Microsoft BI (MSBI) vs. TimeXtender vs. Visual KPI

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

TimeXtender has worked really well with our customers who have different data sources using complex data types in large quantities requiring a DW-like solution that can consolidate all data sources at one-HUB. TimeXtender does this well, and provides automation capabilities, the ability to easily handle slowly changing dimensions, handing data lineage and data security very well. TimeXtender has the ability to be very customizable, allowing the HUB to grow as your business does. TimeXtender's customer support team is super helpful and will work with you throughout your implementation to make sure you reach success with the product. The ROI for timeXtender versus competing products (there aren't many that do what timeXtender does) shows the investment to be worthwhile for the majority of organizations in today's data-rich corporate world.

Incentivized

[Visual KPI is well suited for:] 1. Maintenance or field worker in oil & gas/chemical/ process industry mostly; machines status on the map & functionality for tracing exact location of the machines. 2. Key personnel of the site is always in move within the site/plant; useful for monitoring key performance indicators of the plant 3. KPIs to be built based on multiple data sources as well as integration with ERP tool

Incentivized

• 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

• It has the ability to create one dynamic 'DW' or source of truth, consolidating all data sources in one HUB.
• Ease of use, with a great UI that is easy to learn and adapt to.
• Ease/speed of complex implementation.

Incentivized

• The latest user interface makes it easier to use.
• The search function helps find projects quickly.
• It covers a lot of areas of your business so there is intrinsic value to how robust it is.

Incentivized

• 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

• Product Marketing: As implementers and resellers of this technology, we loved it. But, convincing clients who had not previously heard of TX/Discovery Hub was more difficult than it could have been if the company had a larger marketing force behind it.
• Relatively New to Market: it creates a learning curve for early implementers.
• More information should be published on timeXtender's website about product lines, including testimonials.

Incentivized

• Intelligent prediction & AI
• Deep integration is limited to OSISoft's PI AF; bit time consuming for large integration for other historians > mapping hierarchy
• Template to create Apps like OEE, Cycle time etc for rapid deployment

Incentivized

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.

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

1. At large it was successful implementation. - [Users] are empowered to find out performance measures easily - issues like machine downtime, trend analysis, location specific downtime information, roll out functionalities, up time of the machines or area, alert based on run hour of the machines/ pumps, manual data entry to capture reason code for any downtime

Incentivized

The product has been reliable.

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.

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

1. Online documentation 2. How to do videos 3. Very supportive customer support 4. Excellent & user centric sales team

Incentivized

This training was more directed toward what the product was capable of rather than actual programming.

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.

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.

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

For our clients, timeXtender was a much better solution. It offered a more cost-effective solution, easier integration, and better customer support for our complex client needs. The timeXtender team worked with us throughout the process to make sure we could create a success story that was repeatable for our clients, and they proved great partners.

Incentivized

Most of these products serve as the master source for managing data, but they all seem to have their own focus for what kind of data and metrics they monitor, visualize and analyze. I think Visual KPI holds its own against the competition because it serves so many purposes for so many departments at your organization.

Incentivized

• 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

• Duration to realize the benefit is less
• OpEx requirement is steady since system is very robust
• Minimum to no training required for users; VisualKPI is very intuitive

Incentivized