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SiSENSE as web service platform.
Updated September 03, 2016

SiSENSE as web service platform.

Michał Becker | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Business

Overall Satisfaction with Sisense

I was using SiSense PRISM as platform supporting our own www service. Our service provided a complex info about public contracts around Poland and we used PRISM as BI platform to generate Dashboards. Those Dashboards were used by our costumers to analyze situation on public contracts market and support them in decision to start with a given contract. Overall I see PRISM as a great tool, which requires not so much IT knowledge to operate and is not time consuming in terms of deployment and report or dashboard preparation. It is also very low on Hardware resources consumption.
  • Great at mashing up data from multiple different data sources.
  • Easy deployment, ETL process, Dashboard or Report preparation and distribution to end users.
  • Very low hardware usage so you probably wont need to invest huge money on new servers.
  • JS Extensions engine which allows to create really powerful tailored features.
  • Plug-ins in ETL tool are powerful, but configuration could be a little easier. Also JS extension in PRISM Web is powerful but could be a little more clear how to use.
  • Need to catch up with several common features for BI platform.
  • QlikView,InForum,JetReports
Less resource consuming and faster deployment. Also very extensive embeding capabilities, that make it a perfect tool for OEM customers.
The main factor is flexibility of SiSense and that is enhanced pretty often. Also extension engine allows to produce a lot of powerful features perfect for given use of SiSense.
  • We're able to finish our web service which we could not with our previous BI vendor.
  • We could use our own product in a matter of 2-3 months after deployment which was quick.
From my point of view it is perfect tool for any company which just starts with its first BI solution and are limited with money. Also great for companies which do not want to have a time consuming project to deploy. It depends on how large your data sources are, but probably you wont need to invest in any new hardware.

Sisense Feature Ratings

BI Platform ()
Not Rated
Supported Data Sources ()
Not Rated
10.0
Customizable dashboards
10
9.0
Drill-down analysis
10
Formatting capabilities
9
Integration with R or other statistical packages
9
Report sharing and collaboration
8
8.5
Publish to Web
10
Publish to PDF
9
Report Versioning
5
Report Delivery Scheduling
10
9.7
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
10
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
10
Predictive Analytics
9
10.0
Multi-User Support (named login)
10
Role-Based Security Model
10
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
10
9.0
Responsive Design for Web Access
10
Mobile Application
7
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
10
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding ()
Not Rated

Using Sisense

4 - They are creating Dashboards and support our customers.
3 - One need basic knowledge on BI as general, some SQL knowledge, an analytical mind, ability to know how use script languages (it is not required but it is useful to have a general knowledge how scripting works; it helps a lot at some point). One also should have a basic taste for composing a color palette and Dashboard layout planning.
  • As of today None.
  • Final Dashboards used as IFrame on our web service.
  • Ability to mash-up multiple different data sources
  • Speed - even with lot of text to analyze.
  • Mainly as a platform integrated with our web service that allows an innovative approach to analyzing public contracts market.

Evaluating Sisense and Competitors

Yes - We replaced InForum BI solution for following reasons:
- Support for WWW was weak
- Slow
- Mashing up different data sources was near impossible
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
Product Features - mash up from different data sources and support for WWW were most important factors.
I would definitely be more thorough in terms of evaluating a specific features required for our own product.

Sisense Implementation

Quick and simple. If we had run into some issues they were solved pretty quickly.
  • Implemented in-house
Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled - Always use a separate environment to test new release. Always make a back up of each ElastiCube before each upgrade.
  • Some issues with IIS, when implementing earlier versions of PRISM Web.

Sisense Training

  • Online training
  • In-person training
  • Self-taught
Easy and free training that allowed us quickly understand basics in SiSense and start using them. More advanced features requires some browsing through SiSense forums, but there is always support to help, and SiSense support is one of the best whith which I worked so far.
Many examples, videos and scenarios which you try on your own right away. This combined with in-person training gives you enough to utilize most of SiSense's power.
It is quite easy to learn on your own, but before doing so you need to identify your needs and if some of those needs are not met easily, conntact suport to learn more about it.

Configuring Sisense

There maybe some features missing but overall configuration is flexible and quite powerful. Plus there is rebranding which is quite unique
Do not use IIS Express if you're going to use mobile platform since it has some issues. Other then that installation and configuration is easy and standard settings for most cases.
Some - we have done small customizations to the interface - We needed to embed the solution as well as align coloring scheme to web page it was embedded in. All in all it was not that challening, although documentation for that requires some upgrades still.
Yes - we have added extensive custom code - Based on already available solutions it was quite easy. Tweaking and modification of already existing pieces of code is a little bit challenging but not that complicated. Creating your own plugins is difficult mainly due to high technical requirements and small amount of hints how to begin.

Sisense Support

Support is very good. Quick response, timely delivered solutions and those are exactly what is required.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
Yes - Yes, it was solved in timely fashion (usually in next release but sometimes I've receive a special hotfix for certain issues) and to my full satisfaction.
Since solution is only in English, fact that they allowed us to translate some parts of Web Interface to Polish was something exceptional.

Using Sisense

Excellent, easy to use, end2end solution. It requires almost no it knowledge and is ready from day one to be used by end users.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • ETL
  • Dashboard preparation
  • Dashboard distribution
  • Plugins in EC Manager.
  • JS Plugins could be problematic

Sisense Reliability

Product is quite easily scalable. The whole installation can be easily moved to stronger machine if needed.
There are very few situations when there is unexpected downtime. Mostly during development, new dashboard implementation and during upgrades. other then that there were very few crashes.
SiSense is usually performing better then other solutions even if going for complex reports/dashboards(of course within reasonable frames). I haven't noticed any bad influence on other systems, usually if something happens it stays within SiSense.

Integrating Sisense

  • Internal web application
Embeding dashboards in web application + merging user rights from SiSense with web application current users. There were some hurdles mostly due to the holes in documentation for such cases.
  • File import/export
  • Single Signon
  • API (e.g. SOAP or REST)
  • Javascript widgets
  • ETL tools

Relationship with Sisense

Quick responses and flexible approach allows to get to agreement quite quickly.
Support and Success team keep in touch since day one, they reach to you by themselves from time to time to check how things are going. Also they respond very quickly when contacting support team.
Mostly pricing and number of users, but also some additional features outside regular license.
Be prepared in term of your needs to avoid disappointment.

Upgrading Sisense

Yes - Update is quick. It is recommended to back up before doing upgrade mostly due to behind the scenes changes that may affect system, mainly if SiSense is used as OEM embeded in another system. Unexpected impacts are very rare and usually quickly fixed with help of support team.
  • Hierarchies
  • New filtering system
  • Memory consumption enhancments
  • Improved iPad experience
  • Improved role configuration
  • Better documentation for extending SiSense.
Yes - Change is quick and painless and was done after finishing PoC and going for regular license.