Business Intelligence on Java

Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence (BI) describes the tools and technologies that help make sense of your data. BI is vital for any company looking to excel in today's business environment. With proper BI tools your company can get up-to-the-minute information on where you've been, where you are, and where you're headed.  

On-demand access to your company's data, coupled with proper analysis and distribution tools, define what constitutes a great fit for companies that need an effective BI solution.

Arrow

Most people are familiar with the desparing feeling of looking at copious amounts of data and having no idea how to make sense of it. Over the last ten years advancements in one particular field have greatly improved the way people and business work with data. I’m talking, of course, about Business Intelligence (BI). BI is a very broad term that encompasses a number of important business applications and tools such as reporting, dashboards, and data analysis.

Dashboards are a key component of B.I., and now its easier than ever to stay one step ahead of the game with up to the minute information on where your company stands. A newly revamped charting package coupled with an Excel-style arithmetic system give you the powerful analysis tools you need. The link tag lets you traverse the depths of your data starting at the highest level all the way down to the smallest details.

Throw these all together inside the totally redesigned Arrow system and all of Windward’s powerful BI tools will be at every one of your employee’s fingertips, truly giving you the power to do more with less.

BI Publisher

Uses Word as its design tool. Only handles XML as a datasource and requires a strong knowledge of XSLT to use.

Reviews: JavaWorld has a brutally honest review of BI Publisher. We have a detailed review and a comparison with Windward Reports.

Crystal Reports

A full-featured reporting solution. Requires using its report design tool which has a steep learning curve.

Reviews: We have a detailed review and a comparison with Windward Reports.

JasperReports

An open-source report generation tool. Similiar to Crystal Reports but harder to use and with poor documentation.

Reviews: We have a detailed review and a comparison with Windward Reports.

Cubicle War

Panscopic Suite

A Java class library that can be used to dynamically generate PDF documents.

Pentaho

A powerful business intelligence package that includes a report designer which we have reviewed for your convenience. Click here for review. We have also obtained this comparison between Pentaho and Windward Reports, click to read it.

Windward Reports

Windward Reports™ is the only Java B.I. system
that uses Microsoft Word, Excel, and Power Point as layout tools -- so creating reports is fast & easy, for both technical and non-technical users.

Reviews: We have a detailed review of Windward Reports.