Jaspersoft 4 Adds UI Framework; Delivers End-to-End Suite for ‘BI Builders’ 
Jaspersoft, an open source business intelligence (BI) provider, is helping fill a gap for an emerging class of IT professionals, BI builders. Jaspersoft 4.0 adds a new user interface framework to its long-standing SOA-based backend architecture. The upgrade results in a complete end-to-end BI design and deploy environment.
Jaspersoft, an open source business intelligence (BI) provider, is helping fill a gap for an emerging class of IT professionals, BI builders. Jaspersoft 4.0 adds a new user interface framework to its long-standing SOA-based backend architecture. The upgrade results in a complete end-to-end BI design and deploy environment.
To learn more about Jaspersoft 4.0’s new UI framework, and also learn more about the growing role of the ‘BI Builder,” IDN spoke with Jaspersoft senior product marketing manager Mike Boyarski.
Jaspersoft Brings SOA Principals,
Skills to Customizable BI Dashboards
“Jaspersoft’s backend architecture has always been completely web service-based to make it easy for developers and architects to get at the data and applications APIs they need,” Boyarski told IDN. “Now, we’re bringing those same web services architecture principals to the presentation layer as well.”
Jaspersoft’s new UI framework’s services approach means it’s easier and less complicated for developers to produce customizable and updateable portals, dashboards and other UI reports, he said.
The company’s decision to add a UI framework arose from Jaspersoft’s findings that the rollout of active BI projects may be stalling, even as interest by business users in BI and analytics is spiking, Boyarski said. He attributes this paradox (a surge in BI interest but stalling in go-live BI projects) to a fundamental problem: BI can be more complicated than first expected.
“Even though many BI vendors sell solutions directly to the business or operations side of a company, they often can’t deliver out-of-the-box what those users were expecting,” Boyarski told IDN. “So, we see IT becoming a much more critical part of BI success.”
In fact, Boyarski said Jaspersoft sees the emergence of a special IT professional, the “BI Builder.”
This professional is skilled in general IT and SOA principals, as well as business analytics requirements (data, integration, presentation, etc.) “These BI Builders are really becoming the implementers and innovators for BI projects at more and more companies,” he added.
Jaspersoft 4.0 is an upgrade designed expressly to support this growing sector of IT, he added.
“We’ve been doing well with this type of audience, and we see strong signs it is getting bigger, stronger and more influential in companies. So, to support that BI Builder segment, we saw it was important to extend our current BI workbench to embrace presentation layer issues,” Boyarski told IDN.
“We see IT becoming a much more critical part of BI success.”
Mike Boyarski
Senior Product Manager
Jaspersoft
Despite their expertise, many BI Builders just don’t have the right tools or open access to underlying code from other BI solutions, he said. “Traditional proprietary tools are just too complex and difficult to work with.”
Inside Jaspersoft’s SOA Approach
To End-to-End BI Design & Deployment
Under the covers, the Jaspersoft 4.0 UI framework separates the content and presentation layers, much the way conventional web applications do, Boyarski told IDN.
This modular approach separates the underlying structure (accessed via JSP), from the events (exposed via Javascript), from the presentation layer (CSS modifiable). This services-based approach allows BI Builders to develop a range of stand-alone BI applications, or integrate BI capabilities with various on-premise or cloud-based applications.
Specifically, Jaspersoft 4.0’s BI Suite includes:
- Consumer Web Application-Style UI: A new UI Framework to deliver improved interactivity and usability typically found in consumer web applications. Its modern look and feel enhances web applications and gives end users access to intuitive, self-serve BI.
- 100% Web Application Architecture: The Jaspersoft end-to-end environment is 100% web application ready, and runs from the new UI Framework to the backend server. It is built on flexible, open web standards, and can be deployed on-premise, in the cloud or as a multi-tenant SaaS environment.
- Easy BI Web Application and UI Customization The UI Framework architecture separates the content and presentation layers, which allows quick and easy UI customization through simple markup changes in cascading style sheets (CSS). The UI work will not impact underlying backend functionality. The UI framework enables fast creation of alternative UI themes for different users, different SaaS tenants and different devices. This also means customized UIs can be automatically carried forward as new Jaspersoft versions are deployed.
- Easy BI Integration This capability also facilitates the integration of the Jaspersoft BI server within existing web applications. Boyarski compares web services-based BI to what Crystal Reports has been able to do bringing reporting to a wide number of applications.
“In a world where web services architectures and interfaces will be more common, integrating BI and analytics capabilities with existing applications or SaaS solutions will be an important aspect of the BI builders’ role,” Boyraski said.
Where To Find Your ‘BI Builders’?
And what about companies that may not have any BI Builders on staff?
Boyarski has assuring words, noting that basic SOA and web service architecture principals are coming to the rescue.
Prior to adding its UI Framework, Jaspersoft said it often found customers wringing their hands over customizing UIs for BI users. “It wasn’t easy. You had to do some JSP edits and rip an application apart,” he said.
“Now, the idea behind Jaspersoft 4.0 is: You can bring in the guy that is building your web application and that same person using their same skills will be able to work on your displays and presentation layer, the last mile of your BI application, so to speak,” Boyarski said. “That’s one more step companies can use to create their own BI Builders.”
