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Microsoft BI (MSBI)

Microsoft BI (MSBI)

Overview

What is Microsoft BI (MSBI)?

Microsoft 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.

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Learn from top reviewers

MSBI : a new boom in the digital world!

Rating: 9 out of 10
January 4, 2024
Vetted ReviewVerified User
I use MSBI specifically for data generation and data analytics. It has helped me to create a data way more simpler and easy to understand. It improved the frequent usage of da...
Continue reading
Verified user
Administrator
Microsoft BI (MSBI)2 years of experience

Multiple tools in single package.

Rating: 8 out of 10
September 28, 2022
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
In my organization, we are using MSBI to create, maintain and deploy reposts. We use all three component of MSBI like SSIS, SSRS, SSAS. We use ETL packages to maintain Datawar...
Continue reading
Lakhan Suri
Engineer - Information Technology
SQL AND BI Developer
Carmen Solutions
Microsoft BI (MSBI)4 years of experience

"Microsoft BI is a powerful analytic tool for large data sets."

Rating: 9 out of 10
December 6, 2021
Vetted ReviewVerified User
Microsoft Power BI is a beautiful and powerful data visualization tool that we use. It is a robust business analytics tool with excellent visualizations. Excel files, OneDrive...
Continue reading
Al Mubassir Muin
Project Manager - Information Technology
Software Engineer
Prime Tech Solutions Ltd.
Microsoft BI (MSBI)2 years of experience

In the world of data visualization, this is one of the best virtualization tools

Rating: 9 out of 10
November 13, 2021
Vetted ReviewVerified User
With Microsoft BI (MSBI), we can create our own data sets, goals, and records with no difficulty. We have a wide range of options and features to choose from when it comes to ...
Continue reading
Aononna Tazin
Consultant - Information Technology
Customer Relationship Management Specialist
Green Light Ltd
Microsoft BI (MSBI)1 year of experience

"Easy To Use BI Platform With Effective Reporting"

Rating: 9 out of 10
November 1, 2021
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
I can connect to Oracle, Snowflake, SQL Server, Excel, CSV, text files, and create custom visualizations with Microsoft Power BI Desktop. Our team can generate reports and ana...
Continue reading
Nilufa Hossain
Team Lead - Research & Development
IT Specialist
Lamda I-TECH
Microsoft BI (MSBI)1 year of experience

Microsoft BI

Rating: 9 out of 10
June 3, 2021
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
Microsoft BI being used by Master Data Management team like Vendors data, Customers data, Sites data, Bank, Bank Accounts, Customer Mandates, Employees, and Products data with...
Continue reading
Shyam Agrawal
Project Manager - Information Technology
Business Systems Analyst
NetApp
Microsoft BI (MSBI)3 years of experience

Microsoft BI: The only data analysis tool you will ever need

Rating: 8 out of 10
May 16, 2021
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
We use Microsoft Power BI for the data management of our projects. Some of our projects include collecting data of users who signup for webinars and Power BI is then used to a...
Continue reading
Verified user
Manager
Microsoft BI (MSBI)2 years of experience

MSBI - Bang for the Buck

Rating: 8 out of 10
April 26, 2021
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
The Microsoft BI stack is being used as the enterprise BI software by our organization. The full stack of BI tools (SSAS, SSRS, and SSIS) are being leveraged to provide report...
Continue reading
Verified user
Employee
Microsoft BI (MSBI)15 years of experience

A smart tool for data analysts to generate awesome reports

Rating: 10 out of 10
April 24, 2021
Vetted ReviewVerified User
I dont use it right now but , I used it during my research assistantship to generate beautiful visualizations for big data. At the time I was researching about covid has impac...
Continue reading
Verified user
Engineer
Microsoft BI (MSBI)1 year of experience

Excellent BI Stack for an all-in-one solution architecture, however may need specialized platforms for non-traditional datasets

Rating: 8 out of 10
April 22, 2021
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
We implement Microsoft BI solutions to clients across North America. Clients are constantly coming to us having issues gathering their data from disparate sources in order to ...
Continue reading
Verified user
Contributor
Microsoft BI (MSBI)5 years of experience

Powerful tool for data visualization

Rating: 9 out of 10
March 5, 2021
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
We are using Microsoft BI (MSBI) to visualize our data better and provide detailed insights on KPI. It also helps in building dashboards, which help key stakeholders analyze a...
Continue reading
Aniket Sawant
Manager - Product Management
Product Manager
Massey Services Inc
Microsoft BI (MSBI)2 years of experience

Best when used by larger companies in a predominantly Microsoft environment

Rating: 8 out of 10
April 26, 2020
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
We currently use Microsoft BI to power the dashboard and analytics behind our performance management platform. Previously, this was done manually by each division in their own...
Continue reading
Verified user
Manager
Microsoft BI (MSBI)2 years of experience

Microsoft PowerBI unleashes the power of your data

Rating: 9 out of 10
April 22, 2020
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
We use Microsoft PowerBI to analyze data from our CRM and invoicing system (Connectwise with a SQL backend). Connectwise has a large number of built-in reports and a custom re...
Continue reading
Bradley Geppert
Director - Information Technology
Director of IT Services
CompuType IT Solutions
Microsoft BI (MSBI)1 year of experience

Microsoft BI the killer data analytics and visualization tool

Rating: 8 out of 10
March 14, 2020
Vetted ReviewVerified User
We have deployed the Microsoft BI tool company-wide now. It is very simple to use and better than other tools available. You can easily create and share dashboards. It helps a...
Continue reading
Ashutosh Gaikwad
Manager - Information Technology
Revenue Assurance and Fraud Managment
Reliance INFOCOMM Limited
Microsoft BI (MSBI)3 years of experience

Casual User’s POC

Rating: 8 out of 10
February 8, 2020
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
Microsoft BI is being used for report generation to monitor ongoing technology projects and business initiatives. We have two users who generate reports but many consumers.
Continue reading
Verified user
Project Manager
Microsoft BI (MSBI)1 year of experience
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons
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Pricing

View all pricing

Power BI Pro

$9.99

Cloud
per user/per month

Power BI Premium

4,995

Cloud
per month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://powerbi.microsoft.com/pricing

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Features

BI Standard Reporting

Standard reporting means pre-built or canned reports available to users without having to create them.

8.7
Avg 8.1

Ad-hoc Reporting

Ad-Hoc Reports are reports built by the user to meet highly specific requirements.

8.7
Avg 8.1

Report Output and Scheduling

Ability to schedule and manager report output.

9
Avg 8.3

Data Discovery and Visualization

Data Discovery and Visualization is the analysis of multiple data sources in a search for patterns and outliers and the ability to represent the data visually.

9
Avg 8.0

Access Control and Security

Access control means being able to determine who has access to which data.

9
Avg 8.5

Mobile Capabilities

Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

8.5
Avg 8.0

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding

APIs are a set of routines, protocols, and tools for used for embedding one application in another

8.8
Avg 7.9
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Product Details

What is Microsoft BI (MSBI)?

Microsoft BI (MSBI) benefits from the ubiquity of SQL server and the set of tools built around the database, including an ETL layer, master data management, data cleansing, report and reporting.

The reporting engine is SQL Server Reporting Services which does not have the visualization capabilities of visualization tools like Tableau or Qlik. Excel has historically been the platform visualization tool. Power BI for Office 365 has done much to improve the discovery and visualization capabilities of Excel.

Microsoft now offers Power BI cloud as the visualization platform with geospatial 3D, natural-language query generation, and self-service ETL along with charting and other data visualizations that can be uploaded and shared through the Power BI service.

The Power BI platform also provides live access to on-premises Microsoft SQL Server instances, and self-service access to third-party cloud sources including Salesforce, Marketo, Zendesk, and GitHub. Mobility is supported through a native iPad app, an iPhone app.

This new platform is viewed by Microsoft as a visualization layer sitting on top of their earlier generation of installed SQL-based technology.

Microsoft BI (MSBI) Competitors

Microsoft BI (MSBI) Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Microsoft 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.

Oracle Analytics Server and Spoom are common alternatives for Microsoft BI (MSBI).

Reviewers rate Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Microsoft BI (MSBI) are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

View all alternatives
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Reviews and Ratings

(932)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Real-time Analytics: Users have appreciated the real-time stream analytics feature for making prompt business decisions. This functionality has been instrumental in enhancing their decision-making processes and improving overall efficiency.

Customizable Workspaces: Customers have highlighted the ease of customization for different project groups through a dashboard and drag-and-drop interface. This flexibility allows teams to tailor their work environments to specific project requirements, promoting collaboration and productivity.

Comprehensive Environment: Reviewers liked that Visual Studio integrated various development aspects, providing a comprehensive environment for different tasks. By combining database, ETL, reporting, and analytics development within one platform, users can streamline their workflows and accomplish diverse tasks efficiently.

High Cost and Pricing: Some users have found the cost of MSBI to be high compared to competitors, wishing for better pricing options that would make it more cost-effective and user-friendly. They emphasize the need for mid-market tier pricing to improve affordability for SMBs.

Limited Customization Options: Users have expressed a desire for more opportunities to customize visualization effects in MSBI, highlighting the current limitations in customization features available. They specifically seek detailed map visuals, the ability to use Python or R scripts, and input data within the platform.

Steep Learning Curve: Reviewers have mentioned experiencing difficulties with the steep learning curve of MSBI, especially for individuals with varying backgrounds. They stress that proper training is essential and call for simplifying installation processes to aid users during implementation.

Reviews

(1-25 of 72)
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MSBI : a new boom in the digital world!

Rating: 9 out of 10
January 04, 2024
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
2 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I use MSBI specifically for data generation and data analytics. It has helped me to create a data way more simpler and easy to understand. It improved the frequent usage of dataflow by more than one user and it has helped me to use and distribute each leads or data to other employees. It helped me build impactful connections through social media and other digital platforms.
Pros and Cons
  • It managed our projects and maintained reports and dashboards
  • It provided correct real time stream analytics which helped us to make necessary business decisions
  • It helped built the most attractive and smooth UI designs for our website
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft BI is well suited for Stream analytics, easy data integration, report creation and UI/UX designs (limited but what all available are great ones)

Microsoft BI may be less appropriate for handling huge number of datasets and difficult queries. It may also be difficult for a company with heavy data.

Multiple tools in single package.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Incentivized
September 28, 2022
LS
Lakhan Suri
SQL AND BI Developer
Carmen Solutions (Information Technology and Services, 51-200 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
4 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
In my organization, we are using MSBI to create, maintain and deploy reposts. We use all three component of MSBI like SSIS, SSRS, SSAS. We use ETL packages to maintain Dataware hosts using SSIS. We create reports using SSRS and analyze the data using the SSAS tool
Pros and Cons
  • Create packages to move data and perform different data related tasks using SSIS
  • Create reports to summarize the data in an understandable form using SSRS
  • Analyze the data provided by teams and create data cubes and reports to understand the data properly using SSAS.
Likelihood to Recommend
The interface is good, and even we can use drag and drop functionality to create packages and reports and other tasks.

"Microsoft BI is a powerful analytic tool for large data sets."

Rating: 9 out of 10
December 06, 2021
AM
Al Mubassir Muin
Software Engineer
Prime Tech Solutions Ltd. (Information Technology & Services, 51-200 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
2 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Microsoft Power BI is a beautiful and powerful data visualization tool that we use. It is a robust business analytics tool with excellent visualizations. Excel files, OneDrive, and third-party tools like SQL databases are all supported. We can use the Query revised feature to edit and transform our data, accessible anywhere. It makes it simple to import data from Excel or other sources. Many options are available for visuals, including custom visuals added to any report. With these data visualization charts, real-time automation is possible. For non-technical users, the Power BI desktop has the best part: it is simple to use. Basic visualizations can be created using a variety of drag-and-drop options. Microsoft Power BI has been fascinating to observe how visuals interact between pages.
Pros and Cons
  • Easy customization of workspaces for different project groups via a dashboard and a drag-and-drop interface.
  • Easy report generation and data attribute comparison across applications. Perfect for data-only devices.
  • Visual Studio integrates database, ETL, reporting, and analytics development. Large technical user community and rich tool feature set.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft BI works well with Microsoft's ecosystems, especially SharePoint and SQL Server. Even large, complex datasets can be manipulated and turned into useful information. The platform's lists feature can fill any relevant data gaps when used with SharePoint. Its user-friendly graphical user interface makes it simple to quickly and efficiently display data. Aside from that, the reporting tools are first-rate.

In the world of data visualization, this is one of the best virtualization tools

Rating: 9 out of 10
November 13, 2021
AT
Aononna Tazin
Customer Relationship Management Specialist
Green Light Ltd (Information Technology & Services, 51-200 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
1 year of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
With Microsoft BI (MSBI), we can create our own data sets, goals, and records with no difficulty. We have a wide range of options and features to choose from when it comes to sifting through vast amounts of data. Our organization uses its interactive and engaging layouts are the most impressive feature. This tool makes it simple to view and determine data. This site’s design is excellent, allowing us to see what would have been hundreds of lines of text in graphs and tables. To generate comprehensive documents, we adopt it to figure out large measures of SQL, Excel, and other application-related data. We use it to help our clients make more informed business decisions that lead to increased revenue.
Pros and Cons
  • An end-to-end solution that connects multiple data sources and a single vendor is ideal.
  • Excellent tools for visualizing data. Using Visual Studio, I could develop database, ETL, reporting, and analytics projects all in one environment.
  • Easy to use compared to other data analytics solutions, with powerful analytical and trending tools and easy access to our data and views.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft BI excels at presenting complex and large data sets in a manageable and informative manner. This program's user-friendly graphical interface makes it simple to view data. Other than that, the reporting features are above average for this type of software. It's widely used with Microsoft products, but it doesn't work well with other programs. With limited physical resources, the free version is recommended for minor data work.

"Easy To Use BI Platform With Effective Reporting"

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
November 01, 2021
NH
Nilufa Hossain
IT Specialist
Lamda I-TECH (Information Technology & Services, 11-50 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
1 year of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I can connect to Oracle, Snowflake, SQL Server, Excel, CSV, text files, and create custom visualizations with Microsoft Power BI Desktop. Our team can generate reports and analyze data with all of their BI tools at their disposal (SSAS SSRS and SSIS). The best feature of Power BI is its appealing and interactive layouts. Power BI simplifies visualizing and interpreting data. It is possible to use drag-and-drop relationships and data visualization with the Microsoft BI stack to solve many client data problems. Anyone, regardless of skill level, can get up and run with their first project, even with no prior knowledge of SQL. We’ll assess various options based on the client’s licensing agreements. The Microsoft BI stacks are the best choice.
Pros and Cons
  • 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.
Likelihood to Recommend
The Microsoft BI suite of tools, which comprises tools from the SQL Server suite, provides end-to-end features and functionality for businesses of any size. Users who need dashboards and reports fast will benefit from this tool. It’s simple to connect to databases, cloud storage systems, and CSV files of any type. This makes the dashboards suitable for a more rapid presentation workflow because we can easily incorporate them into PowerPoint presentations. Enterprise and standard editions are both available for some tools.

Microsoft BI

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
June 03, 2021
SA
Shyam Agrawal
Business Systems Analyst
NetApp (Information Technology & Services, 10,001+ employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
3 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Microsoft BI being used by Master Data Management team like Vendors data, Customers data, Sites data, Bank, Bank Accounts, Customer Mandates, Employees, and Products data within our organization. It solves the problem of master data attributes like payment terms, tax codes etc., discrepancies within the applications of our IT landscape.
Pros and Cons
  • Dashboard capability.
  • Comparison between data attributes of various applications.
  • Data load through Excel.
Likelihood to Recommend

Microsoft BI: The only data analysis tool you will ever need

Rating: 8 out of 10
Incentivized
May 16, 2021
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
2 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Microsoft Power BI for the data management of our projects. Some of our projects include collecting data of users who signup for webinars and Power BI is then used to analyze that data and provide us with a graphical representation of it. This is very convenient to embed in presentations, etc.
Pros and Cons
  • Easy display of data.
  • Compatible with most Microsoft products.
  • Cloud connectivity.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft BI is suited for small data mining dashboards, data analysis, etc. However, when big data is involved, usually spanning in TBs, Microsoft BI is less suitable for that.

MSBI - Bang for the Buck

Rating: 8 out of 10
Incentivized
April 26, 2021
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
15 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
The Microsoft BI stack is being used as the enterprise BI software by our organization. The full stack of BI tools (SSAS, SSRS, and SSIS) are being leveraged to provide reporting and analytics to the business. It allows us to provide standard reporting, delivered ad-hoc or via e-mail, exception based notifications, and analytics. Additionally we leverage SSIS for data warehouse ETL as well as EDI.
Pros and Cons
  • Single vendor provides a true end-to-end solution from data storage to end-user consumables.
  • Visual Studio provides a single IDE for database, ETL, reporting, and analytics development.
  • Rich feature set across the tools with 15-20 years of maturity.
Likelihood to Recommend
The Microsoft BI suite of tools, largely composed of tools within the SQL Server suite, provide a full range of end-to-end feature/functionality for businesses of any size. Some flavor of the tool features is available whether using standard or enterprise editions, making the tools accessible for even smaller businesses. Scalability has become excellent over the years, particularly for SSIS and SSRS.

A smart tool for data analysts to generate awesome reports

Rating: 10 out of 10
April 24, 2021
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
1 year of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I dont use it right now but , I used it during my research assistantship to generate beautiful visualizations for big data. At the time I was researching about covid has impacted people using twitter data and BI tools really shined in [how] easily they could connect with various platdata platforms easily.
Pros and Cons
  • Powerful analytics tools
  • Great visualization features. I really liked visualizations based on map
  • Ability to connect with multiple data sources
  • Tight integration with Microsoft services
  • Awesome user interface
Likelihood to Recommend
I think Microsoft Business Intelligence tools are really suitable for data analysts and managers who aim to generate dashboards and reports quickly. It easily integrates with data sources of any type such as databases , cloud storage systems , csv files or json file. The dashboards can be easily put into PowerPoint presentations which makes it suitable for faster presentation workflow , especially for managers.

Excellent BI Stack for an all-in-one solution architecture, however may need specialized platforms for non-traditional datasets

Rating: 8 out of 10
Incentivized
April 22, 2021
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
5 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We implement Microsoft BI solutions to clients across North America. Clients are constantly coming to us having issues gathering their data from disparate sources in order to make meaningful decisions with their information. Depending on the client and their licensing agreements, we will then evaluate options, and the Microsoft BI stack tends to be a leader of the pack to solve many client data issues.
Pros and Cons
  • Great traditional ETL data gathering tools.
  • Large technical user community.
  • Excellent data visualization tools.
Likelihood to Recommend
If the client you are dealing with already has existing Microsoft licensing agreements, selecting the Microsoft Stack may be a no-brainer. However, truly understanding the client's needs is the most important place to start versus selecting the technology stack. B2C clients that need a visualization tool may need to look elsewhere if you are looking for a data visualization tool, as costs for licensing are high at the time of writing.

Powerful tool for data visualization

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
March 05, 2021
AS
Aniket Sawant
Product Manager
Massey Services Inc (Environmental Services, 1001-5000 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
2 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We are using Microsoft BI (MSBI) to visualize our data better and provide detailed insights on KPI. It also helps in building dashboards, which help key stakeholders analyze and make decisions on a regular basis. We have been able to use the tool as a starting step for our customers to provide them with useful insights and data. Data is the key thing that everyone wants. Some of our customers are even ready to pay more if we are able to provide them with detailed information.
Pros and Cons
  • Dashbaords
  • Data collaberation
  • Multiple connectors
Likelihood to Recommend
Most suited when you have multiple data sources that need to be collected to build one single landing dashboard and you want insights with graphs and visual representations. It's easy to manage and learn, and the transition from Excel is not too difficult.

Less appropriate when you have data in various different formats and it not 100% clean. The licensing can be a pain if you are thinking of sharing the dashboards with external members.

Best when used by larger companies in a predominantly Microsoft environment

Rating: 8 out of 10
Incentivized
April 26, 2020
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
2 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We currently use Microsoft BI to power the dashboard and analytics behind our performance management platform. Previously, this was done manually by each division in their own silo, making it difficult for upper management to translate disparate information from different sources into useful business decisions. With the help of Microsoft BI, we were able to warehouse data from a variety of sources across different business units into a centralized location and extract powerful reports and dashboards to assist with strategic decision making.
Pros and Cons
  • Powerful analytical and trending tools.
  • Compatibility with different data sources (including non-Microsoft).
  • Attractive dashboard visuals.
  • Seamless integration into a Microsoft ecosystem.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft BI will fit seamlessly into Microsoft ecosystems, especially when used with SharePoint and SQL Server. Larger companies with big data sets will be able to justify the high cost of ownership. The platform works well when used to drive strategic decision making and can compensate for gaps in relevant data when used with the lists feature in SharePoint.

Microsoft PowerBI unleashes the power of your data

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
April 22, 2020
BG
Bradley Geppert
Director of IT Services
CompuType IT Solutions (Information Technology & Services, 11-50 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
1 year of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Microsoft PowerBI to analyze data from our CRM and invoicing system (Connectwise with a SQL backend). Connectwise has a large number of built-in reports and a custom report writer but it was falling short of our needs. We engaged an outside consultant to create a large set of reports and views using PowerBI. Our managment teams uses it weekly. The ability to view them online without any special software of "running" of reports make it so much easier to use than other platforms we've used.
Pros and Cons
  • Easy to access the data and views you have created
  • Simple filtering of data views
  • Ability to view live or near live data
Likelihood to Recommend
It works great for our purposes. I highly recommend hiring a consultant to set it up for you though. I don't think we would have gotten very far had we tried to setup the reports and views ourselves. We're very happy with the results we've seen so far. We've been using it for about 3-4 months.

Microsoft BI the killer data analytics and visualization tool

Rating: 8 out of 10
March 14, 2020
AG
Ashutosh Gaikwad
Revenue Assurance and Fraud Managment
Reliance INFOCOMM Limited (Telecommunications, 10,001+ employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
3 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We have deployed the Microsoft BI tool company-wide now. It is very simple to use and better than other tools available. You can easily create and share dashboards. It helps an organization in multiple ways by creating very interactive dashboards, and its possible to present complex data in a more presentable way.
Pros and Cons
  • Creating amazing dashboards
  • You can create a variety of reports and can be scheduled automatically.
  • You can integrate big data in Microsoft BI.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft BI is best suited for creating interactive dashboards, and you can connect various data sources and analyze the data. I don't have any scenario where it is less suitable

Microsoft BI is a great product. Highly Recommend.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
January 28, 2020
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
15 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We have a BI team that manages the applications and the resources and connects the multitude of data sources into its data warehouse for analytics and reporting. We create multiple dashboards for different departments as they need. One business need we use it for is wait times in clinics. We can determine what days of the year are the busiest to ensure we don't incur any staffing issues and then use the data to promote wait times on market billboards externally for potential patients.
Pros and Cons
  • Able to connect to multiple data sources.
  • Canned reports are great and custom reports are better.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft BI is great for data warehousing and consolidation.

Microsoft BI review

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
November 20, 2019
HK
Hrishikesh Kardile
Logistics Analyst
Jack Cooper Transport & Logistics (Logistics and Supply Chain, 1001-5000 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
3 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Microsoft BI has transformed the reporting process at JCT. It is being used across the whole organization due to ease of access to data and drilldowns. The company has created tools to give visibility of detailed level data to folks working at corporate as well as in the field.
Pros and Cons
  • Ability to drill down.
  • Automated refresh of data.
  • Ability to visualize data on charts and maps.
Likelihood to Recommend
BI is well suited where organizations want to automate the reporting process. Less suited where organizations want advanced analytics to supplement their BI.

Good for visualisations and reporting!

Rating: 7 out of 10
Incentivized
March 19, 2019
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
2 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Microsoft BI is used by a few data teams in my organisation in conjunction with other business intelligence tools. One of the primary reasons for using Microsoft BI is its simplicity, user friendliness, and good palate of visualisation options. Unlike most other standard BI tools in the market, Microsoft BI does provide a good array of graphical representations - thereby making it a good choice for reporting purposes.
Pros and Cons
  • Good range of visualisation features.
  • Very easy to setup and get onboard.
  • Handles data integration from multiple sources decently well.
Likelihood to Recommend
If your primary use case requires the use of several visualisation options and graphical representations, then Microsoft BI might be a good option to use. However, if your data management needs do not revolve around reporting, then it is better to go with other standard business intelligence tools available in the market like Oracle BI or Tableau.

Great BI tool

Rating: 8 out of 10
Incentivized
February 05, 2019
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
3 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We have been using a number of Microsoft products in our company and decided to go with the Microsoft BI platform due to its easy integration with Microsoft Office suite. We wanted to incorporate a business intelligence tool into our enterprise to get a full 360 view of our mission-critical data. Microsoft BI helped fill that role.
Pros and Cons
  • Report generation from our back end data warehouse has become way more streamlined using this tool.
  • By using the Power Pivot and Power View it has enabled us to access and mash up data from a variety of sources. Plus it can easily be shared with other users through simple Office applications.
Likelihood to Recommend
It's a great tool that offers full benefits of self-service BI with very little need for interaction with the IT department. The Power BI Desktop and Mobile application, in particular, has added a lot of value for our business objectives.

For the IT professional on the go

Rating: 8 out of 10
Incentivized
January 24, 2019
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
2 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use it in various pockets across our organization. We use trend analytics, reports, and interactive dashboards all the time, but the real workhorse is the Marketing cost data aggregation toolkit. We also connect PowerBI with SQL integrated OLAP databases, enabling us to leverage data housed within SAP with extracted data to create visual dashboards to track various KPI metrics on a daily basis.
Pros and Cons
  • Microsoft BI allows us to combine data from multiple sources, build data models, create visualizations, and share the results.
  • Cloud Interactive charts in a cloud that can be easily shared
  • Connectors to popular data sources, allowing us to integrate with almost any system
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft BI is a terrific tool to use when you need to pull data from various sources, and especially powerful in its ability to display the actionable information on a single dashboard. It is the "go-to" solution for the company that wants to move to the next level of pivot tables, dynamic charting and business intelligence reporting.

Microsoft BI - Putting the power into your reporting

Rating: 7 out of 10
Incentivized
January 23, 2019
SB
Shelby Bowden
Graduate Research Assistant
Western Kentucky University (Higher Education, 1001-5000 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
2 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Microsoft BI primarily just within our lab group and department due to its very specific and powerful data visualization capabilities. While it is applicable to almost any work involving data analytics, it might seem like overkill for some people. We have found that it does an excellent job in preparing and displaying the more complex data that we deal with.
Pros and Cons
  • Data display in graphs and tables
  • Compatibility with other Microsoft products
  • User-friendly and informative reporting
Likelihood to Recommend
For large and complex datasets, Microsoft BI excels in presenting the data in a manageable and informative way. Its graphical interface does a great job of quickly and easily displaying data, and the reporting tools are well above average for analytical software. It is also great when used in conjunction with other Microsoft products, but does not do well when paired with alternate programs.

Microsoft BI is the program you've been waiting for!

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
January 23, 2019
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
1 year of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
My company deals with a lot of data, and it is extremely important that we have an efficient, easy to use program with visually appealing outputs. Microsoft BI can do it all. We collect a lot of data in the field and have to look at trends in that data through time. After our own analysis, that all has to be presented to our clients who generally need self-explanatory figures. Microsoft BI has been a great program for us.
Pros and Cons
  • It is a very user-friendly interface! Doesn't take long to learn and be able to make some great graphs.
  • The accessibility and sharing capabilities are beyond wonderful-- it has made it easy to share between employees before sending out final reports and it is easy to share with clients who need something to look at before the full report is finished.
  • There are a lot of options for data display and they can be as complex or simple as you want and still look amazing.
  • They have a great online resource for help and tutorials. If you don't catch on quickly on your own, it is quite easy to do some reading online and teach yourself.
Likelihood to Recommend
It is extremely well suited for companies (of any size) dealing with large data quantities who have to compile and analyze the data in a short amount of time. I have found it very efficient for my company, as it allows a lot of flexibility for data display and is so user-friendly.

Outstanding Report Creator

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
January 17, 2019
MT
Michael Timms
Information Technology Supervisor
iQor (Telecommunications, 10,001+ employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
1 year of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Several people that I know use Microsoft PowerBI. It is mainly used for reporting for several teams, then I am able to access those reports for my own use. When I use it I import Excel sheets in, and use PowerBI to make them more visually appealing and easier to filter. It works like a charm. I have not seen any issues other than the occasional drag with data sets.
Pros and Cons
  • Makes reports more visually appealing
  • Very good variety of formats for charting information
  • Good cloud connectivity (most of the time)
Likelihood to Recommend
If you are part of an enterprise that is running daily reports to many users, and you want to up your game by making visually stunning, easy to follow reports, PowerBI is the tool for you and well worth the cost. If you are in an environment that runs one report a month, the cost might not be worth it just for some bells and whistles.

Microsoft BI - A diamond in the rough

Rating: 7 out of 10
Incentivized
January 16, 2019
IL
Ivan Leung
Data Analytics
Oxy (Oil & Energy, 10,001+ employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
1 year of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Data modeling, visualization, and analytics.

Microsoft BI is currently only used for dashboarding (descriptive analytics), where data relationship is simple, while most of the predictive analytics are done in other tools.
Pros and Cons
  • Easy integration with other Microsoft products.
  • Great integration with R/Python.
Likelihood to Recommend
Dashboarding with simple data relationship.

In the oil and gas industry, it's common to be analyzing geospatial items along with cross-sectional data, and this can easily go over the row limit that Microsoft BI has for its map visualization; this is a shortfall.

For high-level dashboarding, say, aggregated data for management reporting, Microsoft BI is perfectly suited due to its professional layout and ease of deployment. The data modeling aspect in Microsoft BI leaves much to be desired as it doesn't allow for many relationships which are rather common in the data used in our industry; this forces users to create a unique key by having to concatenate columns of interest, which tend to result in untidy data and make maintenance difficult.

Microsoft Business Intelligence is a quick and cheap way to start practicing with data visualization.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
December 07, 2018
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
1 year of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Microsoft BI is currently being used across the organization by all departments who have staff interested in tapping the hidden value of their data. It allows users to create their own queries and visualize them without a large time investment to learn the software. Ad hoc reporting is easier to accomplish using MS BI than some of the other data mining software out there.
Pros and Cons
  • Easy to learn the software.
  • Allows complex queries to be created ad hoc and ran against databases quickly.
  • Gives the users the ability to empower their departments by setting up easy to implement visualizations.
Likelihood to Recommend
Very affordable, well suited for anyone who wants to try out business intelligence and data visualization without a large time investment up front to get it going.

Not appropriate for very large databases, it can take large datasets a while to load into BI. Not a lot of granularity provided out of the box, though there are many add ons to provide further functionality available.
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