Pentaho


Pentaho is business intelligence software that provides data integration, OLAP services, reporting, information dashboards, data mining and extract, transform, load capabilities. Its headquarters are in Orlando, Florida. Pentaho was acquired by Hitachi Data Systems in 2015 and in 2017 became part of Hitachi Vantara.

Overview

Pentaho offers an enterprise and community edition of the software. The enterprise software is obtained through an annual subscription and contains extra features and support not found in the community edition. Pentaho's core offering is frequently enhanced by add-on products, usually in the form of plug-ins, from the company and the broader community of users.

Products

Server applications

Pentaho Enterprise Edition and Pentaho Community Edition.
ProductOfferingTypeRecent version Recent version Description
Pentaho BA PlatformEE, CEServer application7.17.1Commonly referred to as the BI Platform, and recently renamed Business Analytics Platform, makes up the core software piece that hosts content created both in the server itself through plug-ins or files published to the server from the desktop applications. It includes features for managing security, running reports, displaying dashboards, report bursting, scripted business rules, OLAP analysis and scheduling out of the box.
Commercial plug-ins from Pentaho expand out-of-the-box features. A few open-source plug-in projects also expand capabilities of the server. The Pentaho BA Platform runs in the Apache Java Application Server. It can be embedded into other Java Application Servers.
Pentaho Analysis Services EE, CEServer application3.7.0Pentaho Analysis Services, codenamed Mondrian, is an open-source OLAP server, written in Java.
It supports the MDX query language and the XML for Analysis and interface specifications. It reads from SQL and other data sources and aggregates data in a memory cache. Mondrian can be run separately from the Pentaho BI Platform, but is always bundled with the platform itself in both EE and CE versions.
Pentaho Dashboard Designer EEServer plug-in5.0.6-A commercial plug-in provided to enterprise edition subscribers. It allows users to create dashboards, which are collections of other content components displayed together with the goal of providing a centralized view of key performance indicators s and other business data movements, letting users monitor them and make decisions. Content components are usually individual Information graphics, tables, OLAP views or reports. The plug-in simplifies dashboard creation through the use of layout templates, drag-and-drop interaction and a GUI for providing parameters and inputs to dashboard components.
Pentaho Analysis EEServer plug-in5.0.6-The Pentaho Analyzer plug-in provides a web-based, drag-and-drop OLAP viewer. It allows a user to visually create MDX queries by dragging parts of a previously defined Mondrian OLAP schema onto a canvas, where other activities can take place like filtering, sorting, creating calculated members from other measures, exporting the result table to PDF or MS Excel, and optionally graphing the data. It is also known to work on Apple iPads by using the Safari web browser.
Pentaho Interactive Reporting EEServer plug-in5.0.6-This plug-in enables users to create ad hoc reports in a visual drag-and-drop fashion.
Pentaho Data Access WizardEE, CEServer plug-in--This plug-in is bundled with all servers and allows users to create new data sources for use throughout the system from other databases or CSV files uploaded to the server while using a setup wizard. During the steps of creating a data source users also are given a chance to create a data model describing how columns or fields relate to each other creating hierarchies of relationships like Time: Year, Quarters, Months, Weeks and Product Division, Category, Type etc. The resultant model is used by Mondrian and any other plug-in like Analyzer or Saiku to create new queries against the newly created data source. This component is part of what Pentaho introduces as agile BI, which simply means having a way to start from basic data and quickly iterate through steps to discover the proper way to structure, study and present the data.
Pentaho MobileEEServer piece5.0.6-A new addition since 4.5-GA suite that is a user interface adapted for use with the Apple iPad. It exposes all of the major functionality of OLAP analysis and running of reports and dashboards that allow greater interaction on a small, touchscreen. Mobile also adds features for bookmarking favorite content for easy access and the concept of opening several pieces of content in tabs.

Desktop/client applications

Community driven, open-source Pentaho server plug-ins

All of these plug-ins function with Pentaho Enterprise Edition and Pentaho Community Edition.
ProductTypeRecent versionDescription
CtoolsServer plug-in suiteVariousKnown as the Community tools, it includes a growing array of features usually contained in a package with an abbreviated name where the first C always stands for community and simultaneously represents its status as being both free of cost and open-source. The tools are produced and managed by Webdetails. Documentation on the tools is found at . Most often the Ctools suite is installed by using a linux script., but there are plans in an upcoming release to have a package manager included in the BA Server that helps with installation.
Community Charting Components Server plug-inVariousA charting library on top of Protovis, a very powerful free and open-source visualization toolkit. The aim of CCC is to provide developers with a way to include into their dashboards the basic chart types without losing the main principle: Extensibility. The charts created with CCC become components that appear in dashboards.
Community Build Framework Build Script Framework3.7Focused on a multi-project/ multi-environment scenario, the Community Build Framework provide a way to set up and deploy Pentaho-based applications. It is an Apache Ant, Java build-script that allows a user to create a template of their Pentaho BA Server installation, including patches and any customizations or special content and roll it out quickly. It can help migrations to new versions of the BA Server, and with rapidly producing customized Pentaho servers for clients.
Community Data Access Server plug-inActs as a common layer for accessing data on the Pentaho BA server. CDA files can contain SQL, MDX, Pentaho Data Integration transformation files, scripted data sources and more. CDA also provides a REST API for directly calling the Pentaho BA server and receiving the results of a query back as JSON, XML, XLS, HTML or CSV. The default is JSON. HTML output makes it easy for MS Excel users to perform Web queries and pull results directly into an Excel workbook without additional software in the middle. CDA comes bundled in all of Pentaho's servers.
Community Data Browser Server plug-inCommunity Data Browser uses a visual OLAP browser called Saiku to create a query which can be used by R for performing analytics on the result set.
Community Distributed Cache Server plug-in
CDC stands for Community Distributed Cache and allows for high-performance, scalable and distributed memory clustering cache based on Hazelcast for both CDA and Mondrian. CDC is a Pentaho plug-in that provides the following features:
  • CDA distributed cache support
  • Mondrian distributed cache support
  • Ability to switch between default and CDC cache for cda and mondrian
  • Gracefully handles adding / removing new cache nodes
  • Allows selectively clearing the cache of specific CDE dashboards
  • Allows selectively clearing the cache of specific schemas / cubes / dimensions of Mondrian cubes
  • Provides an API to clean the cache from the outside
  • Provides a view over cluster status
  • Supports multiple pentaho servers using the same cluster
  • Supports several memory configuration options
Community Data Generator PDI JobsN/ACDG is a data warehouse generator that helps create sample data for creating proof of concept dashboards. Given the definition of dimensions that we want, CDG will randomize data within certain parameters and output 3 different things:
  • Database and table for the fact table.
  • A file with inserts for the fact table.
  • Mondrian schema file to be used within Pentaho.
    • Community Data Validation Server plug-inCDV adds the ability of creating validation tests on the Pentaho BA server for the purpose of verifying both the integrity of the server itself and also the data being used by the server.
    Community Graphics Generator Server plug-inPentaho plug-in that allows the user to export CCC/CDE charts as images, enabling the inclusion of CDE charts inside Pentaho Report Designer reports. In short, this plug-in is able to render server-side exactly the same chart that is rendered on the browser by CDE/CDF.
    Main characteristics:
    • Executes a CCC chart definition server-side and outputs the chart as an image or a svg file.
    • Exposes the chart as an url
    • Seamless integration with CDE.
    • Can also be used to render custom-made svg transformations and javascript files server side and output them as images.
    Community Dashboard Editor Server plug-inCDE is an advanced user tool for creating dashboards in the Pentaho BA server. CDE and the technology underneath allows users to develop and deploy dashboards in the Pentaho platform in a fast and effective way. It is not as user friendly as Pentaho Dashboard Designer plug-in, but enables users to create much more sophisticated designs.
    Community Dashboard Framework Server plug-in4.8-stableCDF comes bundled in all of Pentaho's servers. It is the framework used both by CDE and Pentaho's Dashboard Designer to create dashboards on the system.
  • It separates logic of the presentation
  • It features a life cycle with components interacting with each other
  • It uses AJAX
  • It is extensible, which gives the users a high level of customization
  • Advanced users can extend the library of components.
  • They also can insert their own snippets of JavaScript and jQuery code.
    • Community Startup Tabs Server plug-inOut of the box a Pentaho BA Server comes with a user interface called the Pentaho User Console which show all content by opening tabs within itself. Community Startup Tabs provide an easy way to define and show specialized content to users by automatically opening tabs when they sign in.
  • It allows you to define different startup tabs for each user that logs into the PUC. It is easy to configure.
  • It allows users to define startup tabs based on user names or user roles.
  • For the definition of the startup tabs it allows you to specify user names or roles using regular expressions.
    • SaikuServer plug-inSaiku is a modular open-source analysis suite offering lightweight OLAP which remains easily embeddable, extendable and configurable. It is similar in form and function to the Pentaho Analyzer plug-in.A RESTful server connects to existing OLAP systems, which then powers user-friendly, intuitive analytics via a lightweight frontend.
    Saiku-ReportingServer plug-inA rapidly developing AD HOC reporting tool, similar to Pentaho's Interactive Reporting plug-in.
    Key Features:
    • Drag & drop report-design
    • Export to: PDF, CSV, XLS, CDA, PRPT
    • Uses Pentaho Report Designer PRPT-Templates
    • Grouping
    • Aggregation
    • Totals
    • OpenFormula Support

    Licensing

    Pentaho follows an open core business model. It provides two different editions of Pentaho Business Analytics: a community edition and an enterprise edition. The enterprise edition needs to be purchased on a subscription model. The subscription model includes support, services, and product enhancements via annual subscription. The enterprise edition is available under a commercial license. Enterprise license goes with 3 levels of : Enterprise, Premium and Standard. The community edition is a free open source product licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2.0, GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.0, and Mozilla Public License 1.1.

    Recognition