What are the recommendations for BIRT v RRDI reports?
Matt McGinn (63●2●6●10)
| asked Nov 24 '11, 11:13 p.m.
edited Sep 23 '13, 3:06 a.m. by Krzysztof Kaźmierczyk (7.5k●4●80●103)
We have been rolling out the CLM 3.0.1 solution to customers and we are often asked what are the recommendations for BIRT v RRDI reporting.
From what I could find it appears that BIRT is being ramped down and RRDI is being promoted for the CLM solution because users can customise reports for RQM/RRC. Are there any other views on this? |
5 answers
Michael Fox (616●4●3)
| answered Nov 28 '11, 11:54 a.m.
JAZZ DEVELOPER edited May 12 '14, 7:47 a.m. by Krzysztof Kaźmierczyk (7.5k●4●80●103) There are three reporting options and CLM provides one data warehouse shared by all three (CCM, RM and QM) applications 1) out-of-the box reports OOTB BIRT report templates use the data warehouse for QM and CCM reports.Report viewers can run and view these available reports to get information about projects 2) Rational Reporting for Development Intelligence (RRDI) RRDI is an an optional program which can be used to create and customize reports using IBM Cognos Business Intelligence. RRDI provides the ability to author reports as well as a set of sample reports. Report authors can use these functions to design new reports or to customize sample reports. 3) Rational Insight. Both 1)and 2) support a single Jazz Team Server deployment topology. Rational Insight supports multi-Jazz Team Server topologies. BIRT is out of the box and doesnt require any additional Installation and configuration. RRDI contains everything you need to author and run reports. Insight includes everything that RRDI includes plus tools for adding more data sources and customizing the data warehouse schema, metadata models, and ETL (Extract-Transform-Load) processes. In addition, Insight integrates with other tools such as IBM Rational DOORS, IBM Rational RequisitePro, and IBM Rational ClearQuest You can find more information here; http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/clmhelp/v3r0m1/index.jsp https://jazz.net/library/article/688 Customers have the choice of choosing what they want based on their requirements. I want to add a bit more information to this. RRDI is the recommended tool for developing or customizing CLM reports. It is available as an optional download, and requires no additional cost or licenses. Rational Insight is a separate product that must be purchased. Mike Fox (RRDI Architect) Comments Hello Mike, may you clarify if RRDI can access LIVE data of any CLM application (RRC, RTC, RQM)? my opinion is, RRDI can only access the Datawarehouse and the data which are in DWA available. RRDI can access live data from RQM. Technically, this really isn't an RRDI restriction. Its up to the CLM product team to provide the support necessary for live data reporting. So far, RQM is the only one to do so. Note however, that live reporting can impose a significant load on the source product. Reporting capabilities are also limited compared to using the warehouse. Therefore we recommend warehouse based reporting unless the data latency makes it impossible. MIke Fox |
We have been rolling out the CLM 3.0.1 solution to customers and we are often asked what are the recommendations for BIRT v RRDI reporting. There are three reporting options and CLM provides one data warehouse shared by all three (CCM, RM and QM) applications 1) out-of-the box reports OOTB BIRT report templates use the data warehouse for QM and CCM reports.Report viewers can run and view these available reports to get information about projects 2) Rational Reporting for Development Intelligence (RRDI) RRDI is an an optional program which can be used to create and customize reports using IBM Cognos Business Intelligence. RRDI provides the ability to author reports as well as a set of sample reports. Report authors can use these functions to design new reports or to customize sample reports. 3) Rational Insight. Both 1)and 2) support a single Jazz Team Server deployment topology. Rational Insight supports multi-Jazz Team Server topologies. BIRT is out of the box and doesnt require any additional Installation and configuration. RRDI contains everything you need to author and run reports. Insight includes everything that RRDI includes plus tools for adding more data sources and customizing the data warehouse schema, metadata models, and ETL (Extract-Transform-Load) processes. In addition, Insight integrates with other tools such as IBM Rational DOORS, IBM Rational RequisitePro, and IBM Rational ClearQuest You can find more information here; http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/clmhelp/v3r0m1/index.jsp https://jazz.net/library/article/688 Customers have the choice of choosing what they want based on their requirements. Comments 1
BIRT support is limited and it may have affect on live database performance. But sometimes it can fetch data which RRDI cannot (like timesheets). So, for stanalone RTC it can be better to use BIRT, but for CLM links and RRC\RQM it's not applicable. One more stopper for RRDI usage - limited support of javascript in comparison to Insight. 1
Could you please elaborate on why you believe Insight contains more support for javascript in reports then RRDI? Both RRDI and Insight contain the same Cognos reporting solution. They differ in how ETLs are implemented and the range of products supported, but the Cognos reporting engine is identical. Also, both RRDI and Insight have full access to all data in the warehouse. Mike Fox 1
@foxm, thanks for correction. Limited support is rather Cognos distinction than Insight vs. RRDI. Details I was talking about: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/library/cognos/reporting/advanced_report_design/page583.html |
There is an enhancement request out there asking for RTC live data support with RRDI
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With the suggestions that everyone has offered and our own reviews we have come up with the following statements for report usage - bear in mind that this is for a policy statement for our Test Practice here in ANZ and we have tried to use clear, easy to understand language.
-------- Definitions Business Intelligence Reporting Tool (BIRT) The default reporting solution providing 50+ 'out of the box' reports. It uses an Eclipse based Open Source reporting engine. This solution enables cross-CLM (Collaborative Lifecycle Management) reporting with a common data warehouse, implemented as part of the standard CLM solution. There are no additional costs involved in using BIRT. Rational Reporting Development Intelligence (RRDI) The optional Cognos based reporting solution, providing an additional 40+ reports 'out of the box' and the ability to author new reports (or tailor existing reports). It requires the implementation of a separate 'reports server' and data warehouse extracting data from RRC/RTC/RQM and typically implemented on a separate server. RRDI can not report on data from sources other than RRC/RTC/RQM. If this is required then we recommend the implementation of Rational Insight. If you wish to create cross-product reports against the live data sources (bypassing the data warehouse) then you can use Rational Insight. Insight Insight adds additional ability to incorporate data from disparate data sources, including separate jts deployments, into a report. Rational Insight is an additional application to the CLM Solution (RRC/RTC/RQM). Statement BIRT can be used for 'Out of the Box' reporting in a CLM environment is not supported for authoring of new reports or tailoring of existing 'out of the box reports' Which solution you pick for your engagement will depend on the size and complexity of the engagement, and the potential audience for your progress reporting. It will also depend on the OOTB reports that are currently available with each solution. Iti s recommended that these be inspected as part of the process of determining what reporting solution to recommend. For a small engagement (team of 3-10) reporting to a mainly internal project audience, it may be that existing OOTB reports provide sufficient reporting capability. Bear in mind that BIRT won't let you author new RQM reports, so you will need to be confident that the OOTB reports will cover your requirements. It is recommended that the RRDI OOTB reports be examined if the RRDI OOTB reports are incapable of providing what you require, or some customisation of reports are required. Bear in mind that there is an additional cost for RRDI - this will need to be factored into your solution. For large, complex engagements where diverse reporting requirements may required, or if you have to report using sources outside of the existing Rational range (e.g. QC, JIRA) then it is recommended that Rational Insight be used; it is not limited to the existing data warehouse for reporting and is extremely customisable - but at a cost, as outlined above. --------- Thanks to everyone for their responses! Comments 2
I do not agree with two statements about BIRT: "Bear in mind that BIRT won't let you author new reports, so you will need to be confident that the OOTB reports will cover your requirements". -> We have written several BIRT reports by our own, from scratch. E.g. Abscence Gantt Chart dashboard widget based on a BIRT report, Parent-Child breakdown report etc.. "BIRT can be used for 'Out of the Box' reporting in a CLM environment is not supported for authoring of new reports or tailoring of existing 'out of the box reports'" -> We get support from IBM. At least through the AVP program, Please bear in mind that these statements are targeted at our Test Practice which will be using RQM - RQM does not support custom BIRT reports without some back end 'hacking' to upload the reports to RQM which we do not want to be doing. @Guido, the two reports that you mentioned are high on our list of custom reports we've looked at building (Parent-Child breakdown & Abscence Chart). Are you able to share those reports with others? 1
@ Matt McGinn
As per my knowledge RRDI offers no extra cost if we have CLM licenses .please correct me if I am wrong and Please elaborate the below underlined statement. It is recommended that the RRDI OOTB reports be examined if the RRDI OOTB reports are incapable of providing what you require, or some customisation of reports are required. Bear in mind that there is an additional cost for RRDI - this will need to be factored into your solution. |
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