Comprehensive enterprise BI Tool
April 28, 2016

Comprehensive enterprise BI Tool

Tapan Jain | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Analytics Enterprise

Overall Satisfaction with MicroStrategy Analytics

MicroStrategy Analytics is used by our organization to create highly interactive dashboards and reports with cutting edge visualizations. Currently, the front end and dashboards are being developed by only a single department but reports and dashboards are consumed across the organization and even clients.
The main advantage of MicroStrategy Analytics is that it can be accessed online through a web browser which eliminates the need to carry heavy Excel files. Also, the reports and dashboards are updated in real time which was not possible with Excel based dashboards.
  • It helps create dashboards that are personalized to a particular type of user. The access to the specific sections of dashboards and reports can be controlled and only the intended audience can access that information. This helps with distributing the same dashboard to different departments and even competitors.
  • The reports are completely responsive to different devices and can be accessed via any device of any resolution. Also, MicroStrategy offers a vast range of power visualizations like heat maps and can also connect with third party applications like Google Maps for additional functionality. Also, this functionality is present even on mobile devices.
  • With its Online Analytical Processing capabilities, users can modify the reports by slicing and manipulating the data as per their needs without executing the SQL query in the backend. This helps in saving a lot of development time as individual users can modify the report online by using filters and slicers without requiring the coding know how.
  • ESRI ArcGIS maps can only be integrated and accessed with internet connectivity which becomes a limitation when using only with LAN connectivity.
  • The community/forum is not very active with a limited number of users and low quality content.
  • Some functionalities are missing from the web version and are only present in the desktop version. Also, dashboards over the web still lack integration with HTML5.
MicroStrategy is well suited when reports have a wider audience but some parts need to be hidden from a specific audience. When there are very stringent deadlines to develop a new report or a dashboard, MicroStrategy should be avoided as it has a longer development time when compared to alternatives like Tableau. Also, when the reports are to be consumed while on the go, MicroStrategy has an edge over other alternatives.

MicroStrategy Analytics Feature Ratings

Pixel Perfect reports
6
Customizable dashboards
8
Report Formatting Templates
7
Drill-down analysis
10
Formatting capabilities
8
Integration with R or other statistical packages
6
Report sharing and collaboration
8
Publish to Web
8
Publish to PDF
8
Report Versioning
7
Report Delivery Scheduling
6
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
7
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
8
Predictive Analytics
7
Multi-User Support (named login)
10
Role-Based Security Model
9
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
7
Responsive Design for Web Access
9
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
8