Mapping the data in source systems to BI reports and dashboards is where companies spend the most time and money, in both initial development and ongoing maintenance. Transactional systems typically have complex data schemas that span multiple functional modules and utilize thousands of relational tables. In addition, the names used for tables and columns are often cryptic, which makes it difficult to decipher what data a table contains unless you're familiar with a particular transactional system.

Further complicating the integration process is the fact that an application programming interface (API) must be used to access the security mechanisms and business logic of the transactional system. And it's common for the joins used in BI reports to be broken by transactional system upgrades because column and table names get changed, columns are added to or deleted from tables, or whole tables are added/deleted.

Unlike a generic BI tool, business intelligence in SAP Business All-in-One comes preconfigured, which help reduce the time and cost associated with implementing and maintaining reports and dashboards. To see a product demo go to the following page on SAP.com.

http://www.sap.com/solutions/sme/businessallinone/solutionoverview/businessintelligence/index.epx