MSBI : a new boom in the digital world!
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. …
Starting at $9.99 per user/per month
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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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Popular Features
- Report sharing and collaboration (49)8.989%
- Report Formatting Templates (47)8.989%
- Formatting capabilities (49)8.080%
- Customizable dashboards (49)8.080%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
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
Features
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Product Details
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- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
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.
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 Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | No |
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 9.9.
The most common users of Microsoft BI (MSBI) are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Reviews and Ratings
(937)Attribute Ratings
Reviews
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January 04, 2024
MSBI : a new boom in the digital world!
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
MSBI for my company is a like using a car that has a good balance of features, is easy to use, has good support, and works well with other things or requirement you may have.
We specifically chose it because it is one of the promising platform whose support team will never let us down. Plus all the features of MSBI are A1 and productive according to my team's analysis.
We specifically chose it because it is one of the promising platform whose support team will never let us down. Plus all the features of MSBI are A1 and productive according to my team's analysis.
September 28, 2022
Multiple tools in single package.
Easy to understand, resources easily available in market to outsource the work.
December 06, 2021
"Microsoft BI is a powerful analytic tool for large data sets."
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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 decision-makers want to achieve the outcome with the least amount of additional licensing costs. But first, it's essential to understand the client's goals for the data journey.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Outsourcing work is easy to understand, and there are plenty of resources available in the marketplace. It is expensive, but it is still significantly less costly than the alternatives. Results from Microsoft BI (MSBI) are dependable; therefore, there is no problem with trust. Microsoft BI (MSBI) has a dedicated customer service team that is always ready to assist us.
November 01, 2021
"Easy To Use BI Platform With Effective Reporting"
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 promptly responds to inquiries. For any unresolved issues, there are numerous videos available online.
June 03, 2021
Microsoft BI
Easy data load through Excel.
Data load using standard API is possible.
Data synchronized and harmonized.
Improved data quality.
Data Maintenance efforts greatly reduced.
Data comparison between multiple applications within IT landscape is possible because of which data attributes like payment terms, tax codes, General Ledger Accounts etc., can be kept in sync.
Data load using standard API is possible.
Data synchronized and harmonized.
Improved data quality.
Data Maintenance efforts greatly reduced.
Data comparison between multiple applications within IT landscape is possible because of which data attributes like payment terms, tax codes, General Ledger Accounts etc., can be kept in sync.
BI is a little more user-friendly along with tighter integration with Microsoft apps.
April 26, 2021
MSBI - Bang for the Buck
Each of the solutions has their pros and cons, but Microsoft's BI offerings provide the best "bang for the buck." Few solutions available offer the breadth of feature functionality in a single package, with BI and database generally being sold as separate offerings. However, even if using only the BI tools (say as an existing Oracle customer), the value proposition still holds up. As subscription licensing has evolved, Microsoft has remained at least competitive, and generally a far better cost option than competitors. Ignoring price, the overall feature set is on par with virtually any other BI suite on the market. Of course, there are some aspects of other tools that I with MS would incorporate (such as a true semantic layer such as Cognos Framework Manager), but when taken as a whole across feature set, price, support, community, etc. it is the best overall value.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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 truly understand what the client is trying to achieve in the short and long term of their data journey.
March 05, 2021
Powerful tool for data visualization
The biggest player against Microsoft BI (MSBI) was Tableau, which was acquired by Salesforce. Recently there have been other standalone software/applications that provide similar functionality to Microsoft BI (MSBI). Because my company is a Microsoft shop, we have not explored other options. But I believe you can easily find other solutions. Google also has its own stack of applications that provide similar features to Microsoft BI (MSBI). Although I think Microsoft BI (MSBI) might be more powerful and resourceful than its competitors.
Tableau's feature set is comparable to Microsoft BI at a potentially lower cost, however, Microsoft provides better integration into a Microsoft Environment and more flexible deployment options. Microsoft also provides better enterprise support than Tableau (although this may be subjective). In the end, Microsoft BI was chosen to power our performance management platform thanks to its seamless integration into the backend (SharePoint).
April 22, 2020
Microsoft PowerBI unleashes the power of your data
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.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Tableau is very slow, and it's very complicated to use, whereas Microsoft BI is faster and more efficient.
January 28, 2020
Microsoft BI is a great product. Highly Recommend.
Ease of use and it's fluent with Office products for exporting and presentations of data.
November 20, 2019
Microsoft BI review
Microsoft BI is much cheaper.
March 19, 2019
Good for visualisations and reporting!
Unlike Oracle Business Intelligence Cloud Service (OBICS), Microsoft BI offers a good range of visualisation options. However, it falls behind in terms of data management capabilities. If your requirements are more data intensive and less reporting intensive, then Microsoft BI may not be the best tool.
In terms of similarities, Microsoft BI is closest to Tableau - however, I would still recommend Tableau as a better option than Microsoft BI because Tableau allows data integration across multiple sources comfortably.
In terms of similarities, Microsoft BI is closest to Tableau - however, I would still recommend Tableau as a better option than Microsoft BI because Tableau allows data integration across multiple sources comfortably.
February 18, 2019
Microsoft BI is great if you're looking for a BI product that feels like the other Microsoft products you use
Microsoft BI has an advantage over other BI platforms because it integrates nicely with the Microsoft products, such as Excel, Microsoft SQL, Access, and all the other parts of the Microsoft business. A user that has spent time with Microsoft products will find Microsoft BI to be similar in functionality to other Microsoft products. Microsoft puts ease of use as a top priority, and it shows up in Microsoft BI. Microsoft BI is, of course, not the top business intelligence platform. It does not have the nicest graphics, the biggest user base, or the most advanced analytics capabilities. It's sort of a starter BI solution.
February 05, 2019
Great BI tool
January 24, 2019
For the IT professional on the go
We initially considered Google Analytics, but eventually decided against it due to the licensing terms and the associated software that we would need to incorporate. IBM Cognos is great at what it does, as long as you are trying to integrate with software that is on their compatibility list. Thus, in the end, we went with Microsoft BI.
January 23, 2019
Microsoft BI - Putting the power into your reporting
- Torqus Systems POS, UltiPro, Sisense, Domo, Zoho Analytics, Dundas BI, Looker, Qualtrics, Infragistics ReportPlus, QlikView, Tableau Desktop, SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform and IBM Cognos
Specific data displays are some of the strongest aspects of Microsoft BI when compared to alternate programs. It also does a superior job in compatibility with many programs, especially those from Microsoft. Since my company primarily uses Office 365 and other Microsoft products, Microsoft BI is the natural choice among competitors.
January 23, 2019
Microsoft BI is the program you've been waiting for!
The other programs listed are excellent. I have always been a fan of Google products because they are user-friendly and easily accessible by most. They also produce excellent data outputs. Google is still great for companies of any size but I believe Microsoft BI is an even better alternative for larger companies especially. The cost difference may be something worth taking into account if your company is on a very limited budget, but Microsoft BI is for sure a worthy investment.
January 17, 2019
Outstanding Report Creator
- Whatagraph
To be honest, I have never used anything similar to PowerBI. I have seen reports that come from Whatagraph, but I have never used it myself, so that is the only application that I can sort of compare it too. Just looking at the visuals from both, PowerBI reports are better looking, but that is an unfair comparison because I have not used it and don't know if they have similar options. I have just seen the end result.
January 16, 2019
Microsoft BI - A diamond in the rough
Microsoft BI is definitely catching up, especially with monthly updates.
December 07, 2018
Microsoft Business Intelligence is a quick and cheap way to start practicing with data visualization.
SQL server allows for a member of the database administrators team to assist the end users with queries designed to pull information out of the back end databases. With Microsoft BI the end users can be given connections that allow them to create their own queries, pull the data out, and visualize it for easier consumption.