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Entrinsik Informer

Entrinsik 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.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Entrinsik Informer is a versatile reporting tool that has transformed the way data is accessed and analyzed on campus. Users find Informer …
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Popular Features

View all 21 features
  • Multi-User Support (named login) (11)
    9.0
    90%
  • Report sharing and collaboration (10)
    9.0
    90%
  • Drill-down analysis (9)
    9.0
    90%
  • Formatting capabilities (10)
    8.1
    81%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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N/A
Unavailable

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.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Features

BI Standard Reporting

Standard reporting means pre-built or canned reports available to users without having to create them.

7.6
Avg 8.2

Ad-hoc Reporting

Ad-Hoc Reports are reports built by the user to meet highly specific requirements.

8.6
Avg 8.1

Report Output and Scheduling

Ability to schedule and manager report output.

9.1
Avg 8.4

Data Discovery and Visualization

Data Discovery and Visualization is the analysis of multiple data sources in a search for patterns and outliers and the ability to represent the data visually.

7.3
Avg 8.1

Access Control and Security

Access control means being able to determine who has access to which data.

9.1
Avg 8.6

Mobile Capabilities

Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

9.1
Avg 8.0

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding

APIs are a set of routines, protocols, and tools for used for embedding one application in another

8.2
Avg 7.9
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Product Details

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

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

Entrinsik Informer Videos

Customers Talk About Informer
Introduction to Informer 5 BI & Data Analytics

Entrinsik Informer Competitors

Entrinsik Informer Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac
Mobile ApplicationNo

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.

Infor Birst, Tableau Server, and Microsoft Power BI are common alternatives for Entrinsik Informer.

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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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(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!

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

(26-50 of 77)
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Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Entrinsik Informer is used primarily by our administrative offices, including the Registrar, Accounting,Dean of Students, Residence Life, Human Resources, and others. It provides a user-friendly method for pulling information from our database. It has simplified the process for folks who are not as technically savvy as others. The reports provided cover budget, student, and staff information in easy-to-use formats.
  • Entrinsik Informer provides a way to pull information from several files within our database into a single report. This is far superior to having to query the database directly where you can only pull information from a single file at a time. It enables the end user to access information easily without having to involve technical staff.
  • It's possible to train power users to create their own reports in Entrinsik Informer, giving the users more flexibility in writing reports that are most appropriate to their work processes and without taking up technical staff time. We have done that here, and it works well. This only requires the occasional assist from technical staff, freeing our time to devote more time and support to users who are only interested in accessing reports written for them.
  • Some direct training on the advanced features of Entrinsik Informer would be helpful, e.g., more specific instructions on how to create computed columns within Informer reports.
  • Some more detailed instruction on how to use Analytics and Charting would be beneficial as well, with examples geared more to a college setting than to the business world. Often in the sessions at the Entrinsik conferences, for instance, the examples given don't translate well for me to our college experience. It's more along the lines of sales and things of that nature, that don't fit into our experience at all. So, sometimes it's hard for me to figure out how to apply the principles.
I have strongly promoted Entrinsik Informer since I began working with it. I found it to be a much more user-friendly product for providing accurate, timely information from the database to folks across campus, particularly the less technically savvy folks. It provides quick access without any serious technical skills required. But it also is great for those who want to learn more about it and create their own reports. The flexibility and ease of use are the biggest elements for me.
Christopher Kennedy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
We resell Informer to our customer base and it's a great tool for them. It allows them to built their own reports and dashboards and gives them access to the data that they need. This gives our customers a lot more flexibility in the types of reports they are able to use to manage their business.
  • Informer allows our customer base to access their data and create their own reports.
  • Informer's interface is very simple to use. Our customers learn how to build reports in a very short amount of time.
  • Everyone wants to get the data out and Informer allows them to schedule reports via email or extract the data to a variety of different formats very easily.
  • We have had a few scalability issues as we have grown the number of customers using the tool quite rapidly, but Entrinsik has been a great partner with us working to overcome the challenges we have encountered along the way.
Informer works great for us - we are connecting to a DB2 database and it seems to work quite well and Entrinsik has been a very professional business partner. They have gone out of their way to help us by making the tool better and incorporating suggested changes/features into the product over time.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Our institution uses Entrinsik Informer across the whole institution. It is used primarily to allow end-users of data the ability to create and manipulate data when & how they need. Prior to Informer, our end-users were not able to get data when they wanted it. Also, the ability for them to run a live excel spreadsheet, rather than operate inside Informer has alleviated any user trepidation about their ability to run reports. Training has been lessened - once a user is trained on live excel specifics, they will run any other Informer report without hesitation.
  • Ease of use
  • Ability to export analytics
  • Ability to join files with a common key, making reporting applicable to specific data questions
  • I'd like to see Entrinsik expand its menu of scripts that are provided for use.
  • I'd also appreciate an expanded how-to manual as a pdf on calculated columns and dashboarding.
Ellucian (Datatel) did not allow users to join files based on a common key. THIS was a huge selling point in selecting Informer. Also, the cost and the ability to quickly deploy the product to users was a big plus. Our Information Technologe department was sold when they learned they didn't have to worry about end users modifying any data in the Datatel system and that security could be controlled. Finally, in using Entrinsik Informer, CUSTOMER SERVICE is OUTSTANDING!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Informer in many departments with more coming online all the time. It's quick and easy to use and training is a breeze. Quite simply, it's been the best tool we have in our arsenal.
  • The Live Excel function allows you to create spreadsheets and send them to others. The recipient can add their own columns but refresh the original data at will which saves time and effort.
  • Client office staff can be trained to create their own reports, but if they don't have the time or interest it's easy to create reports for them. We can deliver the reports in a variety of ways and many people love the option of having reports sent to them by email at a scheduled time.
  • The ability to report from both SQL and Unidata on the same report is amazing! We use this feature all the time and it has greatly simplified our lives.
  • The software is slow to respond when you filter the list of reports on a tag or favorites. It's also slow when you try to add a report to your list of favorites.
We've found Informer to be a versatile, easy-to-use solution for our reporting needs. It can handle pretty much anything we ask it to do. Although we haven't widely deployed the dashboard function I think it will be a valuable tool as well. Learning javascripting in order to create calculated columns can be daunting, especially if you have a complex column to create, but it's worth the effort if you have a need to create some sophisticated reports.
Ed McClusky | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Entrinsik Informer is a powerful web-based ERP db operational reporting tool and business intelligence solution. Informer is used here at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff across all administrative offices to report on data contained in Ellucian Colleague. Informer is our primary real time data extraction and administrative reporting solution. Here at UAPB we utilize Informer hourly – almost around the clock. Using Informer's easy to follow UI and Informer's Live Excel features, the power of launching/executing created reports is moved to the person that needs the information.
  • Informer easily can link tables from a variety of data sources. Reports can easily be created using both fields and JavaScript formulas using feature rich drag and drop column placement
  • Immediately Informer’s LIVE Excel feature is a time saver. Users no longer have to wait for someone else to provide them with real-time data.
  • Informer’s ability to link related Colleague tables together is what allows more data to be collected together on a single report.
  • Entrinsik should provide at least some usage reports, including a report on reports, report usage statistics including most used and least used.
Entrinsik Informer is not a what-you-see-is-what-you-get true free-form report designer like can be found in some other reporting solutions. However, Informer is the best data extraction and BI provider for Unidata ever. End users should not have to go to a technical report developer to just get a set of data. Informer provides the ability to deliver customized reports either scheduled or ad-hoc when and where they want utilizing widely accepted formats.
Sarah Gaither | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Our entire college uses Informer. It solves a multitude of problems for our college. In addition to select reporting functionality for a specific issue that arises, it also gives us the ability to email reports daily to review and correct various issues with registration, addresses, data inaccuracies, etc. Our college uses Colleague and Informer provides a seamless integration between the two systems.
  • Easy to create reports based on specific selection criteria
  • Reports can be delivered in a variety of ways- Excel, Live Excel, PDF, CSV, Saved Lists, etc.
  • Easy to schedule reports to have delivered via email to different people around our College at various times.
  • As technology advances, there is always room for improvements, but I think Informer does a very good job of staying up-to-date with the latest cutting edge technologies. One improvement I would like to see is an area specifically for report schedules that can be easily edited.
  • Another improvement would be speed. You can never have enough speed in processing reports.
Informer is well-suited for creating reports from Colleague in a variety of ways that are currently unavailable within the Colleague software itself. It allows you to combine different fields and values and data from multiple areas of the college within one report, and even use that report to create even more reports.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Informer is being used by Development for selections, mailing lists, analyitics, auditing, financial reports, you name it.
  • Run complicated and simple queries
  • Schedule daily, weekly reports
  • Use as a department tool to communicate with colleagues
  • The steps to build the report is a bit cumbersome
I like that you can share reports without compromising the structure/ criteria of the report.
Kara Bosch | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Informer is being used throughout the college community. The Informer reporting tool allows users on-demand access to operational data in order to make effective business decisions.
  • The Informer reporting tool is easy to use for users of all levels of technical expertise.
  • The Informer reporting tool does not require IT support to create reports. Users can create, run and modify reports without requiring IT resources.
  • The flexibility of security administration allows us to grant users access to only the data sources, files, fields, and reports related to their specific jobs.
  • The Informer dashboards allow immediate access to statistics and key performance indicators. Charts and graphs can be designed in minutes to reflect various report results in graphic form.
  • Informer allows us the flexibility of reporting out of multiple databases.
  • Entrinsik is working to remedy issues related to server memory usage. They are very open to user feedback and consider the relationship with their clients to be priority.
Informer has the ability to work with a variety of data sources so is an effective solution for a variety of businesses.
November 04, 2014

Client converting to SQL

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We are currently using Informer in a Unidata environment and are in the process of converting to a SQL environment. We use the product across the entire university. Informer allows our users to generate reports very easily. We have a few users the create and modify their own reports and are in the processing of training other users to begin creating/modify reports.
  • Mappings are easily created, but need to be careful on who you allow to added metadata to the mappings.
  • Reports are easily created and maintained.
  • Installation is relatively easy.
  • Security can be very cumbersome.
  • Like the file mapping suites in UNIDATA. Has saved us a lot of time not having to rebuild reports every year. The mapping suites don't work well at all in the SQL environment and feel that this needs to be resolved very quickly .
Might not recommend as highly for a Datatel SQL client do to the issues with the mapping suites
Marjorie Williams | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
All departments are currently using Informer reporting to report on data, create saved lists for our ERP processes and to upload data to other database systems. Informer reports helps us to address data entry problems in our ERP system.
  • I love the mapping capabilities. Practically no more computed columns needed in Colleague.
  • Calculated columns help to get the desired result you need.
  • It is easy to use. Security set up is also straight forward
  • Functions are great, but knowing what fields you need in your report to populate the function with is difficult. I need to know what they are before I add the function. I actually listed the fields needed in the description of the function.
For Colleague clients, mapping the data and eliminating the creation of computed columns in Colleague is a big plus. It's a great product for unidata clients. I haven't had the chance to work with SQL. I am hoping to get Ellucian Recruiter added as a datasource.
November 04, 2014

Entrinsik Informer Review

Kris Hutchens | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Entrinsik Informer is used by Information Systems department, Finance Department and Human Resources. There are other departments across campus that have LIVE excel spreadsheets from Informer, but they do not have the access.
It is has helped with many reports that are needed for the different areas across campus. I've created many reports from queries that are no longer possible with Colleague.
  • Entrinsik makes Informer easy to use.
  • Informer Dashboards are easy to set up also.
  • Maintenance is easy
  • When creating reports, there is the ability to drag and drop
  • At this moment, I can't think of anything that can be improved. There are minor glitches that need to be fixed, but nothing major.
  • I truly enjoying working with this product.
It is great for reporting with dashboard capability. I like the fact that I can put our logo on the forms. When I need to output the form for another staff person, I like the fact that there are different ways to do this.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Informer is being use by all departments at Chapman University on a daily basis. Informer provides accurate and timely reports, analyzing all aspects of an educational organization. Some departments need to incorporate data from other databases, and Informer seamlessly accesses that information and integrates that data with our enterprise database. When we have questions Entrinsik responds quickly. Informer is a great product, with a great organization.
  • We can always depend on Informer to provide both on-demand and daily scheduled reports when needed.
  • Our users pretty much write their own reports: Informer makes it easy to create both simple and more complex reports.
  • One thing that some users miss (from Informer 3 functionality) is the ability of reports to provide two levels of subtotaling.
  • One area that I would like to see improvement would be in better Javascript support and instruction, when creating calculated columns and functions.
Is it easy to use, by both IT people and users? Is it flexible?
Verdon Vaillancourt | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Entrinsik Informer is being used by all departments in our University to easily allow end users access to the data they need, as well as the ability to quickly develop and share custom reports. It serves as a bridge to expose our Datatel data in a MUCH friendlier manner than our previous reporting tools and has greatly reduced the amount of support we have to offer day-to-day users.
  • Very user-friendly for quick, one-off reports
  • Very manageable and granular permission for granting access to only the data required
  • Very easy to share reports and queries
  • Minimal training and support required for quick user adpotation
  • Copying of permissions from group to group, when creating new groups at a low level is cumbersome for the admins
  • The sharing and permissioning areas are the only difficult area to train users in, but it is complex
This is a great solution for medium to large institutions. It can bring a variety of data sources together into one robust querying and reporting tool. It is probably overkill for small shops, but has proven an invaluable tool, with good end-user buy in, for our university.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Informer is our institutional reporting tool of choice. Many of our administrative departments use Informer, but mostly use LiveExcel's created for them by Information Technology. It allows for quick access to important information in an easy to read format, thus allowing administrators to make good business decisions.
  • Easy to use
  • Excellent support by vendor
  • Allows for multiple data sources
  • The migration from Unidata backend to SQL is messy, but tools are great and support is there.
Reporting off real time data can sometimes be time consuming and slow the system down.
November 04, 2014

Informed about Informer!

Kate Goldberg | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Entrinsik Informer is a web-based reporting tool that connects to our Datatel (ellucian) Colleague database (Unidata). It is a transactional database that allows us to access live and real-time data. There are probably six departments using it at our organization. I am in the College Advancement department (alumni relations and fundraising). It utilizes a GUI user interface that makes it so much easier to write reports rather than having to write programming code. We have four staff in our department who are heavy users and about 15 staff who are running "self-service" reports (they can't change the files, fields, select statements, etc.). No matter who runs the reports, we can export to Excel, Adobe PDF, Saved lists, and other options. The most transformation feature was the ability to schedule reports to email to users. Now, my staff and I can send daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly reports that we used to have to remember to send previously!
  • Scheduling reports. We are able to easily schedule emails using many different recurring schedules. We are also able to email outside of our domain, so we can email to our volunteers who don't have an email from our institution.
  • Export choices. We use Excel and PDF predominantly, but have been experimenting with XML.
  • Drag and drop of columns. We are now able to move columns and rearrange easier than in previous versions.
  • User level permissions. Our OIT department controls our permissions, but we are able to have two levels-one for my staff who are the report writers and another for the staff who are the end users of the reports.
  • Performance-I don't know if it is a problem with Informer or the database, but sometimes it can take up to 45 minutes to run a report and I have to schedule it.
  • Search for email addresses- there is no way to search for a particular email in the scheduling section. So, when staff leave, I can't easily go find all the reports they were receiving.
  • Data analytics-they have a tab called "analytics", but I don't really think that is a fair term to use. It produces really basic pie and bar charts. It can be a little misleading.
I am unable to incorporate all of my data into "one place" - so Intrinsik is only connecting to Datatel- but I have a few other data sources that I would like to use.

Intrinsik is well suited for transactional level reporting. We often use it for data verification and data checking. For example, if we have 20 records that we are correcting, we can rerun the reports and be sure that we have fixed the problem.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Entrinsik Informer is our ERP reporting and data extraction tool used across two campuses. It allows users to get *their* data without relying on IT Services. There was a change made to the old method of retrieving data from our central ERP system so a replacement was sought out which turned out to be Entrinsik Informer. It's really good because you can export in a variety of formats. If there was one minor issue with it it would be the lack of an ability to format report output.
  • Setting up a report is quite easy for end users to manage
  • For the logging in process it interacts with our identity management system
  • It's very easy to download data into a PDF or spreadsheet/csv file.
  • Lack of customising a finished looking report
  • Doesn't work the same was as Crystal or Access reports ... the interface is different.
  • Customising a computed column is a little tricky.
Entrinsik Informer works well as a data extraction tool and the end user doesn't need to know anything about writing queries. One question would be if a person is looking for a solution that they can give to higher management that is formatted and easily understood. This tool is lacking in that regard.
September 12, 2014

Entrinsik Informer

Kristyn Lederer | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Informer is used across campus for ad-hoc and regular reporting. It has allowed the college to consolidate reports so that multiple departments are able to utilize the same report instead of recreating the wheel. In some departments, it has also allowed end users to gather information themselves without relying on IT.
  • Our users like that reports can include prompts. This allows different departments on campus to use the same report with their own specific criteria.
  • Informer is fairly easy to use. It has allowed some of our end users to create reports on their own. With some training and understanding of the data and design of the database, they have been able to get what they need out of our student information system.
  • Personally, I like the fact that I can write a t-sql query and just copy it to Informer. This is much easier for me as a DBA than having to use the user interface.
  • We have routinely had issues with Java on our Informer box which require us to reboot the server. Support has been helpful when this occurs but it would be nice if it was easier to troubleshoot the problems on our own.
I think Entrinsik Informer is well suited for a small organization that needs reporting functionality requiring IT oversight. We have one IT staff member whose primary focus is to create reports and work with end users to understand how to extract needed information. Reporting is a very delicate area - everyone needs information but not everyone understands just how to get that information out of the system. Informer has given some of our end users the ability to do reporting on their own. However, it has also allowed IT the ability to easily get the data to those who aren't as comfortable with reporting.
June 27, 2014

Informed

Timothy Smalarz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
While working at Holy Family University in Philadelphia I used Informer everyday. Having the ability to have all of my necessary reports available with one click ensured processing of information in a timely manner for myself or for those requesting it. As a valuable tool, Informer enhanced my job experience.
  • Makes creating reports straight forward
  • Emailed reporting capability
  • Making the work day easier
  • Since my experience with Informer was more than 12 months ago I can not comment about its current format
Will this work with my SIS?
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Informer is available across the whole university and is currently being used to address end-users reporting/data needs.
  • Non-technical users are able to get the data they need easily.
  • Set-up was easy.
  • We are still new users but those with a higher level of technical knowledge can create advanced reports/dashboards easily.
  • More detailed documentation, specifically about calculated columns and JavaScript examples would be nice.
Being new users, we are still learning and limited to basic reports right now...
Christopher Jones | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Informer is used organization-wide for operational reporting and we are implementing dashboards and analytics now. We have used Informer since 2007 and it has been an excellent tool that empowers our end users to govern their own data and find the information they need with minimal support.
  • Makes the reporting logic transparent to other report managers
  • Facilitates easy, ad hoc reporting
  • Enables users to export the data in a variety of formats so they can use it however they prefer
  • Not sure how to do it, but more prompts built into the tool to help keep the tool clean. When reports appear to be ad hoc, prompt the author to delete it when they are done for example.
Who will be the primary team creating reports in your organization? If the answer is end users, Informer could work very well. If the answer is IT, it could still be a good solution, but it may depend on the culture of your IT folks whether they want to use an interface or work more behind the scenes. I'd still recommend Informer because even if the end users don't write reports, Informer still gives them power to customize the report without reengaging IT.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Informer is used all over campus by numerous departments on a daily basis. It's used mostly to retrieve reports from Colleague, but we also use it on other databases such as our calendar database, to send out weekly and daily reminders to security and campus life employees about what's going on, and Slate, our admissions database. Informer has been a terrific reporting tool, easily retrieving data from different sources.
  • It's extremely easy to quickly put together a report to retrieve data you need. Filters and columns can be easily created, and code can be written in JavaScript to create additional columns. Custom JavaScript functions can be created and then easily used in the code.
  • Links between tables/files are easy to create, and can even be made to link together separate databases. The more advanced users can set up these links, and more basic users can then utilize them easily without understanding any background.
  • Reports can now be exported to share between institutions very easily. When importing a report, it will automatically add any mappings and links you don't have that are needed. Using this feature, you can even copy your entire database mapping to your test database, so all your mappings and links don't have to be manually created in your test database.
  • Filtering could be greatly improved. You cannot filter on columns linked from a secondary datasource, the calculated fields written in JavaScript, and computed columns from Colleague can also be tricky to filter on.
  • Loading of the report lists can be slow and glitchy (though I have been told this will be fixed soon)
  • When reporting on SQL databases, you cannot link a table with an outer join unless you write the entire report yourself in SQL code - a severe limitation that I hope will be fixed soon.
  • Defaults for report prompts would be great
  • When adding mappings and properties, it would be great if you could retrieve a sample of data from the DB to quickly see what the data looks like - helpful for knowing what you want to add.
  • Linking on composite keys in Unidata still seems to be impossible. And the ability to link to a non @ID field in Unidata would be great.
I have found Informer works far better reporting on transactional data than for things like trying to do lots of aggregation. I do find the need to just write native SQL reports, or create views within the DB and use them in Informer, because getting too advanced is just beyond the realm of a tool that tries to make report creation as easy as possible. It's not a miracle worker, and you still have to know what you're doing if things get even a little complex. But with the skills of our report writers, we've been able to create a terrific library of useful report for others who don't need to be able to create them.
Steven McKinny | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
As a reseller of Informer we are using the product as multi database reporting tool. Our typical implantation is for reporting against client Unidata databases, providing a simple, easy to use tool for our clients to view their data. From running month ends to aging summaries, the application is typically used by accounting departments and system analysts. We have also been able to integrate Informer within our own software with positive results.
  • The system is rather intuitive. Most clients are able to pick up the application at an excelled pace.
  • Ease of implementation; with self-contained installer deploying multiple instances is easily done.
  • It is rather easy to “break” the system with what I call runaway reports. The way the system requests data is rather poor in that it’s an all or nothing deal.
  • Screen constancy is a little off. The option to drag or double click should be a valid input on any screen, but there is a mix of this feature working fully and partially.
  • There is no granular system administration; the application it is either on or off. At times it would be helpful to stop/kill individual user database requests from the system, rather than turning off the application for the entire company to resolve issues.
The system is great at running complicated reports with a significant amount of fields in the parameters. However whenever processing a large request the application typically stalls. For a successful implementation an experienced report writer is recommended to train end users, along with having designated users who should have the rights to create reports where others can only run.
April 19, 2014

Informer works for us

Jennifer Coon, MBA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Informer is actively used throughout our organization. Departments use it not only to extract data and various reports for analysis, but also as an integral step in the workflow of key business processes.
  • Informer is an intuitive tool for end users. It is very easy to train all levels of a user population.
  • In addition to being a simple tool to use, Informer has very sophisticated capabilities for creating complicated reports as needed by our Power Users.
  • Informer provides reporting on itself, so as a service manager and administrator of Informer, I can easily gather metrics on how often and how our end users are using the tool.
  • Reporting on Informer itself can be very challenging. There is no dictionary resource on the tables provided about Informer, so a lot of report writing is trial and error on my part. And I can find myself making assumptions about what a data field means.
Informer is well suited for reporting in real-time and for scheduling report jobs.
April 16, 2014

Great Reporting Tool

Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Entrinsik Informer is used by our Institutional Research Department to setup reports for our organization. Many different departments use it for many different types of reports, anywhere from financial standings to privacy restrictions. It allows our staff to access information through the reports without having access to our complicated unidata system.
  • Report building in a convenient format.
  • Wonderful support. They are always helpful and solve the issue quickly.
  • Would like another option besides just Excel for report.
The Administrative part of it is great, just cannot speak for the end users but so far no complaints.
Amanda Curran | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Entrinsik Informer across all departments at our University. It is our primary reporting application and is used across multiple data sources, including Colleague and ODS. It empowers our users to analyze and report on the data available to them, in order to make better business decisions.
  • Entrinsik Informer has an easy to learn user interface. With limited knowledge of relational database concepts, our end users are able to develop their own reports with little training.
  • Entrinsik Informer also has the ability to create complex reporting using javascript and Native SQL statements. Although IT assistance is generally needed to write the more complex reports, I have found any reporting requirement can be met using these advanced tools.
  • With recent enhancements in version 4.4.1, I have a better appreciation of the security features within Entrinsik Informer. The security audit reporting is very helpful from an administrative perspective. From a users perspective, they can now better categorize reports for more effective sharing and scheduling across departments.
  • The most recent version 4.4.1 has some performance issues and functions much slower than prior versions. This is frustrating to the end users. I do know Entrinsik is aware of and working on fixing this issue.
  • It would be nice for Entrinsik to publish the schema of Informer's internal database. We have access to it and do report from it, but it takes longer to get the reporting correct than it would with a published schema to guide the way.
  • End users can write reports which pull enormous amounts of data "by accident". It would be nice to have built in functionality to stop these queries from running off and bringing the entire application down for all users. I have recently attended training which included writing a plug-in to do this but it would be better if it were built into the product.
I think Informer is a cost effective solution for smaller companies, like the University where I work. I'm not sure if it would be well suited for companies with extremely large databases, although I can't say I've really tried to scale it to a higher level myself. Entrinsik is easy to work with and very responsive to support questions. It seems to me they have done a good job of growing very fast over recent years without too many growing pains impacting the current customer base.
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