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Microsoft MDS vs Profisee comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft MDS
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Master Data Management (MDM) Software (2nd)
Profisee
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) Solutions (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Data Integration and Access solutions, they serve different purposes. Microsoft MDS is designed for Master Data Management (MDM) Software and holds a mindshare of 12.3%, down 13.9% compared to last year.
Profisee, on the other hand, focuses on Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) Solutions, holds 9.4% mindshare, down 9.7% since last year.
Master Data Management (MDM) Software
Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Pierre Godard - PeerSpot reviewer
Adaptable for various industries and cost-effective
Microsoft MDS isn't getting strong support because Microsoft is focusing more on cloud solutions. Profisee initially made MDS, which Microsoft bought. Profisee now handles the cloud version. There are changes because MDS is the source for master data, and other tools like Dynamics 365 could replace it but aren't promoted for that purpose. I don't have any specific feature requests for MDS when it comes to the next release because Microsoft isn't actively supporting it. Any improvements would probably come from Profisee, the company that acquired MDS. Microsoft still owns MDS but isn't adding new features. Master data management is moving to the cloud or handled on-premises by Profisee MDS.
reviewer2382861 - PeerSpot reviewer
Has an adaptive approach, a friendly UI, and good integration capabilities
The Profisee user interface has positively impacted our data management. As a data architect and enterprise developer, I have seen that it is convenient for the data storage team to complete their work. The interface is visually clear and easy to understand, streamlining the entire process. Profisee's scalability and integration capabilities with other systems are highly effective, particularly within an Azure-centric environment. Its seamless integration with Azure services like Purview enables comprehensive data lifecycle management, including data lineage and management. Implementing Profisee has potentially made our time to market for new products and services more efficient. Qualifying master data and making it available downstream for data consumption seems smoother now. As a bank, our response to data availability might differ from other industries like advertising. Overall, I see positive impacts from using Profisee. I would recommend Profisee to others, but it depends on various factors such as how well it fits with their business domain, cost considerations, and resource availability. If they have centralized their data in Azure, Profisee is a no-brainer for data management. Overall, I would rate Profisee as an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"More generic related things can be included in the services."
"The tool is easy to use."
"The best thing about it is that it comes with the Microsoft package."
"The solution is easy to install."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft MDS is its compatibility with ETL tools like SSIS, which simplifies operations for end-users."
"What I like about Microsoft, is that it has a huge database with many users."
"Technical support is very good."
"One of the main features I have found useful is the integration with Azure active directory."
"The process of categorizing data, creating glossaries, and generating metadata is streamlined and less time-consuming."
"Profisee's customer service is very responsive, and they have a comprehensive training academy, Profisee Academy, that helps guide the implementation process."
"The product is able to utilize the SQL server toolkit and it has tight integration with the SQL server."
"We really like the matching and merging features."
"The most valuable features for ensuring data accuracy and quality are mappings and creating business rules."
 

Cons

"Most of the Microsoft partners, especially digitally, are separate. Personnel are business people, and they do not have technical expertise, so you end up as a company spending a lot of money training your staff and your engineers."
"From my understanding, MS, as of 2021, will not maintain the product going forward."
"Microsoft MDS is outdated and lacks modern capabilities."
"Microsoft MDS isn't getting strong support because Microsoft is focusing more on cloud solutions."
"Microsoft MDS' language should be simple so everyone can use it easily."
"The program's navigation tools could be improved."
"The stability could be improved."
"The Microsoft license cost could be lower."
"A more convenient approach would involve integrating all the pre-existing elements into Profisee itself."
"When we updated to version 7.1, there were some workflow issues."
"The way training is laid out in their Profisee University, makes it really, really hard to find what you need fast."
"Some security complexities might add time to the setup."
"Profisee could improve in providing clearer data lineage information."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution does require a license and we have enterprise licenses."
"SAP is more expensive than Microsoft."
"Microsoft MDS is an expensive solution."
"The pricing of this solution is good."
"With Microsoft, we buy everything though an agreement, so we purchase volume licensing every year."
"I would like to see better pricing."
"Product licensing is very complicated. It would be helpful to have an online calculator to estimate the cost of a license."
"MDS is a part of the SQL Server enterprise license. I am not aware of any additional costs."
"The pricing is moderate, falling in the middle range—not excessively low nor overly expensive."
"We didn't come across any additional licensing fees."
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Answers from the Community

RT
Feb 7, 2022
Feb 7, 2022
Hi @Richard Tibbetts, There's no short answer to your question. Nearly all existing MDM solutions on the market offer a broad range of patterns to ingest master data from various sources and distribute cleanse and consolidated information, also to the Azure stack. Many vendors offer prebuilt connectors for the most common sources (databases, various file types, storages, business applications i...
2 out of 3 answers
InitZero - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 14, 2022
Hi @Richard Tibbetts, There's no short answer to your question. Nearly all existing MDM solutions on the market offer a broad range of patterns to ingest master data from various sources and distribute cleanse and consolidated information, also to the Azure stack. Many vendors offer prebuilt connectors for the most common sources (databases, various file types, storages, business applications including MS Dynamics, Salesforce, etc.), but also support a generic way of ingesting/exposing data via Rest APIs, file drops, etc. MS MDS is an extension of the MS SQL server 2016. I don't know Microsoft plans to extend it, but I know that Profisee and CluedIn are very active in promoting their solutions as-built having Azure in mind and being a part of the stack. Informatica MDM has three types of offerings these days: on-prem, hosted MDM, and cloud-native option - they differ in the functionality and integration options. Obviously, there are many more MDM tools on the market particularly good in various data domains (products, customers/suppliers - so yours, multi-domain, etc). I think that you should start your MDM journey by answering which current challenges you try to solve or what new capabilities you need to enable to the organisation. Once these questions are answered and based on your organization's Enterprise Architecture principles, look for the best fitting tool. It may (or may not) be the one that fits the best into the Azure Reference Architecture. I hope this helped.
GM
Feb 4, 2022
I agree with @InitZero...  I would add that there's no future roadmap for MDS and they don't have an Azure solution for it.  Since it's a free product with an SQL license, don't expect Microsoft to invest in it.   Even though we are highly dependent upon it currently I'm starting to look towards the future where we need to find a replacement - hopefully, a PaaS solution. It would be great if Microsoft came out with something in Azure but I'm not hopeful at this point.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Healthcare Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft MDS?
More generic related things can be included in the services.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft MDS?
Microsoft MDS is free. Currently, there is no pricing concern with the tool.
What needs improvement with Microsoft MDS?
Microsoft MDS is outdated and lacks modern capabilities. It is too slow and does not support automated mapping or AI-based functionalities. Although I created Python scripts for some machine learni...
What do you like most about Profisee?
The most valuable features for ensuring data accuracy and quality are mappings and creating business rules.
What needs improvement with Profisee?
Profisee is making improvements for the year 2024, including integrating directly with other solutions.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Master Data Services, Microsoft MDM, Microsoft SQL Server Master Data Services, MS MDS
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ETA a.s., Apeejay Surrendra Group, Blue Star Infotech, Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation, The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, New Belgium Brewing
NASDAQ, Rockwell Automation, ITT Industries, EY (Ernst & Young), Domino's, L3 Communications, Anheuser Busch, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Ameriprise Financial, GSO Capital Partners
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft MDS vs. Profisee and other solutions. Updated: July 2022.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.