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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    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

    SAP BW

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/ASAP Business Warehouse, or SAP BW (formerly SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse) is SAP's legacy data warehouse solution, now superseded by SAP BW/4HANA, and the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud which was launched in 2019. SAP BW versions up to 7.4 have reached end of maintenance. SAP BW 7.5 support is extended to align with SAP Business Suite with NetWeaver components. For existing customers maintenance is scheduled to continue through 2027, with extended support available through 2030.N/A
    Pricing
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP BW
    Editions & Modules
    Power BI Pro
    $14
    per month per user
    Power BI Premium
    $24
    per month per user
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP BW
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP BW
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    Chose Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Better integration with Microsoft products is one of the advantages of using Business Intelligence (BI). It's simple to understand, and plenty of resources are available to outsource it. Many of our existing clients have Microsoft licensing agreements. It's an obvious path when …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    MSBI is great for data collection and reporting, but it lacks the visual appeal and features of Power BI. Even though it's still useful, it falls short of Power BI in terms of features. There's no reason to doubt MSBI's findings. MSBI has a proactive customer service team that …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    A lot of our existing client base has licensing agreements in place with Microsoft, couple that with decision-makers wanting to achieve the outcome with the least amount of additional licensing costs added, and it becomes an obvious path, however, it is very crucial to first …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Microsoft BI is mainly based on Microsoft SQL Server, so it is perfectly integrated. Many of the Microsoft BI components require using SQL Server as the database engine. Generally, the functionalities that are achieved when using SQL Server as a database engine are greater than …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Our company's implementation of Business Warehouse was abhorrent. It was so clunky and unreliable we couldn't get any real reporting information from the warehouse itself. It wasn't sleek at all and everything had to be manually downloaded and plugged into an offline …
    Incentivized
    SAP
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    15 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    15 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    15 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    8 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    13 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    11 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    8 Answers
    Features
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP BW
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and SAP Business Warehouse
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.0
    53 Ratings
    10% above category average
    SAP Business Warehouse
    -
    Ratings
    Pixel Perfect reports8.546 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards9.653 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates8.951 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and SAP Business Warehouse
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    53 Ratings
    6% above category average
    SAP Business Warehouse
    -
    Ratings
    Drill-down analysis8.548 Ratings00 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities8.253 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages8.342 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration8.953 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and SAP Business Warehouse
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    52 Ratings
    3% above category average
    SAP Business Warehouse
    -
    Ratings
    Publish to Web9.348 Ratings00 Ratings
    Publish to PDF9.148 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Versioning7.444 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling8.547 Ratings00 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers8.426 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and SAP Business Warehouse
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.7
    52 Ratings
    9% above category average
    SAP Business Warehouse
    -
    Ratings
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)9.651 Ratings00 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization8.748 Ratings00 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics7.845 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining8.76 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and SAP Business Warehouse
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.3
    53 Ratings
    9% above category average
    SAP Business Warehouse
    9.5
    7 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)9.449 Ratings9.37 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model9.347 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.949 Ratings9.77 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control9.36 Ratings00 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)9.431 Ratings9.37 Ratings
    Location-Based Data Governance00 Ratings9.87 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and SAP Business Warehouse
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.0
    42 Ratings
    3% above category average
    SAP Business Warehouse
    -
    Ratings
    Responsive Design for Web Access8.239 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Application8.030 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile7.839 Ratings00 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and SAP Business Warehouse
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    24 Ratings
    9% above category average
    SAP Business Warehouse
    -
    Ratings
    REST API9.221 Ratings00 Ratings
    Javascript API8.821 Ratings00 Ratings
    iFrames8.820 Ratings00 Ratings
    Java API8.718 Ratings00 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)8.021 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)7.319 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data Modeling
    Comparison of Data Modeling features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and SAP Business Warehouse
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    -
    Ratings
    SAP Business Warehouse
    9.3
    6 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Data model creation00 Ratings9.36 Ratings
    Data Exploration
    Comparison of Data Exploration features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and SAP Business Warehouse
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    -
    Ratings
    SAP Business Warehouse
    7.6
    7 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Visualization00 Ratings7.67 Ratings
    Data Warehouse
    Comparison of Data Warehouse features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and SAP Business Warehouse
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    -
    Ratings
    SAP Business Warehouse
    8.0
    7 Ratings
    7% below category average
    High-Volume Data Processing00 Ratings8.57 Ratings
    Data Warehouse Management00 Ratings9.07 Ratings
    Administrative Automation00 Ratings7.27 Ratings
    Self-Optimization00 Ratings7.27 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP BW
    Small Businesses
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Cloudera Enterprise Data Hub
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    Oracle Exadata
    Score9.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP BW
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.9
    (77 ratings)
    8.3
    (18 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.0
    (25 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.9
    (19 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    Availability
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.9
    (15 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    6.9
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.6
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    8.5
    (42 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sources
    8.4
    (41 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP BW
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    SAP
    SAP BW is best for: 1. Large enterprises 2. Enterprises with 3+ legacy systems with entrenched users (politically difficult to merge) 3. Enterprises with employees who can understand both the technical capabilities of SAP BW and the needs of the business users - ability to speak both languages, otherwise the program could be unwieldy and potentially underutilized (it's not particularly inexpensive) SAP BW is less appropriate for: 1. Small enterprises 2. Enterprises who have well established, same location, CRM and UFS - the integration of data analysis will be easier and less expensive with other solutions 3. HANA
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    SAP
    • It tracks bin locations for parts which can be really helpful.
    • SAP Business Warehouse tells you who has a part checked out so you can find it.
    • It shows current parts shortages so buyers are flagged to get parts on order based on current demand.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    SAP
    • Age of software is showing as it struggles with very large data modules, which were not as prevalent in its early years
    • Querying performance at times can be very slow
    • Support and development for BEx has been discontinued or hard to find.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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
    SAP
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    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
    SAP
    The overall usability is robust. The tool offers lot of native feature to achieve all the data warehousing functions. Starting from data modelling to reporting and authorisation, the tool provided native features for almost all the areas of analytics. Integration of hybrid modelling with hana studio opened the usage of sql functions with the sap analytics
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    The product has been reliable.
    Read full review
    SAP
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    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
    SAP
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    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
    SAP
    No answers on this topic
    In-Person Training
    Microsoft
    This training was more directed toward what the product was capable of rather than actual programming.
    Read full review
    SAP
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    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
    SAP
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    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
    SAP
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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
    SAP
    SAP Business Warehouse scores higher in data warehouse functionalities for integration to SAP ERP and other SAP solutions such as SAP CRM, SAP APO, and SAP SRM. Standard SAP data source extractors which are available in SAP ERP can be used immediately for full or delta replication into SAP Business Warehouse. System governance in SAP Business Warehouse is top-notch with change management support for migration between system landscape from the development system to production system.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    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
    SAP
    • Positive - This tool report output is in Excel so it's a good tool if your users are familiar with Excel.
    • Positive: this tool has rich BI content so developing extractors for standard processes from SAP ECC can be done in minutes.
    • Negative: It lacks lot of features which are available in other newer tools today. For ex. - rich charts, rich filtering, exporting capabilities, user interface.
    • Negative: Its not a plug and play tool like Qlikview, Lumira, or Tableau. Even a single report development in this tool takes a lot of time compared to others.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots