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Microsoft Power BI vs Oracle HFM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Power BI
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
329
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (1st), Reporting (1st)
Oracle HFM
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Business Performance Management (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Business Intelligence solutions, they serve different purposes. Microsoft Power BI is designed for BI (Business Intelligence) Tools and holds a mindshare of 9.3%, down 21.8% compared to last year.
Oracle HFM, on the other hand, focuses on Business Performance Management, holds 4.0% mindshare, down 8.8% since last year.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Power BI9.3%
Tableau Enterprise6.7%
Amazon QuickSight3.7%
Other80.3%
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
Business Performance Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Oracle HFM4.0%
Anaplan7.1%
Board5.0%
Other83.9%
Business Performance Management
 

Featured Reviews

Antonio Flor - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Anaplanner at Chaucer Group
Data integration has improved reserving and expense control while collaboration drives fast dashboards
Regarding drawbacks or weak points in Microsoft Power BI, it may not be directly related to the tool itself, but with our architecture, as we couldn't get a service account, which is an email address that has no relationship with the employees, just to establish the connection with Anaplan. We couldn't get it to work on SSO, so we use an employee account which could be a point of weakness, meaning if the person leaves, that connection will break. If the person goes on holiday and we need to refresh, we have to change the connection as well, but we have to live with that since we're not using SSO on the service account. Regarding the natural language processing feature, we're trying to avoid using it too much because it can slow down the connection, so as much as possible, we try to build the logic and any transformation in Anaplan, and then deliver an end product to Microsoft Power BI.
Segun Oladele - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Manager, Accounting at BIC
Has supported financial consolidation through accurate reporting and global currency conversion
Oracle HFM is excellent for consolidation and reconciliation. It helps me see the general overview of the business across several locations. The drill-through reporting enhances accuracy in financial analysis. Oracle HFM has a schedule that requires reporting, especially one that ties back to my general ledger. I have to report each line item that comprises that number. It helps me fact-check reported numbers with a schedule. For example, with payables, Oracle HFM allows me to have a list of numbers reported per supplier. This provides comfort that the numbers are not fictitious. Additionally, it has a feature that performs fact-checking from P&L to balance sheet. For instance, if depreciation is reported, it must align with what is in the profit or loss account. These features ensure integrity in the reported numbers and allow for quick error detection while serving as a reconciliation tool. The currency conversion feature provides a global view from entity currency to local currency perspective, enabling value checks in different currencies for the company as a whole. In Nigeria, I report in Naira, and I don't need to report in my parent currency. The entity can report in their currency into Oracle HFM, and the parent company converts to their currency. By inputting budget rates, I can convert to any reporting currency, particularly the parent company currency. This feature saves time, increases speed, and allows the parent company to value its subsidiaries quickly. Regarding data integration capabilities for ensuring data consistency and accuracy, it deserves a high rating. For example, with inventory, if there is an impairment, the reported amount in P&L should match the balance sheet's inventory impairment. This level of checking provides confidence in the accuracy of reported figures.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The breadth of products do a fine job at enabling the delivery of data and insights to the right people, in the right format, at the right time."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Power BI is the drill-through feature that takes you to a details page the users want to see."
"I have found the best features to be the dashboard creation, graphs, charts, and presentation bar graphs."
"Ability to extract data from a variety of sources and systems."
"So far, it's one of the best reporting tools I've found."
"If you are not very technical this tool could be very useful."
"Implementation is very quick and the solution is very user-friendly."
"We have found the product to be scalable."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The versatile data is probably the most valuable feature, since you can access it through the web interface or through Microsoft Office based solutions like Excel, Excel Smart View, PowerPoint and Word."
"Time saving during accounting closing periods."
"The tool is stable."
"You can bring in data from any source and from multiple sources, and you can consolidate that data in HFM."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility and ease of configuration in terms of testing and formula creation."
"There are measurable benefits from using Oracle HFM as it reduces manpower and eliminates work duplication."
"The equity pickup module not only looks at who owns who and at what percentage, it also looks at the relationships and determines the correct order of execution, including any mid level consolidations or currency translations needed."
 

Cons

"There is no specific area that I have a problem with. It's just that, with whatever feature you come across, every visual has its own formatting and behavior. What you get in one visual for a feature, you don't seem to get in another."
"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."
"I would like to see a change in the premium capacity."
"People without private emails cannot publish and, frankly, this doesn't allow for easy training."
"Integration with artificial intelligence would help. Humans take time to review the data and eliminate errors. Artificial intelligence based on machine learning and understanding can bring the same functionality."
"Their technical support can be better. They normally take too long to escalate and resolve a case."
"It should be more user-friendly and simple."
"The data source definition is all over the place."
"In terms of improvement, one challenge with Oracle HFM is the need for technical knowledge in writing SQL syntax for custom extensions."
"Format of tables Links between pages could be more efficient"
"The financial reporting tool hasn’t improved much since it was first implemented, and we are struggling with it."
"In my first experience with Oracle HFM, navigating to input numbers was cumbersome."
"Yes I did have issues."
"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."
"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."
"Oracle HFM could be improved or enhanced in handling metadata or the dimensionality."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing can be complicated."
"It's straightforward licensing."
"The cost of the solution is more flexible for us because the desktop is free and we pay as we use it in the cloud."
"The solution is priced well for what they offer. However, the premium version is very expensive."
"We are end-users, and we don't take care of the prices and accounting. We get a product and pay the fee to our internal service provider, but its price should be reasonable. Otherwise, they wouldn't have bought it."
"Power BI is cheaper for smaller groups when comparing to competitors. It requires a monthly per-user subscription."
"We pay on a monthly basis which is approximately $10 per user on the Microsoft Power BI Pro license. At the moment we are still down at 400 users, but once we reach 500 users, we will move to the premium edition. The premium is $5,000 for unlimited users. Currently, with the 40 users, the cost is roughly $500."
"Make it low in cost. It is a no-brainer!"
"Oracle Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) uses the named user licensing model. There's different pricing depending on HFM and Essbase planning."
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Comparison Review

it_user79932 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager - BI Head with 5,001-10,000 employees
Feb 4, 2015
Comparison of SAP BO, Tableau, QlikView, Cognos, Microsoft, OBIEE and Pentaho
1. SAP BO/BI Enterprise scalability Security Ease of use Semantic layer 2. Tableau Visualization Data discovery Turnaround time 3. IBM Cognos Enterprise scalability Security In-memory feature 4. MS BI - Flexibility 5. Pentaho - Open source but still enterprise grade 6. QlikView Data…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
University
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business135
Midsize Enterprise58
Large Enterprise166
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

Seeking lightweight open source BI software
There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows: 1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle - look for SAP...
Is Power BI a complete platform or only a visualization tool?
Power BI is an advanced visualization tool oriented to big data with a very complete set of widgets to visualize information, control users accessing information, the configuration of governance po...
How does Oracle OBIEE compare with Microsoft BI?
Oracle OBIEE is great in allowing design and creativity per the individual needs of the organization. Dashboards are fully customizable and very user-friendly. This solution is very stable. Oracle ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle HFM?
It depends on the discount offered by Oracle. It is an expensive product but delivers what it promises, ensuring regulatory compliance, reducing risks associated with spreadsheets, and providing a ...
What needs improvement with Oracle HFM?
Oracle HFM could be improved or enhanced in handling metadata or the dimensionality. I currently handle updates in the dimension hierarchies and properties manually. There is a way for it to be cen...
What is your primary use case for Oracle HFM?
The usual use cases for Oracle HFM that I support are for financial institutions, crewing for ships, and an Australian airlines company. They use the application mainly for management reporting pur...
 

Also Known As

SSRS, SSAS, MSBI, MS Reporting Services, Microsoft BI Tools, Microsoft Big Data, Power BI Pro, MS BI
HFM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Accenture Adidas Aetna AIG Airbus Alibaba Allstate Amazon American Express Aon AT&T Audi Bank of America BASF Bayer Berkshire Hathaway Boeing Coca-Cola Comcast Cisco Coca-Cola Dell Disney Emirates Equinix FedEx Ford GE Google H&M Home Depot Honda IBM Intel JPMorgan Chase Kellogg's Kroger L'Oréal McDonald's Merck MetLife Microsoft Nike Oracle P&G PepsiCo Procter & Gamble Prudential Financial SAP Siemens Snapchat Spotify Starbucks Target Toyota T-Mobile Unilever Visa Walmart WeWork World Bank Xerox
B&B Hotels, Goldwind, Drake & Scull
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