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Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool

BI & Analytics Platform RFP Questionnaire This is a customizable functional template for a business intelligence platform RFP assessment. Vendors should complete the assessment. Buyers can weight the functions that are most important. Approved for External Use — Not for Resale Unless otherwise marked for external use, the items in this Gartner Toolkit are for internal noncommercial use by the licensed Gartner client. The materials contained in this Toolkit may not be repackaged or resold. Gartner makes no representations or warranties as to the suitability of this Toolkit for any particular purpose, and disclaims all liabilities for any damages, whether direct, consequential, incidental or special, arising out of the use of or inability to use this material or the information provided herein. The instructions, intent and objective of this template are contained in the source document. Please refer back to that document for details.

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Instructions for Completion of the Questionnaire Vendors should complete the following capabilities worksheet by answering each question based on the answers below. 0 1 2 3 4

Functionality not provided Functionality provided with limitations Functionality provided but requires customization or integration with a third party Functionality provided seamlessly by third-party product Functionality provided out of the box

0 — Functionality not provided: Not included in the proposed system. 1 — Functionality provided, but it is not complete and does not meet the absolute requirement. 2 — Functionality provided by the vendor, but requires customization or integration with a third party product. The functionality can be accomplished with the vendor’s product, but requires customizing or working around, or Vendor has established a relationship with a business partner to provide this functionality, but it requires customization or workarounds. or a third party product (not included in the package) is needed to complete the functionality.

3 — Functionality provided seamlessly by third-party product: The vendor has established a relationship (for example, as an OEM) with a business partner to provide this functionality, which is integrated within its database management system (DBMS) and requires no customizing or working around.

4 — Functionality provided out of the box: The vendor provides the functionality from its own code base. No customizing or working around is required. The column titled "Product Capabilities" is where the vendor should describe how it meets the requirement and why it is differentiated. Links to documentation and screenshots to demonstrate the capability may be included for additional clarification when necessary. Vendors are cautioned not to indicate functionality as "included in standard offering" when in fact the particular function is in development. If this is the case, vendors should note this fact in the comments column and indicate the expected date that such features will be made available. Vendors' answers for the integrated infrastructure section should apply to all capabilities declared in the information delivery and analysis section. For example, if there is a single query engine for ad hoc, dashboard, online analytical processing (OLAP) and reporting, but not for scorecarding, then the vendor shouldn't say yes to the single query engine question under the integrated infrastructure worksheet. It should be noted which components do not share a single query engine in the "Product Capabilities" column.

Additional notes to the vendor:

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

1. When providing responses, the guide should be followed. 2. Vendors are cautioned not to indicate functionality as “included in standard offering” when, in fact, that particular function is in development. If this is the case, vendors should note this fact in the comments column and indicate the expected date such features will be made available. 3. An omitted response will be assumed to be the same as a response code of “N”. 4. Any deviation from the response codes will be re-coded at the discretion of ABCXYZ Corporation. 5. By responding in the affirmative to a capability item, the vendor agrees to support such capability within its product. In this worksheet there are six tabs. 1. Vendor Instructions 2. Integration Questionnaire: This includes sections for integrated infrastructure, metadata, development and collaboration. 3. Info Delivery Questionnaire: This includes sections for reporting, dashboards, ad hoc query, mobile, Microsoft Office integration and scorecards. 4. Analysis Questionnaire: This includes sections for OLAP, interactive visualization/data discovery, search-based business intelligence (BI)/data discovery, and predictive analytics and data mining. 5. Cost of Ownership: This includes a pricing table and questions around warranties, support and training. 6. Summary: This includes a summary table of product components and differentiators, as well as a summary table of scores. Additional notes to the buyer: Once the vendor has filled out the spreadsheet, adjust the weighting column as follows to arrive at a weighted score: 0 = Unimportant 1 = Important 2 = Must Have

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Integrated Infrastructure Criterion Interoperability of BI Platform Components Data Query

Question

Formatting Distribution

Do all the tools have a singular engine for formatting and rendering? Are multiple objects (e.g., report, query, chart) distributed to multiple outputs (e.g., email, HTML, wireless) with a single engine? Is there a common location to create, copy and delete all objects (e.g., relational or OLAP)? Is there a common location to add/delete users and modify settings? Common development and authoring environment across BI platform components (e.g., reports, dashboards, OLAP, ad-hoc). Seamless navigation across tools with the ability to modify and extend content between tools across the BI platform. Common commands, menu items and toolbar for all BI functions (e.g., reports, OLAP, ad-hoc, dashboards). Is there a consistent Ajax client or comparable rich client for all BI functions?

Object Management User Management Common Authoring Tools 1 Common Authoring Tools 2 Common User Interface Common Clients

Do all BI tools share the same query optimization and generation engine?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Common Output Formats

All tools support the same output formats with the same level of interactivity (HTML, PDF, Excel, Word, PPT, Flash, etc.).

Common Security Definitions Common Query Engine Single Server Install Common Administration Common Scalability

Do all tools leverage a common security definition? Do all BI tools share the same query optimization and construction engine? Are all platform components installed via a single server install? Do all tools share a common administration application? Is there a common scalability mechanism (caching, clustering, workload balancing, high availability, etc.) across BI platform components? Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 1 to 10)

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Metadata Criterion Data Modeling/Mashup - IT Users Reuse Data Modeling/Mashup - Business Users Reuse Data Modeling/Mashup - Level of Effort Data Modeling/Mashup - Skills Data Modeling/Mashup - Scripting Business User Data Mashup 1 Business User Data Mashup 2 Business User Data Mashup 3 Business User Data Mashup 4 Business User Data Mashup 5 Single Repository Single Repository 2

Question Can metadata objects (e.g., dimensions, measures, calculations, parameters) be created by IT users and promoted to a central repository for reuse? Can metadata objects (e.g., dimensions, measures, calculations, parameters) be created by business users and promoted to a central repository for reuse? How is data modeled in the product? How much data modeling is required? What skill level is required? Is scripting required for data modeling/mashup? How and when? Does the product support business user data mashup and modeling without scripting? Please describe. Can the business user create custom groups without scripting? Can the business user filter and calculate across data sources without scripting? Can the business user join data sources without scripting? Can the business user create calculated columns? Is there a single repository for metadata such as mappings of business concepts to underlying data structures (e.g., dimensions, measures)? Is there a single repository for ALL metadata, such as mappings of business concepts to underlying data structures, as well as layouts AND report configurations (e.g., prompts, filters)?

Metric Definition

Is there a single metric definition (including metadata for business rules, such as calculation definitions, key performance indicators [KPIs], currency conversions) accessible from all BI capabilities (e.g., reports, scorecards, OLAP, query, dashboard)?

Propagation

Can the tool propagate changes made in the metadata repository to all other reports and applications that make use of the metadata objects? Is there a synchronized process with third-party metadata repositories? Is data lineage supported to determine which source systems contributed to the report regardless of which extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) tool is used? Impact analysis is supported to highlight changes in the source data (down to which fields are impacted within a report) that affect downstream reports. Is the metadata stored in a relational database to improve scalability and manageability? Is there a facility to search a metadata repository to find the appropriate report, and does this enable drill-through without predefined drill paths? Are there capabilities for integrating with other ETL or modeling tools?

Synchronization Data Lineage Impact Analysis Relational Database Search ETL or Modeling Tool Integration

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Data Sources

What data sources are supported, including Multidimensional Expressions (MDX), XML, RSS feeds, Hadoop, Microsoft SharePoint list, flat file, other?

Can reports, dashboards, ad hoc queries and analysis be created "out of the box" from at least one multidimensional online analytical processing (MOLAP) data source such as Hyperion OLAP Connectivity Essbase, SQL Server Analysis Services, NetWeaver BI InfoCubes or Oracle OLAP? Standards-Based Connectivity Supports Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)? Out of the Box Enterprise Application Connectivity Is there native connectivity to enterprise applications (e.g., SAP, SAP Netweaver BW, Oracle, SFDC, other)? Does the product support direct query access via SQL and/or MDX? Direct Query Access Provides access to at least 50 native data sources, including API-level access and metadata Native Data Adaptors understanding? Ease of Loading Data Sources 1 Add (is coding required?). Ease of Loading Data Sources 2 Load (amount of scripting required). Ease of Loading Data Sources 3 Refresh (Complete reload, incremental reload). Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 1 to 10)

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Development Criterion Development Tool API Object Definition Object Access Object Display Multiple Developer Life Cycle Management Versioning .NET Support Java Support In-Line Debugging Testing Object-Oriented Wizard Development WYSIWIG Drag and Drop Data Access Visual Development Schedule and Execute Deliver

Question Is there an open API across all aspects of the BI tools/platform? Is there a common and consistent method to describe and define an object (e.g., query object, report object)? Is there a common and consistent method to access objects (e.g., when building a report, when designing a cube)? Is there a common and consistent method to display objects (e.g., push to wireless, push to HTML page)? Provides central repository with check in/check out versioning within the development environment? Provides life cycle management stages including: test, development and production? How do you support the dev/test/production migration process? Supports versioning of reports, dashboards and analysis? Does the product enable BI applications to be developed in a .NET environment? Does the product enable BI applications to be developed in a J2EE environment? Does the product support development that combines analytical and operational services into one experience? Does the product provide a mechanism to interactively debug custom BI applications? Describe any testing or regression testing capabilities available with your BI toolset. Is object reuse and propagation supported? Can developers use a wizard-style tool to build BI applications? Can developers see live data in WYSIWIG format? Can developers build BI applications using drag and drop tools? Can developers access heterogeneous data sources through a wizard-style tool? Does the product provide the capability to both consume and provide Web services within a visual development environment? Does the software development kit (SDK) exposes the following functionality via Web services: run new queries or reports, and perform analysis on a time or event basis? Does the SDK expose the following functionality via Web services: print reports, include reports in a portal, pass parameters to reports that will be run, and deliver URLs back to the calling applications for the location of new reports?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Manage Administer Embeddability

Does the SDK expose the following functionality via Web services: create, copy and delete report or analysis objects? Does the SDK expose the following functionality via Web services: add users, change security settings and monitor/manage performance? Can all BI content be made available as an embeddable report part via an API (Web services) for embedding with other content sources or applications with full report interactivity, report attributes, derived measures, etc.?

Data Load Portal 1 Portal 2 Portal 3

Does the SDK enable data to be read/loaded via a Web service? Does the product support JSR 168? Does the product support Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP)? In addition to BI vendor-specific portal, is there the ability to integrate and display report or dashboard parts with full interactivity without customization? Is there certified integration with most of the major enterprise portals, including: Microsoft SharePoint, IBM WebSphere, SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal, BEA WebLogic Oracle Portal, Oracle WebCenter, Liferay, Oracle Sun One Portal Server, Vignette Portal?

Metadata Access Corporate Performance Management (CPM) Drill to Application Detail Pre-Built Reports

Supports metadata exchange via Web services? Does the product natively integrate with CPM platforms? Which ones? Does the platform support drill-back to primary enterprise application detail? Which ones? Provides a domain and or industry-specific packaged data model and business content (e.g., CRM, finance, HR, procurement, and supply chain management [SCM] and/or for a vertical industry)?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Architecture SOA Solution Architecture Hardware and OS Support Database Support Desktop Specifications

Does your solution follow a service-oriented architecture? Please provide a list of multichannel (reusable) services exposed by your solution, for consumption by other clients. List all the technologies used at every tier/layer within your solution. For example, .NET/portal/Java at the presentation layer, J2EE/other in the application layer, etc. List all the hardware and OS (versions) that your software is certified on and are required at both development and run-time by the system. Include all tiers. Is the product certified to run on at least three different leading databases? Which ones? Describe the minimum desktop specifications (CPU, memory, screen resolution, etc.) required for end users of your system. If you have both a thin-client and thick-client style, mention the specifications for both.

Open Standards

Is your system based on open standards? Please provide a list of all applicable industry standards (WS-I for Web services, JSR 168 for Portal, Interactive Financial eXchange [IFX], ODBC, etc.) that your product is built on and that you guarantee compatibility with.

Certification

How quickly do you re-certify your software against newer versions of these third-party technologies? Please provide some details around the level of testing you perform as part of such certifications (functional, regression, performance/stress, etc).

Virtualization

Are there any tiers within your application that are certified to run in a virtualized environment? If yes, which ones? BI platform compiles to 64 bit and makes use of the larger addressable memory space?

64-Bit

Unicode Security Third-Party Authentication 1

Provides Unicode support?

Third-Party Authentication 2

Supports third-party authentication (ability to leverage other tools/applications authentication methods)? Supports optional internal (proprietary) authentication? Supports Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)? Supports WS-Security?

Proprietary Authentication Security 1 Security 2

Does the product support integration with third-party security architecture such as Active Directory (AD) and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) groups for user authentication (via Kerberos tickets/AD certificates) and authorization? How is that managed?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Column

Supports column (object)-level security?

Row Cell Source System Role-Based Extranet

Supports row-level security? Supports cell-level security? Leverages source systems security (user ID pass through)? Supports building profiles for software functionality (role-based security)? Supports secured extranet access to BI information (expose data outside the firewall and present to individuals outside the organization, such as customers or vendors)? Is there a universal single sign-on at the individual level for all capabilities (e.g., reports, dashboards, OLAP)? Is there an ability to manage sign-ons at the group level for all BI capabilities (e.g., reports, dashboards, OLAP)? Does the product support connectivity through a proxy server? How does the platform log security events? Does the platform have audit trail capabilities with regard to user transactions, failed logon attempts, and protection of the logs against modification and unauthorized use, and any other business over-ride or events?

Single Sign-On — Individual Level Single Sign-On — Group level Proxy Server Security Events Logging Audit Trail

Administer Encryption Security Maintenance Security Monitoring

How is user access set up? Is the product encrypting data in transfer and storage? Is there a mechanism for how security is maintained in connection with other systems? Please describe. Does the product support audit tracing, security logs and monitoring?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Scalability Virtualization Platform Tunables

Which environment provides the best performance for an enterprise solution: physical or virtual? Which environment provides the best performance for an enterprise solution: Unix, Linux or Windows? When scaling up, what aspects of the system tend to become bottlenecks for large deployments? What methods have you employed to overcome these bottlenecks? What are all the “tunables” in your solution that help enhance performance and scale?

Sizing

Describe the process for conducting capacity assessments to determine future needs. Provide the sizing guides you use for the clients using your solution (to estimate capacity based on users, transaction volumes, or other application profile parameters you use for the sizing, etc.)

Performance Optimization 1

Do you support function shipping to the database? Do you provide specific optimized SQL per relational database management system (RDBMS)? Which ones? Do you support multilevel caching? Do you support automated aggregate awareness? Describe how. Do you provide in-memory and or columnar data store utilization? Does the tool divide calculations across all available processors and cores? What capabilities or integration does the solution provide for performance monitoring?

Performance Optimization 2 Performance Optimization 3 Performance Optimization 4 Performance Optimization 5 Workload Balancing Performance Monitoring High Availability and Disaster Recovery Backup and Recovery 1 Backup and Recovery 2 High Availability Cluster-Aware

System Events

Does the product have out of the box capabilities and procedures for backup and recovery? What are they? Does the product support selective recovery of BI reports/dashboards? Does your architecture support high availability and failover? How? Is the solution database cluster-aware? For example, if the database fails-over, does your solution require the application instances to be shut down and restarted in order to recover from failure? What system events are captured within the solution? Are they viewable? Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 1 to 10)

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Collaboration Criterion Sharing Public Folders Discussion Threads

Question

Real-Time Collaboration and Social

Can users collaborate in real time using the same view to chat and annotate?

Annotations and Comments Annotations

Can users add comments to BI and dashboard content? Can users create annotations to the query result (or any BI artefact) that are tied to a workflowdriven process? What are the product's capabilities for search functionality? Can users find relevant other users and share and collaborate on BI, analysis and dashboard content?

Search Sharing Workflow and Events Workflow

Does the tool post reports, graphs and analysis into public folders for others to look at? Does the tool offer discussion threads and commentary on shared BI content (reports, dashboards, analysis)?

Supports integration with workflow engines (e.g., Windows Workflow Foundation) in a way that triggers a workflow (e.g., tasks can be assigned) based on BI data (i.e., routes the workflow based on specific queries) without coding?

BPM

Are there APIs or native integration with workflows within business process management tools?

Business Rule Updates

Is there a synchronous linking of business rules between models so that analysis can be carried out across multiple models and domains (e.g., "I am changing my sales forecast now, [Hit Enter], what does it do to your manufacturing plan?")

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Automated Business Rule Updates

Can the BI models actively query each other, requesting analytical input from another model (same example as above, but without human interaction: "Would the manufacturing bandwidths allow me to increase my sales forecast?")?

BPEL Guided Analytics

Supports Business Process Execution Language (BPEL)? Provides ability to build guided paths to do reporting and analysis according to a particular subject area and dynamically based on events. Enables interaction with the process by writing back data from a query result to an operational data source (e.g., ERP database). Is there a collection of rules that are evaluated as events and new data are received? Is there cascaded support of rules to evaluate thresholds, duration, correlation, frequency, rate of change, etc? Are there APIs or native integration with complex-event processing (CEP) and business activity monitoring (BAM) tools?

Operational Write Back Continuous Flow Rules Engine Complex Event Processing

User Authoring of Business Rules Execution

Is there a wizard-like tool for users to create their own business rules? Can the system feed business rules created in the BI platform to an operational application for execution via a business rules management system? Can users provide run-time parameters as input to the business rules?

Run-Time Prompts Scheduling, Alerts and Notifications Automated Report and Dashboard Scheduling and Does it provide BI content to end users on an on-demand or scheduled basis? Is it able to Distribution schedule reports to be distributed based on date/time and events that have occurred?

Conditional Alerts 1

Is there delivery of alerts to users based on defining thresholds in a report where you would want to be notified if a specific condition exists? What personalization features are available for this?

Conditional Alerts 2

Is there centralized definition of a report condition for condition-based reporting and notification?

Conditional Alerts 3 Alert Notification Visual Alerts Event-Driven/Dynamic Alerts

Is there personalized definition of a report condition for condition-based reporting and notification? What delivery methods are available for alerting (email, RSS feed, mobile, other)? Is there a visual display of exception values through color coding or other means? Are there event-based alerts? Can alerts be created based on temporal rules? (For example, if the time between event A and event B increases by more than 10%.) Can end users can set their own thresholds? Can the system alert not on just one metric, but on a composite analytic business process — that is, a set of conditions across systems — with business context?

Temporal Rules User-Defined Thresholds Complex Alerts

Total Score

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 1 to 10)

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Rating

Product Capabilities

0 = Unimportant; = Important; Must Have Buyer Weights

1 2= Buyer Weighted Score

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0 60 0.00

0 120 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Rating

Product Capabilities

0 = Unimportant; = Important; Must Have Buyer Weights

1 2= Buyer Weighted Score

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0 112 0.00

0 224 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Rating

Product Capabilities

0 = Unimportant; = Important; Must Have Buyer Weights

1 2= Buyer Weighted Score

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

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0 272 0.00

0 544 0.00

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Rating

Product Capabilities

0 = Unimportant; = Important; Must Have Buyer Weights

1 2= Buyer Weighted Score

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0

0

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

116 0.00

232 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Reporting Criterion

Question

Pixel-Perfect Complex Reporting Basic Charts

Produces pixel-perfect reports? Support for cross-tab reports? Does the product include bar/column, pie and line/area charts?

Advanced Charts

Does the product include all of the following advanced visualizations (including combo charts, heatmaps, boxplots, paths on a map, different levels of aggregation, histograms, bubble, bullet, candlestick, pareto, treemap, marimekko, x/y or scatter charts, etc.)? Publishes reports in all of the following formats: HTML, PDF, XML, Excel, comma-separated values (CSV)?

Output Format

Layered PDF Creation Search Bursting Demand Paging

Is there support for layered PDF creation? This is the ability to create layers that display while printing but not on the screen, and vice versa; to rename and merge layers; to change the properties of layers; and/or lock layers to prevent them from being hidden. Is it able to search the report repository and individual reports for keywords contained in the BI metadata? Can reports or parts of a report be bursted to different users with user-specific content? Is demand paging supported (i.e., is each page requested rendered before waiting for the entire report to load)?

Rating

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Multiple Data Sources

Use multiple data sources in one result set?

Multi-Pass SQL Multi-pass SQL support? Complex SQL Is there complex SQL, specifically the HAVING clause and nested subqueries? Heterogeneous Joins Support for heterogeneous Joins? Prompts, Filters, Parameterizations Can the system create and save report parameters including numeric, string, date, format and text Parameterized Reporting data types to make the reports interactive?

Cascading Parameters

Is there support for cascading (multilevel) prompts that present selection filters based on associated information? (For example, from annual sales report, select the month of December. When navigating to another report the month of December parameter is maintained in the new view/report.)

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Filter Prompts Hierarchical Prompts Formatting Prompts Other Parameters

Reuse Report Navigation

Are there filter prompts? Is there the ability to select from a finite set of filter options? Are there hierarchical filters? Can users customize formatting based on prompts? Support for other parameterizations not listed?

Is formatting saved between data views? Can users save their filter and other formatting options for reuse in running a report (including options for saving, like to Internet Explorer favorites, etc.)?

Drill

Can users drill from a report to any underlying data source? Is there drilling functionality (e.g., hierarchical, around, conditional)? List all types of drilling supported.

Hyperlinking Freeze Panes Hide Columns

Are users able to drill through to other reports or URLs based on the value of a single cell or group of cells? Can users insert hyperlinks within a report? Can users freeze panes? Can users hide columns?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire Table of Contents Sorting Report Data Views Templates Printing Printing 1 Printing 2 Printing 3 Printing 4

Are reports (including PDF) produced with navigation bar and table of contents? Sorting capabilities? Can users produce data in rows and columns and change rows into columns? Use of templates for reuse? Can users connect to a local/network printer or FTP site and print selected content? Ability to print a portion of a dashboard or report? Ability to print entire report or dashboard? Can users print to fit to page with headers on each page?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire Document Layout

Object Placement Conditional Formatting Contextual Formatting Multiple Objects Tabs Relative Positioning Rulers

Is there absolute object placement? Conditional formatting? Contextual formatting and linking? Multiple objects in a document (charts, text, pictures, tables, maps) — can all of these types be linked? Multiple report tabs? Relative positioning of objects? Rulers and design tools?

Annotation and Comments

Is there the ability to add comments and annotations to BI content (reports and dashboards)?

Sharing Undo WYSIWYG Financial Reporting Intra-Row Calculations Formatting XBRL

Can users find relevant users and share and collaborate on BI, analysis and dashboard content? Undo (reverse and edit operations one step at a time)? WYSIWYG editor? Is there support for intra-row calculations? Is there automated formatting of financial measures (asset/liability, income/expense etc)? XBRL tagged output?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire Report Books Financial Intelligence

Can users create a books of reports? Can the system understand financial concepts such as expense, revenue items? Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 1 to 10)

0 192 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Dashboards Criterion Graphics Trend Color Coded User Enablement Multi-Data Sources Drill Anywhere Alerts and Notifications Data Agent and Event Listener Application Integration Geospatial Data and Mapping Goals

Question Are users able to render summarized graphical representation of the data represented as a chart, gauge or stop light (without programming)? Are users able to provide a positive or negative trend indicator for each metric (without programming)? Are users able to provide a color-coded summary indicating the state of a particular metric compared to a goal or threshold target (without programming)? Can end users build their own metrics using a wizard to create a metric calculation? Can users integrate multiple data sets into one dashboard, including both relational and multidimensional data? Can users drill from dashboard graphics (e.g., dial, traffic light) to any source system? Can messages be sent when a data value surpasses a predefined threshold? Are there software routines that detect changes in data or receive events from other sources (without polling)? Ability to create KPIs from data from any of the applications identified in the RFP? Ability to create dashboard objects using geospatial data and map representations? Can multiple targets per metric (multiple thresholds or goals) be visualized?

Sharing Dashboard Navigation

Can users find relevant users and share and collaborate on BI, analysis and dashboard content?

Contextual Drill

Can users drill from one dashboard to another with parameter passed?

Rating

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Drill Down

Can users drill down to a lower level of detail from a summary?

Pivot Sort

Can users pivot/drill by other dimensions (dragging and dropping or expanding and collapsing for drilldown)? Can users re-sort data in a table within an existing dashboard?

Global Filter Dashboard Design Tool

Can users control the display of one or more reports in a single portal page or in a dashboard?

User-Defined Calculations

Are developer/user-defined calculations for data not available in the warehouse? Are there user-defined KPIs (can users build custom algorithms and formulas to derive key performance indicators)? Are elements reusable in multiple dashboards? Are there formatting templates for a consistent look? Is there an undo function? Is it a Web-based design environment? WYSIWYG design mode? Is there auto refresh/re-query of dashboard objects without manual intervention? Is there use of applet/ActiveX controls (can users embed Java or .NET code as needed)? Is there Web-based dashboard delivery, embedded in PDF, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word and Adobe SWF? Is there Web-based dashboard delivery embedded in PDF? Is there Web-based dashboard delivery, embedded in Microsoft PowerPoint? Is there Web-based dashboard delivery, embedded in Microsoft Word?

User-Defined KPIs Reuse Templates Undo Design Environment WYSIWYG Query Refresh Applets Dashboard Delivery Options

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire Is there Web-based dashboard delivery, embedded in Adobe SWF?

Data Sources

How many data sources are natively supported? Which ones? Including: MDX, XML, RSS feeds, Hadoop, Microsoft SharePoint list, flat file, other? Is MDX supported? Is XML supported? Are RSS feeds supported?

Is Hadoop supported? Which implementations? Is a Microsoft SharePoint List supported? Are Flat Files supported? What other data sources are supported? Performance Optimization Caching In-Memory 64-Bit

Caching? In-memory data store utilization? Support for 64-bit OS (ability to utilize more than 2 GB of RAM)? Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 1 to 10)

0 168 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Ad Hoc Query Criterion Semantic Layer

Aggregate Aware Heterogeneous Data Join OLAP Auditing Performance Auditing Usage Control Caching Data Caching Metadata

Question Does the system provide a business user-friendly semantic layer that hides the complexity of underlying data sources?

Are queries automatically directed to the most recently created aggregates and summary tables in the underlying data structure? Can users query multiple data sources and join the results? Does the tool have the ability to query at least three OLAP sources (e.g., SAP Netweaver BW, Oracle Essbase, Cognos PowerPlay, Cognos TM1, SQL Server Analysis Services)? Does the tool have the ability to track query response time? Does the tool offer the ability to monitor ad hoc query usage? Does the tool provide administrators with governance features to prevent users from writing bad queries? Does the tool offer the ability to cache query results for faster performance? Does the tool offer the ability to cache metadata objects (including report layout objects such as parameters) for faster performance?

Rating

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire Multi-User Cache Multi-Pass SQL Wizards Drag and Drop Search

Data Federation

Can the cache can be shared by multiple users? Does the tool provide multi-pass SQL capabilities against the underlying database to minimize the amount of data sent over the network? Are there wizards for ad-hoc query/report creation? Does ad hoc support include drag-and-drop navigation? Can the tool automatically create an ad hoc report based on keywords from a search?

Write-Back Web-Based Calculated Conditions Multiple Data Sources Multi-Pass SQL Complex SQL

Can the tool cache and join data from disparate data sources to perform on-the-fly integration? Can the tool output query results back to an operational database as opposed to just rendering them in a report? Is there the ability to provide Web-based ad hoc query report development capabilities? Using a derived value? Can the tool use multiple data sources in one result set? Is there multi-pass SQL support? Is there complex SQL; specifically the HAVING clause and nested sub-queries?

Filter and Prompt Options Applets Disconnected

Are there cascading filters (can users create a selectable filter where one selection is predicated on a previous selection), filter prompts, SQL-like syntax for filtering, hierarchical filters? Use of applet/ActiveX controls (embed Java or .NET code as needed)? How does the product support disconnected access? Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 1 to 10)

0 96 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Mobile Criterion

Question

Information Display and Interaction

Rich Information Visualization Information Overlay on Maps

Touchscreen Experience Responsiveness

Dashboard Delivery Information Exploration

Does the application offer visually compelling outputs, with animated components, large icons, buttons, menus and selectors, adequate font size according to the device's screen size, and engaging charts and table layouts? Is the application capable of overlaying on maps at least three types of geo-located information, such as shaded regions, bubbles, pie charts or routes?

Are users able to interact with report components, getting feedback on their actions, such as tapping a bar on a chart and obtaining information detail? Is the touchscreen interface leveraged, adhering to mobile conventions and using gestures such as swipe, tap and pinch to interact with the information, instead of, for example, scroll bars? After the initial report loading, do users get immediate response from their actions, such as opening a list box or changing a filter selection?

Does the application provide easy to use reports, structured in multiple pages or tabs, with pre-built information visualizations such as KPIs, tables, charts and maps, and is it able to provide a quick overview of a business topic to a casual user?

Rating

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Guided Information Exploration Table Manipulation

Graphics Manipulation Maps Manipulation Report Development on the Device Analytics

Do reports and dashboards support dynamic filters to change results after report execution? Does the application allow pre-defined navigation from one report to another, by clicking data fields and other report components, allowing for the creation of information exploration paths? Does the application support linking between information visualizations, such as selecting a row in a table and changing the information displayed on an associated graph? Does the application provide drilling to details through interaction with table cells and chart components? Does the application, on the mobile device, support sort, column hiding, removal or positioning within a table? Does the application, on the mobile device, provide ways to manipulate visual representations of data, such as zooming and panning on a specific area of a bubble chart, or highlighting a line or bar? Are users able to drill the information on maps, and change maps' detail or focus, with actions such as tap, zoom in and out, and pan? Can the user, on the mobile device, assemble and save new reports using pre-built components or ad-hoc query building functionality?

Ad-Hoc Information Exploration

Is the user able to freely explore a set of predefined data, interacting with tables or charts, and using drag and drop operations, to build or change queries?

Packaged Analytics

Does the application deliver pre-defined, domain-specific, analytic models that the user can apply to a set of information or events, to generate a result; such as "additional product to recommend when the customer makes a purchase"?

Scenario Simulations Analytic Models Development Context Awareness GPS Integration

Is the application capable of "what if" scenario modeling, enabling analysts to alter certain parameters to test their impact? Is the user able to build and save analytic models, such as a predictive model, that can later be applied to derive an outcome? Is the application able to use the GPS to automatically filter reports, delivering, for example, the sales performance of a store being visited?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Camera Integration Voice Integration

Is the application capable of using the device's camera to read bar codes or identify images, to filter reports, for example? Is the application able to execute or filter reports according to voice commands?

Sensor Integration

Is the application capable of sensor integration such as compass, gyroscope or accelerometer?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire Offline Mode Exploration

Offline Information Navigation Automated Information Download Manual Information Download Rich Application Functionality Collaboration Alerting

Write-Back Multimedia Support Augmented Reality Multiple Device Support

Are users able to navigate information without an active data connection, using locally stored information? Can users subscribe, on the device, reports or dashboards that the tool will download automatically in the background or upon application activation? Are users able, on the device, to select and immediately download a report for later exploration without data connection? Does the application provide collaboration features such as annotations, print-screen emailing, discussion threads for reports, and screen sharing for live discussions? Does the application provide notifications generated by predefined data monitoring rules, or event occurrences (e.g., KPI threshold achieved)? Is the application capable of simple data entry, such as filling a customer order form, and writing back to business applications? Is the application capable of workflow triggering in business applications? Does the application support rich content like photos, video, sound and text files as part of a BI report? Is the application able to overlay information on top of the video stream from the camera, or a map being updated in real time according to the user's position?

Apple

Does the application support Apple iOS smartphones and tablets? Applications offering the standard Web portal to run on mobile devices, without device awareness and mobility enhancements, are considered as "1 - No support." Support for only one device type is "2 - Partial support."

Google

Does the application support Google Android smartphones and tablets? Applications offering the standard Web portal to run on mobile devices, without device awareness and mobility enhancements, are considered as "1 - No support." Support for only one device type is "2 - Partial support."

Research In Motion (RIM)

Does the application support RIM smartphones and tablets? Applications offering the standard Web portal to run on mobile devices, without device awareness and mobility enhancements, are considered as "1 - No support." Support for only one device type is "2 - Partial support."

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Microsoft Ease of Use for Developers

Does the application support Microsoft smartphones and tablets? Applications offering the standard Web portal to run on mobile devices, without device awareness and mobility enhancements, are considered as "1 - No support." Support for only one device type is "2 - Partial support."

Integrated Development Workbench

Does the application share a single workbench for desktop- and mobile-based report development, requiring similar skills?

Reuse of Existing Content

Is the application capable of displaying existing reports without modifications to the design?

New Content Development

Is the process to create new mobile reports quick and straightforward?

Cross-BI Platforms Integration Application Development

Is the application capable of integration with at least two external BI platforms, from different vendors, being able to leverage metadata, security and users' definitions to mobilize existing BI content?

Mobile Applications Integration

Does the application allow the integration of mobile BI outputs in external applications, and the integration of external applications' components in the mobile BI application?

Application Customization

Does the application provide customization capabilities for deployment with a "skinned" interface, using customers' brand and image?

Application Distribution

Does the application provide processes for user-driven setup, including, if needed, self-service installation and automated parameters definition to connect to a BI server, allowing for wide mobile BI application distribution (e.g., for customer-facing BI applications)?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Development SDK for Mobile

Does the application provide a development SDK for advanced mobile application customization and integration? The SDK is not supposed to run on the mobile devices, but should be able to create and customize mobile device BI applications.

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Administration

Integrated Mobile Infrastructure

Does the application share the server infrastructure as the desktop BI platform, leveraging existing metadata, security and users' definitions? Does the application share an administration console and processes with the desktop-based BI platform?

Administrator-Driven Setup

Does the application provide capabilities for administrator-driven setup, including, if needed, remote installation and automated parameters definition to connect to a BI server?

Application Management Security

Does the application provide capabilities to force upgrades and patch installation, to delete or configure the client application remotely?

Data Security Application Security

Does the application use two-factor authentication certificates for the device and BI server, and does it use encrypted communications (e.g., HTTPS) and support VPN connections? Does the application encrypt locally stored data, and support remote data wipe capabilities and the option for cache deletion when exiting the application? Does the application require a password to access both online and offline content?

BI Objects and User Security

Does the application implement security filters for individual users and groups, to restrict access to the BI system content?

Communications Security

Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 1 to 10)

0 180 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Microsoft Office Integration Criterion

Cell Locking Pivot Tables Write-Back Outlook Outlook 2

Question Rating Does the tool have the ability to embed queries and refresh them from a Microsoft Office document such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint? Does the tool have the ability to export data into Excel spreadsheets, while preserving existing formatting of the report? Does the tool have the ability to export data into Excel spreadsheets, while supporting Excel-based formulas? Does the tool have the ability to lock cells on the spreadsheet from a central location then push the spreadsheet (with locked cells) for decentralized consumption? Is there support for pivot tables and filters in Excel spreadsheets? Does the tool enable write-back of data from Excel to another database? Can the tool send alerts or tasks to personal Outlook clients without programming? Can users view data and reports in Outlook?

Security

Does the tool provide authentication/security when refreshing data from an MS Office document?

Refresh Formatting Formulas

Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 1 to 10)

0 36 0.00

Scorecards Criterion Strategy Map Methodology Collaboration Analysis

Question Is the tool able to design strategy maps and other diagrams outlining objectives and attached metrics? Does the tool apply a scorecard to a particular performance methodology, such as Six Sigma or balanced scorecard? Does the tool enable scorecard users to collaborate via discussion threads about the status of metrics and recommend remedial action? Can the tool generate analytic cubes (from the scorecard model) for further analysis?

Rating

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Initiative Tracking Alerting Impact Diagrams Ownership Group Metrics Summarized Metric View

Can the tool track initiatives and other projects alongside metrics to monitor the actions being undertaken, to correct and improve the performance associated with a metric? Is the tool able to alert metric owners when metric status has changed? Does the tool provide the ability to link metrics hierarchically with a cause and effect relationship, and to create diagrams depicting this relationship? Are users able to assign ownership to metrics and scorecards? Are users able to group metrics by objectives and ownership? Are users able to instantly see best, worst, fastest-rising and fastest-falling metrics in a single view? Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 1 to 10)

0 40 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Product Capabilities

0 = Unimportant; 1 = Important; 2= Must Have Buyer Weights Buyer Weighted Score

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0 384 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0 = Unimportant; 1 = Important; 2= Must Have Product Capabilities

Buyer Weights

Buyer Weighted Score

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0 336 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0 = Unimportant; 1 = Important; 2= Must Have Product Capabilities

Buyer Weights

Buyer Weighted Score

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0 192 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Product Capabilities

0 = Unimportant; 1 = Important; 2= Must Have Buyer Weights Buyer Weighted Score

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0 360 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Product Capabilities

0 = Unimportant; 1 = Important; 2= Must Have Buyer Weights Buyer Weighted Score

0 72 0.00

Product Capabilities

0 = Unimportant; 1 = Important; 2= Must Have Buyer Weights Buyer Weighted Score

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0 80 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

OLAP Criterion Question User-Defined Functions Are end users able to create/edit derived metrics using an automated wizard process? Rank/Sort Does the tool enable users to rank and sort the results of various measures? User-Defined Dimensions Can end users edit/add members to a dimension using an automated wizard process? Alternative Hierarchy Does the tool support alternative hierarchies within a dimension? Inter-Row Calculations Does the tool support inter-row calculations? Complex Calculations Are all calculations allowed across all dimensions? Automation Can end users build cubes using a wizard? Load Performance Can users do trickle feeds of cubes while cubes remain online? Load Performance 2 Can users do batch feed of cubes while cubes remain online? Cache Update Can users set trade-offs between freshness and query performance to guide caching rules? In-Memory Can users make calculations or do aggregations to detail data in-memory at query time? Relational Online Analytical Processing Can the tool perform multidimensional analysis against relational data without relying on a (ROLAP) predefined aggregates? Can the aggregates reside in an OLAP cube structure, and the transaction detail reside in a Hybrid OLAP (HOLAP) relational data store where it can be made available for drill-through? Financial Intelligence Does the tool support currency conversions? Financial Intelligence 2 Does the tool understand and correctly calculate expense and revenue item variances? Time Intelligence Is there a wizard to develop application-specific time dimensions (e.g., fiscal year, retail)? Time Intelligence 2 Security Write-Back

Asymmetric Hierarchies Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) Automation Drilling on Measures Predefined Calculations

Does the tool handle calculation of time-balanced metrics (e.g., inventory, price, units sold)? Does the tool define and filter security access by user or group to the cell level? Does the tool support multi-user write back to the OLAP database under security? Can the tool support the definition of true asymmetric hierarchies in any dimension (without "dummy" members)? (For example, can it compare disparate date ranges or time frames within a single results set?) Does the BI platform support formula definition and database query using MDX ? Can the tool build cubes directly from relationally based star schemas? Does the tool allow users to select/drill down/query based on a measure, not just a dimension (e.g., all products with positive margins)? Does the tool provide a comprehensive library of predefined calculations, complete with documentation and examples of use?

Rating

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Allocations Scenario Planning and "What If" Analysis Optimization Planning Activity-Based Costing (ABC) Custom Groups Custom Hierarchies Out of the Box Calculations Time Series Drilling 1 Drilling 2 Procedural Calculations Statistical Functions

Can users make cost allocations to various data attributions in order to build customer/product profitability models? Can the tool support "what if" scenario modeling, enabling analysts to alter certain parameters to test their impact? Is operation modeling functionality provided to maximize or minimize variables based on predefined constraints? Do the OLAP capabilities integrate seamlessly with the vendor's planning products? Can the tool support allocations and activity-based costing calculations? Can users define custom groups? Can the user define custom hierarchies? Can the tool make out of the box calculations such as top/bottom 10 ranking? Is there trending — time-based analysis (for example, this year/last year analysis)? Is there drill-through to detail maintenance (change source data)? Is there drill-through to detail presentation (view source data)? Can the tool make procedural calculations (embed scripting or syntax)? Statistical analysis — what out of the box functions are available? Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 10)

0 148 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Interactive Visualization and Data Discovery Criterion End-User Functionality Authoring Disconnected

Question

In-Memory or Columnar Data Store

Can the product use RAM-based processing on a server to power interactive visualizations? Does the product have any data-set limitations? How are memory limitations managed for performance? Does the tool support reusability within graphical elements/components? Does the product support direct SQL and Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) ad-hoc querying? Which specific sources? Is the development environment consistent with “WYSIWYG”? Does the product support capabilities for working with alerts (e.g., email, rises notifications)? Can the product alert on one metric and on a composite of conditions?

Memory Optimization Graphics Reuse Direct Query WYSIWYG Alerts Data Presentation and Interactivity

Does the product support business-user-authored data discovery and dashboards? Does the product support disconnected access?

Multidimensional Rendering

How do users interact visually with content? Is it direct interaction with a graph by dragging and dropping what users want to see? Are users able to perform analysis functions (e.g., drill, pivot) solely by interacting with visual images? Does the BI platform project multidimensional data attributes onto a two-dimensional image using the size, shape and color of the object?

Sliders Sorting

Does the tool provide a facility to slide a bar between measures to filter data sets being shown? Are users able to sort the data automatically or manually?

Interaction Paradigm 1 Interaction Paradigm 2

Rating

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire Custom Groups Custom Hierarchies Exclude Data From View Basic Charts

Are users able to perform simple and complex grouping of data item categories? Can users create custom hierarchies? Are users able to exclude irrelevant data or keep only the items of interest from the view? Does the product include bar/column, pie and line/area charts?

Advanced Charts

Does the product include advanced visualizations? (Including all of the following: combo charts, heatmaps, boxplots, paths on a map, different levels of aggregation, histograms, bubble, bullet, candlestick, pareto, treemap, marimekko, x/y or scatter charts, etc.)? Does the product support trellising? This facility uses the dimension of a chart as an iteration dimension for producing an array of charts, shown in tabular form.

Trellising

Brushing Cascading Prompts

Animation Conditional Formatting Real-Time Event Detection Live Data Geocoding Mapping Data Layering Panning Conversion Sparklines Zoom In and Out Graphical Representation Options Pivot Tables

Does the product support brushing? Does it offer the ability to filter and pass parameters directly from a graphic by clicking on drawn objects (either by using ctrl-click or drawing a "lasso")? Does the product support chart linking with cascading prompts? Does it have the facility to show multiple perspectives on the same dataset simultaneously in linked visual objects? Does the product support time-based animation playback? (This is the ability to watch trends in a dataset developing over time through the use of animated charts.) Can this be achieved via the use of a slider linked to a time series dimension? Is it able to provide a color-coded summary of the state of a particular metric compared to a goal or threshold target without programming? Can the product detect real-time changes in data or receive events from other sources without polling? Can the motion of dials and gauges be depicted from live data feeds using core product functionality? Does the product include pre-built geocodes for either the U.S., Europe or Asia? Does the product include map components? Does the product enable zooming in and out of map visualizations through data layering? Does it offer panning across multiple visualizations or charts that are larger than accommodated by the screen real estate? Can end users instantly convert one visual representation (chart type) into another? Can the product embed line-based micro charts in scorecard grids? Does the product allow users to zoom into (and out of) visualizations? Is the product able to render summarized graphical representations of the data as a chart, gauge or stop sign? Does the product support tables/pivot tables?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Output Formats

Isosurfaces and Contours Contextual Drill Drill-Down Pivot Sort Global Filter Analysis OLAP Attributes

Does the product support diverse output formats including all of the following (PDF, Microsoft Office formats, etc.)? To what extent is it possible to customize your own visualizations? Can data be depicted as an overlay on a physical design structure (e.g., stadium seating, store layout, airplane diagram)? Can users drill from one dashboard to another with parameter passed? Can users drill down to a lower level of detail from a summary? Can the tool pivot/drill by other dimensions (dragging and dropping or expanding and collapsing for drill-down)? Can users re-sort data in a table within an existing dashboard? Can users control the display of one or more reports in a single portal page or in a dashboard?

Predictive Analytics Text Analytics

Does the product support OLAP style analysis? Can the product support use of attributes as facts or dimensions? Does the product support all of the following functions including sorts, merges, sampling, summing, averages, min, max, group by, etc.? Does the product support predictive analysis, and to what level? Does it support data mining, segmentation, regression and binning? How does the product support unstructured data mining?

Time Series Write-Back Financial Modeling "What If" Scenarios Statistical Functions

How does the product support time series analysis including (year to date, quarter to date, month to date)? Does the product support automated calculations including running total, change over prior year or year-over-year growth without the user creating complex formulas? Does the product support write-back? How? Does the product support financial modeling and forecasting models? Does the product support "what-if" scenarios? How? Does the product support complex statistical functions? Which ones?

Out of the Box Functions

Complex Calculations Aggregations Asymmetric Reporting Drill

Does the product support advanced calculations/variables? Does the product support calculations across all dimensions, a window, reference dates, difference from average, multipass aggregation, group by a calculation? How does the user add overall subtotals, specific-level subtotals and grand totals to a visualization or data set? Does the product support asymmetrical reporting (e.g., combined queries)? Does the product support drill on relational or multidimensional hierarchies and geographic maps?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire Prompts, Filters, Parameterizations

Cascading Parameters Filter Prompts Hierarchical Prompts Formatting Prompts Other Parameters

Is there support for cascading (multilevel) prompts that present selection filters based on associated information? (For example, from annual sales report, select the month of December. When navigating to another report the month of December parameter is maintained in the new view/report.) Are there filter prompts? Is there the ability to select from a finite set of filter options? Are there hierarchical filters? Can users customize formatting based on prompts? Support for other parameterizations not listed?

Reuse

Is formatting saved between data views? Can users save their filter and other formatting options for reuse in running a report (including options for saving, like to Internet Explorer favorites, etc.)? Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 10)

0 244 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Search-Based BI/Data Discovery Search-Based User Interface

Question Does the product apply a search index to both structured and unstructured data sources and map them into a classification structure of dimensions and measures? Can users navigate and explore using a search (Google-like) interface?

Unstructured Data Preparation

Does the product support cleansing, parsing, extracting entities, context, terms and pattern matches from text including sentiment, emotion, opinion extraction, semantic processing and ontologies?

Extraction Capabilities

Does the product support specialized dictionaries, taxonomies, ontologies or extraction rules? Are there automated and consistent processes for extracting text of different formats from a wide variety of internal and external data sources (e.g., email, news feeds, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc)?

Criterion

Clustering Navigation

Can the product analyze large sets of data including structured data and content (such as documents) and even user profiles, and automatically identify inherent themes or information clusters? Can the product dynamically present navigable parameters based on document properties and all metadata attributes — explicitly defined or automatically generated?

Profiling

Can the product integrate/link/relate information structured databases with unstructured content? For example, can it combine information found within structured fields (such as product name, size, price or manufacturer) with unstructured content such as product description? Can the product understand user interests based on their browsing, content consumption and content contribution?

Data Integration Multi-Language Support

Does the product provide out of the box capabilities for ingesting and analyzing large amounts of content, and connectors for enterprise applications, enterprise content management (ECM), Hadoop and NoSQL? Does the product support multiple languages?

Relating

Rating

Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 10)

0 40 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Predictive Analytics and Data Mining Criterion

Question

Descriptive Statistics

Does the tool offer basic descriptive statistics including mean, min, max, standard deviation? Does the tool offer confidence interval and hypothesis testing using basic statistical capabilities (e.g., t-test, chi-square)?

Inferential Statistics Classification Estimation Clustering Prediction Affinity Analysis Attribute Importance

Advanced Algorithms Simulation and Optimization Text Mining Real-Time Scoring Open Standards

Rating

Does the tool enable the distribution of objects into predefined classes or categorical variables? Can the tool offer a prediction of the value of an unknown, continuous variable? Is the tool able to identify logical groups in which to place similar objects? Can it assign items in a collection to target categories or classes? Does the tool offer classification, estimation or clustering about a value or behavior which has yet to occur? Can the tool determine which objects can be expected to co-occur with other objects (e.g., market basket analysis)? Can the tool identify the independent variables that have the biggest impact on a dependent variable? Does the tool support decision trees, regression, classification and regression trees (CART), neural networks, case-based reasoning, support vector machines, genetic algorithms, and other supervised learning techniques? Does the tool support optimization (linear programming, non-linear programming, mixed-integer programming, etc.), and simulation? Can the tool parse unstructured content to create structured data objects (i.e., columns) that can be used for predictive modeling? Can the tool support real-time scoring from models that use historical and real-time data? Can the tool support user-defined algorithms in a plug-and-play fashion and import/export via Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML)? Total Score Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 10)

0 52 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Product Capabilities

0 = Unimportant; 1 = Important; 2= Must Have Buyer Weights Buyer Weighted Score

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0 296 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0 = Unimportant; 1 = Important; 2= Must Have Product Capabilities

Buyer Weights

Buyer Weighted Score

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0 488 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Product Capabilities

0 = Unimportant; 1 = Important; 2= Must Have Buyer Weights Buyer Weighted Score

0 80 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Product Capabilities

0 = Unimportant; 1 = Important; 2= Must Have Buyer Weights Buyer Weighted Score

0 104 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Cost of Ownership

Business Intelligence Platform Product Components

Product Component Description

Pricing Model Options for Each Component

Other License, Support, Warranty and Training Criterion Other License and Support

Question

Rating

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire Price Protection

Willing to lock in discounts for 12 to 24 months?

Virtualization Pricing Model Multi-Core Pricing Model Machine-Based Pricing Shelfware Provisions Warranty

Support for virtualization? Support for multi-core? Is pricing tied to type of machine or clock speed? Support credit for unused software?

Describe your software warranty, including all conditions, recourses, exclusions and timeframes. Describe any warranties offered on other services and products included with the software. For what period of time are major and minor product upgrades included in the purchase price of the product? What is the (average) frequency of new releases and upgrades? How does installation of upgrades affect software operation? What is your support policy on older software releases? List any planned enhancements with planned release dates. Do upgrades include regulatory requirement changes? Does this affect the frequency of upgrade releases? Is any customization automatically included in any upgrades?

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Does customization incur additional annual maintenance costs? Describe the process and estimate the time required to install subsequent releases/versions of your product.

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire Support What are your post-implementation support services? What are the inclusions/exclusions? Describe your hotline support program (i.e., help desk and problem resolution procedures). Do you have technical support for other languages? Which languages? What are the locations and hours of operation for technical support (by geography, if there is variation by geography)? Does the tool support model and options? Does the tool support increases and cap options? Training Describe what training and documentation is available.

Is on-site training available? Is e-learning training available? Online documentation available? Services What implementation services do you offer? What is your geographic coverage? What are your on- and offshore capabilities?

What are your areas of industry expertise? List your implementation partners. Total Score

0

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire Total Possible Score Standardized Score (on a scale of 10)

32 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Quantity

List Price Discount

0 = Unimportant; 1 = Important; 2 = Must Have Product Capabilities

Buyer Weights

Buyer Weighted Score

Net Price

Annual Annual Support Support Percentage Cost

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

0

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

64 0.00

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Vendor: Please Fill in the Following Summary Table for Proposed Platform Capabilities:

Business Analytics Platform Capability

Description of Capability

Product Component Name

Product Component Differentiators/Strengths

Installation Requirements (Server Components, Client Components, Database)

Standardized Score

Buyer Weighted Buyer Weighted Standardized Score Score

Hardware Requirements

Summary of Functional Scores

Capability Integration

Total Score

Possible Score

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

Integrated Infrastructure Metadata Development Collaboration

Information Delivery Reporting Dashboards Ad Hoc Query Mobile Microsoft Office Integration Search-Based BI/ Data Discovery Scorecards Analysis OLAP Interactive Visualization/Data Discovery Predictive Analytics and Data Mining

0 0 0 0

60 112 272 116

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

0 0 0 0

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

0 0 0 0

192 168 96 180

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

0 0 0 0

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

0

36

0.00

0

0.00

0 0

40 40

0.00 0.00

0 0

0.00 0.00

0

148

0.00

0

0.00

0

244

0.00

0

0.00

0

52

0.00

0

0.00

0

32

0.00

0

0.00

Cost of Ownership License Models, Warranty, Support, Training

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire

How This Component Is Licensed

Typical User Role and Skills Required

Training Required

Any Additional Software or Upgrades Required

Gartner for IT Leaders Tool — BI Platform RFP Questionnaire