September 18, 2018 at 1:12 am
Hello,
Just wondering what Reporting/Analytics software everyone uses? I am looking to switched to Power BI but thought I 'd check out other suggestions first.
-Jamie
September 18, 2018 at 7:27 am
Generally, you would want to use whatever tool makes the presentation of your results the easiest, which also means it's a solid and flexible tool that can do whatever you need to able to do.
Steve (aka sgmunson) 🙂 🙂 🙂
Rent Servers for Income (picks and shovels strategy)
September 18, 2018 at 7:45 am
Thanks sgmunson,
Out of curiosity what tools do you use?
-Jamie
September 19, 2018 at 2:51 pm
GaffneyJ - Tuesday, September 18, 2018 7:45 AMThanks sgmunson,Out of curiosity what tools do you use?
-Jamie
I've used a number of different tools at various points in time, and for various reasons. Most of the time, I can only use the tools available to me. I've been contracting for the last 10 years, so the tools have varied all over the map. I've used SSRS, Crystal Reports, and in many cases, copied and pasted or used SSIS to feed an Excel spreadsheet that I could then "pretty up" either manually or with VBA code. It all depended on what was available and what timeframe something was needed in. One occasion required me to set up a web page using Classic ASP and present the report in HTML format. In another, I had to modify a VB.Net Windows Forms Application to add controls and other functionality to get the presentation right. In other cases, I've had to suggest better ways of looking at data because what I was asked for just didn't make any sense. Your mileage may vary....
Steve (aka sgmunson) 🙂 🙂 🙂
Rent Servers for Income (picks and shovels strategy)
September 19, 2018 at 7:23 pm
I'm using pretty much Power BI for the the visualization side. It's a pretty good tool and has an in-memory engine that helps keep the data stored in bulk as opposed to live queries on the datasets. But, it also has that option to if you really want it.
From an analytical engine standpoint, I pretty much rely on the data lake and the analytical services that sit on the data lake for that. This is primarily because the data is so large it can't easily be quantified by Power BI directly. It also supports R and Python where the data sits versus putting it in the visualization layer with Power BI, which can be a pain to manage 300 reports all with separate R and Python scripts.
I've worked with SSRS, MicroStrategy and Tableau as well. MicroStrategy is pretty good, but overly complex for enterprise. I wouldn't use it again. SSRS was pretty good and I loved parameterized queries that worked off the filters of the report. Power BI doesn't have this option yet with live query. SSRS has a huge advantage there for taking advantage of indexes with those params. But, SSRS looks pretty dated in comparison unless you have the latest and greatest versions. Tableau is pretty good, but super expensive. This is ultimately why I landed back to Power BI. Microsoft is doing it right there.
If I had to put it in order it would be: PowerBI, SSRS, Tableau, MicroStrategy. SSRS is only high here because of the performance advantages and cost savings if you already invested in the Microsoft stack. Otherwise Tableau is second.
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