January 15, 2016
Microsoft BI Review: "Great value for money with Microsoft's BI"
Reliability and Availability
10
TrustRadius
MicrosoftGreat value for money with Microsoft's BI2013-10-07T19:32:03.323ZSQL Server Management Studio provides a nice interface to view, query, and modify the database tables. The interface is user friendly and logical.
Microsoft, in general, has fantastic educational pricing. This allowed the TCO to be much lower for our university.
Microsoft tools integrate nicely with one another. We are also in the process of implementing SharePoint. We plan to use SSRS (.rdl) reports which will integrate with SharePoint - and also will have the ability to experiment with PowerView (.rdlx) dashboards and PowerPivot (Microsoft's in-memory BI tool).,The end-user reporting tool, Report Builder, is not that flexible. We feel that the Cognos Report Studio tool is more robust in this area.,9,,10,Firstly, reduction in cost from the three previous vendors which we were supporting. Just by replacing these legacy pieces of software, we have saved money.
We are working to quantify the cost savings achieved in business improvement from the reporting that we have provided. We don't have a specific figure as of yet, but the reports that are now available 'on-the-fly' have saved many man hours. Previously, data needed to be consolidated across multiple systems which could have taken weeks of manual manipulation. Now, this data is available in one platform and we have cross-functional reporting capability.,3000,8,We use the database platform to warehouse the data from our disparate admissions, student information, human resources, finance, and advancement systems.
SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is used to move the data from these ERPs into staging - then onto our dimension model and SSAS cubes.
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is used to report on this dimensional data and provide parameterized, drill-through reporting.
SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) is used to build cubes for specific functional areas. These cubes can then connect back to the dimensional data as required for drill-through analysis.,Using the enterprise version, we leveraged data-driven subscriptions. This feature allows you to publish reports to specific individuals or groups based upon data events. This has become useful for a wide variety of things. In a previous company, I used this feature to drive process improvements by notifying teams of early task completion. In some cases, we were able to drive a process that typically took 4 weeks down to a process that only took 2.5 weeks. That led to revenue gains.
Since Microsoft BI contains an out-of-the-box ETL tool (SSIS), we've been able to leverage this functionality to help support other projects. Recently, we created a SalesForce integration to Workday.
We have been able to setup nightly data feeds using SSIS which extract known sets of data for our statisticians. While the data isn't formatted in SAS dataset, it outputs the data in a common format that is easy for the statisticians to consume and transform into a useful SAS dataset.,,Implemented in-house
Professional services company,8,Self-taught,We had Microsoft SQL BI specialists on staff. We would advise to have training on the platform otherwise.,10,No,8,10,7,Ellucian Banner.
Workday HCM.
Workday Financials.
PeopleSoft Admissions.
Apply Yourself.
Sage Millennium.,We will continue to support systems that are key pillars to our business units.,Utilize Microsoft's Higher Education EES (Enrollment for Education Soulutions) licensing. This is a great value.Robert GoodmanMicrosoft BI platform review2013-10-15T22:50:28.301ZEasy development tools with ability to support large data.,Features of the predictive analytics are not the best in the industry yet.,9,,10,Rapid report development, simple web-based reporting tools, easy support, common development techniques.,60,5,SQL Server Data Warehouse and Microsoft BI platform allow us to collect data from transactional sources, transform to reportable format, and aggregate to a level that can be used to measure business operational metrics.,,Implemented in-house,9,Self-taught,Yes, it was a simple deployment due to ease of the SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) UI.,9,No,8,9,9,7,Microsoft SharePoint,Defined price versus value, and finalized support terms.Boris Skylar
Unspecified
Microsoft BI
677 Ratings
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