Assessment of SAP Crystal Solutions
Introduction
In completing an analysis of SAP Crystal Solutions, a state-of-the-art Knowledge Management (KM) and Business Intelligence (BI) application, the following questions are answered:
What do you think of the site and tools presented?
Based on an assessment of the demo applications, tools and videos provided by SAP on their website for this solution, it is apparent that this is an excellent application or analytics, BI and KM tasks throughout enterprises. The ability to quickly analyze terabytes of data and gain insights and intelligence that would not otherwise have been possible makes Crystal Reports and the entire suite of applications very valuable for any business. The case studies of companies with complex value chains and operations that generate literally terabytes of data daily are finding that Crystal Solutions deliver exceptional value in finding patterns in data they would never have been able to find before (Curry, 1999). During difficult economic times the value of the many features and functions of SAP Crystal Solutions is accentuated by the exceptionally higher levels of risk that companies are dealing with (Whiting, 2007). The tools are very powerful and can easily be used for removing significant risk from any decision, while also providing a depth of insight and intelligence into any challenging decision. Combined with the knowledge management (KM) aspects of the SAP suite of analytics applications, it's
As we discuss the possibility of emerging into business intelligence software we must keep in mind the overall purpose of using any type of software is to reach strategic goals in order to increase market shares. I will discuss how business intelligence software will allow us to meet those strategic goals. We will establish what type of information and analysis capabilities will be available once this business intelligence software is implemented. We will discuss hardware and system software that will be required to run specific business intelligence software. Lastly, I will give a brief synopsis on three vendors (IBM, Microsoft Microsoft and Oracle) that are dominating the business information software
SYSCO decided to address initially only two questions in order to facilitate the learning process of the software by using just a limited and straightforward array of its features. In this way, the 100 operating companies and 45,000 employees would become comfortable with the software’s functionalities, and aware of the innovative power of BI. This approach can be compared with the practice “working with commitment”. Indeed, “setting the right expectations at the beginning and managing them
SAP provides businesses scalable and customizable solutions for all aspects of your clients' businesses, from production to marketing and Human Resources to finance reporting. Moreover, SAP products and applications will allow your clients to operate at peak efficiency levels, with better communication and faster decision-making. Therefore, the
In the organizational layer, DLL has a global business intelligence and global analytics team. The business intelligence team’s focus is data warehousing, dashboard designing and providing real-time data companywide for all the countries, which can be queried via SQL or Hyperion. Given that data often needs clean up and analysis to better understand its trends, the business intelligence team has created a Virtual Reporting Tool which is accessible by all members of the company and is meant to be the only source of the truth. This tool provides live reports and dashboards which are used for monitoring purposes and for analysis. On the other hand, the global analytics team’s focus is
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A new trend has emerged in the modern business environment in which companies are seeking to build what is referred to as "Business Intelligence" or BI for short. This has been viewed as one of the most important organizational priorities for many organizations in the last decade and it is unlikely that this trend will end anytime in the near future. The reason for the BI is pretty clear. Companies have been collecting and warehousing various types of data for many years. BI deals with the means in which companies can make better use of the data; often in real time. This allows companies to better harness information to better support organizational goals and their business objectives. Many of the BI technologies that have developed over the years can deliver better reporting mechanisms, dashboards, and different business metrics so companies can spot various trends and gather insights that can allow the company to ultimately become more competitive. Yet, in spite of the obvious appeal of the benefits a Bi system can offer a company, the development of these systems has been a relatively slow and arduous process. This paper will introduce some of the best practices for current BI systems, as well as some of the possibilities for these systems to further develop in the future.
There are a few key business issues that are addressed with SAP Crystal Reports. The first and most important is the need for useful information delivered quickly. Most companies have stored in their systems an immense amount of data, but that data can be difficult to access and understand, so what Crystal Reports does is it provides an interface whereby the user can easily call up the relevant information. The software already has the information pathways built in that the managers need, and as a result of this the reports deliver the information quickly. The second key function is to ensure that the information is easy to read and easy to use. The reports are often visual, but most importantly they reports are clean and neatly presented. This means that managers do not need to waste time sifting through poorly-organized data to find the information that they want.
Design, code and deliver user friendly multi-tier business intelligence solutions and dashboard that utilize data warehouse and data mining technologies.
Making decisions is an important part of the business world. However, without the proper information and data, it is easy for decisions to be made poorly. For this reason, business intelligence has been simplifying the process of delivering information and data to key decision-makers ever since it was first developed.
Online analytical processing (OLAP) is generally used to provide analysis of complex data. Often it is applied with a data warehouse. A data warehouse is similar to a regular database but they have differences. According to Inmon a data warehouse is “a subject-oriented, integrated, non-volatile, time-variant collection of data in support of management’s decisions [3]. Data warehouses provide more detailed information than regular databases, one reason they are recommended for analytics. Another way of describing it is, “Data warehousing is a collection of decision support technologies, aimed at enabling the knowledge worker (executive, manager, analyst) to generate wiser and faster decisions. [4] When using OLAP tools with data warehousing it can give the decision maker a clear advantage, which could give insight into why it is so highly valued. These mechanisms can help increase efficiency and provide them with a powerful advantage. At the core of any OLAP system is an OLAP cube
During the past few decades, both the generation and collection of data have been increasing tremendously, which lead to computerisation in various sectors such as business, research, entertainment and science. This exponential growth in stored data has generated an urgent need for new techniques and tools that can intelligently assist us in the management of data and information. Management Information Systems has become one of the most important aspects of our life and now it has a greater influence on our world than it has even been before. Organizations are increasingly relying on information systems to provide decision making in operational activities, management functions and for increased effectiveness in its various business areas.
SYSPRO is one of the largest ERP software vendors who serve more than 60 countries across the world. Over 14,500 licensed companies use SYSPRO ERP solutions as they provide control over the planning and management of all the areas of business including manufacturing, accounting and distribution. With 35 years of experience and the highest customer retention rates in the industry SYSPRO has been proven their ability of delivering unique industrial standard ERP solutions for their customers. SYSPRO is known as one of the few mid-market business applications vendors focuses on developing a personal one-to-one relationship with the customers. SYSPRO is differs from other ERP manufacturing products as it offers flexible management and control over each an every component of the business including financials, sales, CRM, Inventory operations and the supply chain. SYSPRO delivers their services across four main industries including food and beverage, medical services, machinery and equipment and electronics. Apart from these it also provides services to industries such as automotive construction, mining, pharmaceutical and aerospace. SYSPRO does not require any external applications to install multiple modules and this ensures the effectiveness of all the operations in production environment. SYSPRO provides complete set of solutions to business by
The company deals in fast moving consumer products and requires an analytics system that helps it serve the needs of its stakeholders more effectively. It has three major rivals in the industry and seeks to streamline its supply chain and inbound inventory processes to improve its cash flows. This implies that the ability of its employees to gather and act on different sources of data will allow them a chance to perform their responsibilities in a timely fashion. Thus, by becoming more conversant with various trends in the market, the organization will be in a position to predict future performance in its key business units. Moreover, modern firms
The world’s largest inter-enterprise software organisation is SAP (Hidding, Williams, & Sviokla, 2011; Mehrjerdi, 2010). According to Hidding et al. (2011), SAP has maintained their lead in the market since they commenced business in 1979. Generally, there are two organised ways of implementing SAP: SAP procedure model, this is
The worldwide information landscape is changing rapidly due to innovation in technological solutions. Technological solutions play a crucial role in decision-making through analysis of a massive data or big data. The explosives changes in the supply and demand of the market require firms to respond proactively and spontaneous. Accordingly, enterprises managers should be able to collect, filter and analyze the enormous amount of data from many sources in real-time. Therefore, organizations turned to use technologies for decision-making, solve the complex and challenging business problems. The tools used to support decision-making has become very wide and filled with the buzzwords. In this report, we will outline the connection between the two types of software solutions that support the decision-making process; Decision Support Systems (DSS) and Business Intelligence (BI).