{"id":5456,"date":"2018-01-15T12:32:36","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T12:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pitss.com\/oracle-reports-alternatives\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T12:37:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T12:37:28","slug":"oracle-reports-and-the-alternatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitss.com\/de\/oracle-reports-and-the-alternatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 Oracle Reports Alternatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Oracle Reports Abl\u00f6sung \u2013
welche Alternativen gibt es?<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\n
Sie m\u00fcssen bald eine Alternative f\u00fcr
veraltete Oracle Reports finden?<\/span><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Im Zuge der Digitalisierung werden s\u00e4mtliche Software-Komponenten und Infrastrukturen modernisiert, blo\u00df Druckprozesse scheinen oft vernachl\u00e4ssigt zu werden. Die Rolle des Reporting wird oft untersch\u00e4tzt \u2013 allerding nur, weil viele Unternehmen sein wahres Potenzial noch nicht erkannt haben. Ein ausgekl\u00fcgeltes Reporting-Tool kann viel mehr als nur Daten auf Papier zu bringen. H\u00e4ufig setzen Experten Print-L\u00f6sungen im Kontext von Business Intelligence-Strategien ein, was f\u00fcr Unternehmensprozesse neue Features wie Push-Notifikationen, Offline- und Mobile-L\u00f6sungen \u2013 um nur einige zu nennen, bedeutet. Auch wenn Ihr Reporting-Tool das alles nicht kann, haben wir eine gute Nachricht f\u00fcr Sie: Es ist nie zu sp\u00e4t f\u00fcr eine Modernisierung!<\/div>\n
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Inhaltsverzeichnis<\/h4>\n

1. Das letzte Reports-Release<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\n
2. L\u00f6sungsalternativen<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
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     2.1 PL\/PDF<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\n
     2.2 APEX Office Print<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\n
     2.3 Eclipse BIRT<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
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     2.4 Jasper Reports<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
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     2.5 Oracle BI Publisher<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
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3. Welche Ziel-Technologie w\u00e4hlen andere Reports Nutzer? (Infografik)<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
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4. Fragen der Migration<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
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5. Fazit<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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POPULAR POSTS<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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Das neue PITSS.CON Release f\u00fcr Oracle Forms 14c<\/b><\/p>\n

Der leichte Weg f\u00fcr den Upgrade und die Optimierung von Oracle Forms Applikationen<\/p>\n

Mehr lesen<\/u><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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F\u00f6rderprojekt BMBF<\/b><\/p>\n

PITSS erh\u00e4lt Zuschlag f\u00fcr F\u00f6rderprojekt des BMBF zur digitalen Softwaredokumentation<\/p>\n

Mehr lesen<\/u><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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1. Das letzte Reports-Release<\/h3>\n

Bereits im Oktober 2016 hat Oracle angek\u00fcndigt, dass Oracle Fusion Middleware 12.2.1.3.0 das letzte Reports-Release sein wird. Zudem erlischt sp\u00e4testens 2025 vollst\u00e4ndig der Support-Anspruch seitens Oracle. Enterprise Applikationen basierend auf dem Oracle Fusion Middleware Stack, der unter anderem Oracle Forms und Reports beinhaltet, sehen sich daher dem Zwang gegen\u00fcbergestellt, sich bereits jetzt Gedanken \u00fcber Alternativen im Bereich des Reporting machen zu m\u00fcssen. Welche sich aktuell auf dem Markt anbieten, m\u00f6chten wir Ihnen im Folgenden aufzeigen. <\/p>\n

2. L\u00f6sungsalternativen<\/h3>\n

Bitte beachten Sie, dass die Aufstellung nicht den Anspruch einer Vollst\u00e4ndigkeit erhebt und zum Zeitpunkt der Ver\u00f6ffentlichung dieses Beitrags nur unsere Sicht des Marktes widerspiegelt.<\/p><\/div>\n

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2.1 PL\/PDF<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

PL\/PDF ist ein Reporting-Tool des ungarischen Oracle Partners OraNext, welches ausschlie\u00dflich mit PL\/SQL-Mitteln in der Oracle Datenbank Dokumente als PDF, DOCX oder XLSX erstellen kann. Als Layout-Designer kann ein Word- oder Excel-Template genutzt werden. Die Lizenzierung erm\u00f6glicht ein Modell nach Ausgabe-Format (570 \u20ac pro Format) oder pro Server (2.280 \u20ac).<\/p>\n

St\u00e4rken<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Performant f\u00fcr gro\u00dfe Datenbeschaffung \u2013 l\u00e4uft direkt in der Datenbank<\/li>\n
  • Basiert ausschlie\u00dflich auf PL\/SQL<\/li>\n
  • Kleiner Footprint, kann leicht in die Anwendung integriert werden<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \nSchw\u00e4chen<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Unterst\u00fctzt keine anderen Ausgabeformate<\/li>\n
    • An eine Datenbank gebunden und somit nicht als Enterprise Service f\u00fcr andere Applikationen nutzbar<\/li>\n
    • Begrenzter Funktionsumfang (kein BI, kein SelfService, kein Multilanguage Support out of the box etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Einsatz<\/span><\/p>\n

      PL\/PDF eignet sich bestens, wenn im eng gesteckten Umfeld der Anwendung eine \u00fcberschaubare Anzahl von wohl definierten Berichten zu erstellen ist. Die Integration gelingt leicht und die Nutzung ist f\u00fcr PL\/SQL versierte Entwickler leicht zu beherrschen.<\/p><\/div>\n

      \"\"
      \n\"\"
      \n\"\"<\/p>\n

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      \n

      JasperReports<\/h3>\n

      Why should you consider Jasper Reports as a serious Oracle Reports alternative?<\/p>\n

      Well there are quite a few good reasons, but the main one: JasperReports is open source \u2013 well at least to a certain degree. JasperReports is developed and maintained by Jaspersoft. You can create your JasperReports using the main library and distribute them as long as you don\u2019t change the source code. If you need further support from JasperSoft or different licensing, then you have to buy additional products.<\/p>\n

      The second main reason for Jasper is, that it is written in Java, which is widely used. JasperReports can handle various data source options: JDBC, Hibernate, XML, EJB, POJO. While there are many data sources possible, there are loads of export formats available: PDF, HTML, XLS, RTF, ODT, XML, CSV, TXT, DOCX.<\/p>\n

      JasperReports from TIBCO is probably the Java based open source solution with the widest community. Similar to BIRT, reports development takes place in the Eclipse IDE and at runtime, the engine can be integrated into any Java application. In contrast to BIRT, Jasper can also be consumed via a scheduler or web services. That Oracle Forms integration very flexible and diverse.<\/p><\/div>\n

      \n

      Strengths<\/h4>\n
        \n
      • \nBroad coverage of various data sources<\/li>\n
      • Pixel-perfect issues possible<\/li>\n
      • Very performant for long reports<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
        \n

        Weaknesses<\/h4>\n
          \n
        • \nCumbersome subreports for multiple data sources in a report<\/li>\n
        • Pixel-perfect issues possible<\/li>\n
        • Few out-of-the-box aggregate features<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
          \n
          Commitment, Problems, and Solutions<\/strong><\/h5>\n

          The possibility of integrating JasperReports via WebServices and URL calls also makes the tool interesting outside of pure Java application development. Pixel-perfect printing also allows safe use for classic tasks such as labels, barcodes and forms. If it is the first step in the Java world, the learning curve should not be underestimated like in BIRT.<\/p>\n

          While using Jasper Reports has some benefits it comes with some negative aspects and problems when you are moving from Oracle Reports. The biggest problem for most Oracle Reports developers will be the fact, that Jasper is not supporting PL\/SQL. So if there is a lot of logic or validation in your reports we recommend to move the PL\/SQL Code to the database and refactor the validation within Java.<\/p>\n

          Another problem could be, that you need Java knowledge to utilize JasperReports: If you already have Java knowledge in your company your Java developers will find it easier to work with JasperReports, but if your developers are pure PL\/SQL developers Java training to a certain extend is not a bad idea. Also Java resources are quite common (Java is still the most famous programming language).<\/p><\/div>\n

          \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
          No PL\/SQL support\t<\/p>\nmove PL\/SQL to DB\/Java<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
          No validation triggers<\/p>\nrefactor logic with Java<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
          Generally limited triggers\t<\/p>\nrefactoring, sub-reports<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
          No detailed filtering of query groups<\/p>\nrefactoring<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
          No PL\/SQL formula columns<\/p>\nrefactoring<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
          Too many sub-reports can result in very poor performance because each sub-report opens its own database connection, thread and query<\/p>\nperfomance test + refactoring, if necessary<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
          \n
          \n

          Oracle BI Publisher<\/h3>\n

          Oracle\u2019s official successor and recommendation for reporting is the Oracle BI Publisher. If asked, then Oracle would say there is only one real Oracle Reports alternative: Oracle BI Publisher. But BI Publisher (in the past XMLPublisher) is not a one-to-one replacement for Reports; it\u2019s rather another option for reporting that is quite different from Reports.<\/p>\n

          BI Publisher divides the reporting into data, layout and language.<\/p>\n

          This changes the flow of work when it comes to the creation of a report. The advantage is, that reports that use the same data source but have a different layout must not be created multiple times. For creating these different layout-templates the development environment or a Microsoft Word Add-in can be utilized. An additional advantage of BI Publisher compared to Reports is that BI Publisher supports many sources and export formats.<\/p>\n

          One is not limited to an Oracle Database as a source of data \u2013 you can use different other sources like WebServices, files or external systems. Those can be exported to a wide range of formats like: PDF, PPT, SML, Excel to different output channels (printer, filesystem, mail etc.). BI Publisher additionally offers a dashboard functionality with which users can create their own reports. All of those mentioned possibilities make BI Publisher to a not to cheap Enterprise Reporting solution.<\/p>\n

          If you have licensed the iAS-EE the use of BI Publisher is free of an extra charge.He also supplanted Oracle Reports in Oracle\u2019s own ERP suite. The strict separation between layout and data collection goes two steps further and makes it possible for the end user to create, manage and consume their own reports very intuitively via an online-builder and also to make this separation with standard XML technologies an efficient one Multilingualism of the reports. The BI Publisher is available through the metrics Named-User-Plus (395 \u20ac) or Processor (39,500 \u20ac).<\/p><\/div>\n

          \n

          Strengths<\/h4>\n
            \n
          • High degree of modularization (sub-templates, reuse)<\/li>\n
          • Self-service portal for central reporting solution<\/li>\n
          • Bursting and online dashboard<\/li>\n
          • May be covered by Oracle Forms license<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
            \n

            Weaknesses<\/h4>\n
              \n
            • Requires know-how from XSL-FO<\/li>\n
            • Pixel perfect printing only cumbersome<\/li>\n
            • Requires BI Publisher Server within the Weblogic servert<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
              \n
              Commitment<\/strong><\/h5>\n

              If the Forms and Reports application is licensed on the basis of an Oracle Application Enterprise Edition, the BI Publisher is the natural successor. The integration with Forms is predefined by Oracle and the integration into other applications based on APEX, ADF or other Java frameworks is very easy. The range of functions certainly surpasses all other alternative solutions.<\/p><\/div>\n

              \n
              \n

              Eclipse BIRT<\/h3>\n

              BIRT is an open source solution from the Eclipse Foundation for the preparation, visualization and reporting of data within rich client or web applications based on Java. Report design and implementation takes place within the Eclipse IDE and a BIRT Report Designer. Then, applications integrate via the Report Engine, which can be integrated into any Java application with a Java API.<\/p><\/div>\n

              \n

              Strengths<\/h4>\n
                \n
              • Broad coverage of various data sources<\/li>\n
              • Great variety of different output formats<\/li>\n
              • Powerful charting engine<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                \n

                Weaknesses<\/h4>\n
                  \n
                • Graphic elements are missing<\/li>\n
                • Pixel perfect printing only cumbersome<\/li>\n
                • Page-related values (subtotals, page numbers) are only cumbersome<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                  \n
                  Commitment<\/strong><\/h5>\n

                  In a holistic Java-oriented application development, BIRT certainly finds its rightful place. The existing BIRT Report Viewer can be used as an independent application and enriches the functionality of your application out of the box.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                  \n
                  \n

                  APEX Office Print<\/h3>\n

                  In the field of application development with Oracle APEX, the Belgian company APEX R & D has developed the product APEX Office Print (AOP). Data from the Oracle database or usable web services are linked to Office templates (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) and can be output in PDF or Office formats. Additional functionalities include integrated mailing functionality, various barcodes and the ability to generate interactive reports. The licensing model distinguishes between the cloud solution on a rental basis and the on-prem installation.<\/p><\/div>\n

                  \n

                  Strengths<\/h4>\n
                    \n
                  • Flexible through various APIs<\/li>\n
                  • Simple template creation via Office Tools<\/li>\n
                  • Easy to integrate in the apex environment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                    \n

                    Weaknesses<\/h4>\n
                      \n
                    • Complicated creation of pixel-perfect printing\n<\/li>\n
                    • Requires Apex version 4.2 or higher in the database<\/li>\n
                    • Business logic from PL \/ SQL is difficult to adopt<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                      \n
                      Commitment<\/strong><\/h5>\n

                      If your Forms applications future plans are to migrate to APEX, the APEX Office Print reports are almost perfect. The lightweight installation (based on APEX) offers a clear added value with interactive reports.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                      \n
                      \n

                      PL\/ PDF<\/h3>\n

                      PL \/ PDF is a reporting tool of the Hungarian Oracle partner OraNext, which can only create documents as PDF, DOCX or XLSX with PL \/ SQL resources in the Oracle database. As a layout designer, a Word or Excel template can be used. The licensing allows a model by output format or per server.<\/p><\/div>\n

                      \n

                      Strengths<\/h4>\n
                        \n
                      • Performant for large data retrieval \u2013 runs directly in the database<\/li>\n
                      • Based solely on PL \/ SQL<\/li>\n
                      • Small footprint, can be easily integrated into the application<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                        \n

                        Weaknesses<\/h4>\n
                          \n
                        • Does not support other output formats<\/li>\n
                        • Linked to a database and thus not usable as enterprise service for other applications<\/li>\n
                        • Limited functionality (no BI, no self-service, no multilanguage support out of the box, etc.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                          \n
                          Commitment<\/strong><\/h5>\n

                          PL \/ PDF is ideal if a manageable number of well-defined reports has to be created in the tightly-knit environment of the application. The integration is easy and easy to use for PL \/ SQL savvy developers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                          \n
                          \n

                          Which target technology do other report users choose?<\/h3>\n

                          The answer to the question of where most of the market will go is usually its reasons. That\u2019s why in our September 2016 webinar \u201cThe End of Oracle Reports\u201d we asked more than 100 attendees about the technology they plan to use to replace Oracle Reports.<\/p><\/div>\n

                          Remarkably, as many as 79% of participants were still unsure or undecided about the technology choice. Due to the importance of the decision, however, it is understandable and sensible on the other side that a final decision is not \u201cbroken over the knee\u201d.<\/p>\n

                          Among those who made their decision, Jasper Reports is the clear favorite, followed by Oracle BI Publisher and PL \/ PDF. However, few webinar participants considered BIRT, APEX Office Print, or a completely different tool for the best possible solution, but this does not have to be an exclusion criterion. As mentioned earlier, almost every technology has its raison d\u2019\u00eatre, if it suits the individual needs of the company.<\/p><\/div>\n

                          \"\"<\/p>\n

                          \n
                          \n

                          Migration Issues<\/h3>\n

                          After deciding on a solution, you should also consider how a migration from Oracle Reports to the target technology will look. What all of these Oracle Reports alternatives have in common is the fact that there are different ways to approach the migration process.
                          Data model:<\/strong> In general, migrating your reports does not change the underlying data model. Often, however, migration is taken as an opportunity to clean up technical debt and reporting processes. Consolidate double queries, validate calculations, and add a future-proof report layer, which also provides valuable data for other BI solutions.
                          Layout:<\/strong> Reports has created a definition that can not be arbitrarily transferred to other tools with its design of the layout via coordinates of the elements and repeating frames (which can also be nested arbitrarily). A rough approach succeeds in every migration, but the biggest effort is surely to get everything back to its right place. Especially the tools that do not support natively pixel perfect printing prove to be a bigger hurdle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                          \n
                          \n

                          Conclusion<\/h3>\n

                          Oracle Forms customers are currently under some pressure regarding the use of Oracle Reports. Since the last Forms Release 12.2.1.3.0, it has been confirmed that Oracle Reports will no longer be supported by 2023 at the latest. This creates the need to look for a suitable alternative in the market. In this paper, you were presented with five different solution alternatives, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The decision depends on many factors within your application as well as the environment within which this application is developed, maintained and used. We will gladly show you which alternative is best for you in a more detailed analysis.<\/p><\/div>\n

                          \"\"<\/p>\n

                          \n

                          Your Contact <\/strong><\/p>\n

                          Uta Daniels Assistant <\/strong>
                          of Sales Management<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

                          udaniels@pitss.com<\/p>\n

                          +49 711\/914-012-12<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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