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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 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

(1-15 of 15)
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
Support Rating
9
Microsoft's Business Intelligence (MSBI) has a built-in site that allows you to vote on user enhancements and bugs. A priority list will help the development team quickly identify and address the most pressing issues. MSBI developers have a large online community that helps with technical issues. Customer service and data support have been excellent throughout this entire experience.
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
Support Rating
9
We have a positive outlook on Microsoft as a company in general. Microsoft's support team is quick to respond and fix issues. Minor issues can be solved quickly and easily, thanks to videos provided by the support team. Step-by-step instructions are available from Microsoft to help us get up to speed on the tool's features.
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
Support Rating
9
It was a pleasure doing business with everyone at Customer Service and Data Support throughout the entire process. Support staff can provide videos to help with minor issues right away. They encouraged user feedback on MSBI’s website. This raises the most pressing issues to the top, where the development team can then focus on them.
June 03, 2021

Microsoft BI

SA
Shyam Agrawal
Business Systems Analyst
NetApp (Information Technology & Services, 10,001+ employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Support Rating
9
When it comes to applications support no one can beat Microsoft. They are available 24/7. Replies to the support incidents are quick and effective. Support personnel are competent, they really know their product, and solve the incident tickets with accuracy. That is the reason why Customer satisfaction index is high.
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
Support Rating
8
Microsoft support in my experience has always been very good. This is from a standpoint of submitting tickets as well as having accessibility to resources at Microsoft which have included free architectural review sessions, road mapping, and training provided at Microsoft's facilities. In addition, the user base is huge and there are no shortage of sites to ask and find answers to technical questions. The major knock is that historically, MS has been slow to respond to feature requests. That has begun to change, but tools such as the MSBI suite still lag behind the rapid development seen with tools such as Power BI.
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
Support Rating
8
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.
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
Support Rating
9
They have amazing update information through videos and newsletters. You can find a lot of training on their platform, which is helpful as well. They have monthly updates and the team makes sure they update their documents regularly. It is easy to reach out to the Microsoft BI (MSBI) team for any help or suggestion that you may want through their forum or chat boards.
November 13, 2014

Thoughts on MS BI

Stephanie Grice | TrustRadius Reviewer
Stephanie Grice
Business Intelligence Analyst
Praeses (Information Technology and Services, 51-200 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Support Rating
4
My past experience with Microsoft technical support was not really favorable. While they were friendly and somewhat responsive, they were not helpful with the types of issues we faced.
November 04, 2014

Best TCO of any comprehensive database and analytics platform

Jacob Saunders | TrustRadius Reviewer
Jacob Saunders
National Practice Director - Business Intelligence
Neudesic
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Support Rating
7
While support from Microsoft isn't necessarily always best of breed, you're also not paying the price for premium support that you would on other platforms. The strength of the stack is in the ecosystem that surrounds it. In contrast to other products, there are hundreds, even thousands of bloggers that post daily as well as vibrant user communities that surround the tool. I've had much better luck finding help with SQL Server related issues than I have with any other product, but that help doesn't always come directly from Microsoft.
September 06, 2013

Build a highly automated and flexible BI solution for your organization!

Sean Brady | TrustRadius Reviewer
Sean Brady
Business Intelligence Architect
BAASS Business Solutions (Transportation/Trucking/Railroad, 5001-10,000 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Support Rating
10
I am basing this rating not on Microsoft's paid premium support, but rather on the resources available (both from Microsoft and 3rd parties) to BI consumers. There is such a huge community working with and building solutions with the Microsoft BI stack (SQL Server) that I have always been able to find a solution (or at least a workaround) to any problems that have come up.
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