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  • 1.  Microsoft Power BI - Does It Work with PureConnect Prem / Cloud?

    Posted 02-18-2021 16:32
    Hi - any PureConnect clients out there - either prem or cloud that is currently using Microsoft Power BI?  We are considering it and everything that I can find about it seems to suggest that it can connect to Genesys Cloud natively, but nothing about PureConnect.

    Any advice/assistance would be greatly appreciated - Thanks!
    #Integrations
    #PlatformAdministration
    #SystemAdministration

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    Barry Farrington
    PureConnect Cloud Administrator
    FedPoint
    fedpointusa.com
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  • 2.  RE: Microsoft Power BI - Does It Work with PureConnect Prem / Cloud?

    Posted 02-18-2021 22:19
    I am splitting off a BU into a new Pure connect instance, on prem and we are looking to replace Marquee with POWER BI.

    Our VAR has an offering that we are planning to utilize. 

    I haven't dug into it at all I just am ready to take MARQUEE out back and office space it.

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    ryan hedlund
    Stericycle
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  • 3.  RE: Microsoft Power BI - Does It Work with PureConnect Prem / Cloud?

    Posted 02-19-2021 05:12
    Interesting Ryan! Marquee is able to display near-real time statistics of PureConnect. A Power BI usually displays historical data. Is there some middleware available that will make the real-time statistics available for Power BI to retrieve and display?

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    Dieter Wijnen
    Telenet BVBA
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  • 4.  RE: Microsoft Power BI - Does It Work with PureConnect Prem / Cloud?

    Posted 02-19-2021 05:09
    Hello Barry,

    What exactly do you want to achieve with the Microsoft Power BI solution? Microsoft Power BI can connect to any Microsoft SQL server and retrieve it's data. Once you have the data you can transform and visualize it as desired.

    Are you maybe looking for some predefined dashboards in Microsoft Power BI?

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    Dieter Wijnen
    Telenet BVBA
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  • 5.  RE: Microsoft Power BI - Does It Work with PureConnect Prem / Cloud?

    GENESYS
    Posted 02-22-2021 08:12
    Hey all -

    We (Avtex) utilize Power BI for both PureConnect and Genesys Cloud.  Yes, Power BI can connect to OnPrem SQL without issue in cases like PureConnect prem.  For PureConnect Cloud, we are actually the Genesys preferred partner for analytics. 

    While there are multiple ways to utilize Power BI for real-time in PureConnect, what we do is have small Windows service that provides a real-time feed up to Power BI Service (note, Power BI Server (the OnPrem version of Power BI) does not support real-time) using either the IceLib or ICWS API.

    We have our PureConnect Power BI solutions templated for both historical and real-time.  So more often than not, we can implement a new customer quickly based on those templates and what it is they want to see/how they want to see it.

    Let me know if you have any questions and I'd be happy to discuss more. 

    Thanks,
    Trent.


  • 6.  RE: Microsoft Power BI - Does It Work with PureConnect Prem / Cloud?

    Posted 02-22-2021 10:23
    The challenge right now is that we have the Microsoft Power BI app in-house with all the licensing and our company is not yet on board with looking at other vendors.  I'm just looking to see if there are any current MS Power BI users - primarily on PureConnect Cloud - that can provide feedback of its use, pros/cons, etc.

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    Barry Farrington
    PureConnect Cloud Administrator
    FedPoint
    fedpointusa.com
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  • 7.  RE: Microsoft Power BI - Does It Work with PureConnect Prem / Cloud?

    GENESYS
    Posted 02-22-2021 10:56
    That's actually the preferred deployment.

    We do offer the ability to host a Power BI tenant on behalf of our customers, and we can sell licensing if absolutely necessary.  But that isn't what we really want to do for multiple reasons (many of which is that you won't be able to take full advantage of the breadth of features within Power BI itself).

    At a high level, on of our deployments looks kinda like this:

    1. We connect to a customer's environment via VPN/RDP/Kaseya/Bomgar/etc.
    2. We sync the Power BI templates with their data.
    3. If necessary, we massage our data model, queries, etc.
    4. If the customer requires some assistance, we also help setup the MS Data Gateway (very lightweight application that allows the Power BI Service in the cloud to talk to an OnPrem data source).
    5.  We make a final save of the templates, and had them over to the client, to publish in their own Power BI tenant.

    ===================================

    But more specifically to your question on pro's and con's:

    The biggest thing to look out for with PureConnect Cloud and Power BI is that Genesys will not allow a direct connect from Power BI to your PureConnect Cloud database in their data center.  So first, you'll need to setup some type of replication of your DB (mirror, replication, transactional log shipping, etc.).
    Once that is in place, you'll connect directly to your OnPrem PC data.

    Power BI Desktop is a free download and you can use it all across your org for free.  It was born out of Excel, so if you are halfway decent at Excel, you'll do just fine with Power BI and your learning curve can be quite minimal.  From a licensing standpoint (and I'm sure you found this out already Barry, but just in case others are curious), you can get a full "Pro" license for $10/user/month.  But if your org uses Microsoft 365 E5 licenses, Power BI is already included.  And if they use E3 licensing, you can get a discount for Power BI.  We have some clients that have told us they got their licenses for $6-$8/user/month.  But again, it all depends on your MS partner of record, quantity, etc.

    OOB, Power BI can connect to literally hundreds of different datasources.  And even more custom connectors can be downloaded for free from the MS App Store if necessary.  And after connect to multiple datasources, you can use Power BI to build your own data model as well, inherently in the application (you don't necessarily NEED to pull data from SQL, AWS, Salesforce, Dynamics 365 into a EDW first; Power BI could connect and build that model "on the fly").

    There are also several ways for your viewers to consume your data.  They can go to powerbi.com, feed your own in-house app, embed in your own intranet, etc. 

    One drawback I hear somewhat often is the amount of time it takes to learn "everything" Power BI can do.  Because it is an enterprise grade app, it can do quite a bit from an app point of view (hundreds of visuals, then formatting the visuals, creating data models, altering data relationships, setting up a dynamic data sync, etc.).  But it just takes time and helps to really focus your training or learning Power BI to smaller chunks.

    Microsoft seems to have realized this.  They have free training that ranges from "setting up your first report" to "building an efficient data model with multiple cloud and prem data sources", and it's all free:
    Power BI Training

    I hope this helps!
    Trent.


  • 8.  RE: Microsoft Power BI - Does It Work with PureConnect Prem / Cloud?

    Posted 08-23-2022 16:23
    All,

    Digging up an older thread here.

    We have GREAT interest in replacing Int. Marquee with something like Power BI. Has anyone had additional success with this approach? We have PureConnect on-prem (2021 R4 switch pair) and have access to both Power BI on-prem and Power BI cloud.

    Our largest issue right now regarding a Marquee replacement is each of our agents are accustomed to having a browser open while they work and keep Marquee up to check out basic Queue and Agent stats. We cannot afford a huge license cost per agent to simply view the data.

    Any suggestions or any additional insight regarding Power BI? We are also considering CX Insights, but for each of our agents to have View rights, it gets rather expensive.

    We'll ultimately likely migrate our business to Genesys Cloud or another hosted solution, but we need a solution in the interim since as we all know Silverlight is EOL and Cyber is pushing us to retire IWP/Marquee.

    Any suggestions or experience you may have with a Marquee like replacement are greatly appreciated. We may explore DIY using ICWS and/or IceLib if anyone has ventured down that path?

    Many thanks.

    ------------------------------
    Shane
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  • 9.  RE: Microsoft Power BI - Does It Work with PureConnect Prem / Cloud?

    Posted 08-24-2022 02:35
    Hi Shane

    My company develop and sell IntX WebDashboard,
    which is a web based solution, delivers realtime PureConnect statistics, and is based on IceLib and IIS.
    You can develop your own views,
    and configure your own sequences with multiple views.
    Below is an example of one standard mixed queue and agents view,
    with shiftstats, colorthresholds, colorcoded status categories, localized texts, queuebar, snoozed callbacks etc.

    Let me know if you are interested, and I can give you more details and maybe a demo.

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    Espen Waage
    Customer Interaction Consulting AS
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