MicroStrategy Reviews

Pros

The software is easy to install and get up and running. It handles a wide variety of data types and has many options for displaying data. They now have a compilable version that lets developers hard code the dashboards to work with input software which is nice (although a little pricey for smaller applications).

Cons

The user interface was less than intuitive, development support was not strong, and some of the features do not respond as expected. Specifically, maps do not appear to scale properly - I wound up with a much larger map (the entire northern hemisphere) than wanted (the continental USA) and could never get them to display properly unless I removed the data element and started over. Setting up dashboard frames to fit various screen sizes is a little complicated. Setting up “reusable frames” was a little difficult to master, because of the sidebar configuration tools.

Pros

It is faster to implement and do not require too much customization. Most of the widgets and features are ready to use. The admin and user interfaces are intuitive and they do not generate errors or bugs during installation or heavy use by the end users. Very stable and reliable platform.

Cons

Price. They initial investment is higher comparing to another bundle software (Power BI, Tableau). However, the extra licensing is not very expensive since we can pay by active user. There is also a free end-user product (Desktop) that is focus on analytic end-users that do not require to modify objects but accessing dashboards and reports.

Pros

Versatile - Dashboard, charts and lists: analyze from a more macro perspective or go to the line detail
• Flexible - Receive reports by email and create alerts (datamining). Use dynamic filters or create your own personal analysis online
• Available - access via Web, Office andMobile
New ways to explore data (Dashboards)
Tailor made reports with scheduled deliveries
Ability to provide customers with OnLine access to Reports and Dashboards
Crossing information from multiple Base Data + creation of new InHouse objects
New ways to explore data (Visual Insight, Dashboards, Drills)
Accessing OnTheGo Information via Mobile
Fast + information + dynamic

Cons

Sometimes is not an easy learning curve.

Pros

Evolving periodically for better.
Really good in maintaining data structures and hierarchy to ensure data integrity and consistency
Capable to do almost anything that other competitors have.
Hyper intelligence is a game changer in BI world.

Cons

1. Setup can be complicated and difficult since involved many parties (driver vendor, database vendor, etc) due to compatibility issues.
2. Prefer inner join, less support for outer join.
3. Relationship and data structures development can take lots of time and thought.

Pros

Scalable MicroStrategy was a helpful tool for providing daily, monthly, and quarterly reporting due to the ability to build automated reports that can be sent to large groups of people using distribution lists.,data from multiple SOR sources in the organization helped in monitoring our SLA management. security features to allow the report to be used by multiple roles and levelsMobile functionality

Cons

users not having ability to make changes to metrics and attributes without having to rely to heavily on MicroStrategy developers, it would make the product a great dea and more useful.

Pros

Number of functionnalities compared to challenger

Cons

Before the v10, Microstrategy was late on specific topics but now they did the good investment for the future.

Pros

The reliability was key. We had to refresh data weekly for over 2,000 dealerships and had many thousands of users, so it was important the dashboards were working 100% of the time.

Cons

It was difficult for our team to make updates to the dashboards when requested by our clients. Also, custom reports were a bit dofficult to create and schedule. Still a good reporting product, though, and a great value for the money because you can display all sorts of data in different ways (bar chart, pie chart, trend lines).

Pros

- Full of advanced features like data storage in MicroStrategy cubes for faster reporting times, advanced grouping and filtering, ability to write your own SQL in the backend, ability to customize using SDK interface
- MicroStrategy Mobile is game changer. Great app and makes a solid impression on C-suite executives

Cons

- Initial setup takes time (If you compare with Tableau, etc, the setup of MicroStrategy is much more time intensive). Have to setup all attributes and measures beforehand.

Pros

It has an immense amount of features, functionality, integrations, and plug-ins that can be used to better analyze data. It also has a strong analytical engine. It covers just about every need for enterprise business intelligence.

Cons

It is a heavy platform to setup, requiring dedicated servers, and in-depth knowledge on the application itself. It is not easy to architect a project without having specific training of the tool. It is fairly complex for developers.

Pros

The dashboards and reports that MicroStrategies is able to produce are beautiful, insightful, actionable, and informative. We have been using them for portfolio management and production reporting for several years and are pretty happy.

Cons

The setup can be cumbersome and the software did take awhile to learn. It's not incredibly intuitive like some of the programs I have used in the past, but the results are worth the efforts.

Pros

It works with the main Operative System, it doesn't need a expensive hardware to run. Excellent training program (not too expensive). It is easy to automate the sending of reports to user lists (great the report tool too because allow you to switch from a table to a chart in real time). It is a web based solution so it is accessible from any device from anywhere. generally user friendly because it helps the user to create the data cloud without having a thorough technical knowledge of SQL or programming. It is compatible with most data sources with connectors.
An important and unique feature is that of being able to insert comments, note and share the analysis.

Cons

It takes a long time to configure the software the first time (installation and connection to server). Old-fashioned design, the Desktop environment can be a bit more intuitive and quick.
Has a licensing system that is a bit too complicated. It should be improved data export functionality.

Pros

This software is so versatile. It let's me slice and dice data from a variety of sources into user friendly dashboards and reports.

Cons

Building a new dashboard can be tedious but I'm not a programmer by trade. I have been able to isolate the reporting sources and fields and build my own dashboards it just hasnt been as fast or simple as I had hoped.

Pros

This software is loaded with features/functionality; I don't think I've run into anything that it just can't do. Their training and user forums are also extremely helpful.

Cons

Very steep learning curve for administration/development and requires very knowledgeable support staff to get and keep it going. I think that is to be expected with such a complex product however for a smaller company it can present challenges.

Pros

Ease of use: as a non-SQL user MSTR allows me to quickly and easily get the data I need in the format I need it in

Cons

Learning curve can be steep. Also charts and graph functions are lacking in the detailed formatting options you need to make a dashboard presentable for executive presentations

Pros

This is a very powerful software that allows us to manipulate mountains of data into usable reports. There are tons of options of how to format and organize the data into various reports for different audiences. The possibilities are basically endless.

Cons

It's not a very intuitive user interface, and can be very difficult to figure out the best way to accomplish a certain look for the reports you're generating. Often times, trial and error seems to be the best way to go. As I gain experience with the software, I'm sure this will become less of an issue.

Pros

We use microstrategy to create custom dashboards for internal use and for our customers. We are able to create SSO from our customer portal to microstrategy to allow our customers to have access to their dashboards. With microstrategy you are able to provide summary level dashboards with links that allow you to click to drill down to receive further details. We are also able to provide links so the user can export the reports to excel so they can further filter the information as needed. The creation of cubes enables us to have the data calculations ready and available to reduce the response time to present dashboards to the end user.

Cons

Our customers would like to be able to subscribe to receive scheduled emails of their dashboards versus having to login to our portal to view the information. We have not be able to figure out how to provide them this feature.

Pros

It was easy to use and create adhoc reports. I was able to send out reports to my clients or those who I supported to give them a good look of their business.

Cons

It was hard to trust the data. When you can't trust the data then anything the software can do becomes mute. It was partly our fault but didn't love that aspect.

Pros

This software is super easy to use and manipulate data for various kinds of reporting. It has helped me find shrink issues more than once.

Cons

The only con is that it needs to be used in conjunction with a retail software. I would recommend using Mi9.

Pros

I used to not be a fan of microstrategy’s analytics / BI software, but they seem to really listen to their customers and improve their software with every release. I especially like the enhancements to the geographic data features and visualizations in their recent release. Turning GIS data into an aesthetic map chart is simple now.

Cons

While microstrategy’s software has improved greatly in recent releases, I still think the forecasting functionality could be improved. You can’t do as much with forecasting in this software than you can in some competing software.

Pros

I use this software to run reports on DNA samples that I process at my job. It is intuitive and well organized. I learned how to use it very quickly. It has convenient features such as labels that appear when you hover over an icon. I also have not had any issues with it such as lagging or crashing or other functional failures.

Cons

The only room for improvement is the web design. Adding some colors, bigger icons, and reorganizing the display of options would make it easier on the eyes and brain and more delightful to use.

Pros

I enjoy having the ability to run custom reports that help me understand how my staff is behaving on the phones. Exporting that data is a breeze, overall a great product.

Cons

It can be intimidating for new users, better integration of help functions would be appreciated.

Pros

Microstrategy is a world leader when it comes to BI and analytics. The tool is great for large-scale deployments where many aspects of the business need to be considered.

Cons

While catering to all potential BI and analytics needs, Microstrategy seriously lacks when it comes to ease of use. Competitors like Power BI and Sisense have made deployment of BI tool extremely easy and in comparison, Microstrategy feels lacklustre.

Pros

The technology is great. Even though this is one of the legacy BI vendors, their technology has kept up with the newer vendors.

Cons

The support has been slow for the past year or so.

Pros

quick to learn and start using from no experience. The videos on you-tube also helped pickup some of the concepts. The free desktop tool, also had a good guide and videos to get started.

Pros

I like the desktop version of it more. Its very easy to create metrics and use them in different reports. Multiple people can work together on a particular project.

Cons

Get small bugs that really trouble sometimes. Also, the customer support is not very robust. There are forums but cannot find trusted answers to all the problem-related queries.