Open Source BI Platforms Comparison

Diploma thesis focuses on open source business intelligence platforms. The main aim of this thesis is to compare open source BI platforms Pentaho BI Suite and Jaspersoft BI Suite using a set of criteria on the example of the solution for a fictive company. In order to achieve this goal, the research for criteria in already existing comparisons is made firstly and on the basis of this own comparative criteria and their weights are defined. Then important features of platforms under the BI solution primary layers are characterized. In the conclusion both platforms are evaluated and compared according to the result values of all criteria. The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part deals with the analysis and definition of criteria and the BI platform introduction. Used criteria are analyzed in the Gartner research, in the book about business intelligence and in two diploma theses. Own defined criteria are divided into following groups: Installation, ETL, OLAP, Reporting and Documentation. The introduction includes description of components, licence politics and available editions. In the practical part the platform functionality is tested, the project created in both of them is specified and then platforms are evaluated and compared. The functionality testing is made progressively from installation, through ETL and OLAP to reporting. The main aim of this thesis is completed in the last chapter of the practical part, where both platforms are evaluated according to the set of defined criteria, first of all under the BI solution primary layers and then also from general point of view. Here is used the weighted sum method from the multi-criteria decision analysis. The contribution of this thesis is in the transparent confrontation of two open source BI platforms, in the definition of the comparative criteria set and also in the presentation of all tools strengths and weaknesses including screenshots.