Microsoft Power BI vs Oracle HFM comparison

"The dashboard features are really valuable, you can connect to multiple data points."

"Its seamless integration with Microsoft products, such as Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft Excel, is the most valuable."

"Many of my customers already use Microsoft products like Office 365, so I often propose Microsoft Power BI because it integrates well with all the standard Microsoft business tools. And it's the quickest tool to implement and start using daily."

"Provides good data flow related to the container and control flow."

"Power BI, once made available, can connect to various data sources, irrespective of the application, whether it be HR or business applications. The bank has many applications, but all eventually need to generate reports for tracking, distribution, or problem-finding based on analysis. Power BI was made available as part of the productivity suite to all businesses, which can connect to their applications and provide the reports and analysis they require."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"We have found the product to be scalable."

"Real-time refresh is quite interesting and user-friendly, provided you have access to a gateway. It works well."

"It is a very user-friendly software."

"The most valuable feature is the flexibility and ease of configuration in terms of testing and formula creation."

"The tool is stable."

"Financial consolidation and reporting tool with good built-in features such as currency exchange and elimination."

"It is an expensive product but delivers what it promises, ensuring regulatory compliance, reducing risks associated with spreadsheets, and providing a better return on investment based on usage."

"You can bring in data from any source and from multiple sources, and you can consolidate that data in HFM."

"The most valuable features are around consolidations, eliminations, conversions."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"I would like to see a more user-friendly interface with Microsoft BI."

"​It needs more graphics and overlays."

"I would like to see the product offer more graphics to impact different audiences."

"I would like for the next release to have better desktop performance, especially for big databases. Additionally, I would like to have more integrations with programs like Salesforce in order to get more live data coming in."

"One opportunity for improvement would be on the Power Query side. As a consultant, I know Power Query is not the main strength of Power BI. It is not where Power BI shines, but many customers use Power Query to do full ETL workloads for deliverable cookies."

"The look and feel should be updated in terms of the types of dashboards and graphs that you can produce. They aren't as visual as some of its competitors."

"The mobile app is very poor."

"It's not really complicated, but I didn't find the things I was looking for. The ones I used to work with within Dash are more open, and there are more choices. But with Power BI, there are only limited types of plots that I can use. For example, when I wanted to put the plots in Power BI, there was no extendable space. You have a limited page where you can place a maximum of three plots in that, and you can't do more than that on a single page. You have to create a new page, a different page for that. That made it a bit annoying, and the filtering part is limited, with basic functions. If you want to make custom filtering or custom functions, you can't do that."

"In terms of improvement, one challenge with Oracle HFM is the need for technical knowledge in writing SQL syntax for custom extensions."

"The complexity is okay. I don't see it as super complex. The solution could have more functionality to make it a little bit more flexible."

"If there could be data integration between HFM and the accounting software that would be ideal."

"The intercompany reporting function in this tool needs improvement, particularly being able to run reports in batches, rather than one at a time."

"The solution has integration challenges. We need a simple tool that is fool-proof for the data that is submitted not only for consolidation purposes but also for performance management and reporting purposes."

"It's a difficult process to try to edit, configure, or change the business rules that exist and work within HFM."

"Improvements can be made by possibly different interfaces to modernize it, more automation in scripting, and better integration with third-party solutions and reporting capabilities."

"Integration is an area where it lacks and can be improved."

"Our license is paid yearly and we have found that we have to be careful not to over-extend our usage in order to avoid upgrading our capacity plan."

"Its licensing cost is very high. It is $20 per user, which is very high, but it is a good product, so you pay for it."

"Power BI is cheaper than Tableau and Cognos."

"From a cost point of view, it's competitive in the enterprise space, although it's not as competitive when you add up all of the additional costs. Things like integrations cost extra and it's probably where Microsoft makes more of the money."

"Microsoft BI is very cost-effective and this is why we use it."

"The price of the solution can be expensive if you want to synchronize your data more."

"Power BI premium is really expensive for our market. A lot of small and medium companies would like to purchase it, but they can't afford it."

"There are a few options available for purchasing a license. Typically the number of users you have will determine the price of the license. The more users you have the more you will pay."

"Oracle Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) uses the named user licensing model. There's different pricing depending on HFM and Essbase planning."