This is a first tentative step at forging integration between the Oracle Business Intelligence 10g stack and a broad portfolio of analytic applications the company acquired from PeopleSoft Inc earlier this year.
Discoverer is Oracle’s ad hoc query, analysis and reporting tool that is included as part of the Oracle Business Intelligence 10g and Oracle Application server 10g infrastructure.
The software has now been certified to work with PeopleSoft EPM 8.9 which, in Oracle-speak, means that its development teams have tested Discoverer against EPM schema. This allows EPM customers to easily tap into Discoverer’s core data access, navigation and dashboard creation capabilities.
Oracle says EPM customers have two options to get their hands on Discoverer. They can license Oracle Business Intelligence which, according to officials will provide them with everything they need to run Discoverer. Or they can license the Oracle Application server, which includes Oracle Business Intelligence as well as Oracle Portal.
Oracle Business Intelligence 10g costs $20,000 per processor or $400 per named user.
Although EPM 8.9 already maps to Oracle’s Fusion Middleware capabilities, Redwood Shores, California-based Oracle has remained coy about detailing any specific integration plans between the two BI and analytic stacks now under its wing.
Establishing a link, however loose, between Discoverer and EPM, is a welcome first step. But forcing customers to first buy into Oracle Business Intelligence of Application Server will not ease the worries of any non-Oracle EPM customers who are keen to safeguard their existing BI and analytic investments and are worried they will eventually be weaned onto Oracle’s infrastructure.
Oracle officials disagree saying that, Since Discoverer is integrated with the other components of Application Server [Portal and Reports for instance], most customers see the attractive business value of obtaining the [Application Server] license.
