A Comparison of Open Source Reporting Tools for the Enterprise Rod Cope, CTO OpenLogic www.openlogic.com

Agenda Introduction Background BIRT, JFreeReport, OpenReport, DataVision OpenReports Pentaho Jasper Summary Conclusion

Introduction

Background

BIRT, JFreeReport, OpenReport, DataVision

OpenReports

Pentaho

Jasper

Summary

Conclusion

Introduction OpenLogic, Inc. SLA support, security updates, and indemnification for over 400 Open Source packages Dozens of Global 2000 customers OSS Census (osscensus.org) Global, community effort to catalog enterprise use of open source

OpenLogic, Inc.

SLA support, security updates, and indemnification for over 400 Open Source packages

Dozens of Global 2000 customers

OSS Census (osscensus.org)

Global, community effort to catalog enterprise use of open source

Background Comparison of leading Open Source reporting tools Focus on enterprise caliber utilities Free webinar, not a deep dive whitepaper Attributes of interest: license, functionality, compatibility, technology, ease of use, performance, export formats, web capabilities, report designing, report retrieval, security, schedulability, clusterability, installation, configuration, integration, and footprint

Comparison of leading Open Source reporting tools

Focus on enterprise caliber utilities

Free webinar, not a deep dive whitepaper

Attributes of interest:

license, functionality, compatibility, technology, ease of use, performance, export formats, web capabilities, report designing, report retrieval, security, schedulability, clusterability, installation, configuration, integration, and footprint

Other Reporting Tools BIRT (Business Intelligence Reporting Tools) Part of Eclipse project, initially donated by Actuate Focus is on report designer, debugger, and end-user tools Enterprise deployment only available through proprietary iServer product from Actuate JFreeReport Now the foundation of Pentaho, to be covered later OpenReport and DataVision Low level tools for developers, not enterprise ready

BIRT (Business Intelligence Reporting Tools)

Part of Eclipse project, initially donated by Actuate

Focus is on report designer, debugger, and end-user tools

Enterprise deployment only available through proprietary iServer product from Actuate

JFreeReport

Now the foundation of Pentaho, to be covered later

OpenReport and DataVision

Low level tools for developers, not enterprise ready

OpenReports oreports.org (not OpenReport at openreport.org) Version tested: 3.0, December 2007 Wraps other report engines Jasper, JFreeReport (Pentaho), BIRT, JXLS Provides scheduling, security, admin Interesting, but not updated since January 2008

oreports.org (not OpenReport at openreport.org)

Version tested: 3.0, December 2007

Wraps other report engines

Jasper, JFreeReport (Pentaho), BIRT, JXLS

Provides scheduling, security, admin

Interesting, but not updated since January 2008

OpenReports J2EE, Hibernate, Quartz, Spring Technology Jasper, Pentaho, BIRT Report Compatibility OpenReport Professional (proprietary) Dashboard, drilldown charts, stats $500/server Commercial Options OpenReports SOAP API Integration N/A Installation / Configuration / Footprint Yes, through standard app server clustering Clusterability High Schedulability N/A Security Web, email Report retrieval Relies on other reporting tools Report designing Admin, report retrieval, parameter support Web capabilities PDF, HTML, CSV, XLS, RTF, Image Export formats N/A Performance N/A Ease of use OLAP (Mondrian) Functionality GPL 2 License

OpenReport Professional (proprietary)

Dashboard, drilldown charts, stats

$500/server

Pentaho Sponsored by Pentaho Name: 5 founders want to retire in Lake Tahoe Version tested: 1.7, May 2008 Good feature set, well-supported, UI's need work Business Intelligence suite includes Reporting (Report designer and viewer) Analysis (OLAP) Dashboards (Portal, metrics, alerts) Data Mining (Relationship and trend discovery)

Sponsored by Pentaho

Name: 5 founders want to retire in Lake Tahoe

Version tested: 1.7, May 2008

Good feature set, well-supported, UI's need work

Business Intelligence suite includes

Reporting (Report designer and viewer)

Analysis (OLAP)

Dashboards (Portal, metrics, alerts)

Data Mining (Relationship and trend discovery)

Pentaho J2EE, CAS, ACEGI, JBoss Portal Technology Pentaho (should work with Jasper and BIRT, but not officially supported) Report Compatibility Pentaho Professional SSO, LDAP, MSAD Clustering, report versioning, audit trail Commercial Options Web service API Integration Easy / Difficult / 325MB Installation / Configuration / Footprint Yes, through standard app server clustering Clusterability Yes, but admin can only edit existing schedules, not create new ones Schedulability User/group/role, restrict access to reports Security Web, email, web service, task bar notification Report retrieval Visual report designer, stand-alone client Report designing Admin, report retrieval, parameter support, drill-through, hypertext links Web capabilities PDF, HTML, XLS, RTF, text Export formats Good Performance Medium, occasionally disjointed and non-intuitive Ease of use Audit trail, performance monitoring, web-based ad hoc reporting wizard, conditional report distribution, OLAP (Mondrian) Functionality Several components: GPL 2, LGPL, MPL (Mozilla Public License) License

Pentaho Professional

SSO, LDAP, MSAD

Clustering, report versioning, audit trail

Pentaho: Report Designer

Pentaho Server: Solutions Page

Pentaho Server: Report View

Jasper Sponsored by JasperSoft Version tested: 3.0.0, June 2008 Mature, fairly robust, well-supported Business Intelligence suite includes JasperReports (Report designer and viewer) JasperServer (Admin, scheduler, ad hoc queries) JasperAnalysis (OLAP) JasperETL (Data integration) Most modern reporting web application Still a bit rough around the edges

Sponsored by JasperSoft

Version tested: 3.0.0, June 2008

Mature, fairly robust, well-supported

Business Intelligence suite includes

JasperReports (Report designer and viewer)

JasperServer (Admin, scheduler, ad hoc queries)

JasperAnalysis (OLAP)

JasperETL (Data integration)

Most modern reporting web application

Still a bit rough around the edges

Jasper J2EE, iReport, Liferay Technology JasperReports Report Compatibility JasperReport Professional End-user ad hoc querying and reporting Easy end-user dashboards and mashups Commercial Options SOAP API, any J2EE server, any JDBC driver Integration Easy / easy / 500MB Installation / Configuration / Footprint Yes, through standard app server clustering (note that you may have to use pinned sessions): http://www.jasperforge.org/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&func=view&id=39248&catid=10 Clusterability High and easy to configure through UI Schedulability SSO, external auth via LDAP/MSAD/custom, user/group/role, row and cell security for OLAP (part of Mondrian), User/group/role, restrict access to reports Security Web site, email delivery of scheduled reports Report retrieval Visual iReport designer, stand-alone or NetBeans plug-in Report designing Admin, report retrieval, parameter support, drill-through, hypertext links Web capabilities PDF, HTML, XLS, CSV, RTF, TXT, XML, Flash Export formats Good if attention is paid to optimization (e.g., http://www.javalobby.org/articles/hibernatequery103/ ) Performance High – best user interface of the group Ease of use Drilldown charts, I18N, L10N, OLAP (Mondrian), audit trail, email distribution, report versioning, Hibernate queries, custom expressions in Java or Groovy, crosstabs Functionality GPL 2 License

JasperReport Professional

End-user ad hoc querying and reporting

Easy end-user dashboards and mashups

Jasper: Report Designer

JasperServer: Home

JasperServer: Report View

Pentaho and Jasper The Mondrian project (OLAP tool) is used by both Pentaho and Jasper Both support integration with Mondrian OLAP schema design tool JPivot for interacting with Mondrian through a web UI

The Mondrian project (OLAP tool) is used by both Pentaho and Jasper

Both support integration with Mondrian

OLAP schema design tool

JPivot for interacting with Mondrian through a web UI

Pentaho and Jasper: OLAP Schema Tool

Pentaho and Jasper: OLAP Schema Tool

Pentaho and Jasper: OLAP Web View

Pentaho and Jasper: OLAP View with Chart

Summary Jasper Heavy focus on reporting and analysis Better server UI (web 2.0), easier to use Better marketing, sites, and documentation Easier to research and find what you need Paid version: ad hoc query web UI, dashboard creation web UI Pentaho Better data integration, ETL, and workflow automation Very powerful, but harder to use Weaker documentation Bonus: data mining and iPhone integration Paid version: LDAP integration, SSO, auditing

Jasper

Heavy focus on reporting and analysis

Better server UI (web 2.0), easier to use

Better marketing, sites, and documentation

Easier to research and find what you need

Paid version: ad hoc query web UI, dashboard creation web UI

Pentaho

Better data integration, ETL, and workflow automation

Very powerful, but harder to use

Weaker documentation

Bonus: data mining and iPhone integration

Paid version: LDAP integration, SSO, auditing

Conclusion If your focus is core reporting and analysis, ease of use Jasper If your focus is enterprise integration, data transformation, workflow Pentaho Competition driving Jasper and Pentaho hard Look for rapid improvements in functionality, ease of use They've leapfrogged each other in the past, it may happen again

If your focus is core reporting and analysis, ease of use

Jasper

If your focus is enterprise integration, data transformation, workflow

Pentaho

Competition driving Jasper and Pentaho hard

Look for rapid improvements in functionality, ease of use

They've leapfrogged each other in the past, it may happen again

Contact Information For more information, please visit: www.openlogic.com Call us at 888-OpenLogic Send an email to: [email_address]

For more information, please visit:

www.openlogic.com

Call us at 888-OpenLogic

Send an email to:

[email_address]