I think Jacopo got it just right! BI to me means a collection of complex queries and services that give insightful information (not necessarily even visual). Birt on the other hand is a specific tool that makes it possible to design and create reports interactively using a drag-and-drop behavior and it is one of multiple options available. Hence BI is a generic thing while BIRT is a specific tool. Furthermore, BIRT has lots and lots of dependencies which might not be appealing to everyone using it.
So I think the two represent entirely different concepts. And the only relationship might / should be that birt depends on some things in BI but not the opposite. On Wed, Feb 5, 2020 at 2:20 PM Jacopo Cappellato <jacopo.cappell...@gmail.com> wrote: > > My main concern about this proposal is that the BI component is intended to > provide a "universal data model" (of dimensions, facts and star schemas) > for OLAP that is independent from the specific tools adopted to actually > perform the analysis (reporting tools, user interfaces etc...); its role > for OLAP is similar to the role of the OFBiz "universal data model" (of > entities and views) for OLTP that we all know and love. > On the other hand the Birt component is intended to integrate one specific > technology platform (Birt from Eclipse) to create data visualizations and > reports. > If we merge the two components, an adopter that would like to use a > different technology on our "universal data model" of dimensions/facts/star > schemas would have to deal with more unneeded code and dependencies (on > Birt). > I agree with Pierre that the BI component would need more attention to be > appealing to users; in its current form it is just a Proof Of Concepts > (POC) of some of the great ideas of "The Data Warehouse Toolkit"; but in my > opinion we should focus on improving and completing > the dimensions/facts/star schemas and the scripts that populate them; I am > fine with the idea of moving the definitions of dimensions/facts/star > schemas to the BI component (similarly to what was done with the entity > definitions in the "datamodel" component). > On the other hand, the Birt component can be improved by using and > leveraging more the data model provided by the BI component. > > Jacopo > > > On Sat, Feb 1, 2020 at 2:05 PM Michael Brohl <michael.br...@ecomify.de> > wrote: > > > Hi Pierre, > > > > +1 for the initiative as a whole. > > > > One remark though to the current approach: you are creating al lot of > > singe Jira issues for new tables, services to load data etc. I currently > > do not find the functional part, for example UI elements and > > functionality to view the informations loaded into the datastore. > > > > From my perspective, it does not make sense to add tables to the > > datamodel and services to the codebase without having a functional part > > depending on it. > > > > I think it would help to maybe pick a single aspect (e.g. sales channel > > dimension) of the overall approch and implement all of the needed parts > > (database mode, service, UI and example data) for it to show what the > > desired outcome would be. I'm sure it would help to get the work > > accepted and into the codebase. > > > > Thanks, > > > > Michael > > > > > > Am 27.04.19 um 13:22 schrieb Pierre Smits: > > > Hi All, > > > Currently the various business intelligence (BI) functionalities are > > > scattered in various components (consider all the overviews regarding > > > inventory positions, orders/deliveries per customer/supplier) in the > > > applications folder. > > > > > > And on the other hand we have the BI component and the Birt component in > > > the plugins repo. Both of those components have minimal functionality > > > regarding the business intelligence aspect. But both components are > > > complimentary: > > > > > > 1. the bi (short for: Business Intelligence) component initialised > > the > > > OFBiz DWH and has secas and services for copying data from the ofbiz > > > database to the ofbizolap database, and > > > 2. the birt (short for Business Intelligence Report Tool) component > > is > > > intended to deliver on functionalities to display data overviews in > > > various forms (tables, charts, in PDFs, UI widgets, etc)... > > > > > > Unfortunately, both components lack of love from our community. But a bit > > > more love would significantly enhances the appeal of OFBiz for > > (potential) > > > adopters! > > > > > > As a result from a customer project, I recently have been working a bit > > > more on the business intelligence aspect (see recent tickets in [1] and > > > [2]). > > > > > > I believe it would be in the best interest of the project to integrate > > the > > > functionalities in the Birt component into the BI component. It will > > send a > > > clear message to both (potential) adopters and OFBiz developers (both our > > > contributors, and those not participating here but working on > > > implementations of adopters), being: > > > > > > *everything related with business intelligence happens in and comes from > > > the bi component*. > > > > > > > > > What do you think? > > > > > > When we have this, the community can start working on enhancing the > > single > > > component to increase its (and inherently OFBiz) appeal: > > > > > > > > > 1. more entitiy definitions for dimension and fact tables (per [3], > > from > > > the OFBiz related books), > > > 2. more scheduled services that move data from various ofbiz tables > > into > > > ofbizolap tables, > > > 3. more UI widgets for displaying data aggregations (tables, charts) > > in > > > the form of portal pages widgets. These portal page widgets can then > > be > > > integrated by our adopters dynamically anywhere in the components of > > the > > > applications folder, e.g through starting/main pages. > > > > > > [1] > > > > > https://issues.apache.org/jira/issues/?jql=project%20%3D%20OFBIZ%20AND%20component%20%3D%20bi%20AND%20status%20not%20in%20(Closed) > > > [2] > > > > > https://issues.apache.org/jira/issues/?jql=project%20%3D%20OFBIZ%20AND%20component%20%3D%20birt%20AND%20status%20not%20in%20(Closed) > > > [3] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471200247 > > > > > > Best regards, > > > > > > Pierre Smits > > > > > > *Apache Trafodion <https://trafodion.apache.org>, Vice President* > > > *Apache Directory <https://directory.apache.org>, PMC Member* > > > Apache Incubator <https://incubator.apache.org>, committer > > > *Apache OFBiz <https://ofbiz.apache.org>, contributor (without > > privileges) > > > since 2008* > > > Apache Steve <https://steve.apache.org>, committer > > > > > > >
