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Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/AInformatica PowerCenter was data integration technology designed to form the foundation for data integration initiatives, application migration, or analytics. It is a legacy product.N/A

    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

    Score7 out of 10
    N/AThe SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence Platform provides users with ad hoc queries, reporting, data visualizations, and analysis tools. Its integrated, unified infrastructure aims to offer scalability from one-to-many tools and interfaces on-premise, in the cloud, or as a hybrid approach.N/A
    Pricing
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Considered Both Products
    Discontinued Products
    Chose Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
    PowerCenter is simply so robust and refined that most other apps cannot do as much as it can. Even Informatica’s own Cloud version is so anemic as to not even compare against it. While from that perspective it feels bloated with too much to navigate through, many of those …
    Incentivized
    SAP
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    81%
    Would buy again
    13 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    86%
    Delivers good value for the price
    12 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    81%
    Happy with the feature set
    13 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    90%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    85%
    Implementation went as expected
    11 Answers
    Features
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Data Source Connection
    Comparison of Data Source Connection features of Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
    8.5
    18 Ratings
    1% above category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    -
    Ratings
    Connect to traditional data sources9.018 Ratings00 Ratings
    Connecto to Big Data and NoSQL8.014 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data Transformations
    Comparison of Data Transformations features of Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
    7.5
    18 Ratings
    8% below category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    -
    Ratings
    Simple transformations8.018 Ratings00 Ratings
    Complex transformations7.018 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data Modeling
    Comparison of Data Modeling features of Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
    8.2
    18 Ratings
    3% above category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    -
    Ratings
    Data model creation9.015 Ratings00 Ratings
    Metadata management8.016 Ratings00 Ratings
    Business rules and workflow9.018 Ratings00 Ratings
    Collaboration6.116 Ratings00 Ratings
    Testing and debugging9.017 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data Governance
    Comparison of Data Governance features of Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
    9.0
    15 Ratings
    11% above category average
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    -
    Ratings
    Integration with data quality tools9.015 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with MDM tools9.013 Ratings00 Ratings
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
    -
    Ratings
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.8
    56 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings8.550 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards00 Ratings6.752 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings8.251 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
    -
    Ratings
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.1
    53 Ratings
    12% below category average
    Drill-down analysis00 Ratings6.452 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities00 Ratings6.551 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings8.335 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings7.352 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
    -
    Ratings
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.8
    53 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Publish to Web00 Ratings8.344 Ratings
    Publish to PDF00 Ratings8.251 Ratings
    Report Versioning00 Ratings7.646 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.052 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings6.931 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
    -
    Ratings
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    6.0
    48 Ratings
    28% below category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings5.846 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings6.143 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics00 Ratings6.042 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings6.16 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
    -
    Ratings
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.4
    53 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings7.953 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings7.251 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings7.450 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings7.27 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings7.234 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
    -
    Ratings
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    6.4
    38 Ratings
    19% below category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings5.637 Ratings
    Mobile Application00 Ratings5.332 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings5.534 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Feature
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
    -
    Ratings
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    7.9
    28 Ratings
    2% above category average
    REST API00 Ratings8.124 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings7.723 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings8.221 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings7.526 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings7.624 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.622 Ratings
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    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
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    Score10 out of 10
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    User Ratings
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (21 ratings)
    7.1
    (78 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    8.3
    (24 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    6.6
    (21 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Performance
    9.4
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (10 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.6
    (16 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (45 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (45 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Discontinued Products
    1.- Scenaries with poor sources of data is not recomended (Very bad ROI). The solution is for medium-big enterprises with a lot of sources of data and users. 2.- Bank and finance enviroment to integrate differente data form trading, Regulatory reports, decisions makers, fraud and financial crimes because in this kind of scenary the quality of data is the base of the business. 3.- Departments of development and test of applications in enterprises because you can design enviroments, out of the production systems, to development and test the new API's or updateds made.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    As mentioned earlier reporting was a big headache for us and the tools we used didn't support large data sets and visualization Performing analytics with such data sets was cumbersome and later post using this SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence we were able to correlate different data sets and prepare the dashboard pretty easier which were helpful and easier to understand.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Discontinued Products
    • Informatica Powercenter is an innovative software that works with ETL-type data integration. Connectivity to almost all the database systems.
    • Great documentation and customer support.
    • It has a various solution to address data quality issues. data masking, data virtualization. It has various supporting tools or MDM, IDQ, Analyst, BigData which can be used to analyze data and correct it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    • This software is easy to initially learn, and very powerful in producing reusable reports.
    • It is much faster than my company's internal manual queries. The ability to build off of a saved query and share queries to other users is a great positive.
    • My favorite part is that you can run queries in the background and it does not interfere with your current work or slow your computer down.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Discontinued Products
    • There are too many ways to perform the same or similar functions which in turn makes it challenging to trace what a workflow is doing and at which point (ex. sessions can be designed as static or re-usable and the override can occur at the session or workflow, or both which can be counter productive and confusing when troubleshooting).
    • The power in structured design is a double edged sword. Simple tasks for a POC can become cumbersome. Ex. if you want to move some data to test a process, you first have to create your sources by importing them which means an ODBC connection or similar will need to be configured, you in turn have to develop your targets and all of the essential building blocks before being able to begin actual development. While I am on sources and targets, I think of a table definition as just that and find it counter intuitive to have to design a table as both a source and target and manage them as different objects. It would be more intuitive to have a table definition and its source/target properties defined by where you drag and drop it in the mapping.
    • There are no checkpoints or data viewer type functions without designing an entire mapping and workflow. If you would like to simply run a job up to a point and check the throughput, an entire mapping needs to be completed and you would workaround this by creating a flat file target.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    • The installation can be very complex and time-consuming, it requires a lot of planning and foresight as to what role the software will play in the organization.
    • The software has a relatively large learning curve that takes dedicated users months to get comfortable with, the UI is a bit intimidating for new users.
    • SAP could organize their help better, it can be difficult to find dependable solutions to issues via their website and support channels.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Discontinued Products
    Our team enjoys using Informatica and feels that it is one of the best ETL tools on the market.
    Read full review
    SAP
    The institution has decided to move in a different direction, and will be using MSBI for reporting. I have been very happy with the Business Objects suite of tools, and will continue to use them heavily until we make the transition.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Discontinued Products
    Positives; - Multi User Development Environment - Speed of transformation - Seamless integration between other Informatica products. Negatives; - There should be less windows to maintain developers' focus while using. You probably need 2 big monitors when you start development with Informatica Power Center. - Oracle Analytical functions should be natively used. - E-LT support as well as ETL support.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    From a server and client side perspective. the Business Intelligence Platform provides a foundation for all aspects of content development, distribution, analysis, collaboration and self service. Ease of use from targeted content delivery through controlled accessibility. Content exporting in the format of the users choice. Scheduling for internal or external delivery. Public and private folders for secure content access when requied. Web based for viewing on the users device of choice without the need to download additional applications.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    SAP
    When we implemented 3.1, we had a tough time managing the system: It took almost a year to stabilize.

    With 4.0, we want to roll out to more users, and are holding back because of fears about the performance issue
    Read full review
    Performance
    Discontinued Products
    PowerCenter is robust and fast, and it does a great job meeting all the needs, not just the most commercially vocal needs. In the hands of an expert power user, you can accomplish almost anything with your data. It is not for new users or intermittent users-- for that the Cloud version is a better fit. Be prepared for costly connectors (priced differently for each source or destination you are working with), and just be planful of your projects so you are not paying for connectors you no longer need or want
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    Overall, the tool (Web Intelligence 4.2) is fast and solid. One issue is a dependability on JAVA for a full feature report creation/edit capabilities (as opposed to limited HTML option). Second, planned end of JAVA support by major browsers (Chrome is already not supporting JAVA applet).
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Discontinued Products
    Informatica power center is a leader of the pack of ETL tools and has some great abilities that make it stand out from other ETL tools. It has been a great partner to its clients over a long time so it's definitely dependable. With all the great things about Informatica, it has a bit of tech burden that should be addressed to make it more nimble, reduce the learning curve for new developers, provide better connectivity with visualization tools.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    SAP has released various versions of SAP BO BI. starting from 3.1 and going to 4.0,4.1,4.2 and latest being 4.3. SAP provides support to these new versions. As new versions keep on coming, support for the very old software goes out of scope from SAP. it is when the different organization plans to get their BO content migrated from a lower version to a newer version. The newer version had definitely added functionality and features which ease the work of users.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    SAP
    SAP authorized training is best, Please go ahead with it. Even lot of online training options/videos available for self learning
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    SAP
    I haven't used it or got feedback from the end user.

    Content looks to be pretty detailed. Focused on SQL but not BW.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    SAP
    Hire specialists and experienced staff. Mix some beginners so that everyone is not a leader but a learner too. Plan well; architect well; break down implementation in small steps and move towards larger steps. Create a centralized and authorized SAP Business Objects implementation team.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Discontinued Products
    While Talend offers a much more comfortable interface to work with, Informatica's forte is performance. And on that front, Informatica Enterprise Data Integration certainly leaves Talend in the dust. For a more back-end-centric use case, Informatica is certainly the ETL tool of choice. On the other hand, if business users would be using the tool, then Talend would be the preferred tool.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    We selected SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) based on price. It can stack up against others in terms of price and honestly, that's about it. Salesforce Commerce does a hell of a better job at handling it. However, in the space of Business Intelligence, SAP can do more, and that's why at the end we went with it
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    SAP
    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform supports SOA Service Oriented Architecture. You can start/restart/enable/disable all the servers. You can seamless do load balancing and clustering. It supports all leading application and web server. Supports LDAP SSO integration. People who can work on excel with training they can work on SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence, dashboard, Lumira, Information design tool product suite. Tool is very user friendly and easy to learn and implement
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Discontinued Products
    • The data pipeline automation capability of Informatica means that few resources are needed to pre-process the data that ultimately resides in a Data Warehouse. Once a workflow is implemented, manual intervention is not needed.
    • PowerCenter did require more resources and time for installation and configuration than was expected/planned for.
    • The lack of or minimal support of unstructured data means that newer sources of dynamic/changing data cannot be easily processed/transformed through PowerCenter workflows.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SAP
    • By generating and distributing reports in a timely manner, we were able to save millions of dollars for the company which otherwise would not have been visible.
    • Almost realtime dashboard, saved the company a huge amount by showing the outages and kept the company from buying a tool to do just that.
    • It showed the customers who were not paying the bills and were missing in the system due to some loophole. This was visible by doing reporting on the theft usage of electricity.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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