The Pentaho BI Platform is the infrastructure and core services that integrate business intelligence components to complete the BI Suite. The framework provides core services including authentication, logging, auditing, web services, and rules engines. The platform also includes a solution engine that integrates reporting, analysis, dashboards and data mining components. The modular design and plugin based architecture allows all or part of the platform to be embedded into third party applications by end users as well as OEMS.
The most well known implementation of the BI Platform is the Pentaho BI Server which functions as a web based report management system, application integration server and lightweight workflow engine(action sequences). It is designed to be easily integrated into any business processes.
Libraries
bi-platform-api: sdk api
bi-platform-appserver: app server/servelet container
bi-platform-engine-core: system/runtime/solution/auditing/error messages
bi-platform-engine-security: authentication/acl
bi-platform-engine-services: web service engine
bi-platform-plugin-actions: action sequence/code to integrate bi components
bi-platform-plugin-services: web services for bi components
bi-platform-repository: solution repository
bi-platform-scheduler: scheduling
bi-platform-security-userroledao: oo interface for userole management
bi-platform-test-foundation: test/mock framework
bi-platform-ui-foundation: desktop presentation layer framework
bi-platform-web: web presentation layer framework
bi-platform-web-portlet: portlet presentation layer framework
bi-platform-web-servlet: servlet for user console
bi-platform-util: some utility interfaces/classes for logging/error message/exception/web/xml/repository/file/password/date/string etc.
bi-platform-legacy: some interfaces/classes for backward compatibility
mantle: web ui/user console
Pentaho BI Platform source code:
svn://source.pentaho.org/svnroot/bi-platform-v2/
The plugin mechanism of Pentaho BI Platform results in a loose coupling architecture - business intelligence components like reporting, lap analysis, data mining and dashboard can be easily integrated into Pentaho BI Platform and each component can be easily replaced with other alternatives, e.g. use JasperReport to replace JFreeReport engine.
Pentaho BI Platform is also designed to meet the requirement of embedding itself into standalone or server-based Java applications. Only the Solution Engine and components package must be installed and required engine, components, repositories need to be configured, other things like workflow engine and repository, auditing repository, ETL component, user interface components, etc are optional. It provides the flexibility to end-users to use the out-of-box BI Suite product and engineers to build system based on partial of the components and functionalities.