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reviewer1566945 - PeerSpot reviewer
Statistician / Data Scientist at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Offers data visualization, including filtering data, creating graphs, and dashboards
Pros and Cons
  • "The sharing features are vital, especially the ability to share and test different shared dashboards."
  • "Better mapping capabilities and easier administration access would be beneficial, especially for understanding who has viewed reports."

What is our primary use case?

I use it primarily for some application services. It's primarily for government statistics.

I use it for visualization as well, mainly for filtering data, and creating graphs and dashboards.

How has it helped my organization?

Power BI helped me to improve the decision-making process. It was particularly useful when I had data in a table, and I was able to use it as a dashboard with filters for better insights.

What is most valuable?

The sharing features are vital, especially the ability to share and test different shared dashboards.

It's quite manageable and easy to learn. It took me about a month to learn how to use it effectively.

What needs improvement?

Better mapping capabilities and easier administration access would be beneficial, especially for understanding who has viewed reports.

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Microsoft Power BI
November 2024
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For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for a year. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product. I would rate the stability an eight out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable product but it could be improved to better suit the overall size of projects.

I would rate the scalability a seven out of ten. 

There are around 50 end users in my organization. We plan to increase the further usage.

How are customer service and support?

The customer service and support are not as easy to access as I'd like. I don't often find a direct portal to support. I end up looking up the internet. I would rate it one out of ten, but I would put it a five out of ten. 

I have to go and look up the internet. I sometimes just bring in expertise. I would prefer some tech support instead of bringing in someone else. 

I have to run a case. I want to have something easy and readily accessible. There is good stuff on the website, but it would be better if I could easily ring somebody. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

I've used Tableau, but now we primarily use Power BI.

Each has its advantages, but Power BI supports our needs effectively.

How was the initial setup?

I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, with ten being easy to set up. 

We use it on the cloud. For us, deployment took six months.

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

The pricing is reasonable, at about 6.3 euros per user per month.

What other advice do I have?

I'd recommend it for its features and cost-effectiveness. I find this product pretty okay. It works well for me. 

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

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: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Edwin Matodzi - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Strategy & Architecture at Auditor General
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
A tool that is useful for building reports and dashboards but needs to improve its integration capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is an easy-to-use tool."
  • "Microsoft BI lacks integration capabilities, so it needs to consider increasing its integration capabilities."

What is our primary use case?

My company uses Microsoft BI for reporting purposes. In my company, we extract data from different sources, put it in the staging area, and then use Microsoft Power BI to build the reports and dashboards.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is an easy-to-use tool.

What needs improvement?

Microsoft BI lacks integration capabilities, so it needs to consider increasing its integration capabilities. Microsoft BI needs to improve its mobile application compatibility so that people view their reports and dashboards through a mobile app since, nowadays, people move towards tools that are in the digital transformation phase.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have experience with Microsoft BI. I recently joined a new organization where I see Microsoft BI being used extensively.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Considering that most people in my organization use Microsoft BI, I can say that it is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Microsoft BI is a part of Microsoft Power Platform, because of which Microsoft can increase its capacity based on the needs and licenses of its users.

Around 20 people in my company use Microsoft BI.

My company plans to increase the use of Microsoft BI.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Microsoft BI is straightforward since it comes along with Microsoft Power Platform.

The solution is deployed on the cloud.

I am unsure about Microsoft BI's deployment process since it was already deployed when I joined the organization.

In my company, we have two developers and two testers to look after the deployment and maintenance of the solution.

What about the implementation team?

The company's in-house team did the installation process of Microsoft BI.

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

When my company compared the price of Alteryx to Microsoft BI, we found Alteryx's price to be higher than Microsoft BI's price.

In general, Microsoft BI's price is lower compared to Alteryx.

What other advice do I have?

I am not a user of the solution at the moment. I am an architect taking time to evaluate and see how my company can use Microsoft Power BI.

Our company hardly finds a tool where we can say one size fits all, so we need to use other tools for larger amounts of data and data cleansing.

It would be effective for those planning to use the solution to find the best solution that suits their requirements.

I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Microsoft Power BI
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power BI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
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Ed Waslosky - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Supply Chain Management at Intricon
Real User
Allows you to add information to the reporting information and expand upon it, but you can't share reports with others unless you have an additional package
Pros and Cons
  • "The flexibility of the program is valuable. We are able to add other information to the reporting information and expand upon it."
  • "We found out that you can't share a report with others unless you have an additional package. That caught us off guard. It came as a program that somebody could go in, build a report, and show it, but you can't share it without having additional licenses."

What is our primary use case?

We're using it for sales information and production information. Pushing a report into Power BI makes it easier to use and a little bit more powerful.

We're using the most recent version of the solution.

What is most valuable?

The flexibility of the program is valuable. We are able to add other information to the reporting information and expand upon it.

What needs improvement?

We found out that you can't share a report with others unless you have an additional package. That caught us off guard. It came as a program that somebody could go in, build a report, and show it, but you can't share it without having additional licenses.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've had Microsoft BI for about two years, and we are using it currently. It's a part of Microsoft Teams.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I don't know if it's scalable to the point that we want it. It seems to fit where we have it. We haven't really looked at its scalability. We have other tools, but it works well for what it's doing today.

There are roughly half a dozen users of this solution, and it has sales-related information. There is one driver, and she merges the information. So, there aren't too many rules at this point.

We don't have any plans to increase its usage at this time.

How are customer service and support?

It has been good.

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

That would've been Excel. So, it isn't a switch; it is growth.

How was the initial setup?

It was easy. We had a good understanding of being able to map two programs together. We had a little training, but otherwise, it was good.

The program installation took a few days, but it took weeks to make the intelligence and the company information look right.

What about the implementation team?

We did it ourselves. We had an individual who worked with it in the past. She picked it up very quickly because she was already trained.

We don't need anybody specific for its maintenance.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We didn't evaluate any other options. The use of Power BI just came with the program, and we installed it. We weren't looking for something different. It just was there for us to use.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to others who are looking into implementing this product is that it is important that they understand their information. They have to understand how the program works, but they also have to understand their information for it to work better.

I would rate it a seven out of 10.

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.
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reviewer1752714 - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Manager at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 5
Easy to set up with good alert features, but needs to be more flexible
Pros and Cons
  • "It's a straightforward setup."
  • "here are some limitations with the data models needed to build the report."

What is our primary use case?

Currently, I'm working with an insurance company. Whenever they book any kind of policy, we have a certain rule where we have one predictive loss cost against that particular policy. For example, if you buy one pen, we can predict how much, if the pen got broken, how much premium you're going to pay for this particular pen. Based on that, we identify the risk area and we control the entire policy and the policy sourcing. This is the one interesting use case where we are basically controlling our entire government force.

How has it helped my organization?

Microsoft provides internal training and they have open forums. Normally, if we have any query on any part of the product, they'll be very responsive to our needs. 

What is most valuable?

The alert features are great.

The initial setup is pretty simple. It's a straightforward setup in our industry in particular.

The solution can scale.

We've found the solution to be stable. 

I learned data management and also visualizations on this product, and they are very interactive. Those two things are very strong points for Power BI.

What needs improvement?

There needs to be more flexibility in terms of handling the data. Data computation is not very good in PowerBI. It's a little bit of a heavier tool.

There are some limitations with the data models needed to build the report. I can't use multiple data models. You can handle lots of data, with higher volume in other tools.

We need some kind of flexibility with the objects, the graphs. We need more control over the data manipulations and data designing parts. That is a big thing from my side.

Some sort of SMS feature that could send alerts would be great for teams that work in the field. It would help, for example, if you forget to access the report. If it was over SMS it would be a game-changer.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution over the course of the last year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product can scale. It's not a problem.

We currently have 300 company employees using the solution.

We're getting pushed to use the solution even more. In the next few months, we're likely to increase usage.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support, in terms of security, is good. Microsoft Power BI is very good at responding and the follow-ups are very strong. I'm happy with Microsoft.

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

I also use SAS Visual Analytics. It's a little bit cheaper, however, it's not that much different in terms of price.

How was the initial setup?

It's a straightforward setup. The deployment took hardly one day. It was quite a short period.

The implementation part varies, however, in our organizations, the deployment is very easy as we have a central team who looks at all the deployment parts. Normally we follow the standard guidelines and then we push further. My internal team is controlling this kind of information. It's much easier for me that way. 

It's easy for my industry. I don't know about the other companies, how the deployment part will go. I can only say that, in the insurance sector and in my organization, it's very easy.

While it depends on the team and the size of the deployment, in our case, we only needed one person to handle the initial setup. He was an operations person.

What about the implementation team?

I have an internal team who deployed the entire thing. We did not use any integrators or consultants. 

What was our ROI?

We've seen a good ROI. It's a reporting tool that we can use on different platforms like mobile. We can integrate the report with the website. It provides good accessibility. You can access it from anywhere, anytime, and it's scalable. 

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

We're charged a monthly subscription fee of 500 rupees per person.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I explored Tableau, however, I found Power BI more stable.

What other advice do I have?

I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using. It's above version six.

We are using on-prem. All the development is happening in the development environment and we are pushing to production. It is completed on Azure infrastructure. While production is on the cloud, development is happening on the on-premises server.

Microsoft is a very desirable product and they already have provided extensive support. 

I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten. If the data models were more robust, I would rate it higher. 

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.
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PeerSpot user
Administrator at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Integrates with other solutions and used for reporting purposes
Pros and Cons
  • "You can integrate Microsoft Power BI with various other solutions like Intune."
  • "The solution should increase the API functionality so that we can use Microsoft Power BI for other purposes and aggregate things."

What is our primary use case?

We mostly use Microsoft Power BI for reporting. We are going to build some solutions. We are going to deploy the scripts from Intune so that it can pull some data, which we can aggregate and show the projections on Power BI.

What is most valuable?

I really like the solution's integration part. You can integrate Microsoft Power BI with various other solutions like Intune. You can push the Intune data warehouse to Power BI. I really like the custom-built solutions that are available in Power BI.

What needs improvement?

I really wanted to send the inventory data to Power BI. I don't know whether the feature is available because I'm working on it and still need to look into it. The solution should increase the API functionality so that we can use Microsoft Power BI for other purposes and aggregate things.

I recently used Microsoft Power BI reporting for Windows Update. I wanted to understand where the reporting data came from, but I couldn't find it. It could be because I had fewer privileges. It would be good to know the data source for the solution's reporting part.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Power BI for the past six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the solution’s stability ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Microsoft Power BI can be used by all company sizes because it's all about aggregating and visualizing data. Any organization needs to have a broader perspective on what is happening. It could be useful for both large and small applications. All ranges of companies can utilize Power BI.

I rate the solution a nine out of ten for scalability.

How are customer service and support?

The support engineers are not ready to schedule the calls or understand the issues and are very eager to close the cases. I have previously worked at Microsoft as a support engineer. I know they may have workloads and may need to handle multiple cases in a day.

However, I'm not finding even the basic courtesy of handling the issues from the engineers' perspective. Except for a few, many engineers are not willing to help the customers. They focus more on their limitations, saying that they don't deal with such issues or that they are out of their scope.

I rate the solution’s technical support a six to seven out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

Informatica is a competitor to Microsoft Power BI. However, Microsoft Power BI is very easy to use, and even a nontechnical person can implement it. Other solutions are a bit complicated when compared to Microsoft Power BI.

How was the initial setup?

The solution’s initial setup is very simple. The solution's deployment takes less than 15 to 30 minutes.

What other advice do I have?

Microsoft Power BI is deployed on the cloud in our organization. I would recommend the solution to other users.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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reviewer2329707 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of BI and Data at a hospitality company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Top 20
Easy to adopt and quite easy to roll out into the business for end-users
Pros and Cons
  • "The various different ETL tools within it and the ability to have different data refreshes and scheduled refreshes [real-time data refresh capabilities] have most significantly improved the data analysis processes."
  • "Licensing could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for data modeling, joining data from different data sources, and visualizing dashboards and reports for end-users and business process owners in the company.

How has it helped my organization?

The various different ETL tools within it and the ability to have different data refreshes and scheduled refreshes [real-time data refresh capabilities] have most significantly improved the data analysis processes.

What is most valuable?

Power BI is easy to adopt. It's quite easy to roll out into the business for end-users, and the functionality for modeling and such is quite extensive for the data department.

It has connected to quite a few different things. We use the Microsoft stack, so it's fairly connected.

What needs improvement?

Better structure and stability in terms of licensing and capacity. Microsoft is changing things with Microsoft Fabric and how it's impacting different functionality for premium users, capacity users, and pro users. So, that's where licensing could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it since it came out. It's been many years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability a seven out of ten.  

Sometimes, updates can cause data refresh issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. 

There are 100 end users in my organization. We use it daily. 

How are customer service and support?

It takes a while to get the issue described, looked into, and resolved. It's a lot of troubleshooting and "try this, try that," rather than acknowledging that they've had this issue elsewhere. There doesn't seem to be a joined-up approach for people experiencing similar issues and how to resolve them.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

I have used various different modeling tools and BI tools. 

We used Tableau before, and general Excel modeling, etc.

How was the initial setup?

I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, with one being difficult and ten being easy. 

It's cloud-based.

Initially, it's quite straightforward. It depends on how you want it set up, like with gateway refreshes, etc.

What was our ROI?

Just more visibility for end-users to use and interact with data.

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

I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate it an eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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GheorgheSANDRU - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder at AiALL
Real User
Top 10
Easy to develop custom solutions and connect to a variety of data sources without any other solution
Pros and Cons
  • "You can learn a lot of things quickly using resources like ChatGPT or Microsoft's own solutions, which are very helpful within the Microsoft ecosystem."
  • "I'm looking for something that can make it much easier to incorporate Power BI visuals or dashboards into, let's say, Power Apps – custom Power Apps or anything like that. The most important thing would be to seamlessly embed reports in applications. For example, to have buttons that can be navigated through multiple solutions – from Power Apps to Power BI to SharePoint – via links or something like that."

What is our primary use case?

I developed a product based on Power BI. I intensely use it. 

I also use it to generate reports and monthly management reports. It's connected to the production database with connectors. It's not so big data, but it's for medium-sized datasets.

What is most valuable?

It's easy to develop custom solutions. The DAX scripting solution of Power BI is easy to use and covers a lot of needs. 

It's user-friendly. It also has the capacity to connect to a variety of data sources without any other solution – especially within the Microsoft environment- which is very easy.

For us, it's difficult to manage business data and visualize and model it without Power BI or a similar tool. Although, I am more comfortable using Power BI than any other tool. Data modeling is one of the most important features of Power BI because you can model almost anything. For me, it is very helpful. 

What needs improvement?

I haven't personally faced challenges with Power BI, but it might be challenging when it comes to big data usage. I haven't had a real challenge yet - maybe it could become challenging due to a lack of information or skills to use Power BI at a more advanced level.

So, the product could be complex for inexperienced users. It's very complex and you need to keep up with the updates. Otherwise, you can miss a lot of nice features that can be useful in your daily work.

I'm looking for something that can make it much easier to incorporate Power BI visuals or dashboards into, let's say, Power Apps – custom Power Apps or anything like that. 

The most important thing would be to seamlessly embed reports in applications. For example, to have buttons that can be navigated through multiple solutions – from Power Apps to Power BI to SharePoint – via links or something like that. 

If this transition is more natural (so users don't notice they're moving between solutions), it will be very helpful in developing complex solutions without sophisticated workarounds or lots of code. 

Staying within the low-code area, there's a lot of potential for interesting things. This is my main focus – developing low-code solutions that integrate with Power BI.

For how long have I used the solution?

I work with Microsoft's entire suite of products. 

I have been using Power BI for more than five years. 

How are customer service and support?

I haven't had major issues because my usage is at a medium level, not a high level. I haven't personally interacted with Microsoft support. But, there seems to be a lot of information and people using this solution, and it's easy to escalate problems within your company. You can learn a lot of things quickly using resources like ChatGPT or Microsoft's own solutions, which are very helpful within the Microsoft ecosystem.

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

I used MicroStrategy. It's very nice, and similar, but a bit more difficult to connect to other systems. You need more technical skills. With Power BI, those connections are easier. I am not obliged to learn a lot of technical aspects.

For me, Power BI is a very good option. If you're in the Microsoft ecosystem, working with people who use Microsoft solutions, Power BI makes sense. It might be a bit more difficult if you're in a different ecosystem – companies tend to promote their own technologies for upsells and cross-sells. It's a sales thing.

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

Price is the best feature of Power BI! You get a lot of value for the price. If you know how to use it, it's a great BI solution for your money. 

A complete solution license is no more than fifty euros per month – that's not expensive at all. Even thirty euros per month is enough to have Power BI, Power Apps, SharePoint solutions, and things like that. Very, very cheap.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.

I would definitely recommend using this solution. Power BI offers very good value for money. You do need some skills, but not necessarily deep technical ones. 

It's more important to understand the business context and how to design effective reports in order to put Power BI and connected solutions from the Power Platform to best use. 

My view is that we often overemphasize the technology and miss the true asset: the value that Power BI and the others bring to the business.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Aditya Pawar - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at DTSQUARED
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
User-friendly, enables users to create multiple reports, and provides valuable data insights
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is user-friendly."
  • "Power BI shows reports on actual data, not metadata."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution to visualize charts and graphs that provide data insights.

What is most valuable?

The product is user-friendly.

What needs improvement?

Power BI shows reports on actual data, not metadata.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for a few months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the tool’s stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The tool is scalable. We can create multiple reports. We have two to three customers who use the solution. Within the client organizations, teams can use different solutions. It depends on the client’s needs.

How was the initial setup?

Creating a report takes 10 to 30 minutes, based on our requirements. It is easy if we have simple requirements. If it is complex, building a report can take days. The product is cloud-based.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

People use other tools in the market, like Tableau and Qlik Sense. They are good competitors.

What other advice do I have?

I work in data management. I focus on connecting to the source and getting the metadata information from the tool. I'm interested in metadata, not actual data. Integration with other tools is possible. The solution provides APIs.

I will recommend the solution to others, but my recommendation depends on the clients. If a customer uses Microsoft products, they can use Power BI. If someone wants to build good reports and perform data analysis, Power BI is a good choice. Any dashboarding tool is good for data analysis. Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Power BI Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Power BI Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.