Question
What is Microsoft Power BI and how do I request it?
Answer
Power BI is cloud based business intelligence tool from Microsoft, Power BI is a suite of business analytics tools that deliver insights throughout your organization. Connect to hundreds of data sources, simplify data prep, produce dashboards and reports, then publish them for your organization to consume on the web and across mobile devices with governance security built-in.
https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/tour/
Power BI comes with two license options:
| Feature |
Free |
Pro |
| Use of Power BI Desktop |
X |
X |
| Publishing reports to the cloud |
X |
X |
| Data imported from various sources |
X |
X |
| Dashboards including SSRS reports |
X |
X |
| Live connections to on-campus databases |
|
X |
| Data refreshed more than 1x daily |
|
X |
| Scheduled refreshes |
|
X |
| Data displayed based on individual user's permissions |
|
X |
| Collaborate using Office 365 groups |
|
X |
| Manage access and sharing |
|
X |
Additional Info
An annual license for Power BI Pro can be purchased from the MSU Tech Store on their site (link). The license expires each year at the end of August. The cost is not prorated based on time of purchase, it is always the same. Once the license is purchased, the software will be activated on the Office365 account of the person named in the order. It may take up to two business days to activate.