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Entrinsik Informer is a versatile reporting tool that has transformed the way data is accessed and analyzed on campus. Users find Informer …
Overview
What is Entrinsik Informer?
Entrinsik Informer is a web-based reporting and business intelligence application popular in the higher education vertical market. It helps organizations transform real-time data into actionable information by delivering ad-hoc reporting, data analysis, and interactive dashboards.
Recent Reviews
Popular Features
- Multi-User Support (named login) (11)9.090%
- Report sharing and collaboration (10)9.090%
- Drill-down analysis (9)9.090%
- Formatting capabilities (10)8.181%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Director, Systems Management & MIS Operations
College of the Desert (Higher Education, 501-1000 employees)
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What is Entrinsik Informer?
Entrinsik Informer is a web-based reporting and business intelligence application popular in the higher education vertical market. It helps organizations transform real-time data into actionable information by delivering ad-hoc reporting, data analysis, and interactive dashboards.
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What is Entrinsik Informer?
Informer 5 from Entrinsik is a data discovery and analytics tool that aims to simplify the process of accessing, cleansing, blending, and analyzing data from multiple sources. According to the vendor, with Informer, companies can aggregate all their disparate data into a single platform using an intuitive, 100% web-based interface that replaces outdated query tools and complicated reporting systems.
The tool aims to eliminate the need for data warehouses and cubes, and eliminate complicated “views” and limited functionality. With extensible architecture, collaborative environment, and enterprise-level performance, Informer aims to deliver actionable insights and better, data-driven decisions for its customers.
Entrinsik Informer Features
BI Platform Features
- Supported: Administration via Web Interface
- Supported: Live Connection to External Data
- Supported: Snapshot of External Data
- Supported: In-memory data model
- Supported: Multi-Data Source Reporting (Blending)
Supported Data Sources Features
- Supported: MS Excel Workbooks
- Supported: Text Files (CSV, etc)
- Supported: Oracle
- Supported: MS SQL Server
- Supported: IBM DB2
- Supported: Postgres
- Supported: MySQL
- Supported: ODBC
- Supported: Cloudera Hadoop
- Supported: Hortonworks Hadoop
- Supported: SAP Hana
BI Standard Reporting Features
- Supported: Customizable dashboards
- Supported: Report Formatting Templates
Ad-hoc Reporting Features
- Supported: Drill-down analysis
- Supported: Formatting capabilities
- Supported: Report sharing and collaboration
Report Output and Scheduling Features
- Supported: Publish to Web
- Supported: Publish to PDF
- Supported: Report Versioning
- Supported: Report Delivery Scheduling
- Supported: Delivery to Remote Servers
Data Discovery and Visualization Features
- Supported: Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
- Supported: Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
Access Control and Security Features
- Supported: Multi-User Support (named login)
- Supported: Role-Based Security Model
- Supported: Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
- Supported: Report-Level Access Control
- Supported: Table-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
- Supported: Field-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
Mobile Capabilities Features
- Supported: Responsive Design for Web Access
- Supported: Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding Features
- Supported: REST API
Entrinsik Informer Screenshots
Entrinsik Informer Videos
Customers Talk About Informer
Introduction to Informer 5 BI & Data Analytics
Entrinsik Informer Competitors
Entrinsik Informer Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows, Linux, Mac |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Entrinsik Informer is a web-based reporting and business intelligence application popular in the higher education vertical market. It helps organizations transform real-time data into actionable information by delivering ad-hoc reporting, data analysis, and interactive dashboards.
Reviewers rate Publish to Web and Report Versioning and Role-Based Security Model highest, with a score of 9.1.
The most common users of Entrinsik Informer are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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(86)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
- Recommendations
Entrinsik Informer is a versatile reporting tool that has transformed the way data is accessed and analyzed on campus. Users find Informer easy to grasp and use, making training a breeze. With its seamless integration with multiple systems, Informer allows users to create and manipulate data as needed, eliminating the need for manual gathering of report data and saving hours of time. The software empowers end users to govern their own data and find the information they need with minimal support. IT departments have control over access, limiting what each user sees based on their access level. Additionally, the scheduling feature in Informer has been a game changer for users by allowing reports to run automatically and be delivered via email, streamlining workflows and processes. Informer's ability to provide accurate and timely reports from multiple databases has increased usage campus-wide, with different groups of users running created reports. It serves as a single point for querying multiple systems and databases, allowing users to create their own reports and reducing the burden on IT programmers. Overall, Informer has solved a multitude of problems for colleges and universities by addressing quick and complex reporting needs across various departments and empowering users to make informed decisions based on up-to-date information.
Users have made several recommendations for Entrinsik Informer based on their experiences. Many users find Informer to be a useful tool for reporting that is easy to use for end users. Furthermore, users highly recommend Informer for its ability to create various data gathering options and its outstanding customer service. Additionally, users have found that Informer is a tremendous time saver as it decreases report development time and enables users to create their own reports. Users also suggest using Informer when a database or CRM lacks a strong built-in reporting feature and recommend using external software like Excel for any necessary alterations.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-2 of 2)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
January 07, 2016
Hands down, Informer is the icing on the cake!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Entrinsik Informer Web Reporting is being used by most departments at Juniata College. We currently have a few more departments to train and move to using Informer. It is unbelievably easy for end users to grasp, which makes our job of training end users very easy. One of our Vice Presidents is very excited about the dashboard feature. We have been able to create dashboards for him to know exactly where the college stands on budget vs. actual spending at a moments notice. In addition to other dashboards that show total deposited applicants along with their demographic and financial information which is one of the most important factors in determining the College's future budget.
- Ease of Use - This product is almost self explanatory. Very little training is needed. The training videos developed by Entrinsik are wonderful.
- Using javascript for calculated columns is a big plus as it's a language that many employees know, or can learn.
- Dashboards - this product is the icing on the cake. No need to purchase and learn a different software package. It's all there with Entrinsik Informer.
- I think the most difficult task in Informer was setting up the security. It's very flexible, which is both good and bad. I would like to see more detailed instructions or examples of different security settings.
- Would love to have a feature on the dashboards that would allow a load "live" without having to "refresh". I would like to see this as a choice for refresh on opening or manually by user.
In the past we have used Query Builder and Crystal Reports. Query Builder was very difficult for end users to learn, and only created reports, there was no other features such as charting or dashboards. When we used Crystal Reports, it was version 8, and again it did not have any features other than reporting, and it was more costly than Informer. Hands down, Informer is very cost effective and packed full of features that the other products do not have.
3
Skills required to support Entrinsik Informer include having an understanding of large relational databases and keys, and previous programming experience, preferably JavaScript. Experience in setting up software security would also be helpful in supporting Informer.
- Basic reports are very easy. As easy as drag and drop.
- Linking of files is a great feature to allow users to pull data from more than one file at a time. It saves the programmers a lot of time in that they don't have to write a lot of calculated fields.
- Dashboards are a dream. If you have a report that you would like to show graphically, the dashboard feature is pretty much just a fill in the blank process. Very easy to create a graph or chart.
- The biggest obstacle that our employees had to overcome was normalizing the data. Normalization is not a term that they are familiar with coming from a multi-valued field database.
- Before Informer, we created calculated fields for our end users if data resided in a different file from the one they were working from. With Informer, we no longer need to create as many fields and the end users are not particularly happy about looking for the fields in their original files.
August 19, 2015
How did we function without it?
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We have rolled Informer out across our campus. We went live with Informer in February 2011, coming from a dos-based reporting tool where we had 8 people writing reports. We now have 101 different staff members who have written their own reports. We have 211 users on our campus who have run reports on their own. Most of them received one 2-hour training class to run and manipulate their reports. This has certainly de-centralized the functions away from our IT office running all of the reports. Additionally, this is allowing the end-users to manage their own data on their own timeline. I have been a data analyst for the University for over 20 years, and this tool is by far the easiest to manage.
We recently rolled out dynamic dashboards and 43 report-writers attended the training session.
We recently rolled out dynamic dashboards and 43 report-writers attended the training session.
- The terms are easily understood. Our report writers and users have an easy time plotting the data to make sure they are receiving the information they need.
- The ability to schedule on-going reports has been a tremendous time saver. We currently have 260 reports running in a "hands off" mode so they can be delivered to upper management for their needs. Included in this list is a pool of "audit" reports where supervisors can receive a report if there are issues with common data entry standards.
- Security is easy to manage. We are able to allow all of the appropriate granular security with each user group.
- The ability to use LiveExcel interaction with our database allows some of our administrative assistants to use their Windows Office skills rather than having to login to the tool itself.
- While we do like the new Dashboards, the scale-ability of the graphical representation would be helpful.
- We had developed a list of "wishes" and submitted them to the Entrinsik forum... and lo and behold, when release 4.4.1 came out, the issues were addressed! We particularly needed the ability to copy parts of the set up from one instance to another. We continue to be users of the Wiki and Forums available to clients.
Before using Informer, we used "Query Builder" and staff found that very difficult to manage and write reports. We do use Crystal Reports and while it contains some of the output functions we need, it is not end-user friendly and generally requires extensive training to be able to run the most basic reports. After further review, Crystal Reports has been removed from the "standard tools" list, in favor of Informer.
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Full cross-sample of all administrative departments from Finance, Purchasing, Human resources, Advancement, Admissions, Financial Aide, Student Accounts, Student Affairs, Athletics, Marketing, Information Technology, Event Scheduling, International Programs, Provost/Academic Affairs. Campus Security.
1
We have one person tasked with management of the product (Security, File Setup and Staff Training); which takes about 1/2-time FTE. Our Systems maintenance team manages the software updates on an as-needed basis, which is about quarterly.
- With a new Capital Campaign underway, we hope to accelerate the distribution of the Key Indicators to the full committee in a real-time method.
- Data Mining for research on the KPIs ~ Admission, Retention, Financial Reporting
- Data Delivery for Financial Reports on a scheduled basis to the appropriate staff and budget officers
- Data Analysis for a recent conversion completed by the Advancement Office where we managed the entire conversion specifications by side-by-side data analysis of two different datasources.
- Using the Dashboards, for Faculty Departments to identify course needs to facilitate scheduling appropriate classes and capacity for upcoming terms.
- Using Informer to identify changes to Faculty Advisement records for ease of scheduling
Yes
a DOS-based Query product that required massive IT support and had limited user-access
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Vendor Reputation
- Third-party Reviews
User-Friendly was a key component. After a single two-hour training session, our power users are set to go.
We surveyed our administrative database co-workers (Ellucian); and reviewed a few of their suggestions, and Informer by Entrinsik always rose to the top.
- Implemented in-house
No
Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled
It took about a year for the administrative units to understand that we were providing them with a tool to manage their own data. There is a still a small modicum of trust issues, mostly relating to understanding the data, and not the tool used to provide the information.
- The understanding that "group" training is generally not a reality on a College Campus. Due to the confidentiality of the data components, the training must be done in very small groups so they will be training on their own data.
- The willingness of some departments to take on the responsibility of retrieving and reviewing their own data. This had previously fallen to IT and an Institutional Research department. With all of the new federal regulations in just about every department on our campus, they are understanding that they need to control this review.
No
We were setting up a training class for Dashboard Users, and we were having an issue on security settings. In less than an hour, all of the appropriate flags were set and we were ready to go.
- From an IT perspective: The Initial setup, Datasource mapping and file-joins are quite easy.
- From an end-user, If they know their data, the reporting is quite simple. The user still has to know what they are trying to identify in the report.
- The dashboard setup takes about 15 minutes to learn
- The report writers have to understand the underlying database file structure. The Informer tool is quite simple to manage if you know it. We have tried to provide tools to the reporting units on their file structure as an aid.