Microsoft Power BI Initial Setup
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Tariq Raza (MS Certified)
Operations & BI Analyst at American Hospital Dubai
Its initial setup is very simple. There is no issue at all. If you have everything set up on your computer, it takes only 10 minutes.
In terms of maintenance, Power BI does not require any maintenance, but the database behind Power BI requires some sort of maintenance. Power BI is like a tap. It is just providing what is in the tank. For clean water, you just need to clean the tank at the back. To get good visualizations, you need to clean your database, tabling structure, and data modeling. If you are doing all data modeling in Power BI, then data modeling requires some sort of maintenance.
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Deepak Damodarr
Data Office Lead at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
It comes bundled with Office 365. Office 365 is a SaaS-based office suite. Anything that you build on your desktop or Power BI, you can publish into the Office 365 cloud environment. It's relatively easy to get everything up and running.
It's as simple as taking your credit card and buying an Office 365 license and configuring the AD group and you can be up and running. Of course, depending on how secure and structured you want to make your entire setup, it can take a few months, sometimes, with the full rollout to happen.
A very basic pilot rollout can be done in a matter of a few weeks.
For the actual deployment and configuration, we just needed five people, and five resources working between six to 12 months. Some were required only for six months. Some are still continuing as part of further enhancements as some of the resources are being retained from a training and onboarding purpose so that they can do a training of the wider organization, and colleagues in the organization, show them how to use Office 365, and get trained on that. The actual development itself took less than two or three months.
In terms of maintenance, there are regular patch updates that get pushed from Microsoft. The backend IT support team needs to ensure all the patches are tested before they're deployed in production, for all the users to use.
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Ram-Krish
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The Power BI on the cloud is very easy. Just turn on the license, but there is some administrative work to be done.
On a scale from one to ten, rolling out Power BI is probably an eight out of ten, compared to other products, which can be very complicated. However, there's the question of whether it can handle large datasets as well as other tools or provide advanced analytics on par with tools like MicroStrategy. That's what I understand from our end users who deal with huge amounts of data.
There are areas like statistical modeling or forecasting where other tools might be slightly better. But those use specialized tools compared to Power BI.
Otherwise, in terms of integration, it's quite easy. Mobility is easy. From an administrative perspective, setting up is very easy because it's just part of Office 365, and we can package and roll it out as a desktop tool as well.
The Power BI license is available on the cloud, so those who have licenses can use it there. It is also available as a desktop client app for those wanting to do more robust reports. It is packaged as part of a desktop product and pushed as a desktop point.
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Microsoft Power BI
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power BI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Ady Woodcock
Hsseq Performance Analyst at V.Ships Limited
On a scale from one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the solution's initial setup an eight out of ten.
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Itay Oleinik
Vice President at Shiluv
It was very easy and straightforward. It was rather quick because you can launch it. It is very easy to publish. They give you direct access to their cloud. For small solutions or datasets like ours, the initial setup was a matter of days. We started with the desktop on-premise, and then we published it to the cloud. It was rather easy. It was a matter of days to a week or two.
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Artur-Kowalczyk
Technology Director at HCL Technologies
The initial setup of Power BI can be complex. Currently, Microsoft is attempting to combine various historical approaches and keep them available, which can lead to confusion about which path to take. Power BI is now becoming an integral part of Microsoft's overall ecosystem, adding to its complexity. While this integration provides additional features, it may also pose challenges for new users navigating through the layers of Power BI's capabilities.
Alaa T Alhorani
Sr. Consultant (Enterprise Architect) at Devoteam
It is super easy to set up. I've been giving training on this to new employees, and they quickly learn how to work with the whole product. It doesn't take them more than one or two sessions.
The installation of Power BI Desktop on a computer takes a maximum of 10 minutes. You just have to install it on the computer, and that's it. Most of the services are over the cloud. When you do the subscription, you just connect or sign in with your company email address that has been registered, and that's it.
The on-premises version requires extra staff. It requires an engineer who knows how to implement AI algorithms and then connect them to the offline Power BI solution.
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PedroNavarro
BI Development & Validation Manager at JT International SA
It is really easy. It is mostly automated. You simply publish the dataset.
It doesn't take too long. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes.
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CC Lee
Data Scientist at PIC Group Inc.
The initial setup is straightforward, it's just a matter of downloading the software from Microsoft and installing it.
View full review »HM
Harish-Mahanta
Sr PeopleSoft Consultant at Mahanta Solutions
Compared to other reporting tools, it is very easy to acquire, demonstrate, and understand.
I would rate my experience with the initial setup a nine out of ten, with ten being easy.
It is very easy to set up. Security in a private cloud is optimal, whereas public cloud lacks in security. Hybrid solutions offer some balance, but on-premises solutions have a lot of limitations.
Many customers are moving to the cloud for its ease of use, security, availability, and flexibility. Cost efficiency is also a factor. For example, Why would you use the cloud? Say you have 1000 people in your organization, and only 500 need access to Power BI. On-premises, you'd need to buy licenses for all the users. With the cloud, you only pay for what you use.
Considering cost, cloud solutions like Amazon Cloud, GCP Cloud, or Azure Cloud are preferred for their scalability and cost-effectiveness.
So, our customers mainly use cloud deployments.
View full review »MS
reviewer1671858
Program Director Education Technology & Data Services at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
Setup is very easy. You click on the icon, download the MSI, and it loads itself. It takes about a couple of hours to deploy overall.
Edwin Matodzi
Head of Strategy & Architecture at Auditor General
The initial setup of Microsoft BI is straightforward since it comes along with Microsoft Power Platform.
The solution is deployed on the cloud.
I am unsure about Microsoft BI's deployment process since it was already deployed when I joined the organization.
In my company, we have two developers and two testers to look after the deployment and maintenance of the solution.
Sakiru Dosumu
Head, Development Chapter (DevOps) at First Bank of Nigeria Ltd.
The initial setup is straightforward.
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Esteban Fabiani
Project and Consultant Manager at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Deploying Power BI isn't difficult, but it requires time and experience. With regular updates and new features from Microsoft, staying current and understanding changes can be a continuous learning process. While it is manageable with experience, teaching someone from scratch would require significant time and effort.
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IdanEnright
Inovation Manager at SoCalGas
I was part of the initial user testing of Microsoft BI, but it was mostly IT that handled all the initial implementation.
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Swarupa Kallu
Project Manager at GlaxoSmithKline
The initial setup was straightforward, we have a Power BI admin team who take care of all that.
Harry Murdani
Manager, IT Security at Averis
I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, with ten being easy to set up.
The deployment process took one to two days.
View full review »GB
reviewer1264689
Director, IoT and Connected Products Portfolio at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
I am personally not involved in the implementation process, however, my understanding is it's not that difficult to set up.
I don't oversee day-to-day operations. I just have a team that does that for me.
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Mohammed Ghonaim
Senior Oracle Application Consultants at Saudi Telecom Company
The initial setup is straightforward, actually. It is like any other Microsoft product. All of Microsoft's products are straightforward. It isn't complicated. This is one of the main benefits.
I'm not sure how long the deployment process was. I can't speak to how big the technical team was that handled the rollout.
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RicardoPedro
Northern Europe IT Business Intelligence Manager at Adecco
It's easy to install which helps new users to the product. The installation process is easy. You can install it from the Microsoft store, or you can go directly to the Microsoft portal, and download the version that you require. It keeps historical versions available in case you need to test a different version. The advantage of the Microsoft store is that as soon as you install it from there, it always keeps you updated with the latest version. Also from a Power BI service point of view, you have several capabilities. The learning curve comes in when researching the different features, and what is new in the product, as well as what is going to be provided in future versions. The advantage of Power BI is that every month you have something new provided with the update. For example, you may have a new connection, additional visuals, or use new narratives.
View full review »DM
Dawn McClure
IT Project Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup was completed through our internal Microsoft team.
View full review »AG
reviewer1521363
Digital Strategy Manager at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup was okay. We didn't have any problems. I wouldn't call it complex. I'd describe it more as straightforward. It took us around three or four months to set up and deploy the solution.
View full review »BM
Bronagh McManus
Assistant Manager - Forensic Data Analytics at Grant Thornton
The deployment is not difficult. It is relatively easy to maintain the product. For our needs, we need one person to maintain the tool.
View full review »MP
Marcelo Pissinati
IT Cybersecurity and Compliance Coordinator at Plaenge
Due to our extensive experience with the tool, the initial setup was straightforward and uncomplicated.
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Biswajith Gopinathan
Data Analytics Specialist at GlaxoSmithKline
The installation is very straightforward. I did it myself and it took barely ten minutes.
View full review »WW
WinayakWagle
Owner at Pranali Consultants
The initial setup is quite straightforward.
Our implementation strategy involved a business requirement phase where we sought out to understand exactly the expectations for a particular project. Then there is was a design phase where we decided on a data strategy of pulling data from multiple data switches. After that, there was a dashboard design phase, which includes wireframing of dashboards and then designing the dashboards according to those wireframes. Finally, we deploy and in that phase, we put in role level security, et cetera, and deploy it at an enterprise level. The entire process tasks three to four months in total, end-to-end.
We don't require much maintenance due to our maturity in design and development. We have been monitoring sites without having to add too many resources at our end as we have a robust design and maybe one person can handle four to five.
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Nathan Gadson
Managing Director at Streamline Strategies
If my technical person had to rate it, he would say very easy. All we need is to have the software.
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TarekYehia
Technical Consultant at LinkDev
The product's initial setup phase has no problems unless we choose to have it integrated on an on-premises model and not on a cloud version.
Most of the product deployments are carried out manually by our company.
My company opens reports and publishes the report files for the projects being handled. My company gives required permission for other users to access the reports.
The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.
The solution's deployment process is simple to handle, but problems appear in the area of domains, considering that Microsoft Power BI manages the configuration part.
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reviewer1566945
Statistician / Data Scientist at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, with ten being easy to set up.
We use it on the cloud. For us, deployment took six months.
View full review »JM
JasminaMarkovic
BI Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup is straightforward. It is very easy to set up. it is very intuitive.
Perhaps it's because of my experience and expertise in the field that I approach things with caution. I don't take things for granted. Just because I obtain a certain result doesn't automatically mean it's correct, as there may be errors that are not displayed.
It's important to carefully check the measurements and ensure their accuracy, especially for beginners who may not be familiar with these nuances.
Maintaining the system is not difficult due to the availability of the admin platform. When it comes to permissions and access, it becomes straightforward as long as the customer's requirements are clear.
You can easily define the level of access they need, whether it's building, reviewing, sharing, or restricting data access for online viewing. Depending on their specific needs, setting up gateways and configuring other settings is also simple.
It's important to have a clear understanding of their security requirements and engage in discussions with the customer to determine the best approach.
Often, customers may not be fully aware of what they want to achieve, and it's our job to help them identify their needs.
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Ed Waslosky
Director of Supply Chain Management at Intricon
It was easy. We had a good understanding of being able to map two programs together. We had a little training, but otherwise, it was good.
The program installation took a few days, but it took weeks to make the intelligence and the company information look right.
View full review »RU
reviewer1752714
Chief Manager at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
It's a straightforward setup. The deployment took hardly one day. It was quite a short period.
The implementation part varies, however, in our organizations, the deployment is very easy as we have a central team who looks at all the deployment parts. Normally we follow the standard guidelines and then we push further. My internal team is controlling this kind of information. It's much easier for me that way.
It's easy for my industry. I don't know about the other companies, how the deployment part will go. I can only say that, in the insurance sector and in my organization, it's very easy.
While it depends on the team and the size of the deployment, in our case, we only needed one person to handle the initial setup. He was an operations person.
View full review »RD
reviewer1659204
Senior Manager.Marketing Strategy & Analysis. at a marketing services firm with 10,001+ employees
The solution is easy to install.
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MartinAnderson
Owner at BNS
The initial setup is straightforward.
It can take a couple of hours to deploy the gateways, then there is the development of it.
It doesn't require maintenance, but we are forever enhancing the reports. In general, it works without problems.
View full review »SK
Santosh Kurakula
Group DWH and BI Senior Manager at Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa
The initial setup is not complex or difficult. It's simple and straightforward.
It took, 10 to 15 minutes, if I remember correctly, to set everything up. It's just a .exe file installing. It's not hard and it's pretty fast.
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Aditya Pawar
Solutions Architect at DTSQUARED
Creating a report takes 10 to 30 minutes, based on our requirements. It is easy if we have simple requirements. If it is complex, building a report can take days. The product is cloud-based.
View full review »RB
reviewer1142208
Director at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup was straightforward. I would rate it a 5 out of 5.
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reviewer1516839
Information Architect at a government with 10,001+ employees
I wasn't part of the deployment, but my understanding is that it was pretty straightforward.
View full review »EP
Ermanuel Policarpio
Head of business transformation and digitalization at Apple
I'm a seasoned BI developer, so it's easy for me, especially if it's not a very complicated project. There are different setups, depending on the project and depending on the organization. There are really complicated ones. For example, if you are going to connect to SSA live connection, a cube has to be built, there will be expenses, et cetera. There are requirements that would involve different teams and different people because of the expenses, et cetera. There are also simple ones like when you're just connecting to Big Data, or SharePoint, or SAPI, or local, or databases. It depends on projects, but for me as a seasoned developer, I think it's going to be easy.
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Ariful Ambia
Executive Director at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The implementation process is relatively easy. One the junior developer can learn the process in maybe one or two days. He can catch up on Power BI and how it works. It is straightforward, I would say.
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VikasKapoor
CFO at Travel Food Services ltd
The initial setup was straightforward for the simple reason that our entire ecosystem was on Microsoft and we use Azure Web Services in terms of hosting. We split the entire project into two parts to simplify things. The first part was more about the granular analysis of sales and various other elements, which took considerable time due to the many external stakeholders involved. Phase two was relatively simple, because it was department specific and we created a split team, which led to the creation of a better platform.
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BlessingSithole
Software Engineer at syntegra
The setup was very straightforward. You just download through the Windows Store or through the website, then you just start to connect your databases.
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Oscar Estorach
Chief Data-strategist and Director at Theworkshop.es
It is easy to install Microsoft BI. You simply download and install it from the Microsoft Microsoft BI website, and it is available to download on windows. It can be downloaded and installed in 5 minutes.
View full review »RB
Rohit B
Lead Statistical Analyst | Innovation Champion at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
There isn't really a setup involved. It's just download Power BI desktop and publish it.
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Ankita Mandowara
Senior Software Engineer at Ace Infoway Pvt. Ltd
The product's initial setup phase was easy.
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Ariful Mondal
Global Data Architecture and Data Science Director at FH
The installation is easy. The download takes perhaps five minutes, depending on the bandwidth. Overall, it can be downloaded and installed within half an hour and no training is required.
The desktop version is used for development and the cloud version is used to submit a report. Essentially, it is Power BI Desktop and Power BI Services. The desktop version is what is on-premises.
View full review »MB
Manu Boudewyn
IT Enterprise Architect - Partnership at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
It's a sales-based offering so, by nature, it is simple and straightforward. However, the integration options are quite fuzzy and relatively complex when you start to connect to the variety of data sources.
It took a relatively long time of about three months to get everything up and running. The setup took longer than expected, to be honest, but the reason is not only related to the product as such. It was also related to the existing knowledge and capabilities of the IT delivery provider, where multiple gaps were identified.
View full review »IG
Irving Ginzburg
President & Owner at Altrim Systems
The initial setup went quite well. It was a fairly straightforward process. There were no major hiccups.
It took approximately four to five hours to configure.
I have one client who has an administrator who updates the system. He updates the product and his data on a regular basis. I believe the data must be updated once a month. Other clients' updates are handled by me.
View full review »RA
Rakesh Acharya
Manager Technical Architect at Legato Health Technologies
We didn't experience any complications. We built everything on the desktop and in the .pvi files, then just move those files to the server. Afterward, we didn't see any issues at all in terms of setup.
View full review »NA
Nurul Asyikin Wahab
Portfolio manager at a transportation company with 5,001-10,000 employees
As I am not technical, I did not handle the initial setup. We have IT personnel within our organization that handled it. I just gave them my laptop, and they just installed it for me. Occasionally, they can also do it remotely from their office to our office. I never touch it. We just open the apps from the desktop. The process, when do that way, i's quite convenient. It's quite easy for end-users.
View full review »MJ
reviewer1262910
Global Director - HR Technology & Platforms at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup is not complex. It's pretty straightforward. A company shouldn't run into any problems when it comes to setting it up.
View full review »GV
Gery Vasquez
New Digital Applications Specialist at Alpina Sa
The initial setup of Microsoft BI is simple.
View full review »AS
Akhilesh Shrivas
Cognos Consultant at Surtel technologies
I haven't got any opportunity to install any Power BI system. That said, for tutorial purposes, I have installed the desktop version in my system. It was very smooth.
It took 30 to 40 minutes for me to install the desktop version. During my learning phase, I prepared one dashboard. Similar to when I worked on Cognos BI, there were some features that we have to hard code and incorporate manually. There is some automation in Power BI. For example, if we are designing some interactive things we have to write code possibly. Still, even having to write code, in Power BI, was a very smooth experience.
We have people on our team that can handle maintenance tasks.
View full review »CP
Christopher Preffer
Senior Product Manager Data Science at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It has been straightforward and easy.
In terms of maintenance, for the most part, it is fairly low-maintenance. Once you have it set, it is fire-and-forget. The users want to see the view and the information, and there is nothing more to do other than just let it be.
View full review »YS
YogendraSingh
Head-IT/SAP at Barista Coffee Company Ltd.
The installation difficulty depends on the integration, once integrated properly you can receive results. Microsoft BI can be very helpful to your business.
The implementation took us 15 to 20 days.
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LeandroLucas
Head of Product at Bitz
The implementation process is straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult.
Deployment took less than a month.
View full review »RP
reviewer1620744
VP Cloud Platform
The setup was pretty straightforward. I mean the setup for the Power BI Desktop. The download is pretty straightforward. Once you get to do more complex things with it, using the gateway and things like that, then it gets a little complex. On top of that, the documentation is difficult. It's there, however, it's difficult to find.
View full review »TS
reviewer1753443
Cloud business Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The complexity of the installation depends on what you're using it for. If you're doing anything relatively complex, such as working with AI or machine learning, then you would probably want to have a specialist service provider do it for you.
We've seen that people are tending to use solutions that compete with it, just because they are easier to automate. From a large-scale point of view, the installation could be simpler.
That said, in its simplest form, it can be used for self-serve analytics.
View full review »AD
AndreaD'Orio
Chief Technical Officer at Value Partners
The initial setup is very straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult. A company should have no issue with the process.
View full review »DM
Dan Moisescu
Advisor to the Zambia Revenues Authority at GIZ
The initial IT setup was easy, It took two months for the full deployment to complete. It was fairly quick. From the business point of view, of course, the deployment as envisaged with the different data sources and capabilities will take around 18 months.
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JohnMcKay
Enterprise Architect at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Installing Microsoft BI was relatively straightforward. It just took a lot of tinkering with InfoSec to allow us to do stuff.
View full review »AE
reviewer1638714
Junior Data Scientist at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
When I arrived, this solution was already set up.
View full review »AA
Ankur Arya
Solution Architect
The initial setup was complex because the data vault was not totally structured and we needed to create some kind of a data lake, dump the data, then analyze it and create the data mask. We require certain validations and checks before importing or exporting the data as well as the application of the cubes to SSRS before reporting services. Deployment time can be dependent on the server and we have designed the system to optimize the process. We have a deployment team which can include two to three developers. Deployment takes about 10 minutes. The client decides on the deployment plan because they have applications that hang on the production server and don't want deployment to hamper other applications.
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reviewer1565994
Technical Director, Information Management at a construction company with 5,001-10,000 employees
It was straightforward. It took two weeks.
View full review »PC
reviewer1477869
Senior Consultant at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup is not complex in any way. It's quite straightforward. It was installed quite easily onto our system. We didn't run into any issues in that sense.
View full review »MK
Murali_Krishna
Executive Vice President at a security firm with 201-500 employees
The initial setup is a process by itself, so we have to take external help in terms of implementation. In terms of various reports and other things, I don't have an idea about the complexity of the implementation because we took expert advice, and an external consultant implemented it for us. I would guess that it is a bit extensive and needs a lot of work to be usable.
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it_user181869
Microsoft BI Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I have been to many projects and usually the setup is pretty straight forward. But even when it comes to complicated setups such as multiple clusters, the product still seems easy once understood.
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Samar Moustafa
BI Developer at AHBS
I would rate my experience with the initial setup a four out of ten, with one being difficult and ten being easy to set up.
It's difficult to set up. Sometimes, I need technical support to resolve issues.
We use it on-premises.
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Syed Fahad Anwar
Principal System Developer at HHRC
Installation is easy and took about half an hour.
View full review »SP
reviewer1776825
Practice Manager at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
It's very easy to deploy Microsoft Power BI.
View full review »SG
Sumit_Gupta
BI Consultant at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Setup is very easy. In Power BI that's one thing you will find across the board when using it. It is very easy in terms of getting something done. Even complex things can be done in a pretty easy way and there's no complex challenge in it.
RR
reviewer1236651
Accounting Services Finance Manager M&S at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
I found the initial setup to be difficult. It's not exactly straightforward. The deployment might take about an hour.
We use three people for deployment and maintenance tasks.
View full review »CA
reviewer1417392
Contact Center Consultant at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
The initial setup is very easy because it is on the cloud. You only need to have your database and connect it to Microsoft BI. They have different connectors in order to make it easy to do.
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reviewer1447362
Manager - Customer Success at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The installation is not complex or difficult. It's straightforward.
We have Office 365, which holds Power BI, and therefore I was able to have it easily installed.
I can't recall how long the deployment actually took.
View full review »DI
Dimitris Iracleous
Lead Technical Instructor at codehub
Having a proper understanding of how the data is modeled poses the greatest challenge. However, someone who has this should find the installation to be quite straightforward. The initial step involves having an understanding of the data model.
I think the setup is quite easy and straightforward. The solution can simply be downloaded and used. The most difficult thing involves the distillation of SQL Server, not what relates to Power BI.
SV
reviewer1195206
Consultant at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup is fairly easy and straightforward.
View full review »it_user829302
Head of IT at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
Initial setup was very straightforward. Users can get up and running reporting on databases within minutes. I can read a number of databases including a good old Excel spreadsheet.
View full review »it_user206340
Principal Business Intelligence Analyst at a logistics company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Depends on which components we are talking about. For reference, however, I don't think there is a single Microsoft component that was as painful as any given Oracle component to work with.
View full review »LI
Lorenzo Imperatrice
Software Engineer at Lorenzo Imperatrice
The initial setup is complex.
View full review »EH
reviewer1785144
Strategy & Advisory - Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup was straightforward and deployment took about a week plus another few weeks to do work within the BI.
View full review »AS
reviewer1755777
Technical Analyst at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup was simple. However, when I did it the first time, it was complex. Once I understood the process it was simple.
My field was small due to the type of setup required. I scheduled it for one week, during which we also tested.
Definitely, it requires maintenance in terms of quality checking of the data, as well as whether or not the run times or schedules are working properly.
View full review »JL
Jose Antonio Lopez Mesa
Senior data Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is very easy. Even non-IT professionals use it and deliver value to the company.
View full review »PC
reviewer1620732
Associate at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup is very quick. Connectivity, installation, and configuration are pretty fast and seamless compared to Cognos. Power BI eradicated dependency on a framework model.
JO
reviewer1709679
Information Technology Architect at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
It is quite easy. You just need to install a program and use the connectors and drivers, and that's it.
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Rahul Chauhan
Business Intelligence Developer at lagozon technologies private limited
We work on a very concise team of three to four members for the deployment. We will be requiring only a data engineer, Microsft BI developer, business analyst, and project manager.
If the user requirement is high, we can increase the number of members in the team. However, if you have a team of four, then you can deploy the project. A minimum of four people is required.
View full review »AS
AndreasSemousu
Technical Sales Manager at Skhomo Technologies
Deploying Power BI is straightforward because they've made it so easy with cloud solutions when they came out with the Microsoft Power Apps. Power Apps includes Power BI, Microsoft Flow, and some others. I do everything myself, so I can do my workflows in the background of Power BI on all the applications even though I'm not an everyday applications development person. I haven't done development in years.
With Power Apps, you don't necessarily need to install anything because it's already there on the cloud. You customize it and point it to your data sources. Within a couple of minutes, you're done. Then from there on, you can customize your reports however you want. I think it's effortless to work with.
The number of people needed for deployment depends on the size of the organization, and the scope of what you're trying to do. You may have a small organization with fewer than 500 people, but they might deal with a lot of data. That means the project is going to be very big.
Conversely, you could have an organization with about 2,000 people, but they are not a data-intensive organization. Then you will need just a few people. For much larger organizations, you'll find that you might need to have the whole applications development team of between five to 10 people for the actual implementation, including your project manager, business analysts, and various technical support personnel.
For a big organization, you would maybe have five technical guys, including your lead as well as two senior technical people and two juniors. Then as the project grows, you can add four more. At the end of the day, we're looking at about five to 10 people for a bigger project.
However, it's not the same as an on-prem deployment. Most of the work is customization because everything else has been done on Azure. Generally, with things like your standard Power BI deployment, you need just about five people. That includes the project manager and the business analysts plus two or three technical people.
You do an installation and all the customization a client wants, but from there on, you run out of work to do because everything is running smoothly. I've heard some say that it's making people lazy because if you do everything correctly the first time around, you won't have anything to do for a couple of months except maybe change a couple of things for users. From the technical point of view, you find that you have absolutely no work to do until you move on to the next client. The deployment is quick versus how long it used to take as before we went on to Azure.
You don't need a large team for maintenance because somebody else takes care of it. At most, you need two or three technical people and then an account manager. Probably about three. You're not managing the service or the infrastructure. You are just managing the environment.
The management is much easier compared to how we used to do it before. You needed maybe six or seven people, with some managing the environment and others the infrastructure. For example, the department of education has a user base of more than 500,000 people, but the whole environment is managed by two people. With the Azure infrastructure, everything running in the background is taken care of.
View full review »TM
TariqMuhammad
Assistant General Manager at ELEVATE Solutions Limited
Power BI is a fast application. Therefore, the setup is very, very easy. You just license it, sign up, and you can use it.
View full review »KD
reviewer1702647
Senior Technology Architect/Strategist at a aerospace/defense firm with 51-200 employees
Its initial setup is somewhere in the middle. Each deployment seems to be a little different. You have auto-updates all the time on PCs. When you image a PC, it doesn't always match. So, each deployment is different, and I'm not sure they can change that because most of the updates are for security, but it is very important to be sure that you test the environment first before you put it into production. I know a lot of people who just put it into production because of the ease of use, but sometimes, that can be problematic. In terms of maintenance, it is not terrible.
View full review »AI
Ayesha Imtiaz
Senior Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
As a first-time user, I found it to be of medium complexity. You have to connect it with the SQL database or your data source. You might not find it very straightforward.
View full review »CH
Carlos Hulot
Product and Systems Director at SPCM
Everything is in the cloud, so you don't do anything. You only need to download a client, and that's it. If you have to create an embedded solution, it only takes five minutes.
The entire deployment takes a couple of hours, but you don't need a specialist to deploy it. Obviously, you need someone who understands the technology and how to follow instructions, but it's pretty straightforward stuff.
View full review »NM
Nader MOALLA
Managing partner at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
The installation is not a difficult thing, it is very simple.
We only need one IT manager, to deploy this solution.
View full review »AK
AmitKumar23
BI Analyst at Infosys Technology
Initial setup is straightforward, but it depends on the business case. It's straightforward, but sometimes it is complex, but compared to any other tool, the setup for this solution is straightforward.
View full review »DB
Augusta Marbenny
MIS Specialist at a agriculture with 201-500 employees
Installing Microsoft BI is fast and easy. We just downloaded it from Microsoft. That's it. It only takes about half an hour. It takes a little longer for the overall deployment, depending on the data volume. If we're getting the data from a secondary source, it depends upon both the source and volume. The greater the volume, the greater the time. Usually, we can manage to get it done in one or two hours plus the testing. It takes around four people to deploy and manage the solution.
MN
Michele Nelson
BI Solution Engineer at DataSelf
The simple stuff is easy. When you want to get into the calculations and building DAX-type formulas, I don't think DAX is that great. I find Tableau's coding a little easier.
View full review »MP
Marian Petkov
Team Leader at Eurobank EFG Bulgaria AD
Currently, we are in process of implementing this solution on my computer. I installed the Microsoft Power BI desktop application very easily and started my training. I didn't experience any difficulties.
I collected information from several sources and it's been working well — I am happy with this software.
I needed about 15 minutes to install the desktop application. The other portion is web-based, so I haven't gotten to that yet.
View full review »it_user194682
Database Analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup is pretty simple for most starting users.
View full review »
Emmanuel Oladinrin
Senior Analyst at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The initial setup is simple to do.
View full review »LC
reviewer1062786
MBA, MS Business Analytics at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
I installed my own personal version of it, and it appeared to be pretty straightforward.
We have a large IT team to update and maintain this solution.
View full review »RD
RichardDuggan
Owner at Richard Duggan Pty Ltd
It was easy. It was done in minutes.
View full review »OA
OSCAR ACUNA
Innovation & Project Portfolio Management Practice Director at FACTUM
Our setup is very straight forward and can be done in a matter of hours.
View full review »SK
Sai-Krishna
Manager, BI & Analytics at Perceptive Analytics
The initial setup is straightforward. You just download the software from their website, install it, and sign in.
View full review »GR
reviewer936228
Manager- Projects at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup of Microsoft BI is straightforward and easy to install. We install ourselves.
View full review »SA
reviewer1023108
General Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I wasn't directly involved in the implementation process. From the feedback from the engineers working on it, in terms of if it is an easy installation, t's not that difficult. The difficulty level depends on the experience of whoever is installing. It depends on the experience of the guy behind the installation or the software guy. My understanding is that there is no difficulty region to region.
We have about five people who can handle deployment and maintenance duties on our team. We have a mix of managers and admins.
View full review »SS
reviewer1736475
Graduate Engineer at a transportation company with 5,001-10,000 employees
I have no idea whether the installation process was straightforward or not, on the admin side. As for the technical team required for deployment and maintenance, I would say you need maybe one or two admins. The development is based on use cases, but on average, I would say you need some 10 to 15 BI developers.
View full review »TS
reviewer1494948
Senior Manager Analytic & Insights at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup was pretty straightforward.
View full review »AG
Alberto Geminiani
Technical Director at Progetti e Soluzioni
Its installation is easy on the cloud as well as on the desktop. You can also easily move and publish from desktop to the cloud. We had issues with licensing, but after you have received licenses, it is easy.
It is also good how the data that is being collected on some servers for different data centers is automatically synchronized. It is easy enough to do automatic scaling or collect the data from the source and the publisher.
View full review »SH
reviewer1509708
Project Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We found the initial setup to be straightforward. It's not a difficult implementation and I wouldn't describe it as complex. A company setting up the solution for the first time shouldn't have any problem doing so.
View full review »BL
reviewer1389651
Certified Adjunct Faculty, School of Engineering and Computing at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The setup is straightforward, because it exhibits itself within familiar tools, like spreadsheets.
The complexity comes when you try to convert from simple beginnings into something that needs to eventually become reality. But I'm guessing. I don't know that it's complex. And anyway, I personally like complex. It attracts my attention.
View full review »NL
Norbert Langewiesche
Interim Manager Supply Chain / IT at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
The initial setup was straightforward. 30 minutes, and it runs perfectly.
View full review »GG
Gilberto Gutierrez
Presales Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The setup was easy, actually, a single instance installation can be installed by clicking next and next. Maybe a cluster installation could be a little more complex, but it is still easy.
View full review »NA
reviewer1247253
DGM IT at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The initial deployment of Microsoft BI was relatively easy. We installed it to the machine and connected it to our Oracle database.
View full review »KS
KartikSharma
Lead Business Analyst at a media company with 501-1,000 employees
The initial setup was easy.
View full review »GS
reviewer1722714
Operations Center Technician at a renewables & environment company with 501-1,000 employees
Setting up Microsoft BI is straightforward. It took about one week if you include training on how to send reports and other things. We were able to do it by ourselves with a team of about five people.
View full review »BA
Bassem Amer
Technology Solutions Professional at OrchidaSoft
The solution is easy to set up and implement.
SV
Sasa-Vujovic
Senior Consultant at ICTPro
The complexity of the Power BI setup depends on how much integration you need, the number of different databases you have to connect, and whether you're automating the system. However, setup is relatively easy for a standard environment. For reporting alone, it was easy to set up. So it really depends on the complexity of the environment, not on the tool.
View full review »CK
Chomanand Kokil
Analyst Operations with 5,001-10,000 employees
The initial setup was straightforward.
View full review »JC
Jose Dante Cruz Castillo
Director Comercial at Grupo Consultores
Given the fact that it is on the cloud, it is really easy to deploy. It is only about connecting the engine to your data source and start building the dashboards. You can just connect your data. It doesn't matter if it is on-premises or as a service. You can just connect it.
AG
Alfonso Gordillo
Director Research and Development at Projects Factory
It was straightforward. We had no problems with implementation.
View full review »EH
CTOINBI874
Principal at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
It's very, very easy to get started. The complexity is the typical complexity in deployment, in that you have to have people make decisions on who has rights to what data. As far as the implementation, it's quite easy.
View full review »
Fabio Xavier
Director of Systems of the TCESP at a government with 501-1,000 employees
The initial setup of Microsoft BI was straightforward.
View full review »
Gurkan ONAY
Associate Director BI-EPM at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup is very simple. It only takes five minutes to deploy.
Other than refreshing the dataset, it does not require any maintenance.
View full review »AN
AYANDA NKUNDLA
Senior Manager: ICT Compliance at Department of Public Service and Administration
We have three support staff for maintenance.
View full review »RS
Rajesh S
Technical Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
The implementation process is pretty easy.
View full review »BY
reviewer1650804
Senior Data Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup was very easy to complete and it took approximately 30 minutes.
View full review »SM
reviewer1620273
Data Warehouse Engineer at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
I wasn't a part of the initial setup. That was something that was handled by another team. I can't speak to how long it took to deploy.
My understanding is that you only need two people to deploy the solution. Admins usually handle it.
View full review »ST
reviewer1507608
New Build Completion & Commissioning at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
We've found the initial setup to be pretty straightforward. It's not complex. A company shouldn't have too much trouble getting everything up and running.
View full review »AN
AYANDA NKUNDLA
Senior Manager: ICT Compliance at Department of Public Service and Administration
The initial setup is pretty complex. It's not straightforward or simple. You need to be a bit of an expert in order to handle it, and I am, unfortunately, not an expert. If you had more experience with it, you might find it easier than I did.
View full review »IH
reviewer1159494
Advisory Software Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup is easy. I didn't find any complexity in it. It can be difficult if the end users don't know how to use it. If they are trained on it, then after a week or a month, it gets easier for the end users.
View full review »SA
Salahuddin Almohammadi
Group IT Manager with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup is straightforward.
FM
Farhan Ahmed MCTS/MCITP/MCC SQL Server
Senior Software Engineer - Business Intelligence at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
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.
View full review »RV
reviewer1268121
Technical coordinator at a university with 201-500 employees
We found the initial implementation process to be straightforward and simple. It's not overly complex or difficult.
I cannot recall the exact amount of time it actually took to deploy the product.
View full review »GM
Greg Morley
Sales Director at Expeditus (Pty) Ltd
Microsoft BI is mostly easy to set up.
View full review »MU
Mahmoud Umar
Founder/CEO at Data.tac Nigeria Limited
The initial setup was very straightforward.
View full review »SU
reviewer1413633
Head of Digitalization at a mining and metals company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The initial setup is quite simple, but for the product use, you need to have people who have got experience of at least three to six months in using these applications. It took us two months to deploy across the company.
View full review »NM
Nigel Magson
Founder at a tech consulting company with 11-50 employees
Straightforward easy setup. Typical Microsoft software (familiar).
View full review »RA
reviewer1721040
Executive HR- Talent Acquisition at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
As we are using the cloud service of this tool, the initial setup for it is fine.
View full review »JR
reviewer1784373
Assistant Manager Databases at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup of Microsoft BI was not complex. The deployment took a long while with our twin databases.
View full review »SK
Sai-Krishna
Manager, BI & Analytics at Perceptive Analytics
The initial setup takes only a few minutes. It's just a matter of downloading the file and installing it.
Once it is installed, it takes minimal involvement from a maintenance perspective. It runs on its own.
View full review »PH
reviewer916719
System Specialist at a government with 201-500 employees
I didn't handle the deployment process. I can't speak to what the deployment was like.
The is no maintenance required.
View full review »NN
reviewer1028202
Functional Consultant at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup is very straightforward and simple. It's not a complex process. A company shouldn't face any issues handling it.
We only needed two people to handle the deployment and maintenance aspects of the product. It's one manager and one developer.
View full review »LK
LunikKanungo
Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I downloaded the solution from their website.
The server side was already set up, therefore, I don't know much about the initial setup process. As a contractor, I came in just on the development side, which was just downloading the Power BI tool as a client. It was fairly easy. That's the nice thing is it's easy to set up. It is similar to Tableau, in that Tableau is fairly easy to set up. It is all built towards this whole idea of self-service.
View full review »SK
reviewer1517895
Partner at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The solution is easy to install and it does not take long.
View full review »BN
reviewer1467924
Compensation Coordinator at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup was very easy. It took a little bit less than a month to get everything designed, tested, and deployed after we got the licenses.
View full review »SK
Samuel Kamau
Co-Founder at Beta Edge Technology Limited
The installation is direct and quite easy to do. The instructions are available online and they are easy to follow.`
View full review »RT
reviewer1257072
Senior Business Analyst at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Initial setup was straightforward.
View full review »LG
Leandro-Gomes
Marketing and Relationship Manager | Customer Journey at Ipiranga
The initial setup was complex.
View full review »FM
reviewer1121292
MCSE at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
The initial setup of Microsoft BI is easy.
View full review »ES
reviewer1047609
Founder & CEO at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The initial setup is very complex.
View full review »AE
Aneesa Ebrahim
IT Service and Strategy Consultant, Facilitator at BCAP SOLUTIONS
The initial setup was straightforward and didn't take too long. We had a team, the Azure FastTrack team, that assisted us and they were superb.
View full review »BS
reviewer1623579
Engagement Professional at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
The initial setup was easy for me.
View full review »RH
reviewer1537680
Head of Analytics Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Its installation is straightforward. The developer suite has one-click installation. The end-users just get a web URL. There is no installation for end-users. They just access it.
There is a Microsoft certification that you need to complete, but it is all deployed on the Microsoft Azure cloud. So, there are no infrastructure requirements.
View full review »VC
reviewer1381863
CEO at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
It is a cloud product. You can access it through a web browser. It takes no time.
It takes time only when you have to prepare the reports because you need to know how to prepare the Power BI reports. There is an MIS team, and there are Power BI designers who design the reports, but for users, it doesn't take much effort because they just have to click and see.
View full review »MS
Monesh Sharma
Business Analyst at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees
The initial setup is very easy.
View full review »JB
Jose Barbosa
CEO at Finanblue
The initial setup is quite complex and not easy to manage. You need a data scientist. It's not only connected to a data source, it's not only connected to an Excel sheet. For basic use that's okay but for corporate use to extract major features from the solution, you need a data scientist. It's expensive but a necessity and it's a very good investment for companies, because the data scientist enables the company to make better decisions and to help improve customer satisfaction.
SM
Sonali Mali
Engineer at Jade Global
I was not involved with implementation of the product.
View full review »SR
itspec564565
IT Specialist at a wholesaler/distributor with 1-10 employees
In the beginning, it was a rather complex because all the documents are in English. If it is in French, it was really complex, so then we would have to read the English documents. That was the most difficult thing here. It made the product difficult to use, because of the language, so Microsoft did provide help.
View full review »it_user232830
Head of Information Systems Department at a government
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.
View full review »RZ
reviewer1760334
Head of Global Services Business Performance Management at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
The setup is good. Everybody can test and try the solution, it's not rocket science. There is a lot of training and courses available. We decided to have a separate workforce for that purpose which is doing nothing else than Microsoft BI every day in India. It has been very effective.
View full review »OA
Okay Akdeniz
Business Application Group Manager at OBASE
There isn't much of an installation process, as the solution is on the cloud.
View full review »SG
Sumit_Gupta
BI Consultant at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup is straightforward, to say that least. It took just a few days to deploy.
View full review »GG
Gary Gonsalves
Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
The setup was straightforward for me because as part of an organization, I didn't have to set it up myself. It was set up via the organization, through the IT department, so it was pretty straightforward.
View full review »KC
Khumbulani Chikura
Business Intelligence Architect at a tech services company
The initial setup was fairly simple and straight forward, I must say.
View full review »it_user229761
Senior Consultant | Architect at DHL
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.
View full review »HO
HerveOKAN
Consultant en Business Intelligence
The initial setup is quite straightforward.
View full review »it_user876765
Founder with 1-10 employees
The initial setup was very straightforward.
View full review »DD
Dung Dinh Tien
Database Expert & BI Developer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
It is quite easy to setup.
View full review »PH
PerHemström
Partner at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
It was pretty straightforward. Not much to set up. Cloud service and desktop client that you need to download and install, but if you have worked with other similar tools then you and know about that.
SA
reviewer1023108
General Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The solution is not that difficult to install, although this will vary with the experience of the person responsible for its installation.
View full review »DJ
Deepak Jhaveri
Director at Magnamious Systems Pvt. Ltd.
It's fairly easy to set up Power BI.
View full review »KB
reviewer1311126
Managing Partner at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Step-by-step implementation is easy. The difficult part is when you enter the infrastructure site. There are lots of Power BI developers, however, they do not know the other cloud environment. In that way, they can only design the front site. That said, they should know the architecture. They should know the other infrastructure and know the data also. If they do, they can produce lots of things. As an example, Microsoft offers a flow integration so that you can create a data flow that consumes the data and give the results to other services. Also, there are lots of things that you can do, however, you need to know the Azure environment in order to do them.
View full review »AB
reviewer1556970
CEO Gerente General at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment takes a good two days to finalize.
In terms of maintenance, we have a support team that covers all of our customers. There isn't really that much that needs to be done.
View full review »EP
Enrique Pacheco
Managing Director at IDMdev Tech Solutions®
The initial setup was not complex, but we would like a more agile process. The initial deployment took about two months. The platform that we created was very robust.
it_user654243
Business Intelligence Developer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
It was straightforward. Very straightforward.
You can just go to YouTube, somebody has done it before. Because it has GUI, just click, click, click, next, next, and you're done. And YouTube helped a lot in deploying projects: SSAS Projects, SSIS projects, and SSRS projects.
AV
reviewer1472169
Solutions Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The install was straightforward and the advanced dashboards operate on well-branded tablets.
View full review »RB
RaphaelBilecki Freitas
Business Intelligence Coordinator Latam at a construction company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The initial setup was straightforward. Really simple. The deployment took about a week.
View full review »NH
reviewer1128801
Director of Analytics and Cognitive Computing at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
The installation is straightforward.
View full review »FB
reviewer864999
Project Leader at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The initial setup is pretty simple and pretty straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult.
There's a bit of maintenance required as there is data coming in every month. There are just a few server updates and write-ups to keep up on.
View full review »KR
reviewer1482141
Strategic Market Development Sr. Manager at a pharma/biotech company with 201-500 employees
The installation was simple and it takes approximately five minutes.
View full review »MR
sharepoi927843
Senior Manager at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
From a technical perspective, the installation is straightforward.
It took one week to deploy.
The deployment was done by the database team.
You only need one person to maintain this solution.
View full review »DK
reviewer1590450
BI technical analyst at a government with 11-50 employees
The initial setup is more complicated than other solutions. Microsoft typically has more involved installations.
View full review »JS
reviewer1398615
Consultant at a training & coaching company with 201-500 employees
I was not involved with the installation but my understanding is that it was easy to install.
We have a team of two people to maintain this solution.
View full review »ZA
SenProgrammer29
Senior Programmer Analyst with 1,001-5,000 employees
The setup was straightforward.
View full review »VC
reviewer938061
Sr. Solution Architect at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
I didn't install this solution, our IT team took care of it.
View full review »LB
reviewer1040850
Director of Sales and Marketing at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The setup is fairly straightforward but implementation is a little bit complex mostly due to how the customer driven scope changes often as they realize the power of a BI tool and want to be able to expand it's use.
We're on a Progress platform, so that's a little more technical on our side at the beginning of the original project.
View full review »SS
reviewer1447446
Data Analyst at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
The initial setup is straightforward and the deployment will take an hour, or an hour and a half.
View full review »it_user866316
Director, Education Management Information Systems with 51-200 employees
It is a very simple application so there was no real setup. Just download it.
View full review »CA
Actnt932
Accountant at a government
It was easy. The only thing I noticed was that it was so slow. It took a long time to download, but again, I think that was my connectivity.
View full review »AJ
Amol Jaiswal
Head of Offshore Operations & Solutions at Techcarrot
I have found the installation straightforward compared to other competitors.
View full review »TB
reviewer1535370
Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The solution is a service, which does not require a traditional installation. However, there is a large configuration portion. It can be very simple to configure minor operations but can become complex if you connect via Power BI, a lot of sources. For example, from on-premise and from multiple clouds. It allows you to go from very simple, to very complex. It is up to your solution design in the end.
You can create your first dataset in a matter of hours. This once again is dependent on your configuration.
The solution requires maintenance but not to the Power BI itself. The configuration is deployed on top of Power BI, you can set automatic alerts if, for example, the data is not synchronized or It not available.
View full review »MB
reviewer1536369
Power BI Technical Specialist at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is easy because documentation and a lot of tutorials are available. Its deployment took one month.
View full review »it_user454209
Business Intelligence Analyst & Developer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
It is easy to install and to integrate in an enterprise setting.
View full review »SB
reviewer1330689
Client Director, Head of Sales & Marketing, Partner at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
When we deployed five years ago, the setup was very complex. Since then, it's become much easier.
View full review »PT
business811623
Data analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup was straightforward and we had around 25 users in the company.
CW
reviewer1597356
Certification Division at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
The initial setup is straightforward. It is very easy to install.
View full review »AB
reviewer1564200
Data Science Leader at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
For me, the initial setup was easy, but I have been working for more than 20 years in data analytics. However, sometimes for end-users it's not as easy as another tool on the market.
A dashboard can be made in 30 minutes or two days, depending on the client, the information, and the quality of the data. I am also a teacher, so for my classes I can create a low plan dashboard in 30 minutes.
it_user859623
IT Director at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
As the IT manager in my company, I oversaw the resources and the setup of the solution but I was not involved on the technical side. But I think that it was really easy. It was not complex to set up.
My team did have to read a lot of technical documentation. We also contacted a company that knows this solution, one that has implemented it for other companies, consultancy-based.
Still, I have installed more complex tools in my company. This was one of the easier tools to put into production in my company in the last four or five years.
View full review »it_user171975
MSBI Technology Architect/Developer at a pharma/biotech company with 51-200 employees
I was able to figure out the setup by doing some research and it's not too complex for experienced user.
View full review »SM
reviewer1586415
Associate Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup can be easy if you have a small amount of data being used. I have found Qlik is better if you have large amounts of data.
View full review »IS
reviewer1517100
CEO at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It's easy to install. It requires that you prepare some databases for installing this product, but it doesn't take too much time to do it.
View full review »it_user825429
Senior Business Analyst, Big data at a manufacturing company
I was not involed with the initial setup of the solution.
View full review »it_user872265
Professor of Private International Law with 1,001-5,000 employees
There was no real set up, just install the application. No complications whatsoever.
View full review »it_user305997
Data Analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It is easy to set up.
View full review »MN
Matheus Nery
Data Scientist at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
The installation is simple.
View full review »TW
reviewer96678
Managing Director at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
It is fairly straightforward. As long as there is a connection to the server which houses the NAV/AX database and all the data warehouse, since bi cubes are generated from the BI solution, without any need for user intervention.
View full review »it_user217881
Consultant MOA BI at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Developers and architects are easily available for this technology.
View full review »it_user289488
MSBI Technical Lead at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
- Straightforward - installation, development, deployment, and maintenance
- Little complex - Learning the tool
it_user171969
Microsoft BI Consultant with 51-200 employees
MS products are great but security is always a concern to make the whole ecosystem work smoothly. The latest BI suite is tightly integrated with SharePoint which is great; but the set-up process and deployment is still painful.
View full review »JV
reviewer1501212
Part Owner at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Deployment time depends on the company, it can take up to two months.
View full review »PA
reviewer1499169
Research & Development Expert at a energy/utilities company with 11-50 employees
There is no complexity in the initial setup. It takes approximately 15 minutes to deploy.
View full review »GJ
reviewer956955
Sr Dot Net Developer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I did not find any complexities with the setup.
View full review »it_user553431
Chief Tecnical Officer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The initial setup of the Microsoft BI Stack environment is complex, has many moving parts, and you need to know what you want for outputs to make effective use of it.
View full review »it_user324447
Business Intelligence Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The setup was straightforward.
View full review »it_user221220
Analyst in XBRL Projects at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is easy to implement Microsoft BI.
View full review »CM
reviewer1514799
Project Business Analyst RPA at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
The installation is easy. However, there are many options and areas to configure that can be difficult.
View full review »Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Power BI
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power BI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Power BI Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
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Updated: March 2024
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