improved. The SAP suite has some integration problems and it has some huge development needs. For example, when you use Power BI, if you publish a dataset to the web, there is no issue in seeing the data with the report. The data and report are integrated automatically. Or when you use QlikView, when you publish the QVD file, the report is integrated with QVD. Also, with Tableau, when you publish the data, it's in the hyper database, in the memory, and the dashboard with data is integrated seamlessly. In the SAP side, it's not easy. There are lots of business layers.

There are also some performance issues in the SAP BusinessObjects suite. They should focus on the technologies.

As far as additional features, SAP needs a BI analytics solution. I mean, a fully integrated BI analytics suite.

We are partners and every step of the way, SAP asks us for money. If you want to see the products, the PDFs, if you want to learn the product, online training, etc., everything has a cost on the SAP site. Because of this, partners try to get to know the products on their own. SAP only focuses on the sales side—only money is important for SAP, not the quality. In that way, the operation is not easy on the SAP side. As a suggestion, they should focus on customers first instead of money.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using SAP BusinessObjects for 20 years.

What other advice do I have?

I rate SAP BusinessObjects a six out of ten.

To those looking into implementing this solution, in the SAP side, there are modules. You should focus on one of the modules. There's HR, FI, SDMM, et cetera. Also, there are BI modules, and there are lots of products on the BI side: BW, Hana, SAP BusinessObjects. There is also a cloud side of SAP. So, they are time consuming. You should focus on one of them before jumping to the second one.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner

reviewer1128492

System Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Jan 6, 2022

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It has better scheduling capabilities than other solutions, but it has limitations on how you can use it

Pros and Cons

"We are using SAP BusinessObjects because its scheduling capabilities are more powerful than those of other tools."
"We are using SAP BusinessObjects because its scheduling capabilities are more powerful than those of other tools."

"It is limited for us because SAP is shifting toward the cloud, and we can't use a cloud solution for SAP BusinessObjects. SAP introduced a product called PlusTimes one or two years ago and another one that I believe was called Automatic BI. This tool is more powerful than BusinessObjects and other tools because it's provided in the cloud."
"I can't recommend BusinessObjects because its usage is limited, and it can't provide a new solution for end-users."

What is our primary use case?

In general, we use BusinessObjects for extensive reports. BusinessObjects reports have several pages. Our users prefer BusinessObjects over Microsoft Excel because Excel is limited in its data files and all that.

What is most valuable?

We are using SAP BusinessObjects because its scheduling capabilities are more powerful than those of other tools.

What needs improvement?

It is limited for us because SAP is shifting toward the cloud, and we can't use a cloud solution for SAP BusinessObjects. SAP introduced a product called PlusTimes one or two years ago and another one that I believe was called Automatic BI. This tool is more powerful than BusinessObjects and other tools because it's provided in the cloud.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with BusinessObjects for about eight years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

BusinessObjects is scalable, allowing us to work with many pages.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are thinking about switching to Power BI. I think we will no longer use SAP BusinessObjects after one or two years.

What other advice do I have?

I rate SAP BusinessObjects seven out of 10. However, I can't recommend BusinessObjects because its usage is limited, and it can't provide a new solution for end-users.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator

reviewer1709313

Technical Consultant at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 17, 2021

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Makes receiving reports easy

Pros and Cons

"What I find most valuable is that you can run the reports anytime and you can receive the report at a scheduled time."

"The setup was a little complicated. It's not as easy to install it and there is not much information on the internet, so you have to depend on yourself."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for our customers and to schedule reports. We use it so we can provide them options, to let anyone type in the system and run the report anytime they want.

What is most valuable?

What I find most valuable is that you can run the reports anytime and you can receive the report at a scheduled time. When someone wants to receive these reports at a certain time, we schedule the report to be sent at their requested time. The user can access the application and run the report anytime he wants, whenever.

What needs improvement?

In terms of improvement, some reports need more customizations. Customers request reports that need more customization.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about five years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is reliable.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is good, but we have to renew the support license every year. If we don't renew, we don't get any support.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was a little complicated. It's not as easy to install it and there is not much information on the internet, so you have to depend on yourself. When you compare it to other applications, like BMC, HP, Dell, and IBM, there are many users who have experience with the solution and share their knowledge on the internet, but there is not much information online for SAP.

What other advice do I have?

It integrates well with many other solutions. I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

reviewer1486620

Enterprise Architect at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Mar 31, 2021

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Fairly scalable and stable but WebGUI presentation layer could be improved

Pros and Cons

"To share a metadata service layer, you don't need to add a user or write a SQL query. Instead, you can present a raw database to your end user."
"The platform uses a lot of Java technologies so the performance and system-level management are tricky because it needs a lot of resources."
"The most valuable SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform feature are metadata service layers."

"The platform uses a lot of Java technologies so the performance and system-level management are tricky because it needs a lot of resources."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case for this solution is business enterprise reporting.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform feature are metadata service layers. To share a metadata service layer, you don't need to add a user or write a SQL query. Instead, you can present a raw database to your end user. The end user can then use this data to create a report, dashboard, or whatever else.

It also has scheduling and can generate BI content for you.

What needs improvement?

Their WebGUI presentation layer could be improved. They are still a little bit behind, for example, Tableau and QlikView.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about nine years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The features SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform provides are fairly stable. I only noticed one data error in the past.

Of course, the platform uses a lot of Java technologies so the performance and system-level management are tricky because it needs a lot of resources.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is fairly scalable. You can either scale it up or create a cluster. They do have load balance and we have a cluster for important stuff. However, we use it relatively lightly, so we never have performance issues when we needed to scale up or scale out. Mostly, we have to scale up to give it enough RAM.

Currently, we have a couple hundred people using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform at our institution.

How are customer service and technical support?

The SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform we use are not too advanced so we haven't had much need to contact tech support. When we run into an issue, we can usually solve it through community answers. We have had some SAP technical support come in a few times and every time we met with them we had a good experience. We have a fairly good relationship with their tech support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Just before switching to SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, we were using QlikView.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was was not bad, but it was relatively complex. It did take some time to get it to work for us.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I don't have the exact number, but SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is not too cheap.

What other advice do I have?

My advice is to try to truly understand the system. It is fairly complicated. To get this system to work, you need a systems engineer and an architect in addition to a lot of other people who understand what's going on behind the scenes.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.