Gartner Bi RFP

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire
Gartner for IT Leaders Tool

BI & Analytics Platform RFP Questionnaire
This is a customizable functional template for a business
intelligence platform RFP assessment. Vendors should complete
the assessment. Buyers can weight the functions that are most
important.
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this material or the information provided herein.
The instructions, intent and objective of this template are contained in the
source document. Please refer back to that document for details.
Instructions for Completion of the Questionnaire
Vendors should complete the following capabilities worksheet by answering each question based on the answers below.
0 Functionality not provided
1 Functionality provided with limitations
2 Functionality provided but requires customization or integration with a third party
3 Functionality provided seamlessly by third-party product
4 Functionality provided out of the box
0 — Functionality not provided: Not included in the proposed system.
1 — Functionality provided, but it is not complete and does not meet the absolute requirement.
2 — Functionality provided by the vendor, but requires customization or integration with a third party product. The functionality can be accomplished with the
vendor’s product, but requires customizing or working around, or Vendor has established a relationship with a business partner to provide this functionality, but it
requires customization or workarounds. or a third party product (not included in the package) is needed to complete the functionality.
3 — Functionality provided seamlessly by third-party product: The vendor has established a relationship (for example, as an OEM) with a business partner to
provide this functionality, which is integrated within its database management system (DBMS) and requires no customizing or working around.
4 — Functionality provided out of the box: The vendor provides the functionality from its own code base. No customizing or working around is required.
The column titled "Product Capabilities" is where the vendor should describe how it meets the requirement and why it is differentiated. Links to documentation
and screenshots to demonstrate the capability may be included for additional clarification when necessary. Vendors are cautioned not to indicate functionality as
"included in standard offering" when in fact the particular function is in development. If this is the case, vendors should note this fact in the comments column
and indicate the expected date that such features will be made available. Vendors' answers for the integrated infrastructure section should apply to all
capabilities declared in the information delivery and analysis section. For example, if there is a single query engine for ad hoc, dashboard, online analytical
processing (OLAP) and reporting, but not for scorecarding, then the vendor shouldn't say yes to the single query engine question under the integrated
infrastructure worksheet. It should be noted which components do not share a single query engine in the "Product Capabilities" column.
Additional notes to the vendor:
1. When providing responses, the guide should be followed.
2. Vendors are cautioned not to indicate functionality as “included in standard offering” when, in fact, that particular function is in development. If this is the case,
vendors should note this fact in the comments column and indicate the expected date such features will be made available.
3. An omitted response will be assumed to be the same as a response code of “N”.
4. Any deviation from the response codes will be re-coded at the discretion of ABCXYZ Corporation.
5. By responding in the affirmative to a capability item, the vendor agrees to support such capability within its product.
In this worksheet there are six tabs.
1. Vendor Instructions
2. Integration Questionnaire: This includes sections for integrated infrastructure, metadata, development and collaboration.
3. Info Delivery Questionnaire: This includes sections for reporting, dashboards, ad hoc query, mobile, Microsoft Office integration and scorecards.
4. Analysis Questionnaire: This includes sections for OLAP, interactive visualization/data discovery, search-based business intelligence (BI)/data discovery,
and predictive analytics and data mining.
5. Cost of Ownership: This includes a pricing table and questions around warranties, support and training.
6. Summary: This includes a summary table of product components and differentiators, as well as a summary table of scores.
Additional notes to the buyer:
Once the vendor has filled out the spreadsheet, adjust the weighting column as follows to arrive at a weighted score:
0 = Unimportant
1 = Important
2 = Must Have
Integrated Infrastructure
Criterion Question
Interoperability of BI Platform Components
Data Query Do all BI tools share the same query optimization and generation engine?
Formatting Do all the tools have a singular engine for formatting and rendering?
Distribution Are multiple objects (e.g., report, query, chart) distributed to multiple outputs (e.g., email, HTML,
wireless) with a single engine?
Object Management Is there a common location to create, copy and delete all objects (e.g., relational or OLAP)?
User Management Is there a common location to add/delete users and modify settings?
Common Authoring Tools 1 Common development and authoring environment across BI platform components (e.g., reports,
dashboards, OLAP, ad-hoc).
Common Authoring Tools 2 Seamless navigation across tools with the ability to modify and extend content between tools
across the BI platform.
Common User Interface Common commands, menu items and toolbar for all BI functions (e.g., reports, OLAP, ad-hoc,
dashboards).
Common Clients Is there a consistent Ajax client or comparable rich client for all BI functions?
Common Output Formats All tools support the same output formats with the same level of interactivity (HTML, PDF, Excel,
Word, PPT, Flash, etc.).
Common Security Definitions Do all tools leverage a common security definition?
Common Query Engine Do all BI tools share the same query optimization and construction engine?
Single Server Install Are all platform components installed via a single server install?
Common Administration Do all tools share a common administration application?
Common Scalability Is there a common scalability mechanism (caching, clustering, workload balancing, high
availability, etc.) across BI platform components?
Total Score
Total Possible Score
Standardized Score (on a scale of 1 to 10)
Metadata
Criterion Question
Can metadata objects (e.g., dimensions, measures, calculations, parameters) be created by IT
Data Modeling/Mashup - IT Users Reuse users and promoted to a central repository for reuse?
Can metadata objects (e.g., dimensions, measures, calculations, parameters) be created by
Data Modeling/Mashup - Business Users Reuse business users and promoted to a central repository for reuse?
Data Modeling/Mashup - Level of Effort How is data modeled in the product? How much data modeling is required?
Data Modeling/Mashup - Skills What skill level is required?
Data Modeling/Mashup - Scripting Is scripting required for data modeling/mashup? How and when?
Business User Data Mashup 1 Does the product support business user data mashup and modeling without scripting? Please
describe.
Business User Data Mashup 2 Can the business user create custom groups without scripting?
Business User Data Mashup 3 Can the business user filter and calculate across data sources without scripting?
Business User Data Mashup 4 Can the business user join data sources without scripting?
Business User Data Mashup 5 Can the business user create calculated columns?
Single Repository Is there a single repository for metadata such as mappings of business concepts to underlying
data structures (e.g., dimensions, measures)?
Single Repository 2 Is there a single repository for ALL metadata, such as mappings of business concepts to
underlying data structures, as well as layouts AND report configurations (e.g., prompts, filters)?
Metric Definition Is there a single metric definition (including metadata for business rules, such as calculation
definitions, key performance indicators [KPIs], currency conversions) accessible from all BI
capabilities (e.g., reports, scorecards, OLAP, query, dashboard)?
Propagation Can the tool propagate changes made in the metadata repository to all other reports and
applications that make use of the metadata objects?
Synchronization Is there a synchronized process with third-party metadata repositories?
Data Lineage Is data lineage supported to determine which source systems contributed to the report regardless
of which extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) tool is used?
Impact Analysis Impact analysis is supported to highlight changes in the source data (down to which fields are
impacted within a report) that affect downstream reports.
Relational Database Is the metadata stored in a relational database to improve scalability and manageability?
Search Is there a facility to search a metadata repository to find the appropriate report, and does this
enable drill-through without predefined drill paths?
ETL or Modeling Tool Integration Are there capabilities for integrating with other ETL or modeling tools?
What data sources are supported, including Multidimensional Expressions (MDX), XML, RSS
Data Sources feeds, Hadoop, Microsoft SharePoint list, flat file, other?
Can reports, dashboards, ad hoc queries and analysis be created "out of the box" from at least
one multidimensional online analytical processing (MOLAP) data source such as Hyperion
OLAP Connectivity Essbase, SQL Server Analysis Services, NetWeaver BI InfoCubes or Oracle OLAP?
Standards-Based Connectivity Supports Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)?
Out of the Box Enterprise Application Connectivity Is there native connectivity to enterprise applications (e.g., SAP, SAP Netweaver BW, Oracle,
SFDC, other)?
Direct Query Access Does the product support direct query access via SQL and/or MDX?
Provides access to at least 50 native data sources, including API-level access and metadata
Native Data Adaptors understanding?
Ease of Loading Data Sources 1 Add (is coding required?).
Ease of Loading Data Sources 2 Load (amount of scripting required).
Ease of Loading Data Sources 3 Refresh (Complete reload, incremental reload).
Total Score
Development
Criterion Question
Development Tool
API Is there an open API across all aspects of the BI tools/platform?
Object Definition Is there a common and consistent method to describe and define an object (e.g., query object,
report object)?
Object Access Is there a common and consistent method to access objects (e.g., when building a report, when
designing a cube)?
Object Display Is there a common and consistent method to display objects (e.g., push to wireless, push to HTML
page)?
Multiple Developer Provides central repository with check in/check out versioning within the development
environment?
Life Cycle Management Provides life cycle management stages including: test, development and production? How do you
support the dev/test/production migration process?
Versioning Supports versioning of reports, dashboards and analysis?
.NET Support Does the product enable BI applications to be developed in a .NET environment?
Java Support Does the product enable BI applications to be developed in a J2EE environment?
In-Line Does the product support development that combines analytical and operational services into one
experience?
Debugging Does the product provide a mechanism to interactively debug custom BI applications?
Testing Describe any testing or regression testing capabilities available with your BI toolset.
Object-Oriented Is object reuse and propagation supported?
Wizard Development Can developers use a wizard-style tool to build BI applications?
WYSIWIG Can developers see live data in WYSIWIG format?
Drag and Drop Can developers build BI applications using drag and drop tools?
Data Access Can developers access heterogeneous data sources through a wizard-style tool?
Visual Development Does the product provide the capability to both consume and provide Web services within a visual
development environment?
Schedule and Execute Does the software development kit (SDK) exposes the following functionality via Web services: run
new queries or reports, and perform analysis on a time or event basis?
Deliver Does the SDK expose the following functionality via Web services: print reports, include reports in
a portal, pass parameters to reports that will be run, and deliver URLs back to the calling
applications for the location of new reports?
Manage Does the SDK expose the following functionality via Web services: create, copy and delete report
or analysis objects?
Administer Does the SDK expose the following functionality via Web services: add users, change security
settings and monitor/manage performance?
Embeddability Can all BI content be made available as an embeddable report part via an API (Web services) for
embedding with other content sources or applications with full report interactivity, report attributes,
derived measures, etc.?
Data Load Does the SDK enable data to be read/loaded via a Web service?
Portal 1 Does the product support JSR 168?
Portal 2 Does the product support Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP)?
Portal 3 In addition to BI vendor-specific portal, is there the ability to integrate and display report or
dashboard parts with full interactivity without customization? Is there certified integration with most
of the major enterprise portals, including: Microsoft SharePoint, IBM WebSphere, SAP NetWeaver
Enterprise Portal, BEA WebLogic Oracle Portal, Oracle WebCenter, Liferay, Oracle Sun One
Portal Server, Vignette Portal?
Metadata Access Supports metadata exchange via Web services?
Corporate Performance Management (CPM) Does the product natively integrate with CPM platforms? Which ones?
Drill to Application Detail Does the platform support drill-back to primary enterprise application detail? Which ones?
Pre-Built Reports Provides a domain and or industry-specific packaged data model and business content (e.g.,
CRM, finance, HR, procurement, and supply chain management [SCM] and/or for a vertical
industry)?
Architecture
SOA Does your solution follow a service-oriented architecture? Please provide a list of multichannel
(reusable) services exposed by your solution, for consumption by other clients.
Solution Architecture List all the technologies used at every tier/layer within your solution. For example, .NET/portal/Java
at the presentation layer, J2EE/other in the application layer, etc.
Hardware and OS Support List all the hardware and OS (versions) that your software is certified on and are required at both
development and run-time by the system. Include all tiers.
Database Support Is the product certified to run on at least three different leading databases? Which ones?
Desktop Specifications Describe the minimum desktop specifications (CPU, memory, screen resolution, etc.) required for
end users of your system. If you have both a thin-client and thick-client style, mention the
specifications for both.
Open Standards Is your system based on open standards? Please provide a list of all applicable industry standards
(WS-I for Web services, JSR 168 for Portal, Interactive Financial eXchange [IFX], ODBC, etc.) that
your product is built on and that you guarantee compatibility with.
Certification How quickly do you re-certify your software against newer versions of these third-party
technologies? Please provide some details around the level of testing you perform as part of such
certifications (functional, regression, performance/stress, etc).
Virtualization Are there any tiers within your application that are certified to run in a virtualized environment? If
yes, which ones?
64-Bit BI platform compiles to 64 bit and makes use of the larger addressable memory space?
Unicode Provides Unicode support?
Security
Third-Party Authentication 1 Does the product support integration with third-party security architecture such as Active Directory
(AD) and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) groups for user authentication (via
Kerberos tickets/AD certificates) and authorization? How is that managed?
Third-Party Authentication 2 Supports third-party authentication (ability to leverage other tools/applications authentication
methods)?
Proprietary Authentication Supports optional internal (proprietary) authentication?
Security 1 Supports Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)?
Security 2 Supports WS-Security?
Column Supports column (object)-level security?
Row Supports row-level security?
Cell Supports cell-level security?
Source System Leverages source systems security (user ID pass through)?
Role-Based Supports building profiles for software functionality (role-based security)?
Extranet Supports secured extranet access to BI information (expose data outside the firewall and present
to individuals outside the organization, such as customers or vendors)?
Single Sign-On — Individual Level Is there a universal single sign-on at the individual level for all capabilities (e.g., reports,
dashboards, OLAP)?
Single Sign-On — Group level Is there an ability to manage sign-ons at the group level for all BI capabilities (e.g., reports,
dashboards, OLAP)?
Proxy Server Does the product support connectivity through a proxy server?
Security Events Logging How does the platform log security events?
Audit Trail Does the platform have audit trail capabilities with regard to user transactions, failed logon
attempts, and protection of the logs against modification and unauthorized use, and any other
business over-ride or events?
Administer How is user access set up?
Encryption Is the product encrypting data in transfer and storage?
Security Maintenance Is there a mechanism for how security is maintained in connection with other systems? Please
describe.
Security Monitoring Does the product support audit tracing, security logs and monitoring?
Scalability
Virtualization Which environment provides the best performance for an enterprise solution: physical or virtual?
Platform Which environment provides the best performance for an enterprise solution: Unix, Linux or
Windows?
Tunables When scaling up, what aspects of the system tend to become bottlenecks for large deployments?
What methods have you employed to overcome these bottlenecks? What are all the “tunables” in
your solution that help enhance performance and scale?
Sizing Describe the process for conducting capacity assessments to determine future needs. Provide the
sizing guides you use for the clients using your solution (to estimate capacity based on users,
transaction volumes, or other application profile parameters you use for the sizing, etc.)
Performance Optimization 1 Do you support function shipping to the database?
Do you provide specific optimized SQL per relational database management system (RDBMS)?
Performance Optimization 2 Which ones?
Performance Optimization 3 Do you support multilevel caching?
Performance Optimization 4 Do you support automated aggregate awareness? Describe how.
Performance Optimization 5 Do you provide in-memory and or columnar data store utilization?
Workload Balancing Does the tool divide calculations across all available processors and cores?
Performance Monitoring What capabilities or integration does the solution provide for performance monitoring?
High Availability and Disaster Recovery
Backup and Recovery 1 Does the product have out of the box capabilities and procedures for backup and recovery? What
are they?
Backup and Recovery 2 Does the product support selective recovery of BI reports/dashboards?
High Availability Does your architecture support high availability and failover? How?
Cluster-Aware Is the solution database cluster-aware? For example, if the database fails-over, does your solution
require the application instances to be shut down and restarted in order to recover from failure?
System Events What system events are captured within the solution? Are they viewable?
Total Score
Collaboration
Criterion Question
Sharing
Public Folders Does the tool post reports, graphs and analysis into public folders for others to look at?
Discussion Threads Does the tool offer discussion threads and commentary on shared BI content (reports,
dashboards, analysis)?
Real-Time Collaboration and Social Can users collaborate in real time using the same view to chat and annotate?
Annotations and Comments Can users add comments to BI and dashboard content?
Annotations Can users create annotations to the query result (or any BI artefact) that are tied to a workflow-
driven process?
Search What are the product's capabilities for search functionality?
Can users find relevant other users and share and collaborate on BI, analysis and dashboard
Sharing content?
Workflow and Events
Workflow Supports integration with workflow engines (e.g., Windows Workflow Foundation) in a way that
triggers a workflow (e.g., tasks can be assigned) based on BI data (i.e., routes the workflow based
on specific queries) without coding?
BPM Are there APIs or native integration with workflows within business process management tools?
Business Rule Updates Is there a synchronous linking of business rules between models so that analysis can be carried
out across multiple models and domains (e.g., "I am changing my sales forecast now, [Hit Enter],
what does it do to your manufacturing plan?")
Automated Business Rule Updates Can the BI models actively query each other, requesting analytical input from another model (same
example as above, but without human interaction: "Would the manufacturing bandwidths allow me
to increase my sales forecast?")?
BPEL Supports Business Process Execution Language (BPEL)?
Guided Analytics Provides ability to build guided paths to do reporting and analysis according to a particular subject
area and dynamically based on events.
Operational Write Back Enables interaction with the process by writing back data from a query result to an operational data
source (e.g., ERP database).
Continuous Flow Rules Engine Is there a collection of rules that are evaluated as events and new data are received?
Complex Event Processing Is there cascaded support of rules to evaluate thresholds, duration, correlation, frequency, rate of
change, etc? Are there APIs or native integration with complex-event processing (CEP) and
business activity monitoring (BAM) tools?
User Authoring of Business Rules Is there a wizard-like tool for users to create their own business rules?
Execution Can the system feed business rules created in the BI platform to an operational application for
execution via a business rules management system?
Run-Time Prompts Can users provide run-time parameters as input to the business rules?
Scheduling, Alerts and Notifications
Automated Report and Dashboard Scheduling and Does it provide BI content to end users on an on-demand or scheduled basis? Is it able to
Distribution schedule reports to be distributed based on date/time and events that have occurred?
Is there delivery of alerts to users based on defining thresholds in a report where you would want
Conditional Alerts 1 to be notified if a specific condition exists? What personalization features are available for this?
Conditional Alerts 2 Is there centralized definition of a report condition for condition-based reporting and notification?
Conditional Alerts 3 Is there personalized definition of a report condition for condition-based reporting and notification?
Alert Notification What delivery methods are available for alerting (email, RSS feed, mobile, other)?
Visual Alerts Is there a visual display of exception values through color coding or other means?
Event-Driven/Dynamic Alerts Are there event-based alerts?
Can alerts be created based on temporal rules? (For example, if the time between event A and
Temporal Rules event B increases by more than 10%.)
User-Defined Thresholds Can end users can set their own thresholds?
Can the system alert not on just one metric, but on a composite analytic business process — that
Complex Alerts is, a set of conditions across systems — with business context?
Total Score
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
Rating Product Capabilities Buyer Weights Buyer Weighted Score
0 0
60 120
0.00 0.00
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
0 0
112 224
0.00 0.00
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
0 0
272 544
0.00 0.00
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
0 0
116 232
0.00 0.00
Reporting
Criterion Question Rating
Pixel-Perfect Produces pixel-perfect reports?
Complex Reporting Support for cross-tab reports?
Basic Charts Does the product include bar/column, pie and line/area charts?
Does the product include all of the following advanced visualizations (including combo charts,
heatmaps, boxplots, paths on a map, different levels of aggregation, histograms, bubble, bullet,
Advanced Charts candlestick, pareto, treemap, marimekko, x/y or scatter charts, etc.)?
Publishes reports in all of the following formats: HTML, PDF, XML, Excel, comma-separated values
Output Format (CSV)?
Is there support for layered PDF creation? This is the ability to create layers that display while
printing but not on the screen, and vice versa; to rename and merge layers; to change the
Layered PDF Creation properties of layers; and/or lock layers to prevent them from being hidden.
Is it able to search the report repository and individual reports for keywords contained in the BI
Search metadata?
Bursting Can reports or parts of a report be bursted to different users with user-specific content?
Is demand paging supported (i.e., is each page requested rendered before waiting for the entire
Demand Paging report to load)?
Multiple Data Sources Use multiple data sources in one result set?
Multi-Pass SQL Multi-pass SQL support?
Complex SQL Is there complex SQL, specifically the HAVING clause and nested subqueries?
Heterogeneous Joins Support for heterogeneous Joins?
Prompts, Filters, Parameterizations
Can the system create and save report parameters including numeric, string, date, format and text
Parameterized Reporting data types to make the reports interactive?
Is there support for cascading (multilevel) prompts that present selection filters based on
associated information? (For example, from annual sales report, select the month of December.
When navigating to another report the month of December parameter is maintained in the new
Cascading Parameters view/report.)
Filter Prompts Are there filter prompts? Is there the ability to select from a finite set of filter options?
Hierarchical Prompts Are there hierarchical filters?
Formatting Prompts Can users customize formatting based on prompts?
Other Parameters Support for other parameterizations not listed?
Is formatting saved between data views? Can users save their filter and other formatting options
Reuse for reuse in running a report (including options for saving, like to Internet Explorer favorites, etc.)?
Report Navigation
Can users drill from a report to any underlying data source? Is there drilling functionality (e.g.,
Drill hierarchical, around, conditional)? List all types of drilling supported.
Are users able to drill through to other reports or URLs based on the value of a single cell or group
Hyperlinking of cells? Can users insert hyperlinks within a report?
Freeze Panes Can users freeze panes?
Hide Columns Can users hide columns?
Table of Contents Are reports (including PDF) produced with navigation bar and table of contents?
Sorting Sorting capabilities?
Report Data Views Can users produce data in rows and columns and change rows into columns?
Templates Use of templates for reuse?
Printing
Printing 1 Can users connect to a local/network printer or FTP site and print selected content?
Printing 2 Ability to print a portion of a dashboard or report?
Printing 3 Ability to print entire report or dashboard?
Printing 4 Can users print to fit to page with headers on each page?
Document Layout
Object Placement Is there absolute object placement?
Conditional Formatting Conditional formatting?
Contextual Formatting Contextual formatting and linking?
Multiple objects in a document (charts, text, pictures, tables, maps) — can all of these types be
Multiple Objects linked?
Tabs Multiple report tabs?
Relative Positioning Relative positioning of objects?
Rulers Rulers and design tools?
Annotation and Comments Is there the ability to add comments and annotations to BI content (reports and dashboards)?
Sharing Can users find relevant users and share and collaborate on BI, analysis and dashboard content?
Undo Undo (reverse and edit operations one step at a time)?
WYSIWYG WYSIWYG editor?
Financial Reporting
Intra-Row Calculations Is there support for intra-row calculations?
Formatting Is there automated formatting of financial measures (asset/liability, income/expense etc)?
XBRL XBRL tagged output?
Report Books Can users create a books of reports?
Financial Intelligence Can the system understand financial concepts such as expense, revenue items?
Total Score 0
Total Possible Score 192
Standardized Score (on a scale of 1 to 10) 0.00
Dashboards
Are users able to render summarized graphical representation of the data represented as a chart,
Graphics gauge or stop light (without programming)?
Are users able to provide a positive or negative trend indicator for each metric (without
Trend programming)?
Are users able to provide a color-coded summary indicating the state of a particular metric
Color Coded compared to a goal or threshold target (without programming)?
User Enablement Can end users build their own metrics using a wizard to create a metric calculation?
Can users integrate multiple data sets into one dashboard, including both relational and
Multi-Data Sources multidimensional data?
Drill Anywhere Can users drill from dashboard graphics (e.g., dial, traffic light) to any source system?
Alerts and Notifications Can messages be sent when a data value surpasses a predefined threshold?
Are there software routines that detect changes in data or receive events from other sources
Data Agent and Event Listener (without polling)?
Application Integration Ability to create KPIs from data from any of the applications identified in the RFP?
Geospatial Data and Mapping Ability to create dashboard objects using geospatial data and map representations?
Goals Can multiple targets per metric (multiple thresholds or goals) be visualized?
Sharing Can users find relevant users and share and collaborate on BI, analysis and dashboard content?
Dashboard Navigation
Contextual Drill Can users drill from one dashboard to another with parameter passed?
Drill Down Can users drill down to a lower level of detail from a summary?
Can users pivot/drill by other dimensions (dragging and dropping or expanding and collapsing for
Pivot drilldown)?
Sort Can users re-sort data in a table within an existing dashboard?
Global Filter Can users control the display of one or more reports in a single portal page or in a dashboard?
Dashboard Design Tool
User-Defined Calculations Are developer/user-defined calculations for data not available in the warehouse?
Are there user-defined KPIs (can users build custom algorithms and formulas to derive key
User-Defined KPIs performance indicators)?
Reuse Are elements reusable in multiple dashboards?
Templates Are there formatting templates for a consistent look?
Undo Is there an undo function?
Design Environment Is it a Web-based design environment?
WYSIWYG WYSIWYG design mode?
Query Refresh Is there auto refresh/re-query of dashboard objects without manual intervention?
Applets Is there use of applet/ActiveX controls (can users embed Java or .NET code as needed)?
Is there Web-based dashboard delivery, embedded in PDF, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word
Dashboard Delivery Options and Adobe SWF?
Is there Web-based dashboard delivery embedded in PDF?
Is there Web-based dashboard delivery, embedded in Microsoft PowerPoint?
Is there Web-based dashboard delivery, embedded in Microsoft Word?
Is there Web-based dashboard delivery, embedded in Adobe SWF?
How many data sources are natively supported? Which ones? Including: MDX, XML, RSS feeds,
Data Sources Hadoop, Microsoft SharePoint list, flat file, other?
Is MDX supported?
Is XML supported?
Are RSS feeds supported?
Is Hadoop supported? Which implementations?
Is a Microsoft SharePoint List supported?
Are Flat Files supported?
What other data sources are supported?
Performance Optimization
Caching Caching?
In-Memory In-memory data store utilization?
64-Bit Support for 64-bit OS (ability to utilize more than 2 GB of RAM)?
Total Score 0
Ad Hoc Query
Does the system provide a business user-friendly semantic layer that hides the complexity of
Semantic Layer underlying data sources?
Are queries automatically directed to the most recently created aggregates and summary tables in
Aggregate Aware the underlying data structure?
Heterogeneous Data Join Can users query multiple data sources and join the results?
Does the tool have the ability to query at least three OLAP sources (e.g., SAP Netweaver BW,
OLAP Oracle Essbase, Cognos PowerPlay, Cognos TM1, SQL Server Analysis Services)?
Auditing Performance Does the tool have the ability to track query response time?
Auditing Usage Does the tool offer the ability to monitor ad hoc query usage?
Does the tool provide administrators with governance features to prevent users from writing bad
Control queries?
Caching Data Does the tool offer the ability to cache query results for faster performance?
Does the tool offer the ability to cache metadata objects (including report layout objects such as
Caching Metadata parameters) for faster performance?
Multi-User Cache Can the cache can be shared by multiple users?
Does the tool provide multi-pass SQL capabilities against the underlying database to minimize the
Multi-Pass SQL amount of data sent over the network?
Wizards Are there wizards for ad-hoc query/report creation?
Drag and Drop Does ad hoc support include drag-and-drop navigation?
Search Can the tool automatically create an ad hoc report based on keywords from a search?
Data Federation Can the tool cache and join data from disparate data sources to perform on-the-fly integration?
Can the tool output query results back to an operational database as opposed to just rendering
Write-Back them in a report?
Web-Based Is there the ability to provide Web-based ad hoc query report development capabilities?
Calculated Conditions Using a derived value?
Multiple Data Sources Can the tool use multiple data sources in one result set?
Multi-Pass SQL Is there multi-pass SQL support?
Complex SQL Is there complex SQL; specifically the HAVING clause and nested sub-queries?
Are there cascading filters (can users create a selectable filter where one selection is predicated
Filter and Prompt Options on a previous selection), filter prompts, SQL-like syntax for filtering, hierarchical filters?
Applets Use of applet/ActiveX controls (embed Java or .NET code as needed)?
Disconnected How does the product support disconnected access?
Total Score 0
Mobile
Information Display and Interaction
Does the application offer visually compelling outputs, with animated components, large icons,
buttons, menus and selectors, adequate font size according to the device's screen size, and
Rich Information Visualization engaging charts and table layouts?
Is the application capable of overlaying on maps at least three types of geo-located information,
Information Overlay on Maps such as shaded regions, bubbles, pie charts or routes?
Are users able to interact with report components, getting feedback on their actions, such as
tapping a bar on a chart and obtaining information detail?
Is the touchscreen interface leveraged, adhering to mobile conventions and using gestures such as
Touchscreen Experience swipe, tap and pinch to interact with the information, instead of, for example, scroll bars?
After the initial report loading, do users get immediate response from their actions, such as
Responsiveness opening a list box or changing a filter selection?
Does the application provide easy to use reports, structured in multiple pages or tabs, with pre-built
information visualizations such as KPIs, tables, charts and maps, and is it able to provide a quick
Dashboard Delivery overview of a business topic to a casual user?
Information Exploration
Do reports and dashboards support dynamic filters to change results after report execution?
Does the application allow pre-defined navigation from one report to another, by clicking data fields
and other report components, allowing for the creation of information exploration paths?
Does the application support linking between information visualizations, such as selecting a row in
a table and changing the information displayed on an associated graph?
Does the application provide drilling to details through interaction with table cells and chart
Guided Information Exploration components?
Does the application, on the mobile device, support sort, column hiding, removal or positioning
Table Manipulation within a table?
Does the application, on the mobile device, provide ways to manipulate visual representations of
data, such as zooming and panning on a specific area of a bubble chart, or highlighting a line or
Graphics Manipulation bar?
Are users able to drill the information on maps, and change maps' detail or focus, with actions such
Maps Manipulation as tap, zoom in and out, and pan?
Can the user, on the mobile device, assemble and save new reports using pre-built components or
Report Development on the Device ad-hoc query building functionality?
Analytics
Is the user able to freely explore a set of predefined data, interacting with tables or charts, and
Ad-Hoc Information Exploration using drag and drop operations, to build or change queries?
Does the application deliver pre-defined, domain-specific, analytic models that the user can apply
to a set of information or events, to generate a result; such as "additional product to recommend
Packaged Analytics when the customer makes a purchase"?
Is the application capable of "what if" scenario modeling, enabling analysts to alter certain
Scenario Simulations parameters to test their impact?
Is the user able to build and save analytic models, such as a predictive model, that can later be
Analytic Models Development applied to derive an outcome?
Context Awareness
Is the application able to use the GPS to automatically filter reports, delivering, for example, the
GPS Integration sales performance of a store being visited?
Is the application capable of using the device's camera to read bar codes or identify images, to
Camera Integration filter reports, for example?
Voice Integration Is the application able to execute or filter reports according to voice commands?
Sensor Integration Is the application capable of sensor integration such as compass, gyroscope or accelerometer?
Offline Mode Exploration
Are users able to navigate information without an active data connection, using locally stored
Offline Information Navigation information?
Can users subscribe, on the device, reports or dashboards that the tool will download automatically
Automated Information Download in the background or upon application activation?
Are users able, on the device, to select and immediately download a report for later exploration
Manual Information Download without data connection?
Rich Application Functionality
Does the application provide collaboration features such as annotations, print-screen emailing,
Collaboration discussion threads for reports, and screen sharing for live discussions?
Does the application provide notifications generated by predefined data monitoring rules, or event
Alerting occurrences (e.g., KPI threshold achieved)?
Is the application capable of simple data entry, such as filling a customer order form, and writing
back to business applications?
Write-Back Is the application capable of workflow triggering in business applications?
Does the application support rich content like photos, video, sound and text files as part of a BI
Multimedia Support report?
Is the application able to overlay information on top of the video stream from the camera, or a map
Augmented Reality being updated in real time according to the user's position?
Multiple Device Support
Does the application support Apple iOS smartphones and tablets?
Applications offering the standard Web portal to run on mobile devices, without device awareness
and mobility enhancements, are considered as "1 - No support." Support for only one device type
Apple is "2 - Partial support."
Does the application support Google Android smartphones and tablets?
Google is "2 - Partial support."
Does the application support RIM smartphones and tablets?
Research In Motion (RIM) is "2 - Partial support."
Does the application support Microsoft smartphones and tablets?
Microsoft is "2 - Partial support."
Ease of Use for Developers
Does the application share a single workbench for desktop- and mobile-based report development,
Integrated Development Workbench requiring similar skills?
Reuse of Existing Content Is the application capable of displaying existing reports without modifications to the design?
New Content Development Is the process to create new mobile reports quick and straightforward?
Is the application capable of integration with at least two external BI platforms, from different
vendors, being able to leverage metadata, security and users' definitions to mobilize existing BI
Cross-BI Platforms Integration content?
Application Development
Does the application allow the integration of mobile BI outputs in external applications, and the
Mobile Applications Integration integration of external applications' components in the mobile BI application?
Does the application provide customization capabilities for deployment with a "skinned" interface,
Application Customization using customers' brand and image?
Does the application provide processes for user-driven setup, including, if needed, self-service
installation and automated parameters definition to connect to a BI server, allowing for wide mobile
Application Distribution BI application distribution (e.g., for customer-facing BI applications)?
Does the application provide a development SDK for advanced mobile application customization
and integration?
The SDK is not supposed to run on the mobile devices, but should be able to create and customize
Development SDK for Mobile mobile device BI applications.
Administration
Does the application share the server infrastructure as the desktop BI platform, leveraging existing
metadata, security and users' definitions?
Does the application share an administration console and processes with the desktop-based BI
Integrated Mobile Infrastructure platform?
Does the application provide capabilities for administrator-driven setup, including, if needed,
Administrator-Driven Setup remote installation and automated parameters definition to connect to a BI server?
Does the application provide capabilities to force upgrades and patch installation, to delete or
Application Management configure the client application remotely?
Security
Does the application use two-factor authentication certificates for the device and BI server, and
Communications Security does it use encrypted communications (e.g., HTTPS) and support VPN connections?
Does the application encrypt locally stored data, and support remote data wipe capabilities and the
Data Security option for cache deletion when exiting the application?
Application Security Does the application require a password to access both online and offline content?
Does the application implement security filters for individual users and groups, to restrict access to
BI Objects and User Security the BI system content?
Total Score 0
Microsoft Office Integration
Does the tool have the ability to embed queries and refresh them from a Microsoft Office document
Refresh such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint?
Does the tool have the ability to export data into Excel spreadsheets, while preserving existing
Formatting formatting of the report?
Does the tool have the ability to export data into Excel spreadsheets, while supporting Excel-based
Formulas formulas?
Does the tool have the ability to lock cells on the spreadsheet from a central location then push the
Cell Locking spreadsheet (with locked cells) for decentralized consumption?
Pivot Tables Is there support for pivot tables and filters in Excel spreadsheets?
Write-Back Does the tool enable write-back of data from Excel to another database?
Outlook Can the tool send alerts or tasks to personal Outlook clients without programming?
Outlook 2 Can users view data and reports in Outlook?
Security Does the tool provide authentication/security when refreshing data from an MS Office document?
Total Score 0
Scorecards
Is the tool able to design strategy maps and other diagrams outlining objectives and attached
Strategy Map metrics?
Does the tool apply a scorecard to a particular performance methodology, such as Six Sigma or
Methodology balanced scorecard?
Does the tool enable scorecard users to collaborate via discussion threads about the status of
Collaboration metrics and recommend remedial action?
Analysis Can the tool generate analytic cubes (from the scorecard model) for further analysis?
Can the tool track initiatives and other projects alongside metrics to monitor the actions being
Initiative Tracking undertaken, to correct and improve the performance associated with a metric?
Alerting Is the tool able to alert metric owners when metric status has changed?
Does the tool provide the ability to link metrics hierarchically with a cause and effect relationship,
Impact Diagrams and to create diagrams depicting this relationship?
Ownership Are users able to assign ownership to metrics and scorecards?
Group Metrics Are users able to group metrics by objectives and ownership?
Are users able to instantly see best, worst, fastest-rising and fastest-falling metrics in a single
Summarized Metric View view?
Total Score 0
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
Product Capabilities Buyer Weights Buyer Weighted Score
0
384
0.00
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
0
336
0.00
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
0
192
0.00
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
0
360
0.00
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
0
72
0.00
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
0
80
0.00
OLAP
User-Defined Functions Are end users able to create/edit derived metrics using an automated wizard process?
Rank/Sort Does the tool enable users to rank and sort the results of various measures?
User-Defined Dimensions Can end users edit/add members to a dimension using an automated wizard process?
Alternative Hierarchy Does the tool support alternative hierarchies within a dimension?
Inter-Row Calculations Does the tool support inter-row calculations?
Complex Calculations Are all calculations allowed across all dimensions?
Automation Can end users build cubes using a wizard?
Load Performance Can users do trickle feeds of cubes while cubes remain online?
Load Performance 2 Can users do batch feed of cubes while cubes remain online?
Cache Update Can users set trade-offs between freshness and query performance to guide caching rules?
In-Memory Can users make calculations or do aggregations to detail data in-memory at query time?
Relational Online Analytical Processing Can the tool perform multidimensional analysis against relational data without relying on a
(ROLAP) predefined aggregates?
Can the aggregates reside in an OLAP cube structure, and the transaction detail reside in a
Hybrid OLAP (HOLAP) relational data store where it can be made available for drill-through?
Financial Intelligence Does the tool support currency conversions?
Financial Intelligence 2 Does the tool understand and correctly calculate expense and revenue item variances?
Time Intelligence Is there a wizard to develop application-specific time dimensions (e.g., fiscal year, retail)?
Time Intelligence 2 Does the tool handle calculation of time-balanced metrics (e.g., inventory, price, units sold)?
Security Does the tool define and filter security access by user or group to the cell level?
Write-Back Does the tool support multi-user write back to the OLAP database under security?
Can the tool support the definition of true asymmetric hierarchies in any dimension (without
"dummy" members)? (For example, can it compare disparate date ranges or time frames within a
Asymmetric Hierarchies single results set?)
Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) Does the BI platform support formula definition and database query using MDX ?
Automation Can the tool build cubes directly from relationally based star schemas?
Does the tool allow users to select/drill down/query based on a measure, not just a dimension
Drilling on Measures (e.g., all products with positive margins)?
Does the tool provide a comprehensive library of predefined calculations, complete with
Predefined Calculations documentation and examples of use?
Can users make cost allocations to various data attributions in order to build customer/product
Allocations profitability models?
Scenario Planning and "What If" Can the tool support "what if" scenario modeling, enabling analysts to alter certain parameters to
Analysis test their impact?
Is operation modeling functionality provided to maximize or minimize variables based on
Optimization predefined constraints?
Planning Do the OLAP capabilities integrate seamlessly with the vendor's planning products?
Activity-Based Costing (ABC) Can the tool support allocations and activity-based costing calculations?
Custom Groups Can users define custom groups?
Custom Hierarchies Can the user define custom hierarchies?
Out of the Box Calculations Can the tool make out of the box calculations such as top/bottom 10 ranking?
Time Series Is there trending — time-based analysis (for example, this year/last year analysis)?
Drilling 1 Is there drill-through to detail maintenance (change source data)?
Drilling 2 Is there drill-through to detail presentation (view source data)?
Procedural Calculations Can the tool make procedural calculations (embed scripting or syntax)?
Statistical Functions Statistical analysis — what out of the box functions are available?
Total Score 0
Standardized Score (on a scale of 10) 0.00
Interactive Visualization and Data Discovery
End-User Functionality
Authoring Does the product support business-user-authored data discovery and dashboards?
Disconnected Does the product support disconnected access?
In-Memory or Columnar Data Store Can the product use RAM-based processing on a server to power interactive visualizations?
Does the product have any data-set limitations? How are memory limitations managed for
Memory Optimization performance?
Graphics Reuse Does the tool support reusability within graphical elements/components?
Does the product support direct SQL and Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) ad-hoc querying?
Direct Query Which specific sources?
WYSIWYG Is the development environment consistent with “WYSIWYG”?
Does the product support capabilities for working with alerts (e.g., email, rises notifications)? Can
Alerts the product alert on one metric and on a composite of conditions?
Data Presentation and Interactivity
How do users interact visually with content? Is it direct interaction with a graph by dragging and
Interaction Paradigm 1 dropping what users want to see?
Are users able to perform analysis functions (e.g., drill, pivot) solely by interacting with visual
Interaction Paradigm 2 images?
Does the BI platform project multidimensional data attributes onto a two-dimensional image using
Multidimensional Rendering the size, shape and color of the object?
Sliders Does the tool provide a facility to slide a bar between measures to filter data sets being shown?
Sorting Are users able to sort the data automatically or manually?
Custom Groups Are users able to perform simple and complex grouping of data item categories?
Custom Hierarchies Can users create custom hierarchies?
Exclude Data From View Are users able to exclude irrelevant data or keep only the items of interest from the view?
Basic Charts Does the product include bar/column, pie and line/area charts?
Does the product include advanced visualizations? (Including all of the following: combo charts,
heatmaps, boxplots, paths on a map, different levels of aggregation, histograms, bubble, bullet,
Advanced Charts candlestick, pareto, treemap, marimekko, x/y or scatter charts, etc.)?
Does the product support trellising? This facility uses the dimension of a chart as an iteration
Trellising dimension for producing an array of charts, shown in tabular form.
Does the product support brushing? Does it offer the ability to filter and pass parameters directly
Brushing from a graphic by clicking on drawn objects (either by using ctrl-click or drawing a "lasso")?
Does the product support chart linking with cascading prompts? Does it have the facility to show
Cascading Prompts multiple perspectives on the same dataset simultaneously in linked visual objects?
Does the product support time-based animation playback? (This is the ability to watch trends in a
dataset developing over time through the use of animated charts.) Can this be achieved via the
Animation use of a slider linked to a time series dimension?
Is it able to provide a color-coded summary of the state of a particular metric compared to a goal
Conditional Formatting or threshold target without programming?
Can the product detect real-time changes in data or receive events from other sources without
Real-Time Event Detection polling?
Can the motion of dials and gauges be depicted from live data feeds using core product
Live Data functionality?
Geocoding Does the product include pre-built geocodes for either the U.S., Europe or Asia?
Mapping Does the product include map components?
Data Layering Does the product enable zooming in and out of map visualizations through data layering?
Does it offer panning across multiple visualizations or charts that are larger than accommodated
Panning by the screen real estate?
Conversion Can end users instantly convert one visual representation (chart type) into another?
Sparklines Can the product embed line-based micro charts in scorecard grids?
Zoom In and Out Does the product allow users to zoom into (and out of) visualizations?
Is the product able to render summarized graphical representations of the data as a chart, gauge
Graphical Representation Options or stop sign?
Pivot Tables Does the product support tables/pivot tables?
Does the product support diverse output formats including all of the following (PDF, Microsoft
Output Formats Office formats, etc.)?
To what extent is it possible to customize your own visualizations? Can data be depicted as an
Isosurfaces and Contours overlay on a physical design structure (e.g., stadium seating, store layout, airplane diagram)?
Contextual Drill Can users drill from one dashboard to another with parameter passed?
Drill-Down Can users drill down to a lower level of detail from a summary?
Can the tool pivot/drill by other dimensions (dragging and dropping or expanding and collapsing
Pivot for drill-down)?
Sort Can users re-sort data in a table within an existing dashboard?
Global Filter Can users control the display of one or more reports in a single portal page or in a dashboard?
Analysis
OLAP Does the product support OLAP style analysis?
Attributes Can the product support use of attributes as facts or dimensions?
Does the product support all of the following functions including sorts, merges, sampling,
Out of the Box Functions summing, averages, min, max, group by, etc.?
Does the product support predictive analysis, and to what level? Does it support data mining,
Predictive Analytics segmentation, regression and binning?
Text Analytics How does the product support unstructured data mining?
How does the product support time series analysis including (year to date, quarter to date, month
to date)? Does the product support automated calculations including running total, change over
Time Series prior year or year-over-year growth without the user creating complex formulas?
Write-Back Does the product support write-back? How?
Financial Modeling Does the product support financial modeling and forecasting models?
"What If" Scenarios Does the product support "what-if" scenarios? How?
Statistical Functions Does the product support complex statistical functions? Which ones?
Does the product support advanced calculations/variables? Does the product support
calculations across all dimensions, a window, reference dates, difference from average, multi-
Complex Calculations pass aggregation, group by a calculation?
How does the user add overall subtotals, specific-level subtotals and grand totals to a
Aggregations visualization or data set?
Asymmetric Reporting Does the product support asymmetrical reporting (e.g., combined queries)?
Does the product support drill on relational or multidimensional hierarchies and geographic
Drill maps?
Prompts, Filters, Parameterizations
Is there support for cascading (multilevel) prompts that present selection filters based on
associated information? (For example, from annual sales report, select the month of December.
When navigating to another report the month of December parameter is maintained in the new
Cascading Parameters view/report.)
Filter Prompts Are there filter prompts? Is there the ability to select from a finite set of filter options?
Hierarchical Prompts Are there hierarchical filters?
Formatting Prompts Can users customize formatting based on prompts?
Other Parameters Support for other parameterizations not listed?
Is formatting saved between data views? Can users save their filter and other formatting options
Reuse for reuse in running a report (including options for saving, like to Internet Explorer favorites, etc.)?
Total Score 0
Search-Based BI/Data Discovery
Does the product apply a search index to both structured and unstructured data sources and
map them into a classification structure of dimensions and measures?
Search-Based User Interface Can users navigate and explore using a search (Google-like) interface?
Does the product support cleansing, parsing, extracting entities, context, terms and pattern
matches from text including sentiment, emotion, opinion extraction, semantic processing and
Unstructured Data Preparation ontologies?
Does the product support specialized dictionaries, taxonomies, ontologies or extraction rules?
Are there automated and consistent processes for extracting text of different formats from a wide
variety of internal and external data sources (e.g., email, news feeds, Twitter, Facebook, blogs,
Extraction Capabilities etc)?
Can the product analyze large sets of data including structured data and content (such as
documents) and even user profiles, and automatically identify inherent themes or information
Clustering clusters?
Can the product dynamically present navigable parameters based on document properties and
Navigation all metadata attributes — explicitly defined or automatically generated?
Can the product integrate/link/relate information structured databases with unstructured content?
For example, can it combine information found within structured fields (such as product name,
Relating size, price or manufacturer) with unstructured content such as product description?
Can the product understand user interests based on their browsing, content consumption and
Profiling content contribution?
Does the product provide out of the box capabilities for ingesting and analyzing large amounts of
content, and connectors for enterprise applications, enterprise content management (ECM),
Data Integration Hadoop and NoSQL?
Multi-Language Support Does the product support multiple languages?
Total Score 0
Predictive Analytics and Data Mining
Descriptive Statistics Does the tool offer basic descriptive statistics including mean, min, max, standard deviation?
Does the tool offer confidence interval and hypothesis testing using basic statistical capabilities
Inferential Statistics (e.g., t-test, chi-square)?
Classification Does the tool enable the distribution of objects into predefined classes or categorical variables?
Estimation Can the tool offer a prediction of the value of an unknown, continuous variable?
Is the tool able to identify logical groups in which to place similar objects? Can it assign items in a
Clustering collection to target categories or classes?
Does the tool offer classification, estimation or clustering about a value or behavior which has yet
Prediction to occur?
Can the tool determine which objects can be expected to co-occur with other objects (e.g.,
Affinity Analysis market basket analysis)?
Can the tool identify the independent variables that have the biggest impact on a dependent
Attribute Importance variable?
Does the tool support decision trees, regression, classification and regression trees (CART),
neural networks, case-based reasoning, support vector machines, genetic algorithms, and other
Advanced Algorithms supervised learning techniques?
Does the tool support optimization (linear programming, non-linear programming, mixed-integer
Simulation and Optimization programming, etc.), and simulation?
Can the tool parse unstructured content to create structured data objects (i.e., columns) that can
Text Mining be used for predictive modeling?
Real-Time Scoring Can the tool support real-time scoring from models that use historical and real-time data?
Can the tool support user-defined algorithms in a plug-and-play fashion and import/export via
Open Standards Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML)?
Total Score 0
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
0
296
0.00
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
0
488
0.00
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
0
80
0.00
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2=
Must Have
0
104
0.00
Cost of Ownership
Pricing Model
Options for
Business Intelligence Platform Each
Product Components Product Component Description Component
Other License, Support, Warranty and Training
Other License and Support
Price Protection Willing to lock in discounts for 12 to 24 months?
Virtualization Pricing Model Support for virtualization?
Multi-Core Pricing Model Support for multi-core?
Machine-Based Pricing Is pricing tied to type of machine or clock speed?
Shelfware Provisions Support credit for unused software?
Warranty
Describe your software warranty, including all conditions,
recourses, exclusions and timeframes.
Describe any warranties offered on other services and products
included with the software.
For what period of time are major and minor product upgrades
included in the purchase price of the product?
What is the (average) frequency of new releases and upgrades?
How does installation of upgrades affect software operation?
What is your support policy on older software releases?
List any planned enhancements with planned release dates.
Do upgrades include regulatory requirement changes? Does this
affect the frequency of upgrade releases?
Is any customization automatically included in any upgrades?
Does customization incur additional annual maintenance costs?
Describe the process and estimate the time required to install
subsequent releases/versions of your product.
Support
What are your post-implementation support services? What are the
inclusions/exclusions?
Describe your hotline support program (i.e., help desk and problem
resolution procedures).
Do you have technical support for other languages? Which
languages?
What are the locations and hours of operation for technical support
(by geography, if there is variation by geography)?
Does the tool support model and options?
Does the tool support increases and cap options?
Training
Describe what training and documentation is available.
Is on-site training available?
Is e-learning training available?
Online documentation available?
Services
What implementation services do you offer?
What is your geographic coverage?
What are your on- and offshore capabilities?
What are your areas of industry expertise?
List your implementation partners.
Total Score 0
Annual Annual
Support Support
Quantity List Price Discount Net Price Percentage Cost
0 = Unimportant; 1
= Important; 2 = Must Have
Buyer Buyer Weighted
Weights Score
Product Capabilities
0
64
0.00
Vendor: Please Fill in the Following Summary Table for Proposed Platform Capabilities:
Installation
Requirements
(Server
Business Components,
Analytics Product Client
Platform Description of Component Product Component Components, Hardware
Capability Capability Name Differentiators/Strengths Database) Requirements
Summary of Functional Scores
Buyer Weighted
Buyer Weighted Standardized
Capability Total Score Possible Score Standardized Score Score Score
Integration
Integrated
Infrastructure 0 60 0.00 0 0.00
Metadata 0 112 0.00 0 0.00
Development 0 272 0.00 0 0.00
Collaboration 0 116 0.00 0 0.00
Information Delivery
Reporting 0 192 0.00 0 0.00
Dashboards 0 168 0.00 0 0.00
Ad Hoc Query 0 96 0.00 0 0.00
Mobile 0 180 0.00 0 0.00
Microsoft Office
Integration 0 36 0.00 0 0.00
Search-Based BI/
Data Discovery 0 40 0.00 0 0.00
Scorecards 0 40 0.00 0 0.00
Analysis
OLAP 0 148 0.00 0 0.00
Interactive
Visualization/Data
Discovery 0 244 0.00 0 0.00
Predictive Analytics
and Data Mining 0 52 0.00 0 0.00
Cost of Ownership
License Models,
Warranty, Support,
Training 0 32 0.00 0 0.00
Any Additional
How This Typical User Software or
Component Is Role and Skills Training Upgrades
Licensed Required Required Required

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