Dec 21, 2012

Comparing BO Webi vs SSRS

Webi from BO and SSRS from Microsoft are always in competition with each other. Both of them are good products catering to similar business needs in different styles. I have been using Webi and SSRS for my projects and i always think first which one should i use before starting a new one. Here i would be doing this comparison that may help others to opt between the two.


  1. Formatting - SSRS provides you good flexibility in formatting your reports but Webi does it better. In webi you can align your components charts with better look and feel than SSRS. Also formatting is easier in webi as its all gui based while  in SSRS its all visual studio like environment so bit of complexity.  Hence i would give webi 5 and SSRS 4
  2. Rendering - SSRS rendering is really bad when it comes to PDF, they don't give bookmarks for tabs in report. Also quality of formatting in Webi generated PDF is better. Here SSRS looses and webi wins. Hence Webi gets 5  and SSRS 3
  3. Ease of use - Again webi takes advantage here. SSRS is too complex for a new beginner. Like tablix concept, conditional formatting and all, everything is expression based which makes it too much to code.  i will give webi 4 and SSRS 3
  4. Flexibility - Here SSRS is champ. you have got every thing to be modified as per your requirement. You can use custom functions, custom codes, colors, borders, text, and any property can be made dynamic using expressions. While in Webi only limited things are there to be modified. so Webi gets 2 and SSRS gets 5
  5. Error reporting - When you schedule webi and if it gets failed, Webi gives you error details specifically. While, in SSRS error details is mostly generic. Webi gets 5 and SSRS gets 3
  6. Managing History Instances - SSRS have tried to do a lot but less when comparing to Webi. Webi is better. Webi 5 and SSRS 4
  7. Error prone - While working with webi, there have been many instances where you just cant explain the erroneous behavior of Webi reports. Some times your report tabs goes away, some times you formatting your webi formatting is corrupted. And most of all java creates a lot of problem while working with webi. In case of SSRS its completely free of such errors. So SSRS 5 and webi 2
Finally total scores : Webi  - 28 and SSRS -  27

Over all if you are looking for better formatting and easy to use gui Webi is for you. But if you want better flexibility and less rework then SSRS can be the choice.

Please Note: these are my views based on my experience. Some people may have different opinions.



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