SAP AG has announced the availability of enhancements to the SAP BusinessObjects Edge software portfolio, including new features in the release of SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI 3.1, its comprehensive business intelligence software for small businesses and midsize companies (SMBs). One of the main new Edge BI 3.1 features is the inclusion of SAP BusinessObjects Polestar software, a guided data navigation application that helps any business user to easily explore information and quickly answer important business questions via simple search. Edge BI 3.1also now supports databases and applications from other vendors, recognizing the fact that the majority of SMBs have mixed IT infrastructures.
Edge BI 3.1 now provides integration kits for the Oracle E-Business Suite, as well as JD Edwards, PeopleSoft and Siebel applications. It also provides support for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and SharePoint Server 2008, as well as an updated .NET development kit.
Given the current economic reality, SMBs must have easy-to-access, accurate insight into their business performance information. Every employee must be vigilant to help ensure that customers are happy, products are delivered on time and profitably, and the sales team is on track to meet quarterly targets. The enhancements in Edge BI 3.1 deliver information to business users, helping enable them to make better decisions. With intuitive BI tools and increased support for customers using non-SAP applications, users gain better visibility into business information from across their organization-regardless of their skill level or IT system.
The Polestar software is automatically included with Edge BI 3.1, and provides a keyword search to find information from any data source. Mindy Fiorentino, vice president of solution marketing for SME business intelligence at SAP, tells 5 Minute Briefing that "the Polestar search capability is very much like doing a Google search that everyone is familiar with, and also displays search results in various formats such as reports, dashboards, charts, and graphs." It has intuitive data exploration and visualization capabilities that let users drill down into a particular topic, like sales by region, by simply clicking on the report, data set or dashboard. No prior BI training or IT expertise is required. For more information about the SAP Business Objects Edge BI solution, go here.