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 policies, usage monitoring, and provisioning of licenses, capacities, and organizational resources (Some features are not in the free version but in the pro, premium, embedded and others). 

The way Power BI access the data sources is very complete. But it is necessary to consider that when databases are especially huge or there are special real-time requirements other mechanisms are necessary to take the information to the right repositories where Power BI will read the information accordingly. So, not always is enough to have Power BI, according to requirements is necessary to complement the solution with special repositories, databases, NoSQL devices or data lakes, and for ML or DL in spite of the fact that Power BI has connectors for Python or R it could be necessary to complement with other processing engines. But choosing Power BI, in the beginning, is a good election for both batch and streaming processing.

It realy depends in your needs. It may serve as an E2E tool but, at some circumstnaces you will need to add - Data Warehouse, Paginated reporting tool, M/L tool, Data prep tool etc.

It all depends on the client's needs. Even for a client with that number of employees, the needs can vary significantly. A more comprehensive discussion will clarify. I recommend hiring a BI expert in PBI to evaluate their requirements.

Well, Power BI is not really a full functional BI Tool, it is more as a visualization tool (a very good user friendly tool btw), but it has a lot of features to data prep tasks with simple data, not other complex formats like xml or json.

If you are looking for a truly embedded reporting/visualization solution within an application then you might consider Exago BI which provides the features you requested as well as an ad hoc operational reporting component for pixel perfect types of reports.

I have never used such features, but I believe you would have to combine PBI with other MS tools to achieve what you are looking for. A Sharepoint cloud deployment in Azure, for client data centers, for instance.

No, Power BI is a visualization tool for analysis and visualization of data.

Power Bi is a complete platform. Power Bi is deployed as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product and has tones of functionality that extend all the way from:

* Extremely flexible self-help analysis capabilities.
* Data source collection.
* Data Storage.
* Connect to multiple sources including data warehouses and analytics cubes.
* Combine multiple data sources and join them together.
* Shared data sets.
* Incremental Analytics and Realtime Analytics.
* Data modeling. Star schemas and Snowflake schemas.
* Data visualization.
* Workgroup separation.
* Row-level security.
* On-line dashboarding.
* On-Line and offline reports.
* Report templates that can be downloaded from the app marketplace.
* Access to the Microsoft Data lake using Dataflow.
* Access to the Machine learning models.
* A mobile app to consume the dashboards and reports on your mobile device.
* Reports can even be embedded in custom applications and web sites.

The list of Data sources that Power Bi can connect to found here: docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/power-bi-data-sources.

Strategix is a South African based, global solution provider and has been for the past 15 years. We have deployed the solution in over 60 countries.

For 12 consecutive years, Gartner has recognized Microsoft as a Leader in analytics and business intelligence.

info.microsoft.com/ww-landing-gartner-mq-bi-analytics-2019.html

Here is a more comprehensive list the products abilities:

* API
* Active Directory Integration
* Activity Dashboard
* Ad hoc Analysis
* Ad hoc Query
* Ad hoc Reporting
* Business Analysis
* Business Intelligence
* Collaboration Tools
* Collaborative Workspace
* CRM Integration
* Customizable Reporting
* Dashboard Creation
* Data Connectors
* Data Extraction
* Data Filtering
* Data Import
* Data Import/Export
* Data Synchronization
* Data Transformation
* Data Visualization
* Geographic Maps
* Mobile Alerts
* Mobile Integration
* Multiple Data Sources
* Natural Language Search
* Real Time Analytics
* Real Time Reporting
* Real Time Updates
* Reporting & Statistics
* Scheduled Reporting
* Visual Analytics

If you have any questions related to Power BI, Data Analytics, Data Integration or Microsoft Dynamics Business Central, don’t hesitate to contact me.
I will gladly assist. I have deployed many Power Bi solutions.

Power BI can be a complete platform when working with good designers. Because they know the limits, skills, experiences. They can make the entire model for organizations. But on the other hand, ordinary designers will just provide a visualization tool. 

But, Synapse is the complete platform for BI.

HI Jorge Barahona,
Power BI is a visualization tool. Power BI has permissions as well.