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SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) vs. Microsoft BI (MSBI) vs. Middesk

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/ASolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) is designed to assist IT and security admins to quickly and easily provision, deprovision, manage and audit user access rights to systems, data, and files. By analyzing user authorizations and access permission you get visualization of who has access to what and when they accessed it. Demonstrate compliance with most regulatory requirements with customized reports. Provision and deprovision users using…N/A

    Microsoft BI (MSBI)

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft BI is a business intelligence product used for data analysis and generating reports on server-based data. It features unlimited data analysis capacity with its reporting engine, SQL Server Reporting Services alongside ETL, master data management, and data cleansing.

    $14

    per month per user

    Middesk

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AMiddesk is a business intelligence (BI) software used to onboarded clients working in three primary verticals — Fintech, Credit Reporting, and Business Marketplaces.

    $1,000

    per month

    Pricing
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)Microsoft BI (MSBI)Middesk
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Power BI Pro
    $14
    per month per user
    Power BI Premium
    $24
    per month per user
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)Microsoft BI (MSBI)Middesk
    Free Trial
    YesNoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——Users may also pay per use if they are expecting a lower volume of usage.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)Microsoft BI (MSBI)Middesk
    Considered Multiple Products
    SolarWinds
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Middesk Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    73%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    15 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    80%
    Delivers good value for the price
    8 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    15 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    82%
    Happy with the feature set
    9 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    15 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    80%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    8 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    13 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    70%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    11 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)Microsoft BI (MSBI)Middesk
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) and Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Middesk
    Feature
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.0
    53 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Middesk
    7.7
    1 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings8.546 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards00 Ratings9.653 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings8.951 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) and Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Middesk
    Feature
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    53 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Middesk
    8.0
    1 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Drill-down analysis00 Ratings8.548 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities00 Ratings8.253 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings8.342 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings8.953 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) and Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Middesk
    Feature
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    52 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Middesk
    6.4
    1 Ratings
    25% below category average
    Publish to Web00 Ratings9.348 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Publish to PDF00 Ratings9.148 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Report Versioning00 Ratings7.344 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.547 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings8.426 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) and Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Middesk
    Feature
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.7
    52 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Middesk
    7.3
    1 Ratings
    9% below category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings9.651 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.748 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics00 Ratings7.745 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings8.76 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) and Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Middesk
    Feature
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.3
    53 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Middesk
    8.5
    2 Ratings
    0% above category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings9.449 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings9.347 Ratings8.52 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.949 Ratings9.52 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings9.36 Ratings00 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings9.431 Ratings9.02 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) and Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Middesk
    Feature
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.0
    42 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Middesk
    6.3
    1 Ratings
    21% below category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings8.139 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Mobile Application00 Ratings8.030 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings7.739 Ratings3.01 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) and Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Middesk
    Feature
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    24 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Middesk
    8.0
    1 Ratings
    3% above category average
    REST API00 Ratings9.221 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings8.821 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings8.820 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings8.718 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings8.021 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings7.219 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)Microsoft BI (MSBI)Middesk
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Sisense
    Score6.8 out of 10
    Sisense
    Score6.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)Microsoft BI (MSBI)Middesk
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (14 ratings)
    8.9
    (77 ratings)
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    8.0
    (25 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.9
    (19 ratings)
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    Availability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    4.5
    (1 ratings)
    8.9
    (15 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.9
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    6.4
    (2 ratings)
    9.6
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (42 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (41 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    1.8
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    4.5
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    4.5
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)Microsoft BI (MSBI)Middesk
    Likelihood to Recommend
    SolarWinds
    It [SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)] is well suited for small to medium sized companies who want to enhance and ease up their daily work. As well as it is suited for organized structures, it has its problems with very complex environments. For example, if you are working with direct and multiple permissions instead of having more granular group based permissions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft BI has a lot of features and is a very powerful tool, especially if you have folks on your team that know how to utilize all of its capabilities. To truly unlock all that it can do, it does require people to have a deep understanding of its capabilities. That's where the software really shines. If you are looking for a simpler, more basic reporting tool, there are other programs available that do not require such a steep learning curve.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    Middesk majorly provides us with real-time access to the data and documents which are required for automating KYB and CIP regulatory compliance, mitigating front and backend risk. In addition, it is the easiest way for financial services companies to verify and monitor their business customers. It for us very much makes the process of onboarding customers very easy.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    SolarWinds
    • SolarWinds Access Rights Manager is easy to set up and configure. We had the first report generated in a few hours.
    • The automated feature for the reports is great. We just set it and forget it and now the reports get emailed on schedule.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Comparatively easy to use compared to other data analytics solutions, collaborating with other colleagues on data work is simple.
    • Using Visual Studio for database, ETL, reporting, and analytics development save time and money.
    • Transfer of data from one application to another via Excel and comparison of data attributes between applications
    • Dashboard functionality, as well as Python support, are available, allowing you to add additional charts and graphs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    • Gathering information needed for registration.
    • Making the registration process efficient.
    • Guiding us through the process when we hit snags.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    SolarWinds
    • Licensing model when we changed over to SolarWinds was [I feel] a nightmare. It needs to be more streamlined and SolarWinds needs to understand what their customers require. When we changed over to SolarWinds we found it very hard to get answers to what modules we were still licensed for.
    • Our current system is not functioning. We can't login to the application with the accounts we created that were working. The error that appears doesn't help to resolve it. So at present we just renewed licenses for this year and we can't use the system.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • MSBI designs can work on increasing data processing capabilities enough to handle the huge datasets etc.
    • It would be a lot better if it is a little low on cost.
    • it needs to create opportunities little more than they do regarding customization of some very unique visualization effects
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    • Better navigation.
    • More marketing and make it very reachable to customers.
    • Login is difficult.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    SolarWinds
    It is in place and working. No time or money to consider anything else.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft BI is fundamental to our suite of BI applications. That being said, Northcraft Analytics is focused on delighting our customers, so if the underlying factors of our decision change, we would choose to re-write our BI applications on a different stack. Luckily, mathematics are the fundamental IP of our technology... and is portable across all BI platforms for the foreseeable future.
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    SolarWinds
    SolarWinds ARM improved the data access for the organization and it saved time and money by providing accurate data for access rights when it expired to avoid unauthrized access. The solution helped the staff to grant access to users and manage them propely by using the great and friendly interface
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    The Microsoft BI tools have great usability for both developers and end users alike. For developers familiar with Visual Studio, there is little learning curve. For those not, the single Visual Studio IDE means not having to learn separate tools for each component. For end-users, the web interface for SSRS is simple to navigate with intuitive controls. For ad-hoc analysis, Excel can connect directly to SSAS and provide a pivot table like experience which is familiar to many users. For database development, there is beginning to be some confusion, as there are now three tool choices (VS, SSMS, Azure Data Studio) for developers. I would like to see Azure Data Studio become the superset of SSMS and eventually supplant it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    UI is not as intuitive as other systems we use. For states that require income tax withholding, some of them require registration with multiple agencies - the UI doesn't easily tell you which login credentials are tied to which agency.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    SolarWinds
    On occasion the server will need to be restarted to get things running again
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    The product has been reliable.
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    SolarWinds
    Satisfactory performance
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) can drag at times. We created two report servers and placed them under an F5 load balancer. This configuration has worked well. We have seen sluggish performance at times due to the Windows Firewall.
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    SolarWinds
    Very slow response times and sometimes I found the solution and ended up sharing it with support
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    MSBI natively has a site that allows you to vote on user enhancements and bug fixes. This allows the largest nagging issues to float to the top and the development team can prioritize accordingly. As mentioned earlier, the large community base of MSBI developers assist technical resources in handling technical questions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    The user experience of this tool must be rearchitected. I am able to observe a lot of lag in the process when initiated. There are sometimes when the tool's navigation becomes difficult. The time taken at times is large to process a request and this can also be highly improved in the future.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    This training was more directed toward what the product was capable of rather than actual programming.
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    I have used on-line training from Microsoft and from Pragmatic Works. I would recommend Pragmatic Works as the best way to get up to speed quickly, and then use the Microsoft on-line training to deep dive into specific features that you need to get depth with.
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    SolarWinds
    It was my first exposure to this type of product and I wasn’t given the time to figure out how best to implement it. I would say get a plan together of what you are tying to accomplish first
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We are a consulting firm and as such our best resources are always billing on client projects. Our internal implementation has weaknesses, but that's true for any company like ours. My rating is based on the product's ease of implementation.
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    SolarWinds
    I found the installation and configuration to be much easier and more straightforward. What also assisted in the decision to go with Access Rights Manager, was the fact we already made use of Solarwinds products. Knowing from previous experiences with their support staff, meant we knew how great their after-hours support was whenever we had any technical issues with the platform. We felt it would be better to keep it all under one roof so to speak
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We have used the built in ConnectWise Manager reports and custom reports. The reports provide static data. PowerBI shows us live data we can drill down into and easily adjust parameters. It's much more useful than a static PDF report.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    ADP Workforce Now offers a module to handle payroll tax registrations. The interface is confusing and the information is hard to find. The service and support are awful - nobody ever knows who can answer tax account questions, they escalate to a different department and promise a callback but they never call back.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    SolarWinds
    No experience with this
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Middesk Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    SolarWinds
    • Team leads recieve automated reports of permissions within their team, and it allows them to proactively audit their team members
    • Security specialists have really clear dashboards to audit individuals
    • We can be sure we never leave a permission open after a person leaves
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • As a SaaS provider we see being able to provide self-service BI to our client users as a competitive advantage. In fact the MSSQL enabled BI is a contributing factor to many winning RFPs we have done for prospective client organisations.
    • However MSSQL BI requires extensive knowledge and skills to design and develop data warehouses & data models as a foundation to support business analysts and users to interrogate data effectively and efficiently. Often times we find having strong in-house MSSQL expertise is a bless.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Middesk Inc.
    • Better speed.
    • Better quality for optimal cost.
    • Saves a lot of time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) Screenshots

    Screenshot of Active Directory graphical analysisScreenshot of Create userScreenshot of Exchange Distribution Group propertiesScreenshot of File server permissions analysisProduct screenshotScreenshot of Report configuration

    Middesk Screenshots

    Screenshot of Middesk