Item: Microsoft Power BI
Rating: 9
Author: Ryan Kasper

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I used Microsoft Power BI to combine multiple sources of data into a comprehensive report. I had Salesforce, Excel sheets, and a few smaller tools that had information to combine into a single view. Being able to publish these reports publicly for shared access helped keep everyone on the same page.

Pros and Cons

It was very easy to use and learn. I did not have a lot of BI experience and was able to get started very quickly.
Frequent updates continue to provide excellent new features.
It has an excellent interface that makes the set up and layout of reports and dashboards very functional.

Some features are not available in both the desktop and web version, so I had to switch back and forth between the two in order to publish some of the more complex reports to my website.
It did not have all the integrations that I needed at the time, so I was still using some Excel sheets to import the data.

Alternatives Considered

Tableau Desktop

I thought the learning curve of Power BI was much easier than some of the other tools that I had tried. There were pieces that were not as robust, but nothing that was a show stopper for my needs.

Other Software Used

Salesforce.com, Google Analytics, WordPress, Dataloader.io, Jitterbit

Likelihood to Recommend

I would recommend for people who do not currently have BI and are looking to POC it out for their company or department. I think it has a way to go before it is a viable alternative to some of the other Enterprise tools that are available.

Usability

8

It was a very easy to use tool with a strong support community.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using	Requires technical support

Easy Tasks

Report creation
Geographic Mapping / Heat Mapping
Publishing to web

Excellent Starting Point for BI Tool

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Power BI