QlikView Reviews

QlikView Desktop Enterprise allows us to build dashboard visualizations in a fashionable way and allows us to make quick business decisions all over the enterprise.

The improvement was much more related to be able to link different data sources to the same visualization. Now users have access to a one-stop shop for their data queries.

I believe that improved analysis prediction capability would be more than welcome in QlikView. If we could simulate scenarios in a more intuitive way that would be a nice-to-have feature.

Besides the fact it’s quite a useful tool for data visualization, the final user interface is not that intuitive. That might be the idea with Qlik Sense, which we haven’t had an opportunity to experience yet.

Prepare your data warehouse platform. The more time you spend on DW development, the more your users will be able to take advantage of the data analysis.

Data integration and visual drill-downs are excellent.

I work for a consultancy and develop projects for clients. Our clients have definitely got benefits with the use of QlikView with accessibility of their business metrics in an interactive form on their smartphones. Also, QlikView can compress and store data in its own format, which makes it faster after data loading.

• Version changes should be made fully compatible with older versions.
• Advanced analytic capabilities of model building using regression or time-series analysis should also be added in the product.

Client requirements should be clearly understood and limitations of the product should be communicated to clients before making any commitments. Often projects are jeopardized due to poor communication and unclear expectations.

There are two reasons for my rating. First, the interactivity options are limited and, second, modelling options are not available. Also, we faced challenges with version changes and in integrating it with geographical information systems.

Fast development, support for QVD format files, and business discovery are the most valuable features of this product to me.

Before we started using QlikView, we needed to put or clean our data in four steps. Now, we just connect the database, clean it and show the information.

In the next version/release, I'd like to see mashup possibilities and real-time connections.

I have used QlikView for five years, and Qlik Sense for two years.

I encounter deployment issues but it depends on how you develop it and for what are you using this tool.

Technical support provides high-level service.

Initial setup is straightforward; you just install and use.

When implementing through a vendor, be careful with your environment.

This product pays for itself fast.

Try it. You can use just one tool for most of your connections. It's easy to maintain and you can focus on data and decisions.

I think the most valuable feature is the possibility of working with all types of data and sources.

Now, we have all the company´s important information gathered in one tool, so it´s easier to analyze it.

QlikView is really easy to use and it can help you manage different kinds of data, but licenses are expensive.

I’ve been using QlikView since 2011.

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

We have a good support here in Ecuador. In fact, we have an SLA with Grupo Novatech with specific times for technical support.

The initial setup was straightforward. There was a small amount of data with few KPIs.

We have an in-house team. They implement some dashboards. If there was a complication, we called Novatech.

I think licences are expensive. I think QlikTech should work to develop a cheaper licence, only to visualize data through the internet access server.

I have not evaluated any different solution. I´ve always worked with QlikView since I´ve been at my company.

I think QlikView is a good tool if your company is not big, because of the licence cost. If your company is big, it’s a good idea to have an in-house team for new implementation or for little changes, because technical support could be expensive.

I think QlikTech is working in the right path to improve the usability of QlikView with the new tool Qlik Sense.

The best features of QlikView are:

• The fast and easy process of extracting data from multiple sources (DB), although having duplicate data in the source files creates a mess.
• The intuitive way of creating dashboards for finance, sales, BPM, etc.
• The display and drill-down access to detailed information, graphic interfaces are easy to create and dynamic using just one pivot table.
• The easy way to grant access to all the data or just bits of it to specific users.
• The capability of QV to handle .pdf files.

As an example, today we have our budget information from different areas in one summary page. Numbers are updated fast and easy in the web browser. This has given crystal clear info for all the users that have access to the model. Hard data and dynamic graphs give a clearer and accurate view of the data. Filtering saves a lot of time when doing presentations to the top executives of the company; any question is answered in real time with just a few clicks.

I would like to perhaps be able to have preloaded and editable examples of models created by QV experts that can be customized for our specific needs, instead of starting from scratch anything we need to work on.

I work an electric utility in Mexico, therefore we build QV models and dashboards specific to our industry (electricity, gas, nuclear generation, asset management, executive reporting and such). 

Right now, we have to build our models from scratch, if we could have access to prebuilt models for our specific industry and line of business it would be very useful and time saving. 

It’s important to understand that the quality of the final data will have a direct relationship to the source of information. You can really apply here the phrase "Garbage in-Garbage out". Because once QV is up and running, almost everyone will turn to the dashboards as THE source of information, it’s imperative to be sure the source of data is flawless.

It’s a great BI tool to convert raw data coming from several different sources into a dashboard full of in-depth knowledge, to do proper information analysis and make accurate decisions for the company.

Usability, usability, usability: It is easy for developers and for end users.

We have cut Fire Department 911 response time 8-30 seconds.

We have improved the timeliness, accuracy, and consistency of reporting.

Unmetered water reports (e.g. fire hydrants, FDCs in commercial buildings)

Wage verification requests

Performance metrics

We have improved processes and increased compliance of firefighter training and certification, ensuring that firefighters are properly trained (“a trained firefighter is an effective firefighter”), expensive training courses no longer have empty seats, and we have improved our performance on training/certification audits from our regulatory agency.

We have engaged line managers on tracking and monitoring of program and operational budgets, leading to better oversight of the taxpayer dollar.

The QlikView management console could have better interfaces for managing security. Right now, it is hard to tell “who has access to exactly what apps?”

Better out-of-the box governance features, to allow analysis of application architecture, optimization of scripts, identification of unused fields/data.

Current GIS interfaces (e.g. with ESRI) are through partners, and are acceptable, but could be easier to implement, more streamlined interface between the two.

I have used this solution since 2008.

No issues at all. This application requires very little care and feeding. Cannot speak to big data scaling, our largest data sets are in the 1TB range — but no problems noted at that level.

Customer and technical support are fine. Account manager deals well with the added layers of demand that come from being a government client — purchasing is always more complicated.

Like everyone, we used Excel and Access. We tried using the enterprise MicroStrategy and both developers and users rejected it as too much effort, not intuitive compared to QlikView.

Technically, initial setup was very simple. The hardest part was getting visualization requirements form unsophisticated users who were not used to any sort of reporting on their processes.

We did it in-house, with one week of one vendor person assisting. (The four apps he helped us put together, we ended up redesigning altogether once we had a chance to use them and redefined requirements.)

Advice: Keep it simple. We know of similar organizations that used third-party implements, who created apps that were complicated to support and use, and consequently those implementations were not entirely successful. In at least once case, they abandoned the product (and haven’t done anything else that I’m aware of).

Qlik has a reputation for being expensive, but our TCO - compared to two other BI products in our organization (MicroStrategy and Cognos) is way, way cheaper. We didn’t have to pay for consultants or any professional services. The more we let our business managers design and develop their apps, the happier they are.

Keep it simple, involve the team (prototype with them - don’t throw a fancy app over the wall at the end users and expect them to actually engage), do POCs before you decide which BI system you will adopt.

QlikView’s Associative Data Model allow business users to easily create data models.

QlikView’s in-memory technology offers lightning-fast drill-down and drill-through capabilities.

The ability to apply row-based security provides the flexibility to deploy a single application and restrict access to sensitive data according to role.

We are busy rolling out QlikView as a self-service BI tool. The business is delighted with the capabilities they have without the usual restrictions they encountered working through the traditional IT channels.

• Robust Version Control integration, limited in current versions
• Automated deployment between DEV/UAT/PROD environments, currently these are manual file-based operations
• More descriptive system metrics and lower-level diagnostic and performance metrics at the application level

Deployment is easy and straightforward, even for non-technical resources.

Stability is largely linked to the infrastructure and requirements. QlikView SA has provided extensive guidance on deploying suitable hardware to support our environment.

Scalability depends on the environment and requirements. If you have large data sets, due to the in-memory nature of QlikView, the hardware needs to support your requirements.

I rate technical support 10/10, excellent. Qlik as well as our local QlikView Partner, QlikView SA, provides extremely good service and support.

There is also an extremely large and active online community.

We evaluated IBM Cognos and SAP BusinessObjects. We chose QlikView because of its online community, extensibility and support, and large demand from business.

Initial setup was straightforward, but consideration needs to be taken when procuring the hardware.

Implementation was a combination of in-house and vendor. Take the time to understand the underlying architecture and deployment setup to later be able to troubleshoot the environments.

We realised instant value through data discovery not previously possible with traditional BI.

Consolidating six disparate instances into a single group instance has improved our ROI immensely.

Care should be taken to purchase the right type of licensing blend for the environment.

Take time to understand the different license types, the requirements from users, usage model, etc., before deciding on licenses.

Potentially get some demo licenses before purchasing.

Happy Qlikking!

Take the time to understand the data, and develop solid data models. This will ensure good performance and a great user experience.

Just because QlikView can do it, doesn’t mean it should. (There is still a place for traditional BI, databases and ETL/ELT.)

Develop fit-for-purpose applications.

I would say the most valuable part was the ease of use.

This product gave us intelligence on our business which was previously unknown.

I would like to see the price reduced and the speed to be much, much better.

I used this solution for approximately two years.

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

This product was in place when I joined the company. I did not take part in the decision of this solution.

This was an in-house implementation. We had the technical resources available to install it.

Although we were able to gain insight into our organization, the pricing and performance of the system were too great to overcome.

Since we stopped using it, there might have been some improvements to the speed of the reports and also to the pricing structure. At the time I was using this software, there were several comparable solutions at a fraction of the cost. The other solutions also performed better with less resources.

The in-memory technology allows you to easily manipulate and analyze vast amounts of data with simple clicks. It allows for real-time analysis of data via visual representations, as well as data tables. It supports using variables in calculations, as well as their proprietary SET analysis, which allows for calculations based on calculated dimensions, aggregations, and other logic against real-time selection of data.

It is very flexible in terms of calculations and presentation of values and data. It makes very quick reporting and data analysis possible.

This product has allowed us to create several applications and dashboards for use by management and different business units to conduct self-service analysis, as well as built-in intelligence. This accelerates business decision-making. It avoids the lengthy delays involved in requesting the information from IT or having to deal with the disconnect between technology and the business side, both from an objective point of view, but also from the customer view.

It also enables management and the end user to change the criteria of the reports and data without having to go back to IT with changes. In other words, dynamic reporting.

There definitely needs to be an update in the number of chart types available and the options within each chart. There are various charts that could use more customizable options, as well as certain charts that are missing such as waterfall charts, histograms, etc.

One glaring omission is the lack of mapping technology in QlikView. Although they do offer solutions through third-party add-ons, other similar providers have this as a default feature in the app. I think currently, mapping technology should be standard with these applications given the competition and the capabilities it brings. It seems that because of their third-party developer relationships, they are holding back on adding features to the application, which would put those developers out of business.

The licensing scheme leaves a lot of room for improvement. I believe it is cumbersome and expensive to maintain. In order for a user to view a published application, they need to have a viewer license (approx. $350 the last I remember). However, if they need to view multiple applications, they need a viewer license per application. $350 X # of applications they need to view per user. This will get very expensive if a lot of users need to view the application. There are application licenses, there are named user licenses, there are session licenses, and developer licenses. There are way too many licenses of varying costs, none of which are very economical in my opinion. If you need to view more than three applications, the best alternative is to purchase a developer license, which allows for unlimited applications. However, that will set you back about $1400, even if the user is not a developer.

I have been using it for four years.

Licensing costs are a big one, see aforementioned point. Second would be the hardware requirements from a developer point of view. Because of the in-memory allocation of the application, really big data sets take a really, really long time to load, often times making the user wait quite a while for the loads to finish. If you are making changes to one dataset on an application that has multiple load statements, there isn’t an option to only reload the changed statement. Instead, the entire load has to be redone and thus the cycle begins again, as does the waiting.

I have not dealt with technical support or customer service. We have an implementation area that deals with technical support for server related matters, however, we got the installation and support through a reseller. In our case, internally for all technical support related matters we have to go through our internal channels and processes and in turn if it is something that they cannot handle, they go through the reseller for resolution.

The choice to use this product was an organizational decision.

Initial setup was straightforward.

We had a recommended vendor do the install on site. My only advice is to have users that are somewhat knowledgeable of the application to test. (It can be installed individually for testing.) Also, I recommend thorough testing of all aspects of loading data.

Try to speak with the vendor in terms of the best possible licensing scheme, keeping in mind scalability and future deployments. In the end, if this is not properly calculated, it could be very costly.

It is a great tool for analysis and dashboards. It is better complemented by bringing in data as complete as possible in terms of calculated fields, case statements, etc. QlikView syntax can take some time to learn and might not be as flexible as SQL or other similar languages, in terms of capability in manipulating data.

Loading data is the most valuable feature of this product to me, because we don’t have a data warehouse yet.

QlikView helps me to combine data from many data sources and represent it in the dashboards.

I think the visualization of the charts and the number of default charts provided by QlikView should be improved. QlikView only has limited chart options compared to its competitor. I think Map would be a great addition if QlikView can provide it as default chart. 

I think that the type of chart that is provided by QlikView must be added to capture the need of variety of visualization. Tableau has more charts compared to QlikView.

I have been using this solution for about three months.

I use it on my laptop with limited data. I've never used it for big data.

I chose QlikView because it provides flexible data loading that can help us present data without a data warehouse.

I implemented it by myself.

Pricing is higher compared to the competitor.

If you are looking for dashboards and do not have a data warehouse yet, QlikView is the best option.