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Microsoft Power BI vs Oracle HFM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Power BI
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
331
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (1st), Reporting (1st)
Oracle HFM
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Business Performance Management (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Business Intelligence solutions, they serve different purposes. Microsoft Power BI is designed for BI (Business Intelligence) Tools and holds a mindshare of 7.5%, down 21.0% compared to last year.
Oracle HFM, on the other hand, focuses on Business Performance Management, holds 3.5% mindshare, down 7.1% since last year.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Power BI7.5%
Tableau Enterprise5.8%
Amazon QuickSight3.2%
Other83.5%
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
Business Performance Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Oracle HFM3.5%
Anaplan6.5%
Adaptive Insights4.9%
Other85.1%
Business Performance Management
 

Featured Reviews

Hemanthreddy Vakiti - PeerSpot reviewer
Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Interactive dashboards have transformed restaurant data into faster daily business decisions
Microsoft Power BI has many features and there is not a lot to improve. However, the licensing can be confusing. When deciding between Pro and Premium, I find it difficult to distinguish what features are offered by Pro and what features are offered by Premium, including the particular differences to choose between both licensing models. Additionally, some features such as DAX, which I mentioned previously, involve DAX calculations and complex data modeling, which are somewhat advanced and not easily understandable. Prior knowledge is required or you need to go through the documentation. If the documentation is made comprehensive so that anyone with no knowledge on DAX can easily use it by going through the documentation, it would be really helpful. Additionally, if the integration with non-Microsoft tools is improved and performance is optimized, then Microsoft Power BI can become a top-ranked visualization tool. The user experience with Microsoft Power BI is quite good. The intuitive user interface makes it easy for both technical and non-technical users to create reports. However, only the advanced features are somewhat complex, and if the documentation is improved, it can be easily accessible.
Segun Oladele - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Manager, Accounting at BIC
Has supported financial consolidation through accurate reporting and global currency conversion
Oracle HFM is excellent for consolidation and reconciliation. It helps me see the general overview of the business across several locations. The drill-through reporting enhances accuracy in financial analysis. Oracle HFM has a schedule that requires reporting, especially one that ties back to my general ledger. I have to report each line item that comprises that number. It helps me fact-check reported numbers with a schedule. For example, with payables, Oracle HFM allows me to have a list of numbers reported per supplier. This provides comfort that the numbers are not fictitious. Additionally, it has a feature that performs fact-checking from P&L to balance sheet. For instance, if depreciation is reported, it must align with what is in the profit or loss account. These features ensure integrity in the reported numbers and allow for quick error detection while serving as a reconciliation tool. The currency conversion feature provides a global view from entity currency to local currency perspective, enabling value checks in different currencies for the company as a whole. In Nigeria, I report in Naira, and I don't need to report in my parent currency. The entity can report in their currency into Oracle HFM, and the parent company converts to their currency. By inputting budget rates, I can convert to any reporting currency, particularly the parent company currency. This feature saves time, increases speed, and allows the parent company to value its subsidiaries quickly. Regarding data integration capabilities for ensuring data consistency and accuracy, it deserves a high rating. For example, with inventory, if there is an impairment, the reported amount in P&L should match the balance sheet's inventory impairment. This level of checking provides confidence in the accuracy of reported figures.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The biggest improvement comes from a do it once, refresh many concept, where users build their reports once and then simply refresh the data, giving them a lot more time to perform analysis, which is the real added value to the business."
"Its scalability is really good, because Microsoft has put in a lot of effort."
"Key features are its dashboard functionality and ease of integration with various data sources."
"Power BI allows me to show detailed improvements in quality and safety and patient experience."
"We are able to provide the clients with data-driven decisions by the use of the reports that we are creating using Microsoft BI."
"My primary use is for view of the dashboard."
"It is a very good software solution; it makes life very easy for us, is easy to grasp, and is useful."
"We are running over 500,000 reports annually, and it provides data feeds for enterprise KPI reporting and AI."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility and ease of configuration in terms of testing and formula creation."
"Oracle HFM's drill-through reporting has enhanced my customers' financial analysis significantly, allowing users to drill down to the base level in each of the dimensions and even further using Smart View for very granular level of general ledger cost centers, making the whole process more effective for their targets and deadlines."
"Oracle HFM is the most scalable solution in the market."
"The most valuable features are around consolidations, eliminations, conversions."
"The data consolidation engine is outstanding in terms of speed and functionality."
"Oracle HFM is excellent for consolidation and reconciliation; it helps me see the general overview of the business across several locations."
"Financial consolidation and reporting tool with good built-in features such as currency exchange and elimination."
"There are measurable benefits from using Oracle HFM as it reduces manpower and eliminates work duplication."
 

Cons

"The desktop tool is very memory-intensive, and again, this is not documented clearly; it requires heavy CPU and memory use, and it causes your operating systems to become unstable."
"Trend data and dashboards need improvement."
"Technical support could be a bit better."
"here are still better UI designs they can go through. I'm assuming they are focusing more on capabilities rather than look-and-feel designs."
"There were scalability issues. It does half the work like any other product in the market."
"The DAX features need some improvement. It's not as easy as Excel. They need more DAX formulas."
"I am a SAP user and I would like this tool to have more connectors - and to more easily connect to - the ERP or SAP environment."
"The Microsoft BI interface should be simpler and more user-friendly. I find it very difficult to move between their data sources and their analytics section."
"The user interface for data entry (forms) is very primitive – and lacks common Windows functionality such as copy/paste functions."
"There have been some stable cases, but not all of them are."
"The intercompany reporting function in this tool needs improvement, particularly being able to run reports in batches, rather than one at a time."
"Oracle HFM could be improved or enhanced in handling metadata or the dimensionality."
"It's a difficult process to try to edit, configure, or change the business rules that exist and work within HFM."
"In terms of improvement, one challenge with Oracle HFM is the need for technical knowledge in writing SQL syntax for custom extensions."
"Yes I did have issues."
"The solution has integration challenges. We need a simple tool that is fool-proof for the data that is submitted not only for consolidation purposes but also for performance management and reporting purposes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft BI requires licenses."
"The only other cost, besides the licensing fee, would be to cover support."
"MS BI comes with all the tools and it is, to the best of my knowledge, the most affordable solution."
"This product offers good value for the money."
"There is room for at least 45% discount as compared to the initial price."
"Power BI premium is really expensive for our market. A lot of small and medium companies would like to purchase it, but they can't afford it."
"If you purchase a license for a server, for users, or the professional version, you might not have to. The free version I think it can satisfy many customers' needs."
"Its licensing cost is very high. It is $20 per user, which is very high, but it is a good product, so you pay for it."
"Oracle Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) uses the named user licensing model. There's different pricing depending on HFM and Essbase planning."
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Comparison Review

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

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Construction Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
10%
Retailer
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business136
Midsize Enterprise59
Large Enterprise171
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

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

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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