An update to the SAP Business Intelligence statement of direction has been issued in June 2022 which will be of keen interest to our SAP BusinessObjects and SAP Crystal Server customers. Read it here.
Previously the road-map for these users was to migrate away from on-premise software and into either the SAP BusinessObjects Private Cloud Edition (PCE) framework or to adopt SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). The move to PCE was flagged as only credible for larger organisations due to the costs associated with the move (minimum user numbers being very high). A move to SAC would be achievable for many customers but does mean re-writing some content (while that in turn does provide opportunity, to visualise; remove and improve!) as well as changing the reporting culture. Cloud analytics is certainly different from its on-premise cousin!
With the June 2022 announcement SAP have extended the time-frame by which decisions need to be made for the majority of our customers.
The headline news is that in 2024 a new on-premise version of the SAP BusinessObjects platform will be made available which will be supported beyond the current life-span of BI 4.3/Crystal Server 2020.
SAP BusinessObjects BI 2024
This version of SAP BusinessObjects will be streamlined – SAP are going to drop support for non-UNX universes, multi-source universes, SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise, Live Office and SAP Lumira. It will only be supported on Windows and Linux servers, but will be available as an on-premise or managed cloud product.
SAP have reiterated that support for BI 4.3 ends in 2027, but they have not explicitly stated how much longer the new product will be supported after that.
What is clear is that announcing the potential end of life for the SAP BusinessObjects platform is premature. It and its well-regarded set of reporting tools will continue for some time to come. Web Intelligence and SAP Crystal Reports will be maintained and hopefully see more investment in functionality and usability.
Many companies’ critical business processes rely on these systems, and it was always going to be a hard call to terminate their use quickly. Thankfully with this update to the statement of direction SAP are giving more time and choice to their customers, who will benefit from their purchases and investments for longer.
It doesn’t mean that organisations should be complacent and not consider their options. Many companies might have multi-source universes which need to be reverse-engineered to data warehouse logic, or have invested in universes and SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise and will now need to consider a move to Web Intelligence or Desktop Crystal Reports. There are many tasks ahead and decisions to be made about your BI requirements and how to continue using SAP BusinessObjects tools.
Please come to speak with us about any questions or concerns that arise out of this message from SAP. We are the experts in data and analytics, not just SAP tools, and will help identify long term solutions for your needs.