RapidMiner can be a part of a BI solution, but it is not meant to be one.
Classical BI solutions have a strong focus on data warehouse specific ETL (slowly changing dimensions etc.), reporting and ad-hoc, self service data analysis.
Parts of these can be done with RapidMiner but they are not emphasized much. For example, you can do ETL but specialized tools will solve some problems better. The reporting extension is old, unmaintained and quite basic. The self service analysis part is not as easy to use as in mainstream BI solutions.
The strengths of RapidMiner are ETL for predictive analytics and machine learning, a wide selection of modeling algorithms and the model deployment capabilities. It is much more a tool for Advanced Analytics than for BI. In a larger organization you need both, and RapidMiner is a very good choice for the Advanced Analytics part, and you would integrate it with the BI solution.
If you have more specific questions, I'm happy to answer them.
Newbie
Answers
your question is not very specific.
RapidMiner can be a part of a BI solution, but it is not meant to be one.
Classical BI solutions have a strong focus on data warehouse specific ETL (slowly changing dimensions etc.), reporting and ad-hoc, self service data analysis.
Parts of these can be done with RapidMiner but they are not emphasized much. For example, you can do ETL but specialized tools will solve some problems better. The reporting extension is old, unmaintained and quite basic. The self service analysis part is not as easy to use as in mainstream BI solutions.
The strengths of RapidMiner are ETL for predictive analytics and machine learning, a wide selection of modeling algorithms and the model deployment capabilities. It is much more a tool for Advanced Analytics than for BI. In a larger organization you need both, and RapidMiner is a very good choice for the Advanced Analytics part, and you would integrate it with the BI solution.
If you have more specific questions, I'm happy to answer them.
Best regards,
Balázs