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In case you hadn’t heard, SAP is making preparations to release a decision-support tool called Constellation. SAP describes the forthcoming system as a ‘virtual war room’ that will enable users to collaborate in real-time and draw upon business intelligence from both the cloud and from premise-based data stores.
The cloud-oriented tool, which utilizes a Web browser, is currently in beta testing with the code name 12Sprints. It’s being developed by SAP’s BusinessObjects division. The on-premise component is in an earlier stage of development and would allow users to securely connect into their organization’s data stores, according to IDG News Service.
The IDG story states that Constellation users can collaborate on problem-solving activities in real-time using widgets called ‘methods’. David Meyer, vice president of emerging technologies in SAP’s BusinessObjects division, explained during a Web briefing that the “sweet spot” for group collaboration using the system is somewhere between five and 30 people. “However, SAP will provide ways to publish activities to wikis, SharePoint and other platforms to reach a wider audience,” according to IDG.
Users with the proper security clearances “can tunnel into (the) enterprise and forage among all the ERP data, all the unstructured data, all the petabytes of BI data you have, and just access it through that one point in the cloud," Meyer was quoted as saying in the IDG story. Users can use the tool to discuss the pros and cons of different investment strategies.
The tool, which should become available sometime in 2010, sounds like a terrific piece of innovation from SAP and a nifty way to further leverage its 2007 acquisition of Business Objects. It also represents a giant step forward in SAP’s fledgling efforts to enable its enterprise customers to leverage cloud capabilities. But it shouldn’t really be compared on the same footing as Google’s Wave collaboration tool as some members of the media have suggested.
Both systems are collaboration tools but Constellation appears to be considerably more enterprise and BI-focused than Wave, which is also still in testing. Google Wave, which melds e-mail, instant messaging, wikis and social networking tools, will likely be adopted by some enterprise users but isn't BI-intensive like Constellation, at least not yet.
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