Item: Alation Data Catalog
Rating: 9
Author: Allen Goldschmidt

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our leadership once said "Uncataloged data is useless to us." We use Alation to catalog our data, track lineage, and explain our business.

Pros and Cons

Entering and editing content. The UI is easy to use and understand.
Browsing and searching for content is intuitive and detailed.
Adding data sources is easy to do through the UI without having to fiddle with configuration files.

The lineage UI is not ready for primetime. I would not recommend this feature for my users at this time because it's too complex to understand and is visually difficult to track down specific paths.
The underlying infrastructure of the on-premise version of the software is fragile and unnecessarily complicated, using too many modules and technologies.
The license model of the on-premise version contains too many add-ons. I would like to pay one price and get all of the features.

Most Important Features

Data documentation and editing of content
Finding data documentation via searching and browsing
Accessing Alation's content via API

Return on Investment

Alation has allowed us to quickly document our data with minimal training of existing subject matter experts
We've been able to use Alation's APIs to access our data documentation without having to build a custom data dictionary

Alternatives Considered

Ataccama ONE

Alation is much easier to use than Ataccama ONE. Specific technical training and skills are necessary to use Ataccama whereas Alation is easy to use right out of the box.

Key Insights

Do you think Alation Data Catalog delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Alation Data Catalog's feature set?

Yes

Did Alation Data Catalog live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Alation Data Catalog go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Alation Data Catalog again?

Yes

Other Software Used

StreamSets DataOps Platform, Snowflake, H2O

Alation has a very intuitive UI that is great for content authors (i.e., Stewards) to write documentation for their data. It is easy to browse through and search for your data. It's easy to keep in sync with your data sources so you're always working on the latest version.

I would not recommend it for tracking lineage as that feature is immature and difficult to use.

Support Rating

From the RightStart Program to the Customer Success team to technical support, Alation has it all covered. They respond quickly and expertly to answer my questions and fix my problems.

Alation Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Release your data catalog from it's spreadsheet shackles and let it breathe the sweet air of Alation

Overall Satisfaction with Alation Data Catalog