Effective Business Intelligence Tool
I’m a small business owner, and was looking for a low cost but effective Business Intelligence tool to run reports for my customers. A friend of mine who is a Java developer recommended BIRT (business intelligence reporting tool). He has been using it at his current job and loves how powerful yet simple the product is. I tried out the open source version from Eclipse about 6 months ago- Eclipse allows free downloads, and have been using it ever since. BIRT allows me to access our company’s data which resides in multiple places- an Access database, excel files, and a data mart, and combine them in the same report. It has a simple to use design environment that helped me create reports with charts and other graphics easily. Moreover, I was able to create a library object with my company’s logo and colors which I now re-use regularly across any new report that I create.Â
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That being said, I would recommend BIRT to anyone seeking a powerful yet inexpensive solution to their reporting needs. A free download is available on www.actuate.com
Filed under: Business Software, Open Source
