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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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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.
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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aggregate all their disparate data into a single platform using an intuitive, 100% web-based interface that replaces outdated query tools and complicated reporting systems.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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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
(1-25 of 42)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Having Informer is like having EXTRA staff for each departments. It takes care of all reporting needs - for monitoring, mandatory, state, periodic reports - Reports are scheduled and thus, emailed or posted on website automatically.
- Reports for Positive Pay, Financial Aid, A/R, Payment Plans
- Waitlist, DREG, REG Priority, Positive Attendance, Rosters
- LDAP, Blackboard upload files, Library Systems, Bookstore, @mycod.us
- Counseling/Advising, SEP, Degree Audit
- EMS, CFAR, Grades First,
- Live Excels - Room Schedules, Pre-Req Roster, Grading Requirements (PE)
- MIS Reports
- IT Security Reports, Electronic Foot prints
- Automatic Reports - posted directly to websites
- Dashboard Functionality
- Delivered Reports & Sample Reports, Subroutines, Functionality Repository of Know-How
- Data Schema - to read and establish Relational Database Relationships automatically
Entrinsik Informer is available for use by the entire organization while only a few power users from the main departments actually create their own queries. The product allows a single point for querying multiple systems and databases. The UI allows users not familiar with SQL query commands to easily create complex queries and compile results from multiple files to one output.
- Allows the creation of custom fields using JavaScript to provide end users with data directly without the need to do post calculations or cleanup. Many times the results required need a calculation based on the data or a field that is not available for query so being able to code the data into the results helps end users run their reports on their schedule without having to work with a technician.
- The scheduling functionality allows different departments and users to plan ahead for their needs and either export or email the results. Scheduled reports comes in very handy when you need to export the data to third party companies or to a network location for batch processing. This allows us to provide current data with much more frequency.
- LiveExcel functionality gives you the ability to connect your query to Microsoft Excel so users do not need to log into the product to run the results. This also allows the creation of VBA Macros to process the data and provide users with the final product on demand.
- The product has had its growing pains as newer versions have come out. The transfer of old queries to the newer systems has caused some duplication of mapped files or fields and they have not come up with a tool yet to help merge these duplication.
- Wish they had better internal reporting so I could easily find the different reports that are using links and the fields they are linking with.
- I have noticed, being an admin, that the more connections and reports that are available the slower the system becomes when opening it. It would be nice to have nothing come up first and then show more once I drill into the area I want.
June 30, 2016
Great Product and Awesome Support!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Simply and as succinctly as I can possibly make it - Informer is a great product that produces superior results right out of the box. It is a product we depend on every single day in our entire organization and it always produces great results and truly worth every last cent of investment. The enhancements over the years have taken an already great product and truly made it better and the company is always listening to their customers to better the product and add features that truly enhance the customer experience. We originally purchased Informer to report from a single U2 Data source, but it is now reporting from multiple data sources and solving more analytical problems than the simple reporting we originally purchased it to solve.
- The ability to schedule using various methods of delivery or on-demand reporting to users in a secure way - Giving users access to the data source and selection and parameters that return what they need to see, but nothing more.
- The ability to report and link on multiple data sources and types. This makes it far easier for use to link SQL Data with U2 Data and provide functional reporting and analytics without having to create a warehouse in between.
- Support and Enhancements. They are always providing great things and the releases are far more stable than most other software that is released.
- That is pretty difficult as we built the ROI on Informer solving a specific set of roles in the company. It has far exceeded the initial and current specifications, so we couldn't be happier.
- If I had to pick one thing, it would be to have employees geared to a specific industry for deployment and integration, but they have done a far better job than the others playing in the same ballpark.
As an independent consultant, I use Entrinsik Informer (EI) at any client site that has it implemented. At this point, I've used it only with clients who were still on Unidata; I have no experience with those operating through SQL.
I'm a huge fan for a number of reasons. Navigationally, it's intuitive for any user. It's flexible for in terms of file linkages and in terms of dictionary names (in plain English) for less-experienced users. It enables more experienced users to build complex reports quickly and produce them in multiple display formats. The copy feature is very helpful in enabling the construction of a new report without having to start at step one. Overall, it's simply an excellent product. For me, the only impediment is that I've never had any training in its use, so I'm confident that there are functionalities that I'm not leveraging. Finally, EI has a very attractive price point making it feasible for even the smallest institution.
- Possible display of dictionary elements in 'plain' English
- Multiple display formats for results
- Intuitive navigation
- Online availability of training
May 09, 2016
Powerfull cheap till with minor drowbacks
Entrinsik informer tool is used for delivering daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly and yearly reports. In addition to this it is used to export data in csv format and deliver it to other systems to be used. It is used by administrative offices for daily work. It helps users with no technical skills or knowledge to create reports on their own without necessarily knowing database relationships or how to write a query.
- Easy to use - no technical skills required to understand how to get a report with basic data that user needs. It is simple drag and drop which is very useful for many users.
- Easy to maintain - for IT administrators updating the system is super easy. Once it is set up very little to no maintenance is required.
- Easy to set up - When connecting to databases it is easy define the connection and the username and password. It is a bit tricky with unidata databases as you have to set up one "additional" subroutine to be initialized once the informer connects.
- Super cheap - compared to other reporting tools this is like fraction of that cost with the same functionality.
- It can [eat] your resources - if your query is big or got into some endless loop which is possible) it will use all RAM you dedicated it to a jetty server and it will make your CPU go to 100% which is bad if you are running other applications as it would have serious impact.
- It is bundled with Jetty server - and Jetty server is not a very nice web server to work with and can be complicated. I really don't understand if they have a Java application why .war file wouldn't run on Tomcat that we already have in use so it requires additional software.
- If number of reports is big it becomes very slow when loading main page and reports.
- It does not have a limit on number of columns which is bad for everyday user in two ways: They think they can put 30+ columns and use it as report - who is going to read 30+ column report? Having 30+ columns will slow down the application for all users and eat all of your server resources.
- It will potentially have a performance impact on unidata database when executing a large report. Number of fields should be limited.
May 09, 2016
Entrinsik's Informer - a valuable reporting tool
We use Entrinsik's Informer for the majority of our reporting from the Student Information System. Informer is used by virtually every department on campus for ad-hoc reporting and for scheduled reports. The types of reports include nightly audit reports, extracts that are then used to feed other systems, and traditional reports designed to track progress for the different business needs of the various offices across campus.
- Simple user-interface: Informer is relatively easy to learn and end users can begin running reports and creating new reports quickly.
- Email "burst" functionality: This feature allows emails to be sent out based on data in the report. So for example, a report could be scheduled that would email all student employment managers listing out the specific employees that report to them that haven't submitted their time sheets. Each manager would only see the rows that correspond to their email address.
- Analytics and grouping: Users can quickly drag columns to group and sub-total, and can use the analytics tab to get deeper insights into the data.
- Performance is sometimes an issue. This can usually be overcome by re-designing the report - using fewer fields, using indexed fields etc.
- The java script calculated fields are overall a good feature, but they can be difficult to work with as some true javascript syntax is not supported due to the architecture used.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
The Informer product is used in a variety of ways across our whole university. The reports and dashboards provide up to date information in an easy to digest format. While a majority of the report and dashboard construction is housed in the Office of Systems Analysis, our users actively use and create reports to help with their operational and/or strategic decisions. From the ad hoc reports, to the scheduled reports to the automated processes, Informer is synonymous with efficiency and productivity on our campus.
- Initially, Informer was chosen primarily because of how it handled our multi-valued database structure for our student information system. Since then it has expanded to a support a slew of database platforms.
- Our institution uses informer for internal and Federal reporting as well as a host of other data requests that come to our institution.
- Informer quietly and seamlessly drives several Business Intelligence initiative on our campus. The solutions provided range from supplying our online employee directory with accurate information to aiding the Financial Aid office in monitoring and projecting financial budgets.
- Informer has room to grow in the dashboard delivered. While helpful and visually pleasing, they are not as robust as some of the other solutions that are more focused on the dashboards. The API leaves the opening for well-resourced organizations to enhance this area on their own.
- We make it a point to show Informer as a list generator and not a fully fleshed out report writer. There is room to grow here as well. It just so happens our users are much more used to extracting the data than generating a publishable report directly out of the Informer product.
- Over the years, Informer has expanded its capability to meet all of the needs initially. Some of the things I initially saw as weaknesses was because it didn't fit into the vision Entrinsik had set for its product.
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.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Ohlone needed a flexible reporting tool that supported multiple database platforms and we chose Entrinsik's Informer in late 2011 and were up and running in January 2012. What was initially a limited roll-out to specific departments quickly turned into an enthusiastic campus-wide implementation: everyone wanted to use this new, easy-to-use reporting tool.
We have over 1000 reports, with some scheduled and others setup as quick links for individual users. Most of the reports are written by the Applications Team in Information Technology, but we engaged with tech-savvy and power-user employees around the campus, training and encouraging standards in writing their own reports for themselves and their departments. The Informer product has helped departments "own" their reports through the ability to quickly review, audit, and verify data specific to their area.
We have over 1000 reports, with some scheduled and others setup as quick links for individual users. Most of the reports are written by the Applications Team in Information Technology, but we engaged with tech-savvy and power-user employees around the campus, training and encouraging standards in writing their own reports for themselves and their departments. The Informer product has helped departments "own" their reports through the ability to quickly review, audit, and verify data specific to their area.
- Files and fields can be mapped and linked in Informer without the need to create computed columns within the Colleague environment, alleviating ad hoc requests to the I.T. department.
- Scheduled reports can be created that will run if a range of criteria are met: users are not receiving scheduled reports that contain null/empty/blank values.
- Quick links and Live Excel reports give users instant access to their most used and favorite reports.
- Dashboard views give instant aggregate information essential during peak times: registration headcount, outstanding receivables, payroll tax deposits, enrollment and financial aid verification, etc.
- If the reporting dashboard included a column on reporting sharing, if the report is public or restricted, would be very helpful. One must detail into each report to see if there are restrictions, which is not efficient.
- It would be helpful to be able to modify the columns that are displayed on the reporting dashboard: add a column for last modified, add a column for sharing (report is public, shared, private), etc, at the global level, and ideally, at the user level.
- Help information could be expanded, particularly on mapping and auto suggest type.
- Helpful option to be able to selecting/view specific multi-values without normalizing the report view.
- Include a list of common script samples within the application versus posting them to Entrinsik's forums.
November 11, 2015
Entrinsik Informer Easy Reporting/Visualizations of Data
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Entrinsik Informer is used across our whole organization for reporting and data analysis. We have created numerous reports that are scheduled and emailed to different offices on campus with information that is important for them as the evaluate the next steps in the processes that they manage. We have also created dashboards to provide a quick look at where we are today compared to previous years and to provide additional information regarding our current enrollment status. Informer has provided us a very clean and usable way to give our end-users access to the data that they find important in a quick and efficient manner. Offices on campus enjoy the ease of use, the ability to create reports without the need to be technical and the ability to create visualizations of their data. I highly recommend Entrinsik Informer for your data reporting needs.
- Reporting is key. Easy access to the data that is important to each office through user developed reports is very important. Reporting was an issue in the past, IT would have to create reports for end users and build computed fields to get data from multiple files with Entrinsik Informer this goes away almost entirely.
- Scheduling - Having the ability to schedule a report and have it available to a person when they come into work each morning has been extremely beneficial. there is no more waiting for a report to run unless you need information from a non-scheduled report. Even then, reports run quickly and efficiently.
- Dashboarding/Visualizations - the ability to provide end users a visual representation of the data that is important to them is fantastic. We use these visualizations to compare multiple years of data and make good business decisions.
- Price - A low cost big bang for the buck reporting solution.
- Additional visualizations would be beneficial, I would like to see a Funnel visualization, bubble charts etc.
- The ability to do multiple normalizations on records would be a nice add-on but there would be issues as the number of rows created would expand exponentially based on the amount of data needing normalization.
November 11, 2015
Excellent product--Excellent company
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Entrinsik Informer is being used throughout the university as the primary reporting tool. It allows not only for ad-hoc reporting but also to assist in decision-making at management level. We are able to export data to outside entities to provide data for FMLA benefits, insurance benefits, and Alumni database population as well as others. The ease of the tool itself makes it relatively easy for end-users to create their own reports as well. It also allows mapping to a UniData database which is not common in the BI world.
- Ease of use for end-users--drag and drop interface allows for users without database knowledge to create reports.
- The ability to map Informer to multi-valued databases like Unidata/U2.
- The ability to link multiple databases allows for endless opportunities for data integration.
- Reliable, dependable, and extremely stable product that works seamlessly with upgrades.
- Allows export of data in multiple formats to allow for external download of data.
- The dashboard product (which we don't have but we have had a trial version in the past) allows for Google map plotting to view trends in applicant/student demographics.
- While I don't think there is anything that is hard to use with Informer, additional functionality might be the ability to run multiple reports off of one query.
September 30, 2015
Entrinsik Informer Makes Reporting Fast and Easy
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Entrinsik Informer is currently being used as a reporting tool across our entire college campus. I work in a admissions office where data needs are always changing for reports and Informer allows me to create advanced reports in a matter of minutes to fit those needs in a very user friendly way. I have used to create a work flow process with a series of reports that are scheduled and send based on specific conditions to other employees. The scheduling module allows me to create and schedule a report based on a select statement which means I can have one report that sends 60 emails to different people instead of having 60 individual reports where each one is "hard coded" with that select and emailed out. Entrinsik Informer really makes it easy for the end user, who might not be as technical, log in and run reports based on their needs or the reports they have access to on their security class.
- Reporting: Entrinsik Informer makes report writing easy. I have had to train a few employees on how to write reports and it is much easier to teach them the logic of how to write reports rather than teach them the syntax of a reporting language like SQL. Because they can drag and drop statements as well as columns in a report to meet their needs I can focus more on the logic then anything else.
- Security: Entrinsik Informer is a very powerful reporting tool that can allow someone to pull massive amounts of information at one time. Having security for reports and what tables you can report from is very important. You can give a user access to just run one report that is given to them, or give a user access to make their own reports, or any combination of times. Having groups of who can see this report is also very helpful when your company has many departments with in it and each one has their own data.
- Multiple Data Sources: Being able to link between more then one data source and report information from both sources is huge when it comes to writing reports. You don't have to worry about anything but setting up the initial link between the data sources and writing some reports. You can pull columns in from both data sources with ease then.
- Scheduling: Being able to make a schedule that can export in almost any format from CSV to PDF to TXT file is a great plus. If a person who has a scheduled report has a MAC that does not Microsoft Office you can send them a PDF of the same data for viewing. Being able to generate fixed width text files allows for the porting of that data for some type of other processing such as adding users into active directory.
- Allowing to put code behind a column instead of creating a calculated column and calling upon that one.
- I would like to see a way to be able to copy and paste selection statements from report to report do you do not have to re-drag each item onto the screen.
- Being able to save the fixed with outputs for text files such that it does not have to be a scheduled report, it could be one that you can launch and chose the export to be fixed with text file with the widths populated.
August 19, 2015
Informer, not just for Unidata
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Informer is a great reporting tool that we use across the entire College. We initially purchased it when our Student system, which is on Unidata, moved to a new user interface and created reporting challenges. Reporting tools for Unidata are a rare commodity. Informer addressed those issues and more. It allows us to report on Unidata as well as sql. Using Informer also allowed us to centralize report writing, where before, each workstation had to have separate reports. Furthermore, Informer allowed us to schedule and email reports using several formatting options, thus allowing us to not set up cron jobs to run them. What I really like about it is that I can create a report, notify the user that it exists and then if they wanted to make changes to it, I can troubleshoot it over the phone and have them look at the report and the results as I am working on it. I've set it up so that users can view the metadata so that they can see what files and fields are available.
- Security is much more robust than what we had with the standard reporting tools we had. We can secure files, restrict users from certain actions.
- Scheduling reports has been a god-send. Our users have set up more than 100 scheduled reports to reduce the amount of repetitive tasks they have to perform annually.
- Having a centralized report storage area allows our users to share reports and work collaboratively.
- Informer, like any other reporting tool, can be a resource hog. We are working to optimize performance. Some of it is us but I think we can do a better job with it.
- In the newest release, they have sent better security functionality but I still have difficulty with reports not being tied to a specific session that I can kill manually.
- If you are already an Informer user, I would like to be able to save the Analytics and schedule them. (See, every time they come out with something neat, we want more).
August 19, 2015
Informer: Data at Your Fingertips in Minutes
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Entrinsik Informer provides our University (across all departments) with an easy way to access real-time data from Colleague. Informer allows us to give power to our users who extract the data they need to make informed decisions. One approach we've taken is to deploy LiveExcel links to secured department folders for routine reports, so that end-users don't have to wait on the I.T. staff. We've also created complex reports using the Javascript to evaluate the data and output appropriate answers to business questions such as "What grade did the student get in Statistics?" or "Did this student take and pass their Basic Skills test?". Having the ability to put this type of specific information in a report makes life much easier for our end-users and creates efficiencies in our business processes.
- Entrinsik has an plethora of supportive resources. They are always willing to listen and help develop a solution, if we cannot find one on our own. We've also taken advantage of their regional training classes and have attended the valuable ICON conferences.
- Entrinsik Informer is the "best bang for your buck". It's cost effective for institutions, particularly those who have financial strains, and yet provides a thorough solution to meet most reporting needs.
- Entrinsik is constantly adding functionality to the product, which is exciting. They are a truly innovative, professional company that I admire and think everyone should use.
- The flexibility to connect Informer to multiple types of databases is another invaluable feature of this product. It helps to seamlessly integrate our systems.
- Include more delivered functions with the product (which I believe Entrinsik is already planning for in future releases).
- Improve the "Last Executed Date" to be accurate or display the "Date Created" instead. Most of the reports say "Never Executed" and that's not true. Nearly all of our reports have been executed at least once, because we test the reports once they are written.
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.
July 08, 2015
Entrinsik Informer makes reporting life easier
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Informer for almost all of our reporting and BI needs across the entire campus. We were struggling with reporting for many years and had not been able to find a good reporting solution until we found Entrinsik's Informer. It was easy to setup and easy to train our users how to run reports and write their own reports.
- Informer was the best solution for reporting directly off of a multi-valued database. We researched other multi-valued reporting solutions and Informer was absolutely the best.
- Entrinsik has been very responsive to product suggestions. In the early days of our adoption of Informer we had many suggestions and most of our suggestions have made it into the product.
- When Entrinsik added the ability to report off of SQL based databases it opened up a whole new world for us. We have many different systems on campus and now most of them are connected to Informer. It is really nice to provide a single reporting solution for our end users.
- The ability to schedule reports has been fantastic. Before we had Informer all reports were run manually. This has saved us a lot of time.
- One of the more recent changes that we have really liked is the ability to write javascript in the report to further manipulate data. Sometimes it is easier to use javascript in the report than creating fields at the database level. This has been a great added feature.
- Being able to report off of multiple data sources in one report is extremely helpful. As mentioned before, we have quite a few different systems and there are times we need data from multiple systems and Informer handles this well. As long as the systems have a common key it is very easy to get data from multiple systems onto the same report.
- Informers dashboard module is really nice but I would like to see additional functionality and visualizations added. For instance, our admissions office uses funnel reports and it would be nice to be able to use a funnel visualization to represent their funnel data.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We're using Entrinsik Informer here a Loras College pretty much across the whole organization. Before Informer we used Unidata paragraphs for reporting. These were nearly impossible for the end user to write so any time someone needed a report, they contacted us in Information Services. Now most of the reports can be written by end users. This saves a huge amount of time since most reports can be written by the end user now.
- Informer is really easy to use. Simple drag and drop functionality helps the end user build their reports.
- Entrinsik's support is exceptional. Any time I've ever called with a problem it was solved in a short amount of time.
- Connecting to multiple databases is a breeze.
- They need to bring back the functionality when searching for a report you just type in part of the name. That works great, but if you detail out of a report and then back out to the search results, the results are cleared and you have to re-type your search to get the results you had. This used to work before but with the newest update it does not.
March 18, 2015
Informer provides great value to our customer base.
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.
March 18, 2015
Entrinsik Informer ROCKS!
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.
February 04, 2015
The Little Engine That Could
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.
November 11, 2014
Make Life Easier with Entrinsik Informer
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.
November 06, 2014
Informer as a User Friendly Solution
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.
November 04, 2014
Entrinsik Informer Review
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.
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.
November 04, 2014
Why Chapman depends on Informer
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.
September 15, 2014
Entrinsik Informer usability review.
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.