QlikView Reviews

The most valuable feature of this product is quick and easy access to data by top management, in an elegant and colorful display that make is easy to visualize numbers.

We are able to provide top management with dashboards that connect different applications together, and gives them visibility and decision-making abilities that simple reports don't.

The management console is cumbersome to use for managing large numbers of users and documents.

I have used this solution for five years.

I did not really encounter any issues with deployment, stability or scalability.

Support and customer service are highly rated.

We evaluated this product against other BI products such as OBIEE and Cognos. We preferred QV because of its ease of use and fast deployment and development of dashboards.

Initial setup was straightforward. We just installed the Server Edition and configured it in no time.

We implemented it in-house. There are no specific skills needed, except basic knowledge of Windows.

We mainly use QV for providing dashboards to top management, as licensing is very expensive.

QlikView is a great product to get you up and running easily and quickly. However, it does not replace an enterprise reporting solution. It should be used for specific needs and would be too expensive and cumbersome to manage to deploy across the whole institution.

• Ease of use
• High custom development potential
• Adaptability

We are now getting coordinated management areas, which were practically delinked until now.

• More support through contextual menus
• Adapting to the new Qlik Sense (HTML 5) environment

I have used it for eight months.

I encountered difficulties managing computer RAM.

Technical support is 8/10.

Initial setup was straightforward.

We implemented QlikView independently without difficulty. We needed support for installing Qlik Server.

We are at a too-early stage of implementation to evaluate this, but we anticipate difficulties in expanding its use due to the high cost of licenses.

We use QlikView and Oracle BI, but the productivity-to-cost ratio is much higher with QlikView.

You need to assess carefully the choice between QlikView and Qlik Sense. We do not understand too well the coexistence of two products with the same function.

We appreciate the different methods how data can be provided to a developer, designer and end users. Develop new reports from production databases to final reports without additional tools and
the high-performance loading data from database without any performance issues on the database environment. The loading performance of QlikView data container.

With the solutions of QlikTech, we are able to provide management with requested reports with proven data within a short time.

We can scale the user properly for the report environment in different and multiple ways.

Preparing actual daily reports without requiring additional manpower was the biggest benefit for our company.

We would like to provide our customers with reports in PDF or other popular formats that are not included in the publisher; additional licenses are required for the print and PDF tool. From my point of view, a reduced functionality for this should be included with Enterprise Server Edition or Publisher.

But so far, every new version includes new benefits for us.

We have used QlikView since 2010. That includes one year of testing QlikView Personal Edition for development and comparing the functions with our previous BI solution. We started using QlikView in production at the end of 2011.

We implemented different versions of QlikView within a few years, starting with version 8, Small Business Edition to Enterprise. We also moved to new hardware environment, but never had any issues. All versions we had in production were always stable. At the same time, we never used the first release of a new version for the server environment; the QlikView application has always been tested. Developing and deploying new reports are always tested in test environment before we publish. Scalability of reports should be considered separately.

Issues with the software itself are really rare; we just needed help implementing license keys after installation because direct internet access on the server was not available one time during setup. We always get help within a short / acceptable time. Normally, we just use the big user community for further help or information.

Before 2012, we used SAS and Crystal Reports for reporting and BI. When we started looking for other solution, we evaluated the new version of Crystal Reports, but there was no comparable alternative to QlikView.

A comprehensive concept for the initial setup is very important; there are various ways to implement the server infrastructure. If the concept was done properly, implementation might be complex but not difficult. We never had to contact QlikTech for additional support.

The documentation itself, user forum and several tech days was always helpful to start.

We implemented the whole environment without any additional support. Before we start working with the product, we organized in-house training from a vendor partner for developers and report designers based on our requirements.

My advice for implementation is to create a team made up of developers and IT department staff to set up the concept for test and production environments.

Training for IT and developers is available from the vendor, or if you organize in-house training from the vendor partner. Provisioning of data should be the responsibility of the IT department. You can also plan to have the vendor or vendor partner implement the product.

The vendor offers multiple possibilities for getting started with QlikView. It also depends upon how many reports you need for initial go-live. Starting with the Small Business Edition or Enterprise depends on the company size and the number of users who will work with QlikView.

The only important advice is to take enough time for the concept of the future environment.

That will make it easy to implement all needed add-ons with future changes.

Follow the vendor’s suggestions for scale responsibilities (IT, developer, designer and end user).

The Qlik user forum will be always helpful to find a solution.

The traditional BI tools are extremely limiting in the fact that they require very strict controls on the sources of data. This is understandable in very large corporates, but in a small- to medium-size business, where most supporting data sources are nothing more than an Excel spreadsheet, this is a pain. Therefore, my most valuable asset in QlikView is the ease with which any datasource can be integrated into the QlikView model for reporting.

The models created by QlikView have put critical information at the fingertips of management for decision-making processes. Our warehouse and distribution managers now have a view of the movement of stock, fulfilment of orders and can plan for demand more proactively. We produce our management sales dashboards daily and use the tool to integrate proof of delivery documents with sales orders.

I have several lower-level users who don’t need full functionality of the tool, but do need to access more than one model. In this regard, the licencing structure is limiting and costly for a user who is not using the analytical aspects of the tool. QlikView only offers full-user CALs (expensive) and document CALs (less expensive), but those licences only allow the user to access one model.

The business has been using this product for four years.

I did not encounter any deployment, stability or scalability issues.

Our implementation provider is very capable, but it is important to partner with a vendor who has industry, regional and technological capabilities, as this cuts down the time to develop customised requirements. Also, it is not necessary to limit yourself to one vendor and lots of freelancers are cost effective for specific requirements.

I looked at IBM Cognos, SAP BusinessObjects, and MicroStrategy. The main draw cards to QlikView was the cost and flexibility.

Initial setup was straightforward.

A team from the implementation provider did the installation and it was simple.

Our ROI is the ability to immediately take catalytic interventions with information at hand, implementing immediate savings from lost business and being able to put products to market more effectively.

In-depth analysis on the user roles using the tool should be done prior to implementation as non-managerial staff could probably use a shared licence scenario enabling lower licence count.

If possible, a site visit to other consumers of the tool often sheds a lot of light on work that can be done before implementation to overcome unnecessary problems and delays. For example, properly mapping financial processes, documenting and getting them signed off before a QlikView model is developed will save time and money in rework after the fact. Also forming a network of other users who are not related to the vendor is very valuable in getting unbiased advice.

It is quite versatile and reasonably cost effective.

• ETL functionality is hugely important, as data rarely are provided smooth and clean, even when the assumption is it has been cleaned beforehand. Plus, usually in BI, we need to create custom groupings, and being able to do that in script ad-hoc is very helpful
• Scripting for loads, with lots of functions, and insert script possibilities all provide extremely good flexibility for development.- Overall flexibility and ease of development is great for ad-hoc quick fixes, quick workarounds, which happen in BI
• Set-analysis function, unique for QV, is an awesome way to create subsets, literally under any chart/table/text box needed in a smart, fast way (replaces long expressions such as “if...then...“). It also allows you to control results, taking into consideration user clicking and selecting data.
• Associative model is super handy to just take an overview of data quality through visual associations (power of grey).
• Data governance is an extremely usable feature; there is no need for BI to build its own app, and it helps with licence monitoring.

With QV, literally all departments across the company have started “owning” data in terms of getting hands on data, knowledge about data, how it is built up, and the ability to slice and dice, add, expand, or decrease the size or granularity of their own reports.

This in turn has in general decreased the “fear” of touching applications on computer. With backups maintained by IT, people are given more freedom to try and change applications themselves.

Regex. Cleaning out data during script regex could be really handy.

Otherwise, I am having a hard time thinking of any other areas with room for improvement.

I have used QlikView 9 for two years, I am trained and certified on
QlikView 11, and I have used QlikView 12 for half a year.

I have not encountered any deployment, stability or scalability issues.

I have not had direct contact. Currently (with Qlik Sense), I am working with Qlik local partners, not directly.

Before QlikView, Excel was used across the company. At the same time, we had SAS Web Reporting Studio provided by my company’s headquarters, which was very far from even being considered to be used for anything beyond just comparing total sales numbers if the QlikView reports were in line.

I remember it being set up with the first production app running in three days. So, initial setup was straightforward.

Implementation was done in-house.

During the selection of the local BI tool, the choice was between IBM Cognos and QlikView. We were naturally showcasing to management how easy it is to use the UI, and the latter one was chosen.

I think it is the best BI product out there, competing only with its own “brother” Qlik Sense. (While the latter is not that mature yet, it is definitely growing in power extremely fast.)

QlikView is a good choice!

Completeness in functionality and user friendliness are the product’s most valuable features.

Efficient reporting and analysis saves time and improves business insight.

I would like to see a modernised user interface.

I have used QlikView for seven years.

I did not encounter any issues with deployment, stability or scalability. It's a well-proven mature product.

I rate technical support 10/10.

We used MS Analysis Server & MS Reporting Services for some years and compared to Qlik products, it was inflexible, old-fashioned and slow.

Initial setup was straightforward as an all-in-one product, compared to Microsoft’s product stack.

An in-house team implemented it.

In the starter pack, you get a lot and the ROI is definitely less than a year.

I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an online reporting and analysis BI product. Not to use only as a report generator; it's far more useful than that.

I do like the richness of details you can set up. It really allows you to set up a dashboard with pinpoint accuracy.

It was the first BI tool on the customer's site. It requires quite high skills at the entry level, so it was unused until I helped them with the initial steps.

The script engine for loading data needs a total overhaul. It is hard to use and counter-intuitive. It also blocks less-skilled users at the very beginning.

I’ve used it for about a year with one of my customers.

In general, the solution is a little problematic in terms of scalability, as everything is stored in RAM. For more complicated analysis for many users, the memory consumption is very high and requires a lot of investment in hardware.

It was already deployed when I start using it. My customer said they relied heavily on vendor.

Be very careful when scoping the market. It is a good tool, but quite heavy on skills and hardware requirements.

• Instant loading of huge amount of data and immediate display of relationship (both correlation and absence of correlation) between data
• RAD development methodology adoption for QlikView projects
• Set analysis function for simultaneous display of alternative aggregation sets

The backend (scripting) needs improvement to be more like a real ETL BI tool. The script editor is, in my opinion, no more than a basic scripting editor with too-limited debugging features.

I have been using it for five years (still today).

I have not had any issues with deployment, stability or scalability.

Technical support is very good.

The initial setup was straightforward.

We usually implement in-house, but we also rely on external resources.

We are currently using two different BI solutions for our customers: Business Objects and QlikView.

QlikView lets our customers develop data analysis projects independently with a little initial training.

Only a recommendation in order to assure the growth of a project with minimum impact on the previous deployed portion: As much as possible, try to solve data complexity on the backend side (where the logic is easily documentable), rather than in the front-end using only analytic functions.