Business Intelligence Suite

Question

I am looking for a cheap web based business intelligence suite that needs to be able to:

1. provide users with an ad-hoc reporting tool;
2. schedule reports for email delivery;
3. create dashboards that the users can view upon login to review KPI values;
4. be Java or .Net based (due to organizational culture I do not think anything else would make the cut).

I have looked at Jaspersoft and really like it but it comes with a hefty price tag ($35k/yr for professional edition).
Currently we are using SQL Reporting Services for report development and we do not have dashboard capability.

Answer 1

I think you should try DBxtra, it's a BI tool that is easy to use and lets you design reports mainly by drag and drop from the the query to the final design, but it also lets you modify the query manually so you can tweak it to your liking; answering to your requirements:

1. Provide users with an ad-hoc reporting tool

Currently, only Designer users can design reports using the desktop client.

2. Schedule reports for email delivery

This is done by the Schedule Server, you just need to set it up and forget about it.

3. Create dashboards that the users can view upon login to review KPI values

Every user can configure a dashboard to be seen when they log in and they can also make a list of Favorites so they have quick access to the reports they really care about.

4. Be Java or .Net based (due to organizational culture I do not think anything else would make the cut).

.NET based, so it can run in any Windows Server or computer

You can also try it for 30 days without restrictions, so i recommend you to do so, so you can be sure it has what you need.

P.S.: I'm a DBxtra evangelist.