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Forums Financial Management Lawson S3 Financials

Hyperion Essbase - alternatives?

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blong
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Posts: 21
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3/29/2012 5:51 PM
Our accountants currently use Hyperion Essbase on a daily basis to pull financial (GL summary) information via Excel. We use Hyperion Reports for period close reports - P&L's, Revenue/Expense, etc.

The financial cube is reloaded periodically via a scheduled Analytic Architect job several times a day to provide timely data.

We are due to upgrade our Hyperion products but it is very expensive. I've heard of Cognos and Microsoft has an OLAP product that may work with Analytic Architect also.

Does anyone have any other alternatives to the above?

Thanks!
mark.cook
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Posts: 444
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3/30/2012 1:37 PM
I would take a look at Lawson Viewpoint along with the others, but I beleive Analytic Architect may have a decommission on it in the next couple years that you want to review.

Oracle also has a toolset OBIEE and there are many others.
blong
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3/30/2012 3:34 PM
I wasn't aware of Viewpoint or that there might be a decommission on Analytic Architect. Thanks for the heads up Mark!

Viewpoint appears to be similar to Hyperion Analyzer. Gives the users a method of producing charts, reports or grid type data without assistance from IT.

Our accountants/users utilize Essbase via Excel a lot. They are constantly working in Excel so pulling data in an Excel familiar environment is the one capability that they desire in a tool.

They setup their Excel templates, connect to essbase and refresh the data or start drilling around. Very efficient once you learn to navigate the cube.

Everyone is pleased with the performance of Essbase but the cost requires looking at other options.
Rich Bendickson
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4/1/2012 5:21 PM
I would recommend taking a look at Dashboard Gear. We are a Lawson Partner that does exactly what you are talking about. (I do work for Dashboard Gear, so take it for what it is worth). Our website is www.dashboardgear.com and we have offerings for Financials, HR, and Procurement.
blong
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4/2/2012 12:20 PM
Thanks for the post Rich. Interesting, I like the Dashboard Gear ability to utilize the tool directly via Excel. Looks as though replacing Hyperion Essbase and Reports may require a combination of tools such as LBI, Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, Dashboard Gear, Viewpoint, Smart Office, etc.
Wouter Born
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11/6/2012 12:55 PM
Take a look at http://essbase.cxo-cockpit.com – it can be a good alternative. As you rightly noticed, the output from Essbase/Planning and MS Olap is mainly Excel driven. This complicates the reporting process and increases the risk of errors. Furthermore, the native output from Essbase and MS Olap is not dynamic, not web-based and not able to be distributed via a mobile device like an iPad. Within a short implementation (which usually takes 1 week), CXO-Cockpit is capable of turning an Excel based reporting process into a dynamic web-based and mobile reporting platform. CXO-Cockpit maintains all the Essbase and MS Olap Dashboards and Reports, including our Mobile output, via the same central maintenance software. Everything is included in one package: CXO-Cockpit Reporting Suite for Essbase and MS Olap. With our customer we see that CXO-Cockpit works in perfectly alignment with Excel, and we mainly serve the non-hardcore users like Executives and other stakeholders with CXO-Cockpit.