Microsoft Power BI Reviews

Pivoting is the most valuable feature.

It is good for users who have experience with Excel but are looking to work with larger than Excel data sets. For experienced users, it is more of a hassle because of its lack of usability; it is not very intuitive to find a given functionality.

Its ease of use feature is not very intuitive and needs to improve.

I have used this solution for six months.

We often experience stability issues.

There were scalability issues. It does half the work like any other product in the market.

This product was used during tests.

It is easy to set up.

We looked at Tableau and Qlik; we are using Qlik.

It seems to be good for extending the capabilities of Excel but I wouldn't recommend it as a standalone setup.

The interactive reports, DirectQuery and integration with the other Microsoft services are valuable features.

There needs to be support for more data sources in DirectQuery.

DirectQuery is a method of connecting your data directly, i.e. any changes in data source will reflect in report immediately. (This is very great feature if you are doing live analysis of your data). As of now there are limited number of Data Sources such as SQL, SQL Azure, which are supported by Power BI with DirectQuery. Although Microsoft keeps working on adding different data sources in DirectQuery (currently only six data sources in this method and three more in Preview), that's why I feel that still DirectQuery (method of connecting your data) has more room for improvement because there are many other data sources that are commonly used by different organization like (MySQL, Access, etc.)

I have used this solution for two years.

In the beginning, we did encounter some stability issues; now, Microsoft is doing great things to make this product more stable and enhanced.

We were using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS reports), now we are moving towards Power BI due to its Publish on web part, as well as the interactive cross-filtering throughout all the visuals (i.e., if you need).

The setup is easy. It is very easy to use. If you are an Excel and SQL user, then it is very easy to get a grip on this product.

We tried Tableau. Although Tableau itself is a great product, we chose Power BI due to its pricing and Microsoft's focus to make it a better product.

• It provides easy integration with Office tools.
• It is easy to understand BI architecture.

Microsoft SQL Server BI made data correlation between the agencies so fast, that the simple POCs for the dashboards let the decision-makers to migrate our so-called enterprise architecture. Enterprise architecture is the integration of ETL, CDC, DWH, reporting, and forecasting tools.

Our expectation is putting BI to work in real-time data collection systems in the maritime environment.

The Automatic Identification System is a great source of data regarding the ships from around the world. From kinematic to static including some commercial data, it streams to the maritime monitoring stations. So, collecting and processing of this data and also, creating useful information are the key factors for our government entity. However, this data is real-time data which means that the process should be done in seconds for thousands of ships. We are forcing the boundaries of the Microsoft BI product right now and wish to see some stream data processing methodologies in the future.

I have used this product for a year and a half.

The product was pretty stable but when it comes to collecting real-time data we encountered some data dropping issues.

Sometimes, the scalability becomes an issue; instead of horizontal scaling, we always need vertical scaling.

The technical support in Turkey is very good.

We were using some open-source BI tools. It was very difficult to get support for open-source and that is why we switched to Microsoft.

The setup was okay because Microsoft integrated BI to the SQL product. Instead of using a special product, you get the sense of using native add-on libraries for BI. It is a part of the database process. Training is the key here.

I don't want to speculate but there is room for at least 45% discount as compared to the initial price. So bargain wildly with Microsoft.

We evaluated other open-source alternatives.

You will need training personnel and powerful servers.

MS SQL & SQL Server Analysis Services.

We provide BI solutions to the users at every level in order to monitor business. We can deploy DWH, cubes and reports from scratch within weeks of implementation.

SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is not user friendly, requires development. Power BI will surely provide a huge boost to MS BI in terms of self-service BI. Then again, SSRS developers are plenty, thus not so expensive.

Ten-plus years.

Stability issues are due to bad hardware sizing, bad forecast of volumes, or bad data modeling.

Only when data models were faulty of when the infrastructure was not compliant to MS recommendations.

Tech support from Microsoft, when needed, is as efficient as can be.

Worked in different technical environments but never saw a switch from MS BI.

Developers and architects are easily available for this technology.

MS BI comes with all the tools and it is, to the best of my knowledge, the most affordable solution.

Watch your data model, use data marts when possible, set your archiving/purge policy from the beginning, size your hardware well (unless on cloud).

Power Query and Power Pivot are the most valuable features. You can easily manage your data on Excel. İf you have a professional version, you can do it. However, if you don't use Power Query and Power Pivot, then your raw number is limited. The Unpivot specialty is useful because you can't do it in the front-side of Excel.

If you don't have any analytical tool and you don't have any budget, then Power BI can be the best product in terms of the price-quality index. This is because you can work easily on big data; you can upload and model it.

Performance can be better; of course, it depends on your hardware but it can also be improved.

Once I tried to upload 5 million rows on Power Query from a CSV file but I got an error about my personal computer, i.e., my RAM was not enough for uploading. Also, sometimes this process takes a long time.

I have used this solution for about three years.

There were no stability issues.

The product is scalable.

Once I asked a question to the technical support team and they answered clearly. I would give them a 9/10 rating.

It is a user-friendly tool, but the data size is important, i.e., you have to check your data size and how you can use it effectively.

Since its integration into SQL Server 2005, Microsoft has made a number of improvements and added many new features. It had a big overhaul in 2008 and acquired a bunch of new features with 2008 R2: KPIs, maps, sparklines, new functions, published Report Parts, and more.

Let me highlight some of the advanced features that keep people on the platform:

1. Drill-through reports. These are ones where links in the data presented take a report viewer to related reports. Information Builders is another BI platform where this is available, but not as customizable as in SSRS.
2. Highly customizable charts. The data-driven custom colors. The fact that almost every attribute of a component of a chart can be tweaked. Try doing some of those customizations on your flashy new cloud BI platform. Reports within reports. Sub-reports within tables of data and sophisticated charts within tables within sub-reports within reports. Go as deep as you want. See as much detail as you want.
3. User-accessible parameters. Reports can offer report users parameters like no other platform. This makes linking to and from reports easy and allows you to integrate SSRS reports into other business applications. Try sending parameters to an Excel spreadsheet, a Power View report, or a cloud-based dashboard – impossible.
4. Extensible. Programmers can extend the tool’s functionality. Custom data sources can be coded. Custom delivery extensions can be built. External DLLs can be referenced from within reports. Many companies do take advantage of these features.

The few things I mention below constitute very strong reasons why Microsoft has essentially abandoned the platform and why I agree with them.

• Lack of mobile support. Reports look terrible on mobile screens. They don’t have the ability to redraw themselves as with responsive UIs. Security remains a hassle on mobile because SSRS relies heavily on Active Directory.
• Speed of development is too slow. To be fair, each SSRS report has the potential to be its own business application, aware of who is viewing the report and customizing the output accordingly. Those that take advantage of the advanced features are in for a surprise – developers will spend countless hours squinting at the screen getting every pixel to fall exactly where they want it. Setting up data sources is still a thing for advanced SQL developers. It’s not like other modern BI platforms where stores of data sets are easily converted to dashboards.
• Antiquated IDE for code developers extending it. I really wish that the custom code windows provided richer programming assistance (like auto-complete, object-oriented constructs, Intellisense…) and support for other programming languages.

I have used it for two years.

We have not encountered any deployment issues.

• Long-running queries could take your system down. The desire of "I Want It All In One Report" should be avoided. All users should tune their reports and use parameters to get their reports in a light way.
• Internet Explorer could be tricky sometimes.

Customer service is 7/10.

Technical support is 7/10.

I switched from 2005 to 2008 in order to get more features.

It is easy to install and to integrate in an enterprise setting.

An in-house team implemented it.

The SQL Server Reporting Services works as a part of SQL Server license. If we have a licensed copy of SQL Server, we can run Reporting Services on the same server for no additional license fee. However, if we run Reporting Services on a separate machine that is not yet licensed for SQL Server, such as a Web server, we will need to purchase an additional SQL Server license.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

https://www.brentozar.com/arch...

SQL Server Reporting Services is one of the most popular components of SQL Server, but it has always been surprisingly difficult to get from one place all the basic facts you need to get up and running from scratch, to the point of producing reports. My overall experience with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is that it is easy to install and to integrate in an enterprise setting. Developing sophisticated reports, however, can be slow and tedious. Ultimately, getting information to business users is the name of the game. Doing it fast and doing it intuitively trumps fancy features.

Firstly there was the wow effect, as when I saw the number of connectors which were made for this product/service. It is quite fantastic to have the ability to connect separate services like CRM, NAV, Facebook, Exchange etc. and make data integration and transformation based on these data connections in a few clicks. Also, the ability to download new visuals is quite nice. The effect of new graphics for higher management is magical and this is the good way not only for a pre-sale/sale or up-sale, but also for good impressions. Another great feature is, for example, the collecting of data in concrete folder on disk. If there is, for example, 100 csv files from other information systems, these should be automatically merged, analyzed and transformed into great graphical report.

Because the product is based the ability to quickly produce BI insights and reports, it’s really useful on a daily basis. Another improvement is definitely the possibility of browsing the dashboards on smartphone using an app, and another is the ability to quickly produce reports.

Well definitely the connectors, which is always a huge space for improvement in configurations, especially the amount of connectors etc. Also, the graphic designs of the reports needs work as they are still really strictly defined, and with the amount of output, there isn’t space for such a design realization. 

I have used this solution since it was released (a few years ago) and I am using it on a daily basis at work and at university where I work as a researcher and am a PhD student. I use it on mobile, laptop and tablet as well. Also, it has its own app for viewing the reports and dashboards, own app for creating and editing.

There have been no issues with the deployment.

There was no issue with stability.

We have been able to scale it for our needs.

Personally, I used Excel Services/Visio Services.

Really straightforward. The most complex part is defining the data gateways between the cloud part and the on premises part of the infrastructure. Another bigger task is to define security model of all the datasets and reports with correct audience, data refresh etc.

It's too soon to calculate. I think, that for the correct ROI value, you need to have it in place for more than three years. But, it saves a lot of time and not only developers time, but also management time etc. Things are easier when there are functionalities like “quick insight” for auto-creating of data based on machine learning algorithms, or Q&A for using natural query language. 

I played with Tableau. I see many similarities in Power BI to other products, so there is no reason to combine many different vendors/third parties to build such a complex BI solution.

It's a tool for a new kind of business intelligence from Microsoft. Tool for quick modeling of data structures and for visualizing almost everything you have in mind at the moment. There is still a lot of room for improvement and there is also a huge space for new functionalities. But it’s a simple and great tool for everyday use. 

You should get it and implement it. However, you should get a trial version, and contact a partner who can provide some sales presentation with the live session (CIE for example) and show, what the possibilities are of Power BI.

Microsoft SQL Server Report Publisher

Microsoft SQL Server Report Builder

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (Web Portal)

SQL Server 2016 delivers built-in mobile BI capabilities.  The above tools give professionals the ability to deliver business insights quickly and easily as well as enabling a quick way of presenting the data/charts/reports over a web portal.  The portal is compatible for cross platform, from desktops to major mobile devices.

Overall a great way of delivering your insights to your data.

Works with data, systems and tools we already have. They are "additional" tools rather than complete replacement software.  Easy to upgrade / install.  The new SSRS tools in particular give us an easier way to share insights and reports to our clients and within our own teams.  Security is easily managed within SharePoint.

License fee structure.  Mobile reporting Services is only available for the "Enterprise" addition of SQL Server 2016.  This comes with a hefty price tag.  Would be better if you could pick and choose the features you require and then the price tag is set accordingly.  Rather than paying for the full Enterprise addition and getting a lot of features we do not need/use.  

We have been using Microsoft's extensive software library for years.  But at the time of writing this review, SQL Server 2016 Enterprise is pretty brand new.  We knew of the latest reporting services offering and were eager to trial it.

Deployment isn't rocket science, but it isn't child's play either.  There were a fair few standard issues getting everything to talk to each other.  Nothing to worry about though.  Microsoft has worked well to make sure the latest SSRS is an "add-on" feature that integrates seamlessly. 

Straightforward easy setup.  Typical Microsoft software (familiar).