SAS Visual Analytics and Microsoft BI Comparision

[kaushalsolanki]

Hi All,

We want to compare SAS Visual Analytics and Microsoft Power BI in terms of features, if any buddy is having idea regarding the comparision for both of this tools.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Kaushal Solanki

[LinusH]

I'm a bit suspicious of these kind of comparisons. What is the reason?

Of course, one could do an industry check, future directions etc of available - but then you could go to Magic Quadrant, Forester etc.

The most appropriate is if you have some real business requirements as a basis for a comparison, then it starts to be real.

[kaushalsolanki]

Hi LinusH,

Thank you for the response, We want to compare as a part of BI solution.

Regards,

Kaushal Solanki 

[itchyeyeballs · Accepted solution]

We currently use both,

My current feeling on strengths/weaknesses are:

SAS VA Is better for:

• On premise hosting - Currently MS PowerBI requires data to be uploaded to the cloud which many users will be reluctant to do
• Exploration capabilites - The visual tools for exploring data are more powerful than Power BI although some of them (visual statistics) are extra cost add-ons

MS Power Bi is better for:

• Analysing data on the fly, its DAX engine allows it to complete virtually any calculation or aggregation dynamically. With SAS you will often have to pre-aggregate data (using enterprise guide or similar) which means end users wont be able to manipluate data as flexibly.
  • In DAX you can aggreagate aggregations
  • Manualy specify the level/granularity of aggregations
  • Create complex data models in memory (multiple fact tables can be cross analysed at different granularities via common dimension table links)
• Online community, theres a far bigger userbase actively participating online.
  • Seems to be much more responsive feedback and action around user feature requests 
• Product Road map - Significant feature releases monthly and much clearer roadmap than SAS allowing users to plan for future functionality.
• Desktop editor - Faster and more responsive than the SAS web interface although the UI could use some work.
  • The desktop tool is free so anyone can use the tool with thier own data.