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Microsoft Power BI is a Great Entry Level BI Tool That Anyone Can Use
Updated April 22, 2021

Microsoft Power BI is a Great Entry Level BI Tool That Anyone Can Use

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Power BI Pro

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Power BI

Several departments use Power BI as part of Office 365. I use the Desktop Tool for offline creation of advanced BI reports which are later published as Apps for my stakeholders. Microsoft Power BI is allowing me to have real-time analytics and dashboards, instead of processing and distributing spreadsheet reports on an ongoing basis.
  • Visualizations
  • Calculated Fields
  • Source Data Connectivity
  • Data Refresh is not as Fluid and Automatic as I'd like
  • There are limitations on visualizations, such as showing month names as labels in a trend line, rolling 12 month year-over year comparison of data. I get month numbers. There are dirty workarounds, but it's not clean, and it's certainly not intuitive.
  • I believe the time saved alone has paid for this product
  • We have greater interest in dashboards for other departments who have seen what we're doing.
Tableau looks good, and they have a reputation for playing well with other applications such as ADP, iCIMS, SmartRecruiters, etc. It looks good, but Microsoft's product is meeting my needs well enough that I don't feel the need to jump ship. I always keep my eye open, and if other departments want to investigate Tableau because it integrates more seamlessly, then I'm all for it. It has a good support network. I wish more products would want to team with MS.

Do you think Microsoft Power BI delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Microsoft Power BI's feature set?

Yes

Did Microsoft Power BI live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Microsoft Power BI go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Microsoft Power BI again?

Yes

It's Microsoft. The software is designed to be intuitive and visually attractive. If a user has even a basic understanding of report building and relational tables, they can begin building visually impressive reports and dashboards in Power BI.
I'm not a fan of Microsoft Support in general. I have better luck searching forums and talking to 3rd party integrators. Microsoft's self-help is usually way too generic for my needs. This is especially true with visualizations and calculations.
I think the entry point for Power BI is good, especially for businesses already joined to Microsoft in an Office 365 environment. It typically plays nice with any source data, and it has some very powerful display options. My stakeholders really like what we're doing with it.

Microsoft Power BI Feature Ratings

BI Platform ()
Not Rated
Supported Data Sources ()
Not Rated
6.3
Pixel Perfect reports
5
Customizable dashboards
8
Report Formatting Templates
6
7.3
Drill-down analysis
6
Formatting capabilities
7
Integration with R or other statistical packages
8
Report sharing and collaboration
8
7.2
Publish to Web
10
Publish to PDF
7
Report Versioning
6
Report Delivery Scheduling
6
Delivery to Remote Servers
7
8.7
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
10
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
8
Predictive Analytics
8
10.0
Multi-User Support (named login)
10
Role-Based Security Model
10
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
10
Single Sign-On (SSO)
10
9.0
Responsive Design for Web Access
10
Mobile Application
7
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
10
8.0
REST API
Not Rated
Javascript API
Not Rated
iFrames
Not Rated
Java API
Not Rated
Themeable User Interface (UI)
8
Customizable Platform (Open Source)
8

Using Microsoft Power BI

15 - Information Technology, Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, Finance
3 - 
  • Experienced managing and configuring relational databases, as well as managing input/source records from external (possibly multiple) sources
  • Advanced database reporting skills (joins, filters, conditional statements, calculations, etc.)
  • Above average understanding of the business you're supporting in order to translate requests from non-technical persons into a serviceable report that will deliver the results they need.
  • Above average understanding of reporting visuals/presentation to propose/choose appropriate visualization for the reports being created
  • Heads Up Displays for Decision Makers based on real-time data
  • Shareholder Reports
  • Audit Reports
  • In the hands of a proficient report writer, this tool saves time (money) to produce high quality outputs that can be digested by non-technical persons as a printed report, a shared static output, or an interactive online report. You don't get that with a spreadsheet or a pivot table (not without a lot of extra work anyway).
  • For a report writer without advanced SQL/database knowledge, this tool provides ways to add visualizations and insights to standard reports that will make them better. The support network will help them learn more about advancing their knowledge.
  • Most people already have a subscription to Microsoft, so negotiating the addition of the PowerBI Pro license to a few persons who can then share those reports as a distributed online report (not requiring a pro license) saves money, as opposed to buying seats for people who will not necessarily be writing any reports but only reading them.
  • Interactive Termination Reports
  • Interactive Talent Acquisition Reports
  • Interactive Headcount Reports