SAP BusinessObjects BI is SAP's on-premises reporting platform (Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports, universes), now in the BI 2025 release line. Pages here cover replacing it with self-hosted Apache Superset or Metabase.
Replacing BusinessObjects with Apache Superset: inventorying Web Intelligence documents and universes, deciding which reports are still used, rebuilding universe joins and objects as Superset datasets, and handling scheduled distribution and formatted reports that Superset does not replicate.
For BusinessObjects estates where business users build ad hoc Web Intelligence queries: moving them to Metabase models and the query builder, rebuilding key reports as dashboards with subscriptions, and mapping BusinessObjects security to Metabase groups and permissions.
Comparing BusinessObjects with Apache Superset: the universe semantic layer against Superset datasets and metrics, Web Intelligence and Crystal Reports against dashboards and SQL Lab, scheduling and bursting, SAP data source connectivity, licensing and operating effort.
Cost of ownership by component: BusinessObjects licenses and maintenance, the BI 2025 upgrade project and its servers, against Apache Superset or Metabase on your own infrastructure with report rebuilding, support and staff time, and what to ask for in each quote.
BI 4.3 leaves mainstream maintenance on 31 December 2026, and BI 2025 carries maintenance to at least 2031. This page compares upgrading, SAP's managed cloud option and replacing BusinessObjects with Apache Superset or Metabase, with the reporting inventory to do first.
Web Intelligence is where BusinessObjects users build their own queries on universes. This page compares Metabase's query builder and models and Apache Superset's SQL Lab and chart builder for those users, and what happens to drill-down, multi-query documents and formatted exports.
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