I'm intrigued by some things I'm seeing in the community about the new Common Semantic Layer (CSL) vs. the BICS Connector in SAP BusinesssObjects BI4. Disclaimer: I am not writing to call out anyone, indicate inaccuracy in statements/tweets, etc. I just get a vibe that the CSL is not getting the love that it should. I feel compelled to warn that this is a pretty opinionated post. I generally like to stick to technical blogs, but do believe there is some value in pondering both sides of the fence in building content in SAP BusinessObjects BI4.

While attempting to install, deploy, administer, maintain, improve, and be the general master of your business intelligence deployment with SAP Business Objects Enterprise, it often becomes difficult to determine what metrics you should use for determining the usefulness of your deployment. The goal of this post is to share some insights into those metrics that have been useful in my experience. This is, by no means, a comprehensive list nor is it, necessarily, the correct list for you. The idea here is to provide with you some points to think about as you start planning what you should be monitoring and tracking with your own deployments. As such, I'd love to read your thoughts whether they be via the comments on this post or on twitter.