Item: Microsoft Power BI
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Microsoft Power BI is used by various teams across our organization to compile data into easy to read reports and metrics. Specifically, my use with it is related to portfolio and project management. We use it to create a 'placemat' type report to show the full technology portfolio to our most senior leaders at the organization.

Pros and Cons

Dashboards
Summarizing Data
C-Level Ready Reports

Requires some training
Not very user friendly on the input side
Requires developer skills

Return on Investment

It's reduced waste for our portfolio team on custom building reports each month, they now can spend more time on analysis
Improved clarity on the data for senior management
Cost cutter

Alternatives Considered

I haven't used a tool similar to Microsoft Power BI before, however, it seems to be the industry standard for these types of reports and tool integrations. We operating in a "Microsoft shop" as I think many organizations do, and it just amkes sense to use Microsoft Power BI as our tool.

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?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

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

Other Software Used

Cisco Webex Calling, Microsoft Teams, Wrike

Usability

It requires some prior knowledge or prior training in order to be able to pull data in and create the dashboards, but once something is created it's pretty user friendly to be able to edit and slice and dice the data to make it more meaningful for the data consumer.

Support Rating

I have not interacted with the Power BI team specifically, however, in interacting with Microsoft's support teams and customer success teams, I have been a little disappointed with the quality of their assistance. We've tried engaging them for the free trainings they offer as part of our Microsoft package and they have been very underwhelming.

Likelihood to Recommend

Microsoft Power BI is very useful to congregate large data sets in a concise, attractive way to share with senior management. It can be automated with data queries to pull in databases and refresh on a regular cycle. It's great for scenarios where you have regularly changing data being driven by another tool. For example, we use Clarity PPM to push data into Power BI.

The Industry Standard

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Power BI