Item: Microsoft Power BI
Rating: 6
Author: Mark Metz

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I attempted to use the application as a substitute for tables and graphs in Excel. It seemed to be a good tool to set up graphical representations of mobile device usage and email usage. What it made available seemed to match what was being produced by several people in Excel or PowerPoint. The features seem to have a very good user interface to make the process much easier.

Pros and Cons

Easy to upload data sources.
Easy to set up graphs for presentation.
Easy to publish as a web page and modify regularly to as updates needed.

Instructions very lacking.
Ability to work sizing and presentation of the data was very difficult.
Although UI seems easy, there were several limitations on how I could present the data (look and feel for web page display).

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Power BI is a good combination of the two applications. It does make setting up a deck or dashboard much easier than the other two applications, but it does not have all the features Excel and PowerPoint have separately for use. I was able to set up basic reports, but the customizable capabilities were limited. Not the same with Excel or PowerPoint.

Other Software Used

Skype for Business

Return on Investment

It's a good start for setting up customized dashboards.
Available for all users based on Office 365 platform we have in place.
Doesn't really allow depth of report - specifically customization of visual displays.

Likelihood to Recommend

It's well suited for linking it to regularly received canned reports (extrapolated data). With the pieces set up in advance it would seem easy to update the data already created. If [you're] able to modify the display more than the minimal options it allows it would be perfect for creating a monthly deck to display data for management.

Untrained new user experience with Microsoft Power BI

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Power BI