3 powerful tools for reporting Azure DevOps metrics

Azure DevOps has become a cornerstone for development teams, providing comprehensive tools for managing, planning, and delivering software projects. However, effective project management isn’t just about setting up pipelines and managing repositories; it’s about measuring progress and making data-driven decisions.

Here’s a look at three powerful tools for reporting Azure DevOps metrics: SquaredUp, Azure DevOps built-in dashboards, and Power BI. Before we do a deep dive of the products, here's a summary of our findings:

SquaredUp: Offers a balance of user-friendliness and powerful visualizations, making it a good choice for teams of all sizes seeking rich dashboards without deep technical knowledge. It may not suit users needing extremely custom data analysis from scratch, but its smart dashboarding tool provides efficient Azure DevOps monitoring

Azure DevOps built-in dashboards: These dashboards offer easy, real-time insights within the Azure DevOps platform, which is great for smaller teams. However, they have limited customization options and lack cross-project visibility.

Power BI: This tool provides advanced analytics and extensive customization, which makes it suitable for large organizations needing complex reporting. Its downside involves a steeper learning curve and the need for a separate license, which can be costly.

1. SquaredUp

SquaredUp is a third-party dashboarding tool that integrates seamlessly with Azure DevOps offering powerful, user-friendly visualizations and insights into development processes and project metrics.

It is particularly known for its ability to surface complex data in a clear, understandable manner, and for its out-of-the-box dashboards that are automatically populated with Azure DevOps data.

SquaredUp stands out as a user-friendly, efficient solution for Azure DevOps monitoring, offering a balance between ease of use and powerful visualization capabilities.

Pros

• Ease of use: SquaredUp connects directly to Azure DevOps, indexing all data from pipelines, repos, artifacts, and work items without requiring complex queries or scripts
• Pre-built integrations: SquaredUp allows users to integrate data from multiple tools, providing a holistic view of the entire tech stack alongside Azure DevOps metrics
• Dynamic visualizations: Unlike some alternatives, SquaredUp always provides up-to-date visualizations, ensuring teams never miss important changes in their DevOps processes.

Cons

• Limited advanced features: While it excels in ease of use and visualization, SquaredUp may lack some of the advanced analytics capabilities found in tools like Power BI.
• Cost: SquaredUp is a third-party tool, and like Power BI, it comes with additional costs that need to be considered.

Useful for:

SquaredUp is ideal for teams that need to integrate Azure DevOps data with other tools for comprehensive monitoring - as well as those looking for an easy-to-use, visually rich dashboarding solution that doesn’t require deep technical knowledge to set up and maintain.

Not useful for:

Users who prefer building dashboards from scratch using raw data or require extremely complex, custom data analysis beyond standard DevOps metrics might overlook SquaredUp’s smart dashboarding tool.

2. Azure DevOps built-in dashboards

Azure DevOps comes with built-in dashboards that allow teams to visualize metrics directly within the platform. These are especially useful for teams already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem or working primarily with Azure-based services. These dashboards provide a range of widgets that can display data such as work item progress, build status, code coverage, and more.

Pros

• Seamless integration: Since they’re native, these Azure DevOps dashboards require no additional setup and work out of the box.
• Real-time data: Metrics are updated in real-time, providing up-to-date insights.
• Customizability: You can create multiple dashboards tailored to different team needs, from high-level overviews to detailed drill-downs.
  

Cons

• Limited advanced analytics: While great for surface-level insights, built-in dashboards and the widgets provided, lack the depth needed for more complex analysis.
• Restricted visualization options: Compared to other tools, the visualizations are more basic and may not meet the needs of users looking for more sophisticated reporting.
• Limited configuration: Widgets have limited configuration options. For instance your Build History can only show one pipeline at a time.

Useful for:

Built-in dashboards are ideal for single or small teams that need quick, real-time insights directly within Azure DevOps without the need for complex setup or external tools. Teams working on projects with frequent releases or those practicing agile methodologies find these dashboards particularly valuable for tracking velocity, burndown rates, and work item status. They are particularly favored by organizations with a mix of technical and non-technical users, as the dashboards provide a user-friendly interface for visualizing complex data.

Not useful for:

Azure DevOps built-in dashboards may not be the ideal solution for teams that require highly customized or complex data visualizations that go beyond the capabilities of the available widgets. Additionally, organizations that operate in multi-cloud environments or use a diverse set of tools outside the Microsoft ecosystem might find these dashboards limiting in terms of data integration and cross-platform visibility.

3. Power BI

Power BI is a robust business analytics tool by Microsoft that can connect to Azure DevOps for advanced reporting. It allows you to create rich, interactive reports that can provide deep insights into your DevOps processes.

Pros

• Advanced analytics: Power BI offers advanced data modelling and analytics capabilities, allowing for complex calculations and custom metrics.
• Wide range of visualizations: With a vast array of visual elements, Power BI can help create highly customised and visually appealing reports.
• Cross-platform Integration: Power BI can pull data from multiple sources, allowing you to combine Azure DevOps metrics visualizations with other business data for a holistic view.

Cons

• Setup Complexity: Connecting Power BI to Azure DevOps requires some setup and knowledge of both tools, making it less accessible for non-technical users.
• Cost: Power BI licensing can be expensive, especially for organizations with large teams or complex reporting needs.
• Data Complexity: To generate specific visualizations, Power BI can often require data shaping expertise.

Useful for:

One of the key strengths of Power BI is its ability to connect to various data sources, including Azure DevOps, through its native connector or OData feeds. This integration allows teams to extract valuable information from their Azure DevOps projects, such as work item data, sprint progress, and team velocity. This makes it ideal for organizations that require deep, data-driven insights into their DevOps processes and want to combine this data with other business metrics for comprehensive reporting.

Not useful for:

However, it's worth noting that Power BI's integration with Azure DevOps does have some limitations. For instance, the native connector currently only supports Azure Boards data and doesn't provide access to other Azure DevOps features like pipelines. Additionally, setting up Power BI for Azure DevOps reporting may require some technical expertise, especially when dealing with rich text fields or creating dynamic queries.

A comparison of SquaredUp vs Azure DevOps Built-in Dashboards vs Power BI

Conclusion

When it comes to reporting Azure DevOps metrics, the right tool depends on your specific needs and technical capabilities. Azure DevOps built-in dashboards are great for quick, real-time insights. Power BI offers advanced analytics and visualisation options for more complex reporting needs.

SquaredUp strikes a balance between ease of use and powerful visualizations, making it a solid choice for teams looking to create informative and engaging dashboards without a steep learning curve.

By understanding the strengths and limitations of each tool, you can make a more informed decision about the one that best fits your organisation's reporting needs, helping to drive better outcomes from your Azure DevOps processes.

If you're looking for a visually rich, easy-to-use dashboarding solution, start a free trial of SquaredUp today.