Birst almost live access
Updated January 09, 2019
Birst almost live access
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
birst appliance
Modules Used
- birst connect live access
Overall Satisfaction with Birst
Birst is used as a delivery mechanism to display data to our client. We collect data on mobile device usage patterns, as well as analyst forecasts across many technology areas, and use Birst to visualise this data via dashboards that clients access from our website.
- Connects directly to many types of external data sources, enabling us to plug into data where it already exists
- Visualiser provides a user friendly interface for non-tech users to build their own databases
- HTML dashboards look far better now than the original Flash versions
- Connectivity between the live sources frequently drops and does not reconnect automatically
- Cannot add dynamic titles to reports - so although can create a dynamic text box, this title cannot be exported along with the report
- Designer runs query as soon as an attribute is dropped on screen - would be useful if you know you need to add another 4, to be able to disable the query execution until all items have been added
- sql analysis services, Microsoft Power BI and Tableau Desktop
Birst is not as intuitive or flexible for cube design and aggregations as using SQL Analysis services - at times seems an odd mix between gui based, and required specific code.
Power BI is the tool of choice internally, but is limited by security settings that we need to enable to suport client access.
Tableau is unfortunately beyond our budget to provide the solution we would like to deliver.
Power BI is the tool of choice internally, but is limited by security settings that we need to enable to suport client access.
Tableau is unfortunately beyond our budget to provide the solution we would like to deliver.
Infor Birst Feature Ratings
Additional Questions on Birst Capabilities
Using Birst
5 - Internal data analysis, and dashboard design for client facing dashboards
2 - Birst requires a lot of patience to use well.
Benefits from input by BI designers, and data modellers / designers
Benefits from input by BI designers, and data modellers / designers
- Visualisation of data analysis
- Presentation of data in visual format for clients, delivered via internet
- Analysis tool for data held in SQL Analysis Services
- Live access connections to SQL Analysis services cubes in MDX and Tabular format
- using prompts to enable custom searches of data
- Basic dashboarding of KPI's
- Client facing data access
Yes - Excel_Reports, as way of publishing data to website for clients
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
Birst was the best value product in the market place at the time, for the functionality we believed we needed
Birst Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal - Processes are in place for changes to Birst - the main one being the regression testing required across multiple appliance servers in dev / UAT / live whenever a new Birst patch is released
- VM that is provided is restricted to Windows 2008 - no support for 2012 or higher
- Cannot integrate with our own host providers as there is no real "install"
- Permissions didn't seem to integrate with our AD
Birst Training
- Self-taught
Product is not intuitive, and frequently seems to require clicking back to different pages just to get the product to save recent changes. Support desk are not familiar with using the "Live Connect" method to connect to external data sources, and are more comfortable using the native datawarehouse system, meaning there are times it feels we are the ones telling the support team how to do things.
Configuring Birst
we have learnt that the memory on the appliance server is the crucial specification to address when configuring Birst
No - we have not done any customization to the interface - All we have done is add some corporate branding and images to
No - we have not done any custom code
We are looking to configure load balancing across multiple appliance servers via NLB but have not yet implement this
Birst Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
None | Slow Resolution Poor followup Less knowledgeable Problems left unsolved Escalation required Need to explain problems multiple times Support doesn't seem to care |
Yes - Multiple bugs are raised with the support desk, many they either deny initially or admit were introduced by the frequent updates. Difficult to keep track of what may be errors caused by us, compared to what has been introduced by the software, which makes regression testing every Birst service pack a real chore
The only time we have felt valued has been at the "Birst Forward" conference in SFO, when we were given the opportunity to meet with more senior development team members who actually seemed to understand our issues. Prior to that, the only exception support has come when issues have been escalated to a level that resulted in staff on the West coast agreeing to phone calls at 5am their time to overlap with the UK
Using Birst
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
None | Do not like to use Unnecessarily complex Difficult to use Requires technical support Inconsistent Slow to learn Cumbersome |
- Creating dynamic charts
- Click through functionality
- changing page layouts
- re-sizing charts
- dynamic text
- changing data connections
- working with external data sources via live connection
Birst Reliability
Integrating Birst
- SQL SSAS
- Corporate website
Linking to SQL SSAS initially was easy, but it was very unclear how subsequent changes in structure could be reflected.
Integrating via our website simply required permissions and SSO tokens from users
Integrating via our website simply required permissions and SSO tokens from users
- none planned
- File import/export
- ETL tools
Relationship with Birst
Number of appliances, and ongoing license fees
Identify what support / user focus groups are available for the people who will actually be using the software
Upgrading Birst
Yes - Birst frequently bring out new versions. While the down time is minimal while upgrading, there are nearly always unexpected impacts in each release affecting existing functionality. This has often led to support tickets being raised due issues where features that were working previously have stopped, but whether that was due to an error at our end or from the latest update is usually a chore to determine
- Better stability of the Live Access connection
Evaluating Birst and Competitors
Additional products, considerations and use cases would be considered if we were evaluating today.
At the time it was only a couple of people who chose the product based on one of their specific requirements, and other users / products were then crow-barred into that solution.
At the time it was only a couple of people who chose the product based on one of their specific requirements, and other users / products were then crow-barred into that solution.