Excel4apps Reports Wand and Oracle Business Intelligence ...

1 Excel4apps Reports Wand and Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer ( Discoverer )OverviewIn March 2014, Oracle published their Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Statement of Direction, where they described Discoverer as non-strategic since 2006 and indicated that Premier support of the product will end in June of While Oracle recommends E- Business Suite customers replace their Discoverer implementation with Oracle Business Intelligence Applications, we suggest switching to Reports Wand, a powerful, Excel-based replacement. Friendly to end users, our solution installs in minutes without consultants or heavy IT resources and allows for greater flexibility and customization with Reports WandReports Wand from Excel4apps is an ad hoc query and reporting tool that provides an Excel front end to Oracle E- Business Suite data.

2 Reports Wand offers incredible flexibility in terms of filtering, sorting, formatting and refreshing real-time data into Excel from any Oracle module. The benefit of an Excel-based approach is that Reports can be created in the exact presentation quality and format that is needed. Reports Wand is an effective replacement for organizations that are currently utilizing Oracle DiscovererDiscoverer, formally known as Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer, is an ad hoc query and analysis reporting tool oriented for end users. Oracle has recommended migrating to one of their strategic BI offerings by June DiscovererDiscoverer and Reports Wand are similar that they are both ad hoc query and analysis tools used for real-time reporting of Oracle E- Business Suite data.

3 However, Reports Wand offers Oracle users the advantages of an Excel front end. The benefit Reports Wand s Excel-based approach is that Reports can be created in exact presentation quality and format that is needed. Discoverer users often need to export their data to Excel for formatting. This additional step can introduce errors and breaks the audit trail to the underlying source Oracle data. Excel front ends are highly valued by end users, due to productivity gains with report development, collaboration features and the powerful formatting and formulae has recommended that E- Business Suite customers replace their Discoverer implementation by migrating to Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite by June 2015.

4 Reports Wand is a very viable alternative compared to the complexity of migrating to the latest Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) offerings. For example, installing Reports Wand takes a matter of minutes as compared with the install, testing and patching of the latest Oracle BI offerings, which could easily take many days and require external consulting expertise and formal project planning. With its new architecture, Reports Wand 5 offers end users all the Excel-based functionality, but with zero additional client software installation, meaning that global deployments can occur virtually instantly and future version control is a non-issue.

5 If your organization runs Discoverer, now is a great time to trial Reports Wand before support View Oracle Business Intelligence Discover Statement of Direction online at: COMPARISON 2014-2015 While Oracle recommends E- Business Suite customers replace their Discoverer implementation with Oracle Business Intelligence Applications, we suggest switching to Reports Wand, a powerful, Excel-based alternative. Comparing Reports Wand and Business Intelligence DiscovererThe Bottom LineCategory Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer has been non-strategic since 2006 * Portal-, desktop-, and browser-based End User Layer (EUL)

6 Must be developed and maintained Ad hoc query and analysis tool that is similar to Excel Reports Wand is strategic to Excel4apps and is constantly enhanced Excel 2003-2013 EUL equivalents are the Report Definitions that provide the Report platforms Ad hoc query and analysis tool that is actually Excel based Oracle will end its support of Discoverer and Reports Wand is new replacement option. Excel-based content is easy to share and easy to collaborate with others in the organization. With either tool, organizationally relevant content will need to be developed to supplement standard content.

7 With Reports Wand, custom Report Definitions are developed using tools like Toad and the tested SQL is pasted into Reports Wand by a Reports Wand administrator. With Discoverer, underlying SQL is typically generated by a wizard which is often poorly formed and runs inefficiently. Excel-based tools are highly valued by end users. Leverage existing investments and knowledge in Microsoft Excel. Discoverer output is commonly exported to Excel as a final step and then further manipulated and shared with others. Reports Wand eliminates this entire error-prone of Tool to VendorDelivery of ContentHide Complexity of Underlying Data From End UsersAd Hoc Query and Analysis Tool for End Users NATURE OF TOOL INSTALLATION Not easy to install May require external consultants and/or various patches to complete and verify the installation over a number of days Easy installation by in-house personnel takes just a few minutes to complete Save valuable time and reduce frustration by using a tool that is easy to install and evaluate.

8 If any issues arise, our support team, which is known for fast problem resolution, is on hand to Process Oracle recommends migrating Discoverer to the Oracle BI Offerings by June 2015 Excel4apps recommends testing some of the most commonly used Discoverer Reports in Reports Wand Get your users excited about Oracle by giving them Reports Wand an easy to use, Excel- based ad hoc query and analysis tool that they will Bottom LineCategory Discoverer produces cross-tab Reports , list Reports or graph-type can view our Seeded Report Platforms online by visiting Reports Wand produces either list Reports or cross-tab Reports and chart Reports using Excel pivot table functionality.

9 Reports Wand has more flexibility when it comes to Report layouts. This is thanks to its flexible Excel front Reporting Discoverer has some charts and conditional formatting. Reports Wand allows the application of extensive Excel charts and conditional formatting to detailed records, thus providing a high level view of the data and trends. It is easier to communicate with impact using Excel charts and conditional formatting because Excel has more options, and many users have existing knowledge of applying them to underlying data. Excel is also extendable through third-party apps for additional organizationally relevant and Data Visualization Discoverer cannot be configured to report independently at the cell level.

10 Reports Wand allows definition of individual cells using the Run Report function. With cell-level reporting, it is possible to produce highly customized Reports and generate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that span Oracle modules. For example, generating KPI s that measure the relationship between Revenue and Head Count and presenting the output in a pixel-perfect, refreshable format is easily done using Reports Reporting Web interface Excel interface using HTTP connection Excel is already on the desktop, and Reports Wand allows people to use it for connecting, defining and executing Reports for which they authorized.