Oracle Smart Space

Oracle Smart Space

Oracle Smart Space includes the first gadget-based user interface designed specifically for Enterprise Performance Management and Business Intelligence. Offered as part of Oracle Business Intelligence foundation, Smart Space consists of a set of configurable gadgets that run on the desktop providing continuous access to financial, operational and performance related information. In addition, Smart Space includes a development toolkit for creating additional gadgets and services that employs common development languages and methodologies and a secure instant messaging system for shared decision making.

Screenshot: Smart Space Palette and Gadgets

Smart Space Benefits

Unique "Always-On" Environment for BI and EPM that makes content alive on the desktop. Once a user logs on to Windows, information transparently flows from Oracle BI Suite Enterprise Edition Plus (Oracle's Hyperion Reporting and Analysis 11.1.1 or 9.3.1, Oracle BI Enterprise Edition 10.1.3.4 and Oracle BI Publisher 10.1.3.4) to gadgets that make BI a natural part of the workday. Users have all their KPIs and key documents at their fingertips. Because the content within Smart Space gadgets is updated automatically throughout the day, business users no longer have to hunt for current data or struggle to find the latest version of reports.

User Assembled Mini-applications Using Gadgets. Smart Space includes subsets of Oracle BI Suite Enterprise Edition Plus functionality presented to the user in the form of gadgets. Using a visually compelling, intuitively designed interface, users can effortlessly adapt Smart Space to the way they work. The ability to customize these gadgets in terms of content, organization and appearance enables users to personalize Smart Space based on their individual preferences and business needs. Smart Space gadgets increase the potential for wider adoption of BI and EPM without the need for costly and disruptive training.

Instant Collaboration enables users to work dynamically with peers and easily share information about the state of the business. This shared decision making environment is powered by an auditable instant messaging service that securely operates behind the firewall. Conversations can be saved and associated with different decisions, enabling faster and more effective decision management. The collaboration capabilities also include the ability for users to be notified when particular business process has changed for example when a consolidation process is complete or when the status of an element in a planning process has been modified.

Early Impressions

  • "Smart Space is the kind of triggering innovation that will influence managers and operations personnel alike to join a growing crowd of BI enthusiasts. Smart Space's support for the customization of easy-to-use and intuitive interfaces is exciting given the traditionally cumbersome manipulations required to get to the heart of business analytics. I expect Smart Space will be the catalyst for many who seem content standing on the sidelines to be infected by the superior evidence-based management culture that BI supports."

    Professor Mark Goul, W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University

  • "Smart Space is the most innovative addition to the business intelligence landscape I have seen in a long time. It offers real-time access to key bits of information without having to launch a full-blown application or reporting tool."

    Emil Fernandez, President, Kerdock Consulting

  • "For the past 25 years, the software industry has striven to make computing more accessible to and compatible with humans — with only limited success. Our ongoing challenge is to make the use of software effortless, adapting to humans rather than forcing users to adapt to software. To this end, the use of advanced integrated functional visualization (e.g. gadgets) into the users' existing (and known) environment is an important step in the right direction."

    Howard Dresner, President of Dresner Advisory Services, LLC