Supporting BITeamwork for Oracle BI (OBIEE) Updates and Releases

As more and more customers of Oracle BI (OBIEE) find out about BITeamwork and are introduced to the Collaborative BI functionality it adds to OBIEE, we are frequently asked several questions as customers inquire about incorporating BITeamwork into their existing BI architecture. Two questions seem to always stand out:

1. How does BITeamwork align with updates of Oracle BI?
2. How are BITeamwork enhancement requests submitted and incorporated?

To quickly answer those questions, here are a few explanations which speak to why our approach to software development and customer service is such a great experience for customers of BITeamwork.

How does BITeamwork align with updates of Oracle BI

BITeamwork is an enterprise software solution built by Oracle Gold Partner Art of BI Software, LLC. As an Oracle Gold Partner and a member of the Oracle BI community, we are provided with access to information and updates regarding the Oracle BI development road map as well as patch releases and/or minor releases of the Oracle BI product.  This access gives us the ability to prepare BITeamwork’s compatibility with the OBIEE software quickly so that as Oracle BI customers who are advantageously looking to apply a patch fix or keep up with the latest and greatest releases, they can feel comfortable that BITeamwork will work correctly after they’ve updated to the latest version(s) of the products.

Additionally, all Enterprise licensed customers of BITeamwork are given a product Service Level Agreement (SLA) for which it states that BITeamwork will be certified with the latest release of OBIEE within a 21-day period from the release of a patch or new release of that product.  This enables customers of BITeamwork to rest easy being assured that as they implement BITeamwork it will be aligned with their intentions to move to latest releases of the OBIEE product, regardless of reasons driving their upgrade initiative. Please feel free to contact us to discuss this product alignment in greater detail. We strive to ensure that compatibility is always maintained and we have several customers who can attest to this successful alignment of releases.

How are BITeamwork enhancement requests submitted and incorporated

90% of the Enterprise licensed customers for BITeamwork have submitted one or more enhancement requests and had those requests implemented into the BITeamwork product as you see it today.  We are very proud of the fact that we are a nimble software development group that can respond quickly to customer demand and incorporate enhancements into our release cycle and/or product road map. Companies can submit an enhancement request for Collaborative BI functionality by contacting one of our sales representatives or by using our support system. Some customers have direct contact without our development team so they can also take the request and submit it for a customer or soon to be customer.

Once our sales or development team has reviewed the enhancement request(s) for functionality potential, it is then assessed by our development team, and then aligned with either an immediately imminent release or  aligned with a near future release based on our product  road map. For complex functionality enhancement requests, we often reach back out to the requesting company one or more times to clarify the business use cases or the particular details of how they see the functionality working in the real world. Depending on the release cycle, in the past we’ve deployed a patch or minor version, so that the requesting company may test the new functionality before it goes to general availability. After proper testing the enhancement is deployed to a subsequent release becoming a resident feature in the BITeamwork software product.

We look forward to customer enhancement requests. These requests actually set the tone for our product development road map and are a barometer which let’s us know that we are on the correct course and delivering real value to real customers. As a wonderful side effect to customer enhancement requests, all customers that use BITeamwork will gain from other customers’ visions of Collaborative Business Intelligence and the amazing functionality that continues to be rolled into the product. This is such a win-win for the concept of Collaborative BI as well as engaging your BI users with your existing software investments that we encourage customers to submit frequent enhancement requests even those on the periphery of what companies believe the future Business Intelligence is or should be.

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Hopefully the above provided insight into how we are supporting BITeamwork for Oracle BI (OBIEE) Updates and Releases. But feel free to visit the BITeamwork documentation or contact us with any questions.