Best Data Warehouse Reporting Tools
Buyer's Guide
Enterprise reporting is the reason business intelligence exists. Central storage is common now, and data warehouse reporting tools are in demand. To reap rich dividends, tracking performance with enterprise reporting tools is essential.
Reports inform you about daily operations, revealing blockers, successes and general business health. If your company has outgrown its current reporting system, you’ve come to the right place. This buyer’s guide discusses data warehouse reporting tools and choosing an ideal solution.
Executive Summary
- Data warehouse reporting tools are solutions that support business reporting and decision making.
- Ask for data connectivity, fast querying and visualization capabilities when selecting reporting software.
- Prepare questions for vendors to gain an understanding of their software and services.
What Are Data Warehouse Reporting Tools?
Data warehouse reporting tools query warehouses for transactional reporting and performance analysis. A data warehouse is an active decision support system that differs from databases. It stores transformed data, has watertight security and enables fast information retrieval.
Data warehouses store common and rarely accessed results separate from each other. It saves time when you search for information, with help from metadata.
Warehouses store the latest information, thanks to data integration and ETL (extract, load and transform) tools.
Reporting tools form the top tier of the information warehouse architecture. The OLAP server forms the middle layer. The bottom layer comprises ETL tools, the information warehouse and data marts.
- Automated Reporting
- Big Data Analytics
- Big Data Visualization
- Business Analytics
- Business Intelligence
- Client Reporting Software
- Cloud BI Solutions
- Custom Reporting Software
- Data Analytics Software
- Data Cleaning
- Data Discovery
- Data Integration
- Data Management
- Data Preparation Software
- Data Warehouse
- Ecommerce Analytics Software
- Embedded Analytics
- Enterprise Reporting Software
- ETL
- HR Analytics Software
- OLAP
- Predictive Analytics Software
- Qualitative Data Analysis Software
- Self-Service BI
Reporting tools work with all types of sources — you won’t find one that queries only warehouses. They include small files and big data sources. Many tools have vast connector libraries to pull information within seconds.
The option to add custom connectors opens up new sources for businesses. Do reporting tools view warehouse data as separate from databases? For one, this information is already prepped. Also, they align with warehouse security protocols, hierarchies and schemas.
Data Mining
It’s a term for the various methods of getting meaningful information from data. You can detect fraud and flag security issues and bottlenecks.
These methods include the following.
- Decision trees
- Classification through clustering
- Regression analysis
- Pattern identification
- Deviation detection
Its benefits include buyer behavior identification, customer segmentation, basket analysis and forecasting. Fraud detection and risk analysis are possible with pattern recognition and deviation detection.
Every organization that runs on data uses data mining. Common industries include financial services, retail, advertising, healthcare, telecommunications and manufacturing.
Data mining supports sales, marketing, supply chain and ERP (enterprise resource planning). Other departments include human resources, workforce scheduling, customer relationship and enterprise performance management.
How Does Data Mining Work?
Deriving “meaningful information” requires identifying dataset correlations. Model building is one way to do that.
Creating a data model involves linking two or more variables together. Many times, it requires visualizing the association — charts and graphs make interpretation easier. Often, there's a dependent variable and two or more independent variables.
Once built, you must train the model with sample or training data. Then verify it works using test data. Feed it actual information to perform what-if and regression analysis.
OLAP vs. OLTP
Information warehouses store simple and multidimensional data in one repository. They contain transactional and analytical data. With OLTP (Online Transactional Processing), they serve a large number of users. An example would be providing internet banking to a bank’s millions of customers.
Reporting includes OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) when you have access to multidimensional metrics. OLAP is synonymous with the term “cubes.”
Data cubes have a three-dimensional appearance like Rubik's Cubes. They have a star or snowflake-shaped schema with a table at the center that contains aggregations reconciled by dimensions, another name for categories.
Imagine a cube with values along the x, y and z axes. Sales (x-axis) for particular cities (y-axis) for September (z-axis) is an OLAP analysis. Filtering against period and state will give you the desired report. These reports are shareable via chat, downloads, email and sometimes, collaborative applications.
Reporting servers run MDX (Multidimensional Expressions) queries against the data warehouse. It happens at the backend, which frees you from learning MDX. Once the results are in, the reporting server pushes them to the front end.
In the case of web OLAP, it uses HTML5 or CSS to render the results on your screen. Web-based OLAP is lightweight and enables report downloads and viewing on mobile devices. OLAP queries are complex and serve a small group of users. Often, these users include data scientists and business analysts.
Primary Benefits
An efficient reporting tool keeps you competitive with accurate insight on demand. It gives you the tools to plan and build a strategy that can boost your bottom line. Automation frees you from repetitive tasks, allowing you to focus on analysis.
Stay Competitive
With quality information, you can make the right decisions at the right time. Learn when to pull back on loss-making ventures and when to grab opportunities. Emulate successes and identify improvement areas.
You can manage project timelines and keep your promise to clients. Successful projects help establish your business as a serious market player. You can commit to new projects with information on how many resources will be available and when. Data tells it all.
Many reporting tools support branding in embedded reports. It keeps your company at the front and center during meetings and presentations.
Improve Decision Making
External data sources aren’t modifiable, but you can set up information warehouses as desired by defining data preparation workflows.
Querying against sources in their natural state is a different story. You must copy or virtualize the data and then start cleansing and transforming it. Also, you need the necessary tools for data preparation.
A hierarchical arrangement of multidimensional data keeps reports clutter-free. Get a high-level overview or go deep for a closer look. Data cubes store frequent queries and answer questions canned reports don’t satisfy. It encourages critical thinking and proactive decisions.
Delegate
Interactivity is a common feature of modern reporting tools. It lets you switch the data, move it around and view it from different angles. You can create many reports from one or the other way around.
Templates help you get a head start with reporting. Automation takes the drudgery out of report generation and sharing. You can save reports as templates and add them to the template library. Additionally, you can automate other repetitive tasks and reclaim your time.
Get Fast, Accurate Reports
Information in warehouses is orderly, which facilitates asking questions and building reports. Reporting is more accurate, removing the need for manual linking to individual sources.
Self-service capabilities democratize business reporting, enabling autonomous exploration and analysis. Productivity gets a boost with reduced turnaround times and less IT burden. Teams become self-reliant and data literate. Quicker decisions feed downstream systems, accelerating delivery cycles.
Key Features & Functionality
Talk to decision makers and teams that’ll use the software. Create a checklist of must-haves and nice-to-have features. Add data management features including data connectivity, visualization, sharing options and embedded reporting.
| Source Connectivity | The reporting tool must connect to your preferred databases, lakes and streaming sources. Connectivity shouldn’t be limited to warehouses alone. The ability to create custom connections is a must for scalability. What if new sources become available? OLAP and OLTP querying and data mining methods must be built into the reporting tool. |
|---|---|
| Data Querying | Reading database schemas and metadata is part of every reporting and BI tool’s DNA. But is the tool’s data querying fast and accurate? Check with potential vendors about any latency and downtime issues. These will be critical especially if the data warehouse is cloud-based. A software proof of concept or a trial run is the best way to try the product before you decide. |
| Self-service Reporting | Short delivery cycles make independent reporting a must. Your stakeholders must have the tools to create, edit and design reports as necessary. Interlinking reports and navigating from one to the other should be possible. If the solution allows collaborating on reports, versioning must be available. You should have the option to leave comments by tagging colleagues and clients. |
| Report Sharing | The data warehouse reporting tool must integrate with your business systems. Embeddable reports allow your users to get insights into their applications. Reports should be downloadable and exportable in common industry formats. You should be able to share them via chats and email and embed them into websites. |
| Data Modeling and Forecasting | Interactive visualizations allow everyone to build models without asking for help. Identifying how specific metrics are connected helps you plan and build strategies. Modeling supports daily operations and trend forecasting with predictive analytics. |
| Augmented Analytics | Machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) enhance your tool's reporting capabilities. You can perform text and voice-based searches and build useful models. Automated search and visualization recommendations guide reporting and analysis. Augmented analytics as a requirement is subjective and might not be business-critical. It depends on your industry, projects and organization size. Evaluate your business needs before putting this functionality on your must-have list. Can you do without it? |
| Information Security | Organizational data must be secure and in compliance with current governance regulations. Your reporting tool must follow access and governance protocols and permissions. Activity logs, versioning and usage data promote accountability and compliance. Ensure your data warehouse reporting tool complies with existing privacy regulations. Ask potential vendors if they update compliance as industry regulations change. |
Software Comparison Strategy
Many data warehouse reporting tools have similar features. It can be overwhelming to decide which solution is the best fit for your business.
Start by considering your business needs.
- Who will use the program?
- Will they adapt to it easily, or will they need training?
- Where does your current solution fall short?
- How can a data warehouse reporting tool help?
Thoroughly research potential vendors. Check online reviews, read industry guides and ask colleagues for recommendations. Some vendors offer a free trial so you can try the software before deciding.
Before comparing software, create a requirements checklist using our ready-to-go template. Freeze your requirements after thorough consultation with stakeholders. Convert them into questions and distribute them to potential vendors with an RFP (request for proposal).
Review vendor proposals with top management and rank them. Arrange them in order from the highest-ranking to the lowest-scoring vendor. Start at the top and reach out to vendors in turn.
Refer to our Jumpstart Platform to compare the leading data warehouse reporting products.
Go through our nine-step Lean Selection Methodology to streamline your search.
Cost & Pricing Considerations
Software cost ranks at the top of your list of considerations but it shouldn’t be the leading criterion. Removing the top products from your list because they’re beyond your budget isn’t advised. You might miss out on cutting-edge features.
Compare their capabilities with your requirements and pencil in the product price. Some products have a one-time cost of entry, while others are subscription-based.
A one-time payment might seem like a smart investment, but future updates will cost extra. You might need to hire in-house developers. You have full control over your data, though.
With a subscription model, the vendor provides an instance when your users log in. It seems lighter on the pocket, but extra features or plugins can add to the overhead.
Maintenance, downtimes, upgrades and fixes are all on the vendor, which is a good thing. But, your data is on the vendor’s servers and technically out of the bounds of your company’s infrastructure. Are you okay with that?
Consider the cost of customization and data migration when calculating the final cost.
The Most Popular Data Warehouse Reporting Software
Now that you know what data warehouse reporting tools can do, how can you choose a good fit? Jumpstart your search with our research team’s list of the most popular solutions in the market.
JasperReports
It’s an open-source reporting library on Eclipse IDE (integrated development environment). JasperSoft Studio works with the JasperReports engine for visualization and reporting. You can build professional reports, embedding them into analytics tools and websites. A native mobile app is available.
Spider charts show adjacent variables in a single series connected by lines. Source
Crystal Reports
SAP Crystal Reports is available as a software-as-a-service and local deployment. It integrates with other SAP and third-party offerings out of the box. You can design print-ready reports and generate insight in real time. An intuitive semantic layer enables complex, sophisticated queries.
Exporting full reports or selected pages is possible. Role-based licensing makes the product an attractive option for small and medium-sized businesses.
Code hinting speeds up formula building in Crystal Reports. Source
MicroStrategy
It’s a business intelligence platform that allows you to build datasets for dossiers. It allows the use of a free-form SQL canvas to write custom queries. The vendor recently introduced live report interactivity in its Workstation and Library.
The platform creates Intelligent Cubes in response to your queries, storing them in memory to reduce the query overload in the data warehouse. MicroStrategy automatically saves the last view, and versioning is available.
A freeform SQL builder for reporting in MicroStrategy. Source
Questions To Ask
To better understand your company’s requirements, ask yourself these guiding questions.
- What’s our budget?
- Will our employees need training?
- What are our current pain points?
- What problems can this software help us solve?
- Do we have the technical resources for implementing and maintaining a new system? Will we need to rely on the vendor?
Listing your questions ahead of vendor discussions helps cover all product-related queries. It reduces unnecessary emails and phone calls. It's also an excellent way to know what to expect if you buy software from them.
- How many years of expertise do you have in the industry?
- What customer support and training do you offer?
- Is the software customizable to specific business needs?
- How long does onboarding typically take?
- What are the software’s core strengths?
Next Steps
Data warehouse reporting tools provide critical decision support with accurate and timely insights. They improve the speed and quality of everyday reporting and analytical insights.
Software research and comparison deserve due diligence and time. And putting in the hard work will reap rich dividends in the long run.
We hope this buyer’s guide helped narrow down your choices. Get started with our comparison report to gain insight into top software leaders. Good luck!
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