Microsoft Data Analyzer
While Microsoft Data Analyzer integrates with Microsoft Office far more completely than the competition and is an excellent tool for analysis of numerical data, customers should be wary of this inexpensive solution for analyzing data in more complex ways. We liked Data Analyzer's unique ability to create reports in PowerPoint format as well as in Excel. The desktop client provided an intensely graphical means of viewing and analyzing data, but it fell short of the other products in terms of platform and database support. Drawing data from non-Microsoft sources, though possible, is more complicated than with other products. To build cubes to access additional databases, Data Analyzer requires SQL Analysis Services, which requires SQL Server.
The desktop client's filters let you focus on specific aspects of the data set being analyzed. You can filter by any column in the report with a single click or you can get more complex and build a filter based on data in the OLAP cube. Drill-down capabilities are comparable to other products that deal directly with OLAP data, but the cubes must be prebuilt and are static. Once you hit the end of the cube's drill path, you are finished. In comparison, Cognos' solution let us drill down into the database even if the path was not built into the cube.
Data Analyzer requires the use of SQL Analysis Services, and while Analysis Services provides support for OLAP, MOLAP and ROLAP (multidimensional and relational OLAP, respectively), you can't access data directly from Data Analyzer. This means that Data Analyzer cannot easily manipulate data provided by the competition from desktop or Web clients. Data Analyzer's performance was more than acceptable, and while we'd recommend Microsoft's solution for small or midsize shops for regular reporting of financial-based data, we would not be comfortable recommending it for enterprise-class data analysis of CRM or less numerically based data.
We were impressed with Microsoft's no annual maintenance fee and per-user pricing. With a price tag of $18,000 for the scenario we used, a small to midsize organization can incorporate a business-intelligence solution easily.
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