Item: Microsoft Power BI
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It's being used across our organization...we have it used by three groups logically. One is the power users, two is the supporting staff and the third is the solution group who build solutions. We also have it for the R&D team for pulling out reports making it work against the power BI gateway from where we can pull data from out on-prem workloads. They evaluate the software.

Pros and Cons

Ease of pulling data which was otherwise a tedious job earlier.
Best possible screen presentation in terms of charts and dashboards.
Connect to other line of business applications like SAP.
Ease of usage.
Excel friendly formula and transforming the data.

It does not show errors as precise as it should, most of the time the errors while loading data are vague.
Takes a lot of time if you have lengthy formulas for calculations.
Power BI file itself is a very heavy one, has huge size.
Has version compatibility issues.

Return on Investment

Firstly its visuals are very impressive.
Adoption is something which takes time but pays off in long run.
And if connected to our on-prem workloads, using a power BI gateway will be a wonderful feature to explore on.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Powerpoint

For more advanced features, like better reporting, visually impressive charts and dashboards. Easy connection to other line of business applications, connecting to different workloads, faster data transformations for certain data loads, logical grouping, scheduled refreshing of data and alert mechanisms help us be aware of what's happening with my data our there. Also, scheduled emails is also a nice feature.

Key Insights

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?

Yes

Would you buy Microsoft Power BI again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Tableau Desktop, Routable, Azure Queue Storage

Usability

I think it is the most advanced product we have seen so far, rather a matured one from Microsoft this far. Moreover this is something that involves lot of exploration and much scope for new things which is exciting, we can additionally make use of the third party visuals and tools for more productive work.

Support Rating

So far did not get a chance to interact much with support personnel, so since it is Microsoft would give you the best I guess.

Likelihood to Recommend

It can be used for high management level reviews for showcasing high level statistics. Can be used within the teams for better collaboration and work management, visually showcasing the progress. Can be used as a dashboard which can embedded onto a SharePoint page and can be shared to larger audience. No, it can't be used for sharing reports individually as the other party viewing reports should also have power BI viewer or the access to the report.

Powerful Power BI

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Power BI