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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

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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.

8.9
Avg 8.1

Access Control and Security

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

8.9
Avg 8.6

Mobile Capabilities

Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

8.5
Avg 7.9

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

(937)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 73)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • 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
  • 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
Lakhan Suri | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
  • It should be an open source tool for a vast variety of implementation.
  • You need to buy a licensed server to maintain MSBI
  • Need a proper course or content to learn concepts, which sometimes creates difficulty.
Al Mubassir Muin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • 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.
  • Costs are high compared to the competition, and it could be more user-friendly.
  • As a browser-based app, it doesn't have as many eye-catching charts and graphs as some others, and some browsers are better than others at running it.
  • Most of the tasks require a pro version, and proper training is necessary to use it, but you can learn how to use it.
Aononna Tazin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • 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.
  • It has limited visual options, and Microsoft BI (MSBI) isn't the best for advanced modeling and analysis.
  • Excel proficiency is required before diving into PowerBI, and reshaping and reorganizing data is possible but not easy.
  • Additional training and tutorials for Microsoft BI (MSBI) would be helpful for organizations with a large number of users and better pricing options required.
Nilufa Hossain | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
  • Only the pro version allows me to complete most tasks, and there aren't many options for customizing the interface.
  • Browser-based, so some browsers won't work, and the price isn't as competitive.
  • It doesn't have as many visually appealing graphs and charts, and it's not as intuitive to use as some others, but we can get used to it.
June 03, 2021

Microsoft BI

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Dashboard capability.
  • Comparison between data attributes of various applications.
  • Data load through Excel.
  • Integration between different data sources and MSBI.
  • Dashboard features.
  • Performance.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
  • Reunification of installers to simplify the process for both server installs and developer (SSRS now split out, BI tools not all within one package).
  • Ongoing Visual Studio instability.
  • Better server to server deployment options for SSRS.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • 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
  • Steep learning curve depending on your background. For me it was easy but I saw some people struggling with it
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Great traditional ETL data gathering tools.
  • Large technical user community.
  • Excellent data visualization tools.
  • The race to perfect gathering of Non-Traditional datasets is on-going; with Microsoft arguably not the leader of the pack in this category.
  • Licensing options for PowerBI visualizations may be a factor. I.e. if you need to implement B2C PowerBI visualizations, the cost is considerably high especially for startups.
  • Some clients are still resistant putting their data on the cloud, which restricts lots of functionality to Power BI.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Powerful analytical and trending tools.
  • Compatibility with different data sources (including non-Microsoft).
  • Attractive dashboard visuals.
  • Seamless integration into a Microsoft ecosystem.
  • Pricing is not as competitive as alternatives.
  • Online / Cloud versions are lacking in features.
  • Desktop (free) version has limited features.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Easy to access the data and views you have created
  • Simple filtering of data views
  • Ability to view live or near live data
  • It runs in a browser and some browsers work better than others
  • Sometimes you start getting wacky results and you have to refresh the page to reset the views
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Creating amazing dashboards
  • You can create a variety of reports and can be scheduled automatically.
  • You can integrate big data in Microsoft BI.
  • It gets hanged while developing complex report which hampers productivity
  • You require pro version to do most of the task
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Good range of visualisation features.
  • Very easy to setup and get onboard.
  • Handles data integration from multiple sources decently well.
  • Not advisable to use Microsoft BI as a standalone primary tool for data management.
  • The process of moulding or repurposing data is not easy.
  • Integrating Microsoft BI with non-Microsoft tools is a huge pain.
Thomas Young | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • As with most every other Microsoft product, Microsoft BI makes setting up and analyzing data about as easy as it gets.
  • Creating graphics is very easy.
  • Connecting to multiple data sources works just fine.
  • Simple reporting and integration with other Microsoft products is great.
  • Microsoft BI is not top of the for advanced analysis and modeling.
  • Reshaping and restructuring data is doable, but not super simple.
  • Customizing visualizations is sometimes difficult to impossible.
February 05, 2019

Great BI tool

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
  • The implementation time for Microsoft BI can be fairly lengthy. It's definitely longer than some of the other products we evaluated.
  • The upfront investment in terms of capital and time is fairly large with this tool. It requires a compliant Microsoft SQL server in the back end to leverage most of its functionality.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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
  • More authentication methods to allow power users to connect directly to Web APIs.
  • It can be quite difficult to setup without guided assistance from experienced users
  • Limits on dataset size.
Shelby Bowden | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Data display in graphs and tables
  • Compatibility with other Microsoft products
  • User-friendly and informative reporting
  • Data compatibility with non-Microsoft products
  • Data sourcing functionality is poor
  • Offline server functionality impedes out of country work
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
  • The Microsoft BI app can be finicky at times and it would be great for that to be more streamlined. We sometimes require data to be shown during fieldwork, and a functional app makes a big difference.
  • The program doesn't always remember my settings. This may just be a glitch with the program on my computer, but it would be a huge timesaver if I didn't have to reset my preferences every week.
Michael Timms | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Makes reports more visually appealing
  • Very good variety of formats for charting information
  • Good cloud connectivity (most of the time)
  • Need to be proficient with Excel before diving into PowerBI
  • Only available with a monthly subscription
  • Steep learning curve for many users (including me)
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