XaitPorter Reviews & Insights

Score9 out of 10

21 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for XaitPorter are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Collaborative features: Many users have found the collaborative features of XaitPorter highly beneficial, allowing them to work together in real-time and make comments. This has streamlined the document creation process and ensured that all stakeholders can see changes immediately.

Flexibility in structuring documents: Users appreciate that XaitPorter allows them to structure their documents according to their needs and customer requirements. This flexibility provides a customizable approach to document creation.

Efficiency in proposal creation: Several reviewers have praised XaitPorter for its efficiency in quickly creating impressive-looking proposals. This saves users time on formatting and allows them to focus on the content of their proposals.

Reviews

12 Reviews

Solid product that could use some tuneups

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

October 23, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

XaitPorter is currently used primarily for proposal development, but expanding into documentation development.

Pros

PDF output is clean and good.
Workflow is good.
Dashboard is good.

Cons

It would be helpful to improve functions used to organize and reorganize sections. They work fine, but could be retooled for ease of use. Simple drag-drop over the tree-view from the primary navigator (not only in the dedicated dialog for reordering sections) would be very good. It would be good to support simple flagging or tagging of sections to indicate whatever is meaningful to the user (e.g., to flag a section as imported text that needs formatting, or a section that is high priority for review). The icons do change to indicate predefined workflow states (e.g. approved), but there isn't support for a user-defined tag, perhaps with the ability to filter by tag as many newer applications can do. That would be handy. These aren't criticisms so much as product enhancement suggestions.
The editor is ok but could be tuned up a bit. For example, styles in the toolbar dropdown apply only to the whole paragraph. It's hard to indent text. The button tool doesn't consistently remove the button attribute on an existing button; works sometimes, sometimes not. Little stuff. Overall it's adequate for text creation.
The process of defining templates and styles appears to be a black art. While it's something you don't do often, it should be simplified and better exposed to ordinary admins.
The ability to have more than one section open at a time in the editor would be fantastic. Great productivity tool.
Word import/export could be cleaner.
The ability to export to html with user-defined style sheets would open new markets for Xait. If the product had that, we'd use Xait to maintain our online help site too.
The ability to link to externally stored images rather than lock them inside the Xait library would be huge, as we've expressed to the support team. We manage hundreds of images (diagrams, screen shots etc.) that are used throughout the company, not just for Xait documents. We would like to store them on a file system (e.g. Dropbox) and have them update into Xait automatically when the master copy is modified. This is a very important capability, though in fairness we didn't find it in other products either. Explicit support for Dropbox/Google Drive/Box would be one way, but dynamic linking a la Microsoft Word would be fine, maybe even better.

Likelihood to Recommend

Xait is well suited to its primary purpose of proposal writing. It's less of a good choice for a more general purpose document production tool.

Verified User

Director (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

By using XaitPorter your working hours will be shorter

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

October 23, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use XaitPorter to write proposals/tenders. Some of us are also using it when writing [about] technical equipment information and procedures.

Pros

This tool gives us the opportunity to work together. We always work in the last revision.
We can write comments as we go along and all involved will see it straight away.
We can structure it the way we want/our the way customer wants it and print the whole book in one go. We are sure that pictures/text/tables are where they are supposed to be (they have not moved around the document as it does when using Microsoft Word).

Cons

The new version, XaitPorter5 has issues with tables. We cannot have less than 10% column width if the table has several columns. I would like XaitPorter to accept my choice of columns width. We did not have this issue in XaitPorter4.
I would also like to use the arrows going up and down when clicking on the table of content to the left. Now I have to use the mouse to move from one section to the next.
When using spellcheck I have to go back to another section and in again to see that the yellow highlights have disappeared. I cannot click on the spellcheck icon again to have the yellow highlights disappear.
I would like to have two different subtitles styles (ie Heading 1 and Heading 2) :-)
Replace function could improve. I would like to find words and replace 1 at the time since sometimes I don't want to change but keep as is. If I click on find and no more then it replaces the word with nothing.

Likelihood to Recommend

The cost and also to get people to change from old systems to new systems. It is not easy to get people to change from using Word to using XaitPorter.

Those who are willing to change and start using say "why haven't I started using this before". :-)

Solveig Solheim

Sr. Proposal Specialist in Sales at Halliburton AS (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

8 years of experience

XaitPorter - the perfect co-writing tool

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

October 21, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

XaitPorter is being used by a couple of departments in our Danish, Norwegian and UK offices. It's mainly used for license reports, e.g. license relinquishment reports and license applications. In particular when writing license applications it's really helpful that we can grant access to our partners, so they can see and contribute to the documents. After we began to use XaitPorter we spent less overtime to get the applications finished, because we finish the figures as we go along instead of at the end of the process.

Pros

Enables several writers to write in the same document at the same time, which means that it is always possible to get the latest version printed and see the current state.
Because we are limited in the template to a few styles we don't use a lot of time after completion checking up on which style the writers has been using. This saves us a lot of editing.
Before we got XaitPorter the drawing team didn't get the figures to quality control until the final stages of the process, but now the figures are received as soon as the writer uploads them. This also saves a lot of overtime, because the drawing team is involved earlier on.

Cons

When creating a new user I find the country list very long to scroll through, it would be nice if it was possible to just key in the first couple of letters and then the system would automatically jump down in the list.
In the job description text field in the figure workflow tab, it would be nice if it was possible to set line breaks, then it will be easier to get an overview as to what is new comments and what is old comments. Rights now, all text floats into one.
In the previous version it was possible to set the "AutoShrink Picture" to off in the template, so it was common for the whole document, now we have to do it for each figure, we would like the option to do it overall as before.

Likelihood to Recommend

Any time it is needed to be more than one person, internal or external, writing a report is useful. I can't think of any type of report where XaitPorter can't be used.

Anne Jensen

Team Leader, Adm. & Graphical Services at DONG Energy A/S, Exploration & Production (5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

7 years of experience

An Xaiting product

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

October 21, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It is being used currently only by the business development department to prepare response to tender documents.

Pros

Collaboration within a document works well.
The publishing engine is very good.
The ability to store past RFPs was good and the search function as well.
Workflows are good. The ability to control user rights and workflows throughout the document was good.
The customer support is excellent.

Cons

The dashboard is complex and not easily understood. Since we only worked on a few documents at a time, we went straight into the document and never spent time on the dashboard.
Being cloud based, the time taken to move from one section of the document to another becomes painful.
The word import function could be improved.
There are some functionalities in Word that are not available in XaitPorter. For example you can insert pictures within a table in Word but you cant do that in XaitPorter.

Likelihood to Recommend

XaitPorter is better suited to larger complex documents with a lot of contributors.

Verified User

Manager in Product Management (501-1000 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

XaitPorter for oil and gas

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

October 20, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

XaitPorter is used by Pure E&P to write applications for license rounds.

Pros

Enables templates to be constructed to ensure applications are consistently of high quality.
Multiple authors can contribute to a piece increasing the efficiency and speed at which applications can be written.
Reviewers can work with applications during the writing phase ensuring the applications are constantly modified to ensure high quality.
XaitPorter is extreme easy to administrate. As it is hosted online, administrators can help others users no matter their location.

Cons

More functionality could be added to the editor.

Likelihood to Recommend

Will the documents that are going to be written be by one author or multiple? If by only one author this may not be necessary. Also, will the documents include multiple figures, if yes then XaitPorter is a must.

Verified User

Professional (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

8 years of experience

Punchy proposals prepared painlessly with XaitPorter 5

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

October 20, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We utilise XaitPorter to create professional tender responses and sales proposals. It allows us easy access to a library of information which has been approved and to tailor our responses to suit client requirements. This is done without having to worry about formatting and once complete we have a searchable PDF which reflects our brand and is ready to print or email to our client.

Pros

Quickly create impressive looking proposals.
Allows the user to focus on content, rather than format of documents.
Makes it easy to collaborate with colleagues and get approvals.

Cons

Would like the option for different levels of table of contents on the final PDF print (as per XaitPorter v.4)
Would also be good to have access to company templates rather than having to rely on XaitPorter team for changes.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you are utilising it for a tender response where the answers are mainly attachments or questionnaire based then it is sometimes easier to manage this outside of XaitPorter.

Carol Wilson

Tendering Manager in Sales at Altus Intervention (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

Xait is exiting

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

October 20, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use XaitPorter for writing tenders, proposals and technical papers.

Pros

Easy to use during preparation of tenders and proposals because of the visibility of progress.
Makes the prepared documents look professional.
Easy to print the final product.

Cons

There should be a search for text function, not just search and replace because sometimes you do not want to replace text, just search for it.

Likelihood to Recommend

Verified User

Administrator in Sales (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

7 years of experience

XaitPorter eases collaboration

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

October 16, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

XaitPorter is being used mainly in the upstream oil and gas technical department. We have used it to create field development plan documents and supporting technical documents. We also use it within the E&P business unit to construct our input into the group's annual report. In both of these cases we have contributors, reviewers and approvers in various offices across two or three continents.

Pros

Allows multiple writers, reviewers and approvers to work on a document without serious headaches arising from version control.
Provides a very intuitive way to add tables and figures and then provide explicit references to them within the document.
Creates a very professional looking document, including fully hyper-linked table of contents both within the document and also within the Adobe Reader Bookmarks sidebar.

Cons

It is presently not possible to include a caption for a text table.
As a user knowledgeable in HTML it would sometimes be convenient to include HTML code in the document source (for example HTML entities). This was possible in the previous version of XaitPorter.
As well as "absolute" cross-referencing (e.g. see Table 3.1) which is presently done very well in XaitPorter it would be nice to have automatic "relative" cross-referencing (e.g. see table on next page).

Likelihood to Recommend

XaitPorter is ideal when a large document, containing many (preferably independent) sections is being created by more than five writers across different office locations and is subject to review by multiple reviewers and requires formal approval. It is particularly suited for external documents which are to be delivered as a non-editable PDF file.

Verified User

Manager in Engineering (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

Happy customer!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

October 16, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

XaiPorter is used all over the company for putting together heavy documents like technical reports, tender documents, annual reviews, sales brochures and engineering documents. It enables integrated working processes of our various regions.

Pros

Document format and set up
Project Management

Cons

Images and tables placement
Integration of Xait 4 and 5

Likelihood to Recommend

Verified User

Manager in Marketing (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

Xait Porter - Nobody does it better!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

October 13, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Porter is used by our Business Development organisation to prepare and publish proposals and tender responses which we submit to both our existing and prospective customers. These documents involve input from a number of different persons or departments and Porter helps organise and manage the workflow.

Porter replaces Microsoft Word as our primary tool for this work, and we find that it provides measureable savings in the time needed and the cost of producing these documents. It also provides us with improved security, better administrative control and allows us to produce more professional looking documents with a consistent and uniform appearance that our customers have told us that they appreciate.

Pros

Porter provides a consistent layout and format throughout the document package.
Porter provides complete control and visibility over who has access and what they can do on a project by project basis.
Porter's workflow tracks the progress against deadlines of multiple users involved in writing, reviewing and approving sections of a document.
Porter has an effective commenting tool that allows a team to collaborate during the compilation of a document.

Cons

Adding attachments in Porter 5 does not yet allow for cropping of these, although that was available in the previous version.
Sections with large tables tend to slow down Porter as it seems to take more effort to perform the background update and refresh.

Likelihood to Recommend

Porter is ideal for generating collaborative documents from small proposals, up to very large and complex bid or tender responses. It can also be effective for other types of document such as technical reports, studies, manuals etc.

It can be used to compile, organise and maintain an up to date document library, for example of product data sheets or other marketing materials.

Porter can also be used in the procurement process, to prepare RFI or ITT packages, and to compile contracts for work being awarded.

Verified User

Manager in Sales (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

7 years of experience

Loading Reviews List....

Solid product that could use some tuneups

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

October 23, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

XaitPorter is currently used primarily for proposal development, but expanding into documentation development.

Pros

PDF output is clean and good.
Workflow is good.
Dashboard is good.

Cons

It would be helpful to improve functions used to organize and reorganize sections. They work fine, but could be retooled for ease of use. Simple drag-drop over the tree-view from the primary navigator (not only in the dedicated dialog for reordering sections) would be very good. It would be good to support simple flagging or tagging of sections to indicate whatever is meaningful to the user (e.g., to flag a section as imported text that needs formatting, or a section that is high priority for review). The icons do change to indicate predefined workflow states (e.g. approved), but there isn't support for a user-defined tag, perhaps with the ability to filter by tag as many newer applications can do. That would be handy. These aren't criticisms so much as product enhancement suggestions.
The editor is ok but could be tuned up a bit. For example, styles in the toolbar dropdown apply only to the whole paragraph. It's hard to indent text. The button tool doesn't consistently remove the button attribute on an existing button; works sometimes, sometimes not. Little stuff. Overall it's adequate for text creation.
The process of defining templates and styles appears to be a black art. While it's something you don't do often, it should be simplified and better exposed to ordinary admins.
The ability to have more than one section open at a time in the editor would be fantastic. Great productivity tool.
Word import/export could be cleaner.
The ability to export to html with user-defined style sheets would open new markets for Xait. If the product had that, we'd use Xait to maintain our online help site too.
The ability to link to externally stored images rather than lock them inside the Xait library would be huge, as we've expressed to the support team. We manage hundreds of images (diagrams, screen shots etc.) that are used throughout the company, not just for Xait documents. We would like to store them on a file system (e.g. Dropbox) and have them update into Xait automatically when the master copy is modified. This is a very important capability, though in fairness we didn't find it in other products either. Explicit support for Dropbox/Google Drive/Box would be one way, but dynamic linking a la Microsoft Word would be fine, maybe even better.

Likelihood to Recommend

Xait is well suited to its primary purpose of proposal writing. It's less of a good choice for a more general purpose document production tool.

Verified User

Director (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review