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Jose Antonio Lopez Mesa - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior data Engineer at Avantica
Real User
Top 10
Allows you to create full ETL workloads and build dashboards
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is definitely the visual aspect and the DAX capabilities to virtually do anything."
  • "One opportunity for improvement would be on the Power Query side. As a consultant, I know Power Query is not the main strength of Power BI. It is not where Power BI shines, but many customers use Power Query to do full ETL workloads for deliverable cookies."

What is our primary use case?

We have many use cases, from creating full ETL workloads for supporting some dashboards to only building dashboards by themselves. For example, there is one stage where we had to do some data integration from several sources to assess the quality of the data that we are consuming for our projects. We had to ingest data and convert it using Power BI, which is useful but isn't the best ETL tool, and I understand that that is not its purpose. Finally, we built out a schema model and built reports upon that. It's a full project. 

We also have another project, where we are attempting to do some incremental refresh because we are ingesting a lot of data from lake sources and SQL sources. We are doing direct query and applying some optimization from Synapse.

I am currently using the latest version of Power BI.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is definitely the visual aspect and the DAX capabilities to virtually do anything.

What needs improvement?

Something that everyone has suggested and that we are currently implementing and testing is the ability to export tables with the same format. That is something many customers were seeking, and right now it is possible to do that. Focusing on table support is a huge opportunity.

One opportunity for improvement would be on the Power Query side. As a consultant, I know Power Query is not the main strength of Power BI. It is not where Power BI shines, but many customers use Power Query to do full ETL workloads for deliverable cookies.

When you try to process a lot of data from one million records, it breaks. The computer runs out of CPU and memory. It's terrible, but I know it's not its main purpose, so that would be my suggestion.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable, but the desktop is not so stable. I have experienced several crashes. I would say there is a lot of opportunity for improvement on that.

A couple of people are needed for deployment and maintenance. You always need a developer who is proficient on Power Query and maybe some other DevOps guy who sets up the pipeline. So, maybe two people at most. It's very easy.

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability on the ETL side is not so good. When you run the workloads on service, you can fail almost anything, but it's not exactly the best for scaling.

On the virtualization side, I would say it's good.

How are customer service and support?

I haven't actually needed much technical support. I know there are forums and people respond, but I haven't really sought that out. There is so much documentation online, there are books online, and there are YouTube channels from guys that provide solutions to issues and to some other stuff. The community is very proficient.

How was the initial setup?

It is very easy. Even non-IT professionals use it and deliver value to the company.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10. 

My advice is to just jump right into it, download the Power BI desktop and start looking at YouTube channels. There are lots of people who have made wonderful things on YouTube.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
President & Owner at Altrim Systems
Reseller
Good visibility, graphic visuals, and easy to install
Pros and Cons
  • "It gives us, the ability to do a lot of analysis quickly, similar to ad hoc analysis."
  • "One of the more difficult things to do is to export some of the data from Power BI to Excel."

What is our primary use case?

We are Microsoft resellers.

We use it for clients to extract and analyze data from ERP systems. Then, we basically put it in on-premise Power BI, and once we have the reports and visuals that we want, we publish it to different members of whoever has access to see the reports. Basically, we publish it to their Power BI in the Cloud.

How has it helped my organization?

For one client, it gives all sales reps across all geographic regions access to sales data, so they know who's purchasing what product in what part of the country, and that sort of thing. It shows them overtime when sales are high and low, as well as what types of customers are buying. We occasionally connect it to external data. We link it to some demographic data, such as population figures in different provinces in Canada, to see how sales are doing.

It is beneficial. It's one of the applications we use for a client's sales reps all over the country to get all kinds of sales data. It also benefits them. They can ask, "Why isn't this customer purchasing this specific product?" So they know which customers are genuine or who are purchasing and may try to push a different line with them. It provides a wealth of useful information to the salespeople.

What is most valuable?

It gives us, the ability to do a lot of analysis quickly, similar to ad hoc analysis. People want to know, for example, which customers are purchasing which products over what time period. It's very simple to make visuals for them. We create a matrix that resembles a spreadsheet and then link it to various graphic visuals, pie charts, and other types of charts. They also get a visual sense of what's going on. Those features are fantastic.

What needs improvement?

One of the more difficult things to do is to export some of the data from Power BI to Excel. It is getting better. It's better than it was six, eight, or nine months ago, but it's still not quite there. They could probably improve that a little bit. 

The only disadvantage of how we're using it is that it can be difficult to get the data into Excel at times. A lot of users are very familiar with Excel, so having a seamless interface into Excel would be a big plus for a lot of people, in my opinion. Otherwise, it's an excellent product.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been selling Microsoft BI for two years.

I am using the most recent version.

It can be deployed both on the cloud and on-premises.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

For us, the stability has been great. We have no issues with the stability of Microsoft BI.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I believe it is a scalable product. I'm aware that they have other products on the market, but I haven't tried them. To analyze data, it appears to be scalable to fairly large businesses. Scalability is quite good.

It is not a single organization. It's amongst a few clients of mine. I would estimate the number of users to be about 20, 25, or something along those lines. Their roles vary a lot. Several users are salespeople and people in purchasing. There are also people in management who use it and people in the accounting area as well. There are also one or two more technical users who use it to export data to Excel PivotTables. These are the people who make use of it.

For one client, it's very extensively used. Others, I wouldn't say that it is used as extensively. They could use it a lot more.

How are customer service and support?

I have not had any interaction with technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before using Power BI, we used a lot of Excel, Power Pivot, and other similar tools. We transitioned a lot of our data models from Excel and Power Pivot to Power BI, including the PivotTables. It was a Microsoft solution. It was Excel, from Excel and Power Pivot to Power BI.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup went quite well. It was a fairly straightforward process. There were no major hiccups.

It took approximately four to five hours to configure.

I have one client who has an administrator who updates the system. He updates the product and his data on a regular basis. I believe the data must be updated once a month. Other clients' updates are handled by me.

What about the implementation team?

We did not need assistance, we completed it in-house.

What was our ROI?

Yes, I believe so. I haven't actually measured it, but based on one particular client, I believe their company is expanding at a rapid pace. I believe a large portion of it is or a good deal of it is based on the information they receive. I believe there will be a return.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's straightforward licensing. I would guess we pay $300 to $400 per month for everyone or something along those lines.

What other advice do I have?

Depending on where they're coming from, one thing is that if you want to get deeply involved in it, you have to learn the programming language, which I believe is DAX. It is not difficult to become involved in and learn. Microsoft, in my opinion, has done a good job of making it simple. That's one area I believe people should look into if they want to learn more than just the fundamentals of the DAX programming language. Which we have done in part. Again, we are not experts, but we have looked into it.

I would rate Microsoft BI a nine out of ten. It does almost everything we require.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Power BI
February 2025
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reviewer1638714 - PeerSpot reviewer
Junior Data Scientist at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Good transforming of data for visualization, useful, stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "It is quite easy to use and it helps me to achieve the projects that I've been assigned."
  • "I feel the modeling page should be simplified."

What is our primary use case?

We use Microsoft BI typically to clean up data in Excel, as well as to create reports for my supervisor that will be analyzed and then used to draw conclusions.

How has it helped my organization?

It provides the common ground for data to be cleaned. We use this for everyone to work on cleaning up data in order to use it for visualizations, which has been helpful.

What is most valuable?

The transforming data before you start with the visualization comes in pretty handy.

It is quite easy to use and it helps me to achieve the projects that I've been assigned.

I have never had the inability to perform the tasks I've been assigned with the software. 

It's very useful because you can create helpful reports, which assist you to analyze data in a very organized way.

What needs improvement?

I feel the modeling page should be simplified. The links between different parts of your data, on the models' page, are a bit confusing. It was difficult for me to learn. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft BI for three months.

We are using an older version specific to the organization.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft BI is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Microsoft BI is quite scalable, especially with the number of coding languages that are available to use.

We have approximately 23 data scientists in our organization who are using this solution. We use it extensively.

We are mostly using Microsoft BI but we are trying to bring in Tableau and maximize the potential of both.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have not contacted technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I also have experience with Tableau.

How was the initial setup?

When I arrived, this solution was already set up.

What other advice do I have?

For others who want to start using Microsoft BI, I would say go through some tutorials on your own first and then try and practice with practice data sets that are available online. Also, feel free to play around with the different tools, and the different visualizations, because you can use them differently for different things.

I would rate Microsoft BI a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1477869 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Vendor
Good user interface, good technical support, and has the ability to scale
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution's initial setup isn't too complicated."
  • "The integration with other solutions could be improved for reporting aspects."

What is our primary use case?

We have a few projects. We're using the solution primarily to develop a modern sitemap.

What is most valuable?

The product has a very defined, well-prescribed format to it. It's easy for everyone to use for the most part.

The training is pretty good. It's well-described so that users can navigate the solution easily and follow the correct steps to initiate tasks effectively.

The user interface is pretty good.

The technical support on offer is excellent.

We've found the scalability to be quite good.

The solution's initial setup isn't too complicated.

What needs improvement?

I need more time with the solution. Right now, I can't think of any features that are missing from the product.

The integration with other solutions could be improved for reporting aspects. There are some reporting features in Tableau that we need access to and it would be ideal if there was a function between the two for data integration and data manipulation, with the final representation of the report available on Tableau.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for a year or more at this point. It hasn't been too long.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

So far, the solution has been largely stable. However, I'm still exploring the solution and testing it against my requirements. The stability hasn't quite been proven fully just yet.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is pretty scalable. It meets all of my client's requirements. I'm able to make changes and expand if I need to. It's pretty simple to scale it out as necessary.

We deal, for the most part, with medium-sized companies. We don't really deal with smaller organizations or bigger enterprises.

How are customer service and technical support?

I'm extremely satisfied with technical support. It's been excellent so far. They are responsive and knowledgeable and I always get my questions answered in a timely manner. I have no complaints about their level of service.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I've also worked with Tableau and SAP products. We use them all currently.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not complex in any way. It's quite straightforward. It was installed quite easily onto our system. We didn't run into any issues in that sense.

What other advice do I have?

I'm using the calculator version of the solution.

We use both the cloud and on-premises deployment models.

We are Microsoft partners. We're not just users.

Overall, I would recommend the solution. We do have other plans to use other BI solutions, however, we haven't really focused on that just yet. So far, this product has met our needs pretty well.

On a scale from one to ten, I'd rate the solution at a nine. We've largely been happy with the product and its offering.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Consultor at Scitum
Consultant
Works very well for updating indicator boards,and for quick visualizations in demos
Pros and Cons
  • "The uploading of information is very easy, as you just use an Excel sheet to start work right away and obtain the benefits of Power BI."
  • "I would like to see the product offer more graphics to impact different audiences."

What is our primary use case?

We use this for data analysis and the creation of indicators. It is one of the most powerful tools for BI in my experience. It works very fast, is intuitive, and useful. You just drag and drop, as soon as you download it.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution works very well for updating indicator boards, and for quick visualizations in demos. You can present results in many ways to improve the presentation.

I have used it on a variety of applications where it is important to show analysis and present information in a graphical perspective, and also to modify and present information to developers and executives.

What is most valuable?

One of the features I really like is that there are a lot of different graphics that are very nicely presented. The uploading of information is very easy, as you just use an Excel sheet to start work right away and obtain the benefits of Power BI.

When you start, right from the beginning it can help you. Once you upload the data you can start to play with the different options you have from the graphics available, and also from the different mathematical and logical conversions that it offers.

I also work with other data processors and the facilities that Power BI offer can help to better understand the traditional database tools such as SQL, or others.

Another advantage is that you don't have to have a lot of knowledge about databases. This is because you use Power BI knowing your goal and what you want to achieve with respect to the data that you are processing.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see the product offer more graphics to impact different audiences. Also, I would like more ease in connecting with the different database drives.

For how long have I used the solution?

Less than one year.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

This is different from other solutions in that Power BI offers ease of use. It is different from any SQL tool because you can use it right away.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

If you are looking for free tools to process data in different ways for an easy to medium analysis then you have the free version available. However, if you want a complex analysis from multiple sources of data then you should look for the charge and support version.

In my opinion, both options are good.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I evaluated some other tools but I think they had very different objectives. Power BI looked more generic and has an easy and quick way to present the information in different forms.

What other advice do I have?

It is important to say that the information cannot be confidential or secret. This is because the platform processes all data from the Microsoft cloud and you have to be certain of the security issues that someone could face if a security breach happens.

I very much recommend the free trial mode.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Founder/Director at Thoughtschools
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
The solution has a quick and straightforward setup, but its documentation and performance need improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "Microsoft BI's initial setup is very straightforward."
  • "The solution's documentation needs improvement."

What is most valuable?

Microsoft BI's initial setup is very straightforward.

What needs improvement?

The solution's documentation needs improvement. It is always a challenge to connect any data that Microsoft needs to read. I'm not able to find out. The solution's visuals and themes are really poor and should be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft BI for around one or two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The performance of Microsoft BI is very poor because whenever the reports are published, data never comes in the first place when the site is open. It takes a long time to load, and the access level restriction is not as easy as it is in Tableau.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

More than 5,000 people are using Microsoft BI in our organization.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I previously used the Tableau solution.

What about the implementation team?

Microsoft BI's deployment takes hardly 10 to 15 minutes or less than that. I had to just download and install the solution, as it was a desktop version.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I rate Microsoft BI a six out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT RM at KNV
Real User
Dashboards allow for reporting to higher levels of management, and navigation is simple enough for ordinary users
Pros and Cons
  • "We encourage end users to use Power BI because it's quite easy for them to interact with the menus and the navigation bar. Even for ordinary users, they can create their own dashboard using Power BI."
  • "There's always room for improvement for Microsoft Power BI, especially for the UX and the menus to make it more accessible to business users."

What is our primary use case?

The IT department has dashboards for reporting to the higher levels of management.

The solution is deployed on a hybrid model: cloud-based and on-premise. We always get the latest version because we have the Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft.

What is most valuable?

We encourage end users to use Power BI because it's quite easy for them to interact with the menus and the navigation bar. Even for ordinary users, they can create their own dashboard using Power BI.

What needs improvement?

There's always room for improvement for Microsoft Power BI, especially for the UX and the menus to make it more accessible to business users. These improvements wouldn't be too technical.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft BI for a very long time—since it was first released.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable enough, but I think Tableau has a better interactive UX and user experience. We are not using Tableau right now.

We have tens of thousands of users, and we are willing to increase the number of users.

How are customer service and support?

Support is amazing.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have experience with Tableau.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The license is on a yearly basis.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10. I would recommend this solution for others. 

We don't have any other solution out there right now, so I would say we are satisfied with it. There are some disadvantages, some weaknesses of Microsoft Power BI that we have addressed to the Microsoft team.

The IT department has a good relationship with the Microsoft team, so they always give input to Microsoft's department teams.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Cognos Consultant at Surtel technologies
Consultant
A good tool with easy to design dashboards and helpful automation elements
Pros and Cons
  • "There are some great automation elements in the product."
  • "You do need to do some hard coding for certain things in Microsoft BI."

What is our primary use case?

For the most part, clients require dashboards. We are developing quite a few dashboards for them.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution has improved a lot within the organization. We can view chunks of data and detailed data at various levels. 

What is most valuable?

When we have done training in the cloud previously, I have a long experience in BI tools. I've worked on Cognos BI, Informatica, and other tools including QlikView. 

The solution is stable.

The scalability is good.

There are some great automation elements in the product.

It's a good tool and designing dashboards is easy.

What needs improvement?

In SAP, we have a suite of components here in a single module. This includes forecasting and budgeting. There's also a smart answers section. Whenever we design any chart or something, the tool provides some information regarding that data. That would be quite a good feature that could be included in future versions of Microsoft BI.

The licensing could be a bit better.

You do need to do some hard coding for certain things in Microsoft BI.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for about one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. There are no bugs or glitches. I haven't had issues with it crashing or freezing.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is great. If you need to expand the product, you can do so. You can easily add more users. 

I'm not sure how many users are using the product. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is great. I've worked with them before and have been happy with their level of service. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I've previously used Cognos BI. I've also had the opportunity to work with SAP.

How was the initial setup?

I haven't got any opportunity to install any Power BI system. That said, for tutorial purposes, I have installed the desktop version in my system. It was very smooth.

It took 30 to 40 minutes for me to install the desktop version. During my learning phase, I prepared one dashboard. Similar to when I worked on Cognos BI, there were some features that we have to hard code and incorporate manually. There is some automation in Power BI. For example, if we are designing some interactive things we have to write code possibly. Still, even having to write code, in Power BI, was a very smooth experience.

We have people on our team that can handle maintenance tasks. 

What about the implementation team?

We had a team of five to six people that handled the implementation in-house.

What was our ROI?

The client is continuing to use it, likely due to the fact that they see some sort of ROI. However, I don't have exact metrics. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'd prefer if the licensing was a bit better.

The customers need to pay the licensing fee. I can't speak to the exact pricing for their contract.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Typically, the solution architect is the one who decides which tool to use. However, we also were there and had a brainstorming session before choosing the tools. We did look at open-source options. At the time I prepared one checklist comparison between all the tools available in the market. Those included SAP, QlikView, and Tableau.

What other advice do I have?

We are an integrator and a partner. We are providing support activities to one of our clients.

I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Power BI Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: February 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Power BI Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.