Skip to main content
TrustRadius
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.

Read more
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 …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

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
Return to navigation

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
Return to navigation

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
Return to navigation

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).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(936)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(26-50 of 73)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
December 07, 2018

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

Verified User
Analyst in Information Technology
Government Administration Company, 5001-10,000 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
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.
July 14, 2018

Ideal for Data Analytics and Visualization, but not for noobs

Zee Gimon | TrustRadius Reviewer
Zee Gimon
Digital Operations Manager
The App Solutions (Information Technology and Services, 51-200 employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
If you want Excel on steroids in terms of graphs and data analysis - this is your beast. It has all kinds of visualizations available and you can filter the data to make it as precise as you want. We use it for managing the data from the mobile app and to create visual reports of the users' actions.
June 19, 2018

Power BI will put an S on your chest

JL
Jason Leidig
Program Cost Schedule and Control Analyst
Wood (Airlines/Aviation, 10,001+ employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Flexibility, engagement, training resources, updates, cost, implementation, ease of use, support; these are the reasons why I would recommend Power BI. Power BI is best suited for situations where collaboration is needed among several different groups who are working concurrently on different activities. Where there are multiple levels of data that need to be parsed through. It's difficult to think of a scenario where it wouldn't be beneficial other than the obvious.
May 03, 2018

Great Graphics presentations

Yemsi Pino | TrustRadius Reviewer
Yemsi Pino
Planificador Territorial II
MPPP (Environmental Services, 501-1000 employees)
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
The software is really well designed to make presentations and graphics once the data in the sheets are complete and there are no more corrections. Instead, if you feel that you need corrections you will have to start the process over again. It's frustrating. I think this software requires more capabilities than others, network knowledge and how the Microsoft software is connected.
April 09, 2018

Microsoft BI - Good choice for departmental deployments and limited budget

Gonzalo Angeleri | TrustRadius Reviewer
Gonzalo Angeleri
Regional Product & Solution Architect Manager
GRUPO DATCO (Information Technology and Services, 501-1000 employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Well suited for:
- Customers with a Microsoft landscape who use MS Office or Office 365, SQL Server and Active Directory a lot.
- Departmental deployments.
- Self-Service Capabilities
- Small Budgets
- Mobile Capabilities

Some issues with:
- non-Microsoft environments
- Complex data sources like SAP.
- Complex calculations in Power BI

December 15, 2016

Microsoft BI - a complete BI offer at last!

Charles Saulnier | TrustRadius Reviewer
Charles Saulnier
Conseiller à l'implantation, Solutions de performance et gestion de l'information
Logibec (Health, Wellness and Fitness, 201-500 employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft BI is a no-brainer for departments or enterprises who already work with MS Office or in a Windows environment, since users can easily make connections with actions they already know. The added functionalities in Excel to connect to data sources, build tables and relationships through PowerPivot makes it a powerful tool that 99% of people already have access to. When linked with SQL Server and Power BI, you have a complete solution for analysing and visualizing data that is easy to use, but at the same time scalable to work with complex DBs and datasets.
November 15, 2016

Microsoft BI from a Consultant's Perspective

Megan Juell | TrustRadius Reviewer
Megan Juell
Business Intelligence Consultant
Decentrix Inc. (Computer Software, 11-50 employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
It is well suited for organizations that require a scalable environment, rich with features. Windows integrated security and role configurations also make it especially easy to configure advanced security for a large number of users. It may be less necessary/appropriate for projects with simpler needs or organizations running on operating systems other than Windows.
November 07, 2016

Microsoft BI Review

Verified User
Manager in Marketing
Marketing and Advertising Company, 51-200 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft BI is great if you are a proficient Excel user. This program allows you to get more from your data and there are not many scenarios where Microsoft BI would not be suited for creating reports and visualizations. Our only hangup with Microsoft BI is the issues we had with integration and importing/exporting data from some sources.
October 24, 2016

Microsoft BI- Multiple sources, One solution

Jasmeet S Babra | TrustRadius Reviewer
Jasmeet S Babra
Marketing Data Analyst
Brandify (Information Technology and Services, 11-50 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft BI can digest data from a variety of sources like Google Analytics, mailchimp, Facebook, salesforce etc., which is great from a marketing point of view. Data is changing every minute and for a big organization, getting these updates live is a great feature.
October 17, 2016

Clean and Clear Data Analytics

AH
Alina Hera
Customer Service Team Manager
Ruukki (Construction, 1001-5000 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft BI is best after a bit of training on how to use the program. It is straight forward to use after that and easy to integrate with all your Microsoft programs, and I would recommend it as the next step after Excel because Microsoft BI's capabilities can be very similar to that of Excel.
September 26, 2016

Think hard on your BI goals

Haibo Yang | TrustRadius Reviewer
Haibo Yang
BI Reporting Specialist
Impac Services - Risk & Safety Management Solutions (Professional Training & Coaching, 51-200 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Most suitable scenarios: -Large scale report automation and distribution. -Self service BI for internal and external users. -Relational databases and multidimensional models. -Comprehensive security & access control. Less appropriate scenarios: -Non-relational databases -Low budget -Tight timeframe I'd invite anyone reading this far to think hard on his/her goals with BI. Are you trying to build a solid and endurable BI service for your clients or your own organisation? Or do you just need to have some quick visualisation of the data you have to make strategic or operational decisions in a few weeks time? Implementing a MicrosoftS BI stack takes time, knowledge, and skills, none of these comes cheaply these days. If your answer to my first question is "yes", go ahead and study Microsoft BI a bit more then make your decision on your own. If you see my second question is most relevant to you, go and grab a web-based BI tool such as SiSense, Tableau, Splunk, and so on. Take the free trial option and see if you can test your ideas fast and at a lower cost. Good luck!
August 07, 2016

It's Excel for Big Data. So easy, so cheap, so fast, and powerful enough most everything.

Alexander Lubyansky | TrustRadius Reviewer
Alexander Lubyansky
Technical Leader for Modeling and Simulation
MITRE (Management Consulting, 5001-10,000 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend

Visualization of business data: it's good, fast, and cheap. What more can you ask? With more specialized visualization needs, use Tableau or write code. For complex scientific visualizations, write code.

It's also so much easier communicating about the tool and its visuals to other people who don't spend their lives analyzing complex data. "It's Excel for Big Data!" is really quite simple.

July 12, 2016

Microsoft BI is Worth a Look for Business Intelligence

Micah Jones | TrustRadius Reviewer
Micah Jones
Chief Information Officer
Phoenix Ortho (Computer Software, 11-50 employees)
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
If you are a Microsoft partner this is a no-brainer as it is likely free to you. Besides that I don't see a reason to get one of the more expensive options over this. It seems to do everything as the other solutions I have tried.
June 13, 2016

When you do your homework, Microsoft BI can be a real reporting asset.

Verified User
Analyst in Marketing
Semiconductors Company, 10,001+ employees
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
I think it is really well suited in a company that completely understands where the information will be coming from. If they understand all of the connections from the inputting information it will help with the overall implementation and execution of the project. So it's worth doing the due diligence yourselves or hiring a company that specializes in the implementation of BI to help understand all of the incoming data and how it connects to itself. If you do your homework the implementation will be successful for any company but if the time is not put in to identifying and understanding where all of the information is coming from it will not be as successful.
March 08, 2016

A personal exprience with Microsoft BI

Verified User
Consultant in Information Technology
Banking Company, 10,001+ employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
In my experience Microsoft BI solutions are very well suited to implement reporting solutions for medium to large size enterprises and departments. It can handle loads very well and has very flexible development tools that are integrated very easily with Sharepoint and MS Office.
February 20, 2016

Intelligent big boy Microsoft BI

Ved Mishra | TrustRadius Reviewer
Ved Mishra
SharePoint/MS Project Server Engineer
Merck (Pharmaceuticals, 10,001+ employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
I found that Tableau is more efficient in providing options to calculate measures, percentages as compared to MS BI Power Pivot. Also, Tableau is more web-friendly. However, analytic capability is well suited in Microsoft BI. Microsoft BI is well suited in larger organization setup which requires various integration with external line of business applications. Sometimes, the cost impact can be bigger for smaller organizations as they look for savings while shopping for minimum viable product.
February 15, 2016

Simple, snappy, flashy

Verified User
Project Manager in Other
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering Company, 51-200 employees
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
We used Microsoft BI to pinpoint main locations of which we were performing work. We then broke it out for comparing places of which the most money was earned in comparison to places where less money was earned. We then were able to create a focal point where we should aim to do more work or where we were likely to deal with fewer issues and so on.
Return to navigation