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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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Recent Reviews

Casual User’s POC

8 out of 10
February 08, 2020
Incentivized
Microsoft BI is being used for report generation to monitor ongoing technology projects and business initiatives. We have two users who …
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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

Popular Features

View all 30 features
  • Report sharing and collaboration (49)
    8.9
    89%
  • Report Formatting Templates (47)
    8.9
    89%
  • Formatting capabilities (49)
    8.0
    80%
  • Customizable dashboards (49)
    8.0
    80%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons
Verified User
Administrator in Sales
Information Technology & Services Company, 201-500 employees
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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.

8.6
Avg 8.2

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.

8.9
Avg 8.4

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 8.1

Access Control and Security

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

9
Avg 8.6

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 9.9.

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

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Reviews and Ratings

(936)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-14 of 14)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
December 06, 2021

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

Al Mubassir Muin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Al Mubassir Muin
Software Engineer
Prime Tech Solutions Ltd. (Information Technology & Services, 51-200 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Usability
9
It's simple to use, but novices may find it a little challenging. MSBI on-premises should be looking forward to tackling "modern" ETL capabilities, such as data extraction from the cloud, API calls, etc. A sizeable MSBI community can answer inquiries about technical resources. BI implementations are generally well supported in most organizations' ecosystems.
November 13, 2021

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

Aononna Tazin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Aononna Tazin
Customer Relationship Management Specialist
Green Light Ltd (Information Technology & Services, 51-200 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Usability
9
It's easy to learn and deploy, and it works for us. We have a very responsive customer service team, and all issues are resolved promptly. The tool requires initial training, but it's just a few clicks to generate a good report after that. Microsoft BI (MSBI) ensures that the applications are always in sync with the most accurate data.
November 01, 2021

"Easy To Use BI Platform With Effective Reporting"

Nilufa Hossain | TrustRadius Reviewer
Nilufa Hossain
IT Specialist
Lamda I-TECH (Information Technology & Services, 11-50 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Usability
9
It's easy to use, but not the most user-friendly for new users. MSBI should consider how to deal with modern ETL capabilities now available. Getting data using APIs and cloud services, and so on. Customer service is prompt in responding to issues and resolving them. BI implementation is most successful in organizations with a supportive ecosystem.
April 26, 2021

MSBI - Bang for the Buck

Verified User
Employee in Information Technology
Architecture & Planning Company, 1001-5000 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Usability
7
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.
April 24, 2021

A smart tool for data analysts to generate awesome reports

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Information Technology & Services Company, 1001-5000 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Usability
9
Again , I used it on a personal level for generating quick visualizations for geographical data. I think for me as a programmer I found it easy to use , the whole workflow of connecting data to Microsoft BI to generating dashboard of visualizations was smooth and easy to learn. So usability wise I rate it highly. There are a whole lot of nifty features such as predictive analysis which I didn't use but I am sure will be useful for other audience.
April 22, 2021

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

Verified User
Contributor in Professional Services
Computer Software Company, 51-200 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Usability
8
Overall simple to use from a development standpoint. The Large MSBI community base helps with technical resource queries. MSBI on-prem stack should look forward on how to tackle "modern" ETL capabilities, i.e. pulling data from the cloud, API calls, etc. Overall the ecosystem is pretty good for BI implementations at most organizations.
March 05, 2021

Powerful tool for data visualization

AS
Aniket Sawant
Product Manager
Massey Services Inc (Environmental Services, 1001-5000 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Usability
9
Love it! Microsoft BI (MSBI) is a great tool and Microsoft is constantly making updates to make it better every day. It's an easy tool to learn and there are tons of resources available on the web to help with any questions you may have. The training is helpful, detailed, and updated on a regular basis. If you think that there are some features or capabilities missing, you can reach out to the Microsoft BI (MSBI) team and they will definitely help you out.
November 04, 2014

Microsoft Power BI - Excel Lovers Dream

Sean Warren | TrustRadius Reviewer
Sean Warren
CIO (Chief Information Officer)
Mountain Medical (Hospital & Health Care, 201-500 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Usability
8
Usability is great. This product will make most feel right at home. I feel like this question should be asked from two points of view:

1. Creator of reports, Data Models, Views etc: Most Advanced users will still rate the usability as very high. Its capabilities are still robust. However when compared to other Enterprise Class products it will not do many of the advanced application queries.

2. End user, Consumer: All end users will feel right at home. Many will be able to create connections to already created data models and other external publicly available sources like twitter, Facebook, World Health order etc... These connections are then in turn very very easily available to publish to SharePoint and Power BI.

It took me a while to understand what I think is Microsoft's strategy. This will handle all but the most of robust needs. Much like many American made cars and my favorite Corvette, Microsoft is fast, has it own break downs from time to time but all of these are really to tolerate when the price is considered and the next one up that can out perform it is three to four times as much money makes this an easy one to still recommend.
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