Tool for preparing, analyzing and visualizing data; optional provision of models and analyses via SQL Server or Azure; part of the Microsoft Office package.
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Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, was founded in 1975 and has become a household name primarily due to its Windows operating system and Office suite. With its offerings, Microsoft wants to contribute to a modern workspace for its customers, whether they are private individuals or large enterprises. The vendor has a broad enterprise offering, ranging from cloud (Azure) to database to its ERP products.
Microsoft was among the first vendors to focus on providing cloud-based solutions for analytics, a path later followed by several competitors. Azure is used by numerous companies as a cloud computing platform and for storing substantial amounts of data, putting Microsoft in a good position to offer integrated analytics front ends. Indeed, the vendor has not only integrated Power BI, its core BI & analytics platform, with many Azure Services and Microsoft products but has also included it in various product packages. One of the most recent is Microsoft Fabric, designed as an integrated end-to-end data and analytics platform delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS). The package contains several Azure services such as Power BI, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Data Factory and many more. The core value proposition and advantage for customers is that the already stitched together services facilitate the building up of a SaaS environment consisting of data and analytics services. One of the additional benefits is the obligatory Data Lake ‘OneLake’, which is automatically connected with all other Fabric services and can be used by customers without extra configuration.
Microsoft Excel – part of the Microsoft 365 suite – provides a range of functions catering to the needs of business intelligence and analytics professionals. Among these, the Power Query integration enables users to import, transform and cleanse data from various sources. Power Pivot lets users create data models, establish relationships between tables and perform advanced calculations using Data Analysis Expressions (DAX). PivotTables and PivotCharts are available for data analysis, allowing users to summarize data and visualize trends. Excel also offers advanced analytical capabilities through Solver, which addresses complex optimization and simulation scenarios. Moreover, Excel’s graphical functionality supports the creation of dashboards. However, in practice, Excel is most commonly used for data management tasks, detailed analysis and reporting in pure Excel tables.
Microsoft was among the first vendors to focus on providing cloud-based solutions for analytics, a path later followed by several competitors. Nowadays, Microsoft 365 is used by numerous companies in the cloud.
This product review describes the analysis product Excel. Microsoft Fabric (Power BI) is covered separately in The BI & Analytics Survey 26.
BARC’s viewpoint on the product’s strengths and challenges.
The information contained in this section is based on user feedback and actual experience with Microsoft Excel.
The information and figures are largely drawn from BARC’s The BI & Analytics Survey, The Planning Survey, The Financial Consolidation Survey and The Data Management Survey. You can find out more about these surveys by clicking on the relevant links.
All key figures for Microsoft Excel at a glance.
Cheap and easy.
Cannot handle big data.
Know the limitation.
Okay.
Flexibility and user-friendliness.
Difficult to govern.
Weigh governance considerations from the beginning.
Ok as corporate solution.
User familiarity with the base product means a lot of self-service manageability.
Large data sources can prove problematic. Connecting through Open Data Protocol (OData) seems very slow.
Worth a look for SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) businesses wanting to introduce BI practices, given the pricing model and scalability.
I have worked with Excel specifically for years, and it has improved with Power Pivot / Power BI capabilities. It is most useful as almost all end users, internal and external, are familiar with Excel.
Familiarity.
Development of functionality.
Use Power Pivot within Microsoft Excel.
Fair enough.
Einfach zu bedienen.
Moderen oberfläche, schneller.
Ist nur eine Notlösung.
Begrenzt einsetzbar.
User familiarity, flexibility.
Siloed data, redundancy, manual efforts for data preparation, limited capacity.
Combine it with other platforms like Power BI/Fabric to get best of both worlds.
Great general purpose tool. Vastly imperfect analytics tool.
Users are already familiar with the tool, so onboarding is easy. Quick performance.
Unresolved bugs, and it's hard to report those bugs.
Consider Power BI.
Mostly positive, but bugs should be addressed quickly.
Power Pivot seamlessly integrates with Excel, providing users with familiar tools and interfaces for data analysis and visualization. This integration makes it easy for Excel users to leverage the advanced data modeling and analysis capabilities of Power Pivot without having to learn new software.
While Excel provides various charting and visualization tools, some users may find the built-in options limited compared to dedicated data visualization software. Enhancing Excel's visualization capabilities, particularly for creating interactive and advanced visualizations, could improve its utility for data analysis and presentation.
Keep an eye on the performance and scalability of Excel, especially when working with large datasets or complex Power Pivot models. Monitor system resources, such as memory and processing power, and optimize models and calculations as needed to ensure smooth performance.
My general opinion of Microsoft Excel, including Power Pivot, is quite positive. Excel has long been a staple tool for data analysis, spreadsheet management, and visualization, and its versatility makes it suitable for a wide range of users, from individuals to large organizations.
Ease of use and flexibility.
Lacking standard automated tools and options.
Make sure users are well versed in Excel and it's use.
Very good product with a lot of flexibility, sometimes a bit hard to get things done fast.
Flexibilität.
Datenhaltung wenig brauchbar.
Einige weinige Personen als Experten ausbilden.
Schnell umsetzbar.
Est aujourd'hui la clé de nos métiers. Sans Microsoft Excel, nous ne pourrions pas accomplir la moitié de notre activité dans notre direction.
Il s'agit d'une solution qui s'est imposée dans le monde de l'entreprise. Il existe pourtant d'autres solutions tout aussi viable et multi-tâches. Les mises à jour apportent des modifications qu'il faudrait mieux présenter pour guider les utilisateurs (une option peut être déplacer dans un autre menu ou être remplacée).
Outils primordial pour la gestion des données et pour pouvoir les retravailler.
Bonne opinion, c'est un produit qui s'adapte à beaucoup de situations.
Everyone knows how to use it, easy and available. Gets basic reporting and data manipulation done.
Lacking visualization capabilities and taking things to next level.
Look at more advanced systems. We have Targit but people still default to Excel.
Good not great.
The extreme flexibility, the price point, the availability, the connectors and the constant product development. Widely known product with a large community and user base - always possible to find information and solutions to problems online.
The flexibility of the product is both good and bad - traditional BI systems like PowerBI, Targit, Qlick etc. is a more locked environment, so when you release reports, dashboards or analysis to users, there is a smaller risk of the users breaking it. Interactive dashboards does not work very well in Excel.
Do it. Excel is a must have for business users. The flexibility in Excel can overcome the limitations of other BI softwares, but the flexibility also comes with a price. Try to centralize the creation of reports and avoid to many customized and personal reports.
Very positive. And it seems like Excel 365 is even better, so we look forward to being upgraded to this version.
