It's primarily for reporting, and the performance has been very good.
Founder with 1-10 employees
Users can access data much more easily than before, and it works with Excel
Pros and Cons
- "Other people can access data much more easily than before. Its usability is the main advantage, people in the company are using it."
- "With Power BI, you're able to store your data within spreadsheets and SharePoints, and then have Power BI pull the data out and report on it. So we actually saved a ton of money not needing to load the data into databases, which is a big prerequisite for many other reporting tools."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Other people can access data much more easily than before. Its usability is the main advantage, people in the company are using it.
What is most valuable?
It works mostly with Excel, and it's a very good price.
What needs improvement?
The Report Server is pretty expensive on-premise. But as long companies are happy to use the cloud version, that's very cost effective.
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January 2025
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For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very good now; it was definitely really poor a year ago.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Because it's cloud-based, it's very scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't used tech support specifically for Power BI but, in general, for Office and Office 365, it has been very responsive.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before, we just had a whole bunch of spreadsheets lying around all over the place. So we really needed to get things tightened up but we weren't ready to invest in a database. But with Power BI, you're able to store your data within spreadsheets and SharePoints, and then have Power BI pull the data out and report on it. So we actually saved a ton of money not needing to load the data into databases, which is a big prerequisite for many other reporting tools.
My most important criteria when selecting a vendor are usability and support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very straightforward.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
The shortlist was, obviously, Tableau because they're in everyone's face and a couple of other smaller tools.
What other advice do I have?
I rate it a nine out of 10 because it's very cost-effective, so it's very accessible in that respect, and a lot of folks do use spreadsheets so it helps ease the transition from using just spreadsheets to a more mature reporting environment.
My advice is, speak to your users because, at the end of the day, if they don't use it, you've failed, which was the case with other reporting tools.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior Software Engineer - Business Intelligence at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
The interactive reports, DirectQuery and integration with the other Microsoft services are valuable features.
What is most valuable?
The interactive reports, DirectQuery and integration with the other Microsoft services are valuable features.
What needs improvement?
There needs to be support for more data sources in DirectQuery.
DirectQuery is a method of connecting your data directly, i.e. any changes in data source will reflect in report immediately. (This is very great feature if you are doing live analysis of your data). As of now there are limited number of Data Sources such as SQL, SQL Azure, which are supported by Power BI with DirectQuery. Although Microsoft keeps working on adding different data sources in DirectQuery (currently only six data sources in this method and three more in Preview), that's why I feel that still DirectQuery (method of connecting your data) has more room for improvement because there are many other data sources that are commonly used by different organization like (MySQL, Access, etc.)
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In the beginning, we did encounter some stability issues; now, Microsoft is doing great things to make this product more stable and enhanced.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS reports), now we are moving towards Power BI due to its Publish on web part, as well as the interactive cross-filtering throughout all the visuals (i.e., if you need).
How was the initial setup?
The setup is easy. It is very easy to use. If you are an Excel and SQL user, then it is very easy to get a grip on this product.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We tried Tableau. Although Tableau itself is a great product, we chose Power BI due to its pricing and Microsoft's focus to make it a better product.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are Microsoft Gold Partners.
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January 2025
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Head of Data Analytics with 51-200 employees
Why would you choose Microsoft as your BI platform?
This morning I was on the train going to a briefing session and I was compelled to look again at the Gartner Magic Quadrant paper on BI – in the same way as mid-exam you might go back and look at the question to make sure you are answering it. Here are the things I pulled out for my slides. You might find them useful.
I see Gartner as the arbiters of good-taste in matters informatics. They explain the market and solutions, they rate vendors and they offer thought-provoking insight to people making technology choices – whether you are buying or making. I love ‘em. I’m making no apologies for my promotion of Microsoft. I believe it to be the most complete in terms of the company’s vision, the easiest to execute and I buy into the visionaries in Redmond and beyond (especially Cambridge in the UK) as Microsoft tries to lead the market. I bet my house on this a few years ago and I still live there. Phew.
Thinking about what BI is. It’s really about getting people with the right tools for their job to work effectively and collaboratively in managing the flow of information across an integrated infrastructure (so the flow doesn’t break), an integrated data architecture (so that when you blend the liquids flowing through the pipes they taste nice), without IT being constantly in their homes / offices / cars / clients houses. It’s about delivering the information to people who need it to make good business and clinical decisions in the right way at the right time. It’s about being able to find information and getting information to find me – I want to hear the erudite information shouting loudest at me amid the tumult of data chatter. It’s about the information being structured so that I can plug tools into it and predictive model, run SPC and do all the other things that I want to do in order to improve the safety, quality and cost-effectiveness of my services.
The Microsoft stack does this for me – see previous posts. This is recognised. Gartner points out that the Microsoft solution set is wide in scope – there is something in the toolset for everyone, however the set is integrated and so it works. See my article on why you wouldn’t buy reporting solutions for example – in and of themselves they don’t solve your problems.
Clearly the Microsoft Bi stack is designed with Gartner’s feedback in mind, he said smilingly, as we can directly map what they have done, to the above description of good BI.
Microsoft BI is recognised as being wide in scope and deep in functionality so that it ticks all of the above boxes and the UI has something in it for everyone in terms of the abilities of the combined tools to enable access to data. Some might say they have too many tools – see previous post – however the partner eco-system of people like us in Ascribe should be able to line up features and functions to roles and so that shouldn’t be a concern. The eco-system is actually another reason why people buy Microsoft. As the technology giant creates a giant platform niche (and even scale) vendors build targeted solutions on the platform – which is why it’s as good for banks as it is for hospitals. Giants feed themselves on R&D and Redmond leads the biggest R&D budget in the world which means the platform that Ascribe work upon is always the best. The scale makes it cheap – particularly if you invest in Microsoft across your enterprise and then sweat BI out of the asset with marginal cost. You can also use a range of resources to help, whether its software vendors with Microsoft powered software or consultancies who configure BI solutions or contractors or your own staff. Finally there is the architecture. The software is designed to align with industry standard methodologies such as Agile, so you can build solutions quickly, and Kimball so you can have a concrete data management strategy but a rubber implementation plan. Thanks Simon M for the concrete and rubber….
The other big play is cloud – I’ll post on that later. All in all then it’s easy to see why I bought into the platform, as the foundation to my business. It should have clear benefits for you too.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Great Ali. That is another advantage to the Microsoft BI product against their competitors.
Head of Data Analytics with 51-200 employees
Does Microsoft Have Too Many BI Products?
I am quite excited about the launch of SQL2012 and in particular PowerView, or Crescent as some of you may know it as. I am pleased that Microsoft are sharpening their In-Memory BI story and they have a drag and drop user interface that can compete with the likes of Qlik-View et al. Blimey, this has started off like a techy post – didn’t mean to. I’ll write more about our use of PowerView on a really interesting project, next time. Let me get to the point.
Microsoft now has Excel, ProClarity, PerformancePoint, PowerView, PowerPivot, Reporting Services, Visio and BingMaps interfacing with its dimensional model (Analysis Services) and now its BISM (BI Semantic Model) which seems to have replaced the Report Model. I am confused and so are my customers. This is also an issue that Gartner picked up on when they did the last magic quadrant review. In fact I remember being at a presentation on SQL 2012 (Denali as was) last year and a poor guy from Microsoft was mullered by the audience of technical guys who berated him for the lack of coherence in Microsoft’s BI message.
I wasn’t that worried actually because, as a partner, it’s my job to take the platform Microsoft gives me and manipulate it to meet my customers’ needs and vice versa – in fact, probably more vice versa.
In my mind I have this sorted out. This is what I do.
Firstly, I talk about the health and social care BI portal as a gateway to all the knowledge assets the organisation holds and my customers shout out things like EDRM / Collaboration / Search / BI / Unstructured Content / nice-looking web-site. We don’t really talk SharePoint. I don’t talk about the different platforms and their naming conventions. For example, trying to explain the evolution of Performance Point only distracts from the need it serves. The need it serves is to provide people who live in a one –five mouse-click world to go from a macro to micro view of organisational performance using a scorecard / dashboard. I think about Public Health Maps, organisational strategy maps and caseload reports (Reporting Services) in the same way – how many clicks does it take to get the information need and how can I, as an end-user be best connected with my data.
I would then think about Excel meeting the needs of analysts by providing direct access to data and I would tell the story of in-memory BI using PowerPivot.
Then I have to think about PowerView. That’s okay – in my first sentence I articulated the value to people who sit between Excel Pivot-table Gods and people who consume data via dashboards. So individually I can map each sort of user profile to a solution and to an underlying Microsoft technology. The problem comes when you step back and think about this strategically. I don’t mean as a programme of work because things like the UI are very similar and so the training overhead isn’t a problem. I think more about the coherence and I go back to that very hot room and the hot talk that made my mate at Microsoft sweat.
I don’t think that has been figured out. Maybe in the next iteration of SharePoint all the BI will be brought together and made into a seamless application so the alignment of function to “user need” doesn’t jar but emphasises the richness of the platform. Let’s see. Microsoft friends if you are reading, what do you think?
For now, I’ll keep on telling my tale – looking into the eyes of each of the different users that I pitch to and pointing out which application is exactly for them and emphasising how we, at Ascribe, understand that this can appear confusing but actually isn’t. So does it matter that when we step back it looks a little messy, when we are actually meeting the needs of our people. I don’t think it does, yet, but I think it will as the BI becomes more embedded.
Because that is the point of BI – to a large extent. You want people to come together to look at information and make sense of it and use it – we may be victims of our own success if we solve the “one version of the truth” issue (so they are all looking at the same data) but we create confusion through the range of tools we offer.
This one will run and run.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Thank you for the great information you have shared. However, I got a simple question. If Microsoft indeed has several BI products, does that give them any competitive advantage over their competitors? And, does that make their products any better in terms of functionality?
Head of Data Analytics with 51-200 employees
How does the Microsoft stack help me drive BI adoption?
You drive adoption of BI through three approaches; firstly you set adoption as a goal, secondly you make your content compelling and ONLY THIRDLY do you think about tools. Too many people focus on item 3 and their BI doesn’t penetrate the organisation like they wanted it to and therefore doesn’t deliver the benefits they sought.
It may sound strange to set adoption as a goal, however we have all worked in organisations that have taken an IT-led or procurement-led approach to BI without sitting back and working out what the BI is for. In the NHS we have a lot of BI projects that work like that. The goal might be to recreate the old reports on a new platform that looks more shiney and therefore will be used. The goal might be to implement something the CEO saw at a trade fair. Sometimes the goal might be to implement something that should deliver a performance framework (people, processes and technologies) that will show how a division is making a contribution to a national strategic agenda, local operations or delivery of service line responsibilities.
When you get into this area you are starting down the right road but the wheels come off if this top-level intention is not enshrined in operational delivery methods.
I often meet organisations that bought a reporting solution because they were going to implement service line reporting. There is a particular reporting application vendor that is doing quite well out of this trend just now, with a high number of wins but a questionable level of adoption. Their software looks cool. It has in-memory BI and therefore you can get going with it pretty quickly. The licensing model means it is quite attractive for PoC work. Moreover the pitch really talks to the value of self-service BI as an enabler of behavioural change and therefore performance improvement.
Obviously I am not talking about the Microsoft stack here.
Contrast this with the perception of the Microsoft stack, though, for a minute. Enterprise-class solution, feature rich and therefore perceived as expensive, not nimble and therefore not suited to quick PoC work – often we here this story. Not true, my friends. Not true. We have done a fair few PoCs on the platform and scaled them out quickly and relatively inexpensively – so it can be done. But in terms of this blog the point is that the reporting solution I was talking about is very costly to scale and therefore that is a barrier to adoption.
So, we agree. The best way to achieve adoption is to set it is a target and focus on delivery. Put information in the hands of decision makers and they will make better decisions – give them a shiney tool and they may or may not.
The key point is achieving the link between the evidence and the decision – in other words creating compelling content. Compelling content will provide decision-makers with what they feel they need in order to do their job. It’s not difficult to understand that. I favour the agile software development approach of collecting a user story, such as:
As A | I want to | So that |
Theatre scheduler |
|
|
This tells me what the Theatre Scheduler considers to be compelling so that I can work out the data he needs (session times, staff, work done etc) and then how to render it in the fewest clicks.
After all that I can then worry about tools……guess which ones I would use blog-readers!
Disclosure: The company I work for is a Microsoft Partner
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Head of Global Services Business Performance Management at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Simple visualizations, frequent updates, and good support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Microsoft BI are the variety of possibilities to connect to various data sources. The visualizations are easily done, have useful rollover functions, and there are continuous updates being made to the system. You can benefit from the various improvements."
- "I'm missing collaborations functionality to operate or to work connected with multiple people on a data source or on virtualization. There should be more collaborations functions, such as in Confluence. We haven't explored the solution sufficiently in this area, but at this time it doesn't look sufficient."
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Microsoft BI are the variety of possibilities to connect to various data sources. The visualizations are easily done, have useful rollover functions, and there are continuous updates being made to the system. You can benefit from the various improvements.
What needs improvement?
I'm missing collaborations functionality to operate or to work connected with multiple people on a data source or on virtualization. There should be more collaborations functions, such as in Confluence. We haven't explored the solution sufficiently in this area, but at this time it doesn't look sufficient.
I would want one platform, which can be used for top management meetings where you see and comment on the data. That would be a perfect combination. Everybody has access, sees the status, the data, and the comments, and that will make life easier for us.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft BI for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft BI is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have found Microsoft BI to be scalable.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support from Microsoft has been good.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is good. Everybody can test and try the solution, it's not rocket science. There is a lot of training and courses available. We decided to have a separate workforce for that purpose which is doing nothing else than Microsoft BI every day in India. It has been very effective.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft BI an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Responsable Industrie 4.0 at a engineering company with 10,001+ employees
Easy to use for a non-IT person and good for data modeling and working with a large amount of data
Pros and Cons
- "I like data modeling. You can connect with your database, which is quite useful for me. It is a good tool if you have a large amount of data and you want to gather different data and interconnect it. The Power Query functionality is quite an interesting feature. If you have a query in Excel, you can also copy your query and run it in Power BI. Its dashboard is also very nice and not complicated. You don't need to be a developer to be able to use it. I am not an IT guy, and it is quite easy to use for somebody who is not an IT person."
- "It is not the right tool to do deeper analysis or predictions. When you have some data and you want to do some deep analysis, there is no feature to help you with this."
What is most valuable?
I like data modeling. You can connect with your database, which is quite useful for me. It is a good tool if you have a large amount of data and you want to gather different data and interconnect it.
The Power Query functionality is quite an interesting feature. If you have a query in Excel, you can also copy your query and run it in Power BI.
Its dashboard is also very nice and not complicated. You don't need to be a developer to be able to use it. I am not an IT guy, and it is quite easy to use for somebody who is not an IT person.
What needs improvement?
It is not the right tool to do deeper analysis or predictions. When you have some data and you want to do some deep analysis, there is no feature to help you with this.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for one year.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft BI an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Project Manager with 51-200 employees
It helped identify bad data
Pros and Cons
- "Helped identify bad data, enabling the corrections needed to the data for management."
- "It needs more graphics and overlays."
- "It needs more analytic tools."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use cases for this solution are Health and Wellness claims and short-term and long-term disability data.
How has it helped my organization?
It helped identify bad data, enabling the corrections needed to the data for management.
What is most valuable?
- Ease of use
- Dashboard
- Easy access to databases and spreadsheets
- Multi-table access
What needs improvement?
- More graphics and overlays
- More analytic tools
- More interfaces to databases, especially multi-table management
For how long have I used the solution?
Three to five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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The above review is consistent with the findings in my organisation.
Cloud hosting is the way to go to avoid expensive on premises support costs.