SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator is a solution responsible for federation of data across the organizations. It allows its users to benefit from unified views on data from multiple and differentiated sources.

All today's organizations depend on data. Most of them collect outrageous volumes of it, considering every little piece of information potentially useful in a future. Unfortunately, the higher volumes of data they have, they walk into more and more significant difficulties with organizing them. Traditional data integration no longer is an option efficient in every case. From time to time there is a need for making a step further and turning from traditional data integration to data federation.

In a very few words, data federation is a process which depends on delivering the complete view of information which originates from different sources. Efficient data federating solution is able to ensure required flexibility and agility in that. Simultaneously, data federation is responsible for generating real time views on demand. To avoid successive disintegration of data, SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator software can be used.

The strength of SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator lies in ability to provide an unified view of information which is stored in different sources. Besides the access to the information from multiple sources, Data Federator facilitates introducing new sources. As a result, it is noticeably easier to adapt to constantly evolving business conditions and data integration demands. What it finishes with is improved performance of Business Intelligence solutions across the organization.

SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator features

During Data Federator software preparation, a lot of attention has been paid to its speed and flexibility. The designers wanted to be sure that users would get absolutely real time information they need, regardless of the number of different data sources it originates from. This requirement is definitely met. It has been also ensured that Data Federator provides sophisticated query optimization capabilities. What it results in is trouble-free access to information from operational systems.

Data Federator wouldn't be as efficient as it currently is if not a wide support from relational and non relational systems, including XML, Web service, SAS, Teradata, SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse component, Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle. As it's visible, Federator's capabilities cover most of popular systems which are currently accessible in the market. Eventually, SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator may be tightly integrated with SAP BusinessObjects Metadata Management applications what enables a data lineage with analysis from report to data sources.

Data Federator and increasing business challenges

Thank to these features, Data Federator meets the today's business requirements. Which ones? The easiest it would be to divide them into three groups. The first one applies to information consolidation (data which is scattered across the whole organization can be gathered together and analyzed efficiently). The second one applies to delivering a single (unified) view of the company situation. Finally the last one boils down to increasing the rate of return from already made investments in information management solutions.

SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator summary

It's true that data federation takes data integration onto a totally new level of advancement. Thank to SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator, the new level isn't placed too high for organizations' current Business Intelligence systems. The product coordinates the work of different applications efficiently, making keeping numerous sources of data less complicated and less effort-consuming in practice. What the Data Federator users actually benefit from is a complete view of their business - they are provided with a comprehensive insight which is based on numerous data sources so the idea of data federation seems to be already met. But that's not the end of end users benefits, though.

Data Federator helps meeting more and more demanding information requirements. Thank to increased agility and speed, answering each query lasts significantly shorter than before. And last but not the least, Data Federator solution provides data lineage and impact analysis and what it results in is increased users' confidence.

SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator resources

http://download.sap.com/solutions/sapbusinessobjects/large/eim/datafederator/brochures/download.epd - here is a brochure by SAP BusinessObjects specialists devoted to the point of gaining an unified and real time view of information which originates from multiple data sources. Simultaneously, it's an introduction to Data Federator tool's idea. Additionally, there is everything what one could consider useful to know about the solution - business challenges it aspires to satisfy, features and capabilities, and use cases followed with a quick summary of facts.

http://www.sap.com/solutions/sapbusinessobjects/large/eim/datafederator/index.epx - even though the employees of SAP BusinessObjects don't spread a lot of information about Data Federator, it's good to check the company official website first. There is a short overview with features, functions, and benefits of Data Federator listed. Here are the fundamentals only, therefore - if one wants to know more, he should aptly called federate data from different sources.

http://alteksolutions.com/wp/index.php/2009/03/consolidate-or-federate-managing-the-need-for-information-access/ - here's a very good article devoted to the two types of information management - consolidating and federating. The author, Ryan Muldowney, explains the advantages and disadvantages of each of options and - at once - pays a lot of attention to the Data Federator tool itself.