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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

    Tidal by Redwood

    Score6.8 out of 10
    N/ATidal Automation, from Redwood Software since the early 2023 acquisition, is an enterprise workload automation platform for automating and orchestrating cross-application, cross-platform workloads – in on-prem, cloud or hybrid environments – from one central point of control. Tidal is used to optimize mission-critical business processes, manage…N/A
    Pricing
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)Tidal by Redwood
    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)Tidal by Redwood
    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)Tidal by Redwood
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Redwood Software
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    15 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    21 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    15 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    20 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    15 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    21 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    13 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    17 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    11 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    18 Answers
    Features
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)Tidal by Redwood
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Tidal by Redwood
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.0
    53 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Tidal by Redwood
    -
    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 Tidal by Redwood
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    53 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Tidal by Redwood
    -
    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 Tidal by Redwood
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    52 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Tidal by Redwood
    -
    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 Tidal by Redwood
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.7
    52 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Tidal by Redwood
    -
    Ratings
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)9.651 Ratings00 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization8.748 Ratings00 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics7.745 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 Tidal by Redwood
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.3
    53 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Tidal by Redwood
    -
    Ratings
    Multi-User Support (named login)9.449 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model9.347 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.949 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control9.36 Ratings00 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)9.431 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Tidal by Redwood
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.0
    42 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Tidal by Redwood
    -
    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 Tidal by Redwood
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    24 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Tidal by Redwood
    -
    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
    Workload Automation
    Comparison of Workload Automation features of Microsoft BI (MSBI) and Tidal by Redwood
    Feature
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    -
    Ratings
    Tidal by Redwood
    8.3
    19 Ratings
    0% above category average
    Multi-platform scheduling00 Ratings8.716 Ratings
    Central monitoring00 Ratings8.618 Ratings
    Logging00 Ratings8.519 Ratings
    Alerts and notifications00 Ratings8.519 Ratings
    Analysis and visualization00 Ratings8.019 Ratings
    Application integration00 Ratings7.818 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)Tidal by Redwood
    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
    Apache Airflow
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    Redwood RunMyJobs
    Score9.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)Tidal by Redwood
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.9
    (77 ratings)
    7.4
    (21 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.0
    (25 ratings)
    2.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    8.9
    (19 ratings)
    -
    (0 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)Tidal by Redwood
    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
    Redwood Software
    On coming to well suited experience while error handling and effortless recovery processes are crucial, Tidal performs exceptionally well. It can identify and fix automated issues, reducing downtime and interruptions. A smaller automation solution may be more cost-effective if a business primarily utilizes a single platform or uses a small number of applications that do not require complex integration.
    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
    Redwood Software
    • Tidal Automation allows us to automate and schedule/ perform various tasks in a easy and effective manner. It is highly interactive and effective allowing nearly 4k -5k jobs to run a day.
    • Tidal is designed to be easily shareable and collaborative allowing multiple users to work at a particular time making work effective.
    • Tidal allows us to ensure that every event which is triggered is exactly when it's supposed to be regardless of other activities which are going as well.
    • It is user-friendly to generate the reports required of a particular object and allows us to test the codes perfectly well before executing in live environment.
    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
    Redwood Software
    • Still a bit slow when navigating. If you close a job you have to wait a few seconds to open another one. Even when you made no changes.
    • When viewing a job and make no changes, the "ok" button changes the last modified date as if you made a change. No big deal, but wastes time when troubleshooting a problem and looking into what jobs were changed last.
    • You can see the parameters column in the "job activity", but not in "Job definitions".
    • Can't search the parameters field in the filter.
    • Changing a variable name does not change it on the job. It still works because Tidal Automation uses the ID number. It just causes confusion when you see a variable on a job and can't find the variable under "Variables". On top of that, Tidal Automation does not show the ID column under "Variables" making it even more difficult to find the variable.
    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
    Redwood Software
    We are on the fence. The increased pricing for renewals is staggering. With new automation options like Microsoft's Power Automate and Event Driven Ansible on the field, there are other options now available.
    Read full review
    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
    Redwood Software
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    The product has been reliable.
    Read full review
    Redwood Software
    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
    Redwood Software
    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
    Redwood Software
    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
    Redwood Software
    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
    Redwood Software
    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
    Redwood Software
    Having provided consulting services for years on Tidal by Redwood, I recommend going with a solutions partner or consultant to deploy it. I believe there are sizing and tuning guidelines that should be followed for environments of scale. I believe they are not critical when first lighting up the product, but if you are not aware of them you will encounter performance degradation after a few thousand job objects are added.
    Read full review
    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
    Redwood Software
    1. Tidal is good at processing large volume pf data and is cost effective. 2. Tidal can automate the scheduling of production objects, ensure that materials are delivered on time 3. Tidal Process large volumes of data which cannot be done everyday by running codes/scripts manually which does it with ease when required.
    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
    Redwood Software
    • Better decision-making and more process visibility are achieved through reporting and monitoring.
    • Lowered time frames and streamlined administration of the workflow.
    • Improved cost and resource allocation, especially in cloud contexts.
    • A decrease in manual errors and related expenditures.
    • Unusual problems that could occur during automation.
    • Possible difficulties shifting to a new automation tool.
    • The expense of beginning implementation and training.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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