it_user150912 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Quality and Conversion with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
As ETL tools in general, it does not include a good data reporting feature.

What is most valuable?

  • The possibility to create a data profiling mapping automatically from any imported source.
  • The client installation includes a macro that can be imported into Excel. This will contains standard documents for technical design and documentation in general. The technical design developed in Excel can be directly imported into Powercenter using Powercenter Repository Manager and the corresponding mapping is automatically created. This can save a lot of development time for simple or not very complex mappings. This feature is called Mapping Analyst for Excel.
  • The default error handling, automatically created, is quite good for those architectures that don't have a proper one or a budget for a custom one.

What needs improvement?

As all ETL tools in general, it does not include a good data reporting feature. Another one is the component called "Union" which includes some bugs:
  • Adding new groups, the field-names are lost
  • Adding new fields, the field type should be reset for all fields in the "Union" or the mapping validation will fail.

There is no possibility of handle non matching records in a "joiner" as in DataStage.

For how long have I used the solution?

4-5 years, different versions.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used other tools like IBM DataStage. The final decision is made by my clients but what I see is that clients using DB2 prefer to use DataStage over Informatica as both (DB2 and DataStage) are IBM products.

How was the initial setup?

Very straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

In-house
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user108354 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user108354Manager of Data Analytics at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User

Strictly based on my experience with Informatica and DataStage, I find Informatica PowerCenter sufficiently advanced in ETL capability terms. As Informatica proclaims to be leader in data integration, the tool inherently is not designed for reporting requirements. However, it still provides one the best metadata schema, to monitor and report the performance of ETL processes.
Informatica was among the 1st to provide database driven metadata access, providing ease of query-ing & reporting on ETL processes.
With SOA driven architecture and Big data integration in new versions, Informatica continue to maintain lead among choice of ETL platforms.
However, pricing and very large volume (billions of records) processing may be major consideration while planning and deciding about usage of Informatica.

it_user4518 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Databases at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
High performance and scalable data integration

Valuable Features:

• As it supports large data volumes, so it meets the demands of our company for security and performance. • It helps us in making better and timelier business decisions by providing us the right information at the right time. • Delivers data throughout our enterprise by accessing and integrating data in all formats. • Provides security, scalability, performance to our system and establishes a foundation for our enterprise-wide data integration initiatives. • Enables our teams of developers, analysts, and administrators to work faster and better together and also reduces our IT costs by encouraging collaboration and minimizing the development complexities.

Room for Improvement:

• It is very expensive. High end. • We provided training of SQL to our staff before using this product. Because a good understanding of SQL is mandatory for using Powercenter. • GUI: Lack of clarity and consistency created problems for our staff. So it requires some improvements. • We used the services of highly skilled persons for installation of powercenter. Novice staff can’t install this product properly.

Other Advice:

Our organization is using it because it is one of the leading data integration tools available in the market and supports large data volumes and meets our demands for security and performance. PowerCenter is serving as the data integration foundation for our enterprise integration initiatives including data warehousing, data governance, data migration, SOA), and MDM. Powercenter in my opinion has the best data transfer technologies including its standard, advanced, big data, real time, data virtualization and cloud editions.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Informatica PowerCenter
March 2024
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768,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Data Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 10
A helpful solution for data integration with good technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "The partitioning and optimization to help enhance our development is a very valuable aspect of Informatica PowerCenter."
  • "The multiple interfaces in Informatica PowerCenter are not great for the user experience. Because of this, I think it can cause confusion for any beginner developer."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary uses of the solution are for data integration and to build a warehouse model.

What is most valuable?

The solution is a very helpful product for data integration.

The partitioning and optimization to help enhance our development is a very valuable aspect of Informatica PowerCenter. There are multiple transformations for service consumers to publish and use web services as well,In addition to the ability to implement ETL and ELT n a very easy way and finally, you have structured data for use in an integrated business intelligence solution.

What needs improvement?

The multiple interfaces in Informatica PowerCenter are not great for the user experience. Because of this, I think it can cause confusion for any beginner developer.

When we are dealing with multiple transformations and mapping, we cannot see the flow of our transformation until we run reports. It is not like Informatica Developer, where we can see every step of what we're doing and the flow of the mapping. With those solutions, we can see data and transformation and how it's affected by our expressions or anything we do. In Informatica PowerCenter, we cannot see any data in the transformation until the end or you may need to do some debugging, and it is very confusing for some people. They need to enhance their viewer so we can see data within the transformation and show the affected data. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I haven't had a problem with Informatica PowerCenter's stability until recently. Sometimes it's very slow. I don't know why, but recently, the development has been very slow. I'm not sure if this is related to stability, however.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is good for scalability because it can be supplemented by a Data Quality solution ,Also, if our organization needs the scale increased, Informatica can satisfy this need, because it can deal with different types of sources and a huge amount of data. The features in partitioning and data optimization that Informatica uses make it very powerful.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support has been very helpful. Whenever we have a problem, they are able to solve it.

How was the initial setup?

Informatica platform installation was straightforward, just If the prerequisites checks done successfully, it will be very easy to do.

What other advice do I have?

I'm working with a lot of Informatica products. I use Informatica PowerCenter and IDQ as well as Informatica Axon.

In terms of Informatica Powercenter, we're not using the cloud. We have it running on our own servers.

Overall, I find that it's a very helpful product and a powerful tool compared to other products.

I would rate this solution eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
PeerSpot user
it_user1080720 - PeerSpot reviewer
ETL Reporting Analytics Consultant at Accenture
Real User
Verifies and Validates incoming data according to our own business rules
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are the dynamic reading of the file metadata profile, and the ability to define business rules that are used to verify and validate the uploaded files."
  • "The developer tool documentation can be enhanced with a more clear explanation of each utility, accompanied by relevant examples, so that developers are able to create programs with ease."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is to process semi-structured and structured files using business rules to create CSV files for data warehouse loading and reporting.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution has allowed my client to see the real benefits of dynamically reading the profile to verify the file structures.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the dynamic reading of the file metadata profile, and the ability to define business rules that are used to verify and validate the uploaded files.

What needs improvement?

The developer tool documentation can be enhanced with a more clear explanation of each utility, accompanied by relevant examples, so that developers are able to create programs with ease.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Information Technology Security Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Easy to set up and quick to deploy, good support, and unstructured data can be imported
Pros and Cons
  • "What I like the most is that we have to deal with less while writing the queries."
  • "I would like to see it be able to import data from NoSQL."

What is most valuable?

What I like the most is that we have to deal with less while writing the queries.

The unstructured data can now be imported into Informatica PowerCenter. This is an achievement for them.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see it be able to import data from NoSQL.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Informatica PowerCenter for approximately three months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are using this solution for seven to eight hours per day. We are using it frequently.

Informatica is scalable, it's perfect. There are no changes required for this solution.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have not had any issues with technical support. They are fine.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I started coding in SQL, then looked up Informatica directly.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not that complex.

It takes less than a day but more than an hour to deploy this solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We are satisfied with the pricing. The licensing is on a yearly basis.

What other advice do I have?

I would definitely recommend this to my friends as well as anyone who is interested in using this solution.

I would rate Informatica PowerCenter a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Associate at a tech consulting company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Good ETL capabilities offered by the Data Lake feature
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is the new Data Lake feature, which provides the basic capabilities needed."
  • "I found it is kind of weird that not all of the mapping changes are treated as true changes."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for ETL of a US Law Enforcement agency's data sources to a data warehouse.

How has it helped my organization?

Using this solution has given us better performance than just purely using PL/SQL.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the new Data Lake feature, which provides the basic capabilities needed.

What needs improvement?

I found it is kind of weird that not all of the mapping changes are treated as true changes.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for three years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Informatica PowerCenter Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Informatica PowerCenter Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.