Great for data jockeys, but new management makes a risky buy
February 10, 2019
Great for data jockeys, but new management makes a risky buy
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Modules Used
- MassEffect
- MassImpact
- ReassignOwnership
- MassBackup
- Single Table Deduplicator
- MassLeadConvert
- Find / Report ID's
Overall Satisfaction with DemandTools
We use DemandTools for data stewardship tasks around master data management using the single table dedupe module. Essentially we use it as a replacement for Data Loader for its mass effect module. Most useful module is MassImpact which is like a targeted logic-based direct update. Really makes data stewardship and the mass update of anything in Salesforce incredibly easy to do. Used to make teams that manage data on Salesforce more accurate and efficient and reduce the errors happening in Excel.
- Integrates well with Office--can update Excel files directly, save, and then re-update without even having to close. Makes it so you don't have to constantly worry about formatting getting messed up due to converting back and for to Excel.
- Pulls down data very quickly. Seems to always restrict to only what's needed and then allow further filtering once pulled down.
- Allows you to work entirely without having to use files in the case of Powergrid and Massimpact. By keeping all the logic and updates within the tool, you don't end up possibly grabbing the wrong file from your hard drive or running into formatting issues with CSV files.
- The UI can be clunky at times--the options for changing window size, for instance, are notoriously finicky
- As your Salesforce org grows, each operation takes longer and longer--loading an object and its fields, for instance, can lead to lots of "Not Responding" issues.
- Conditional logic with OR statements is incredibly hard to build. Requires you to add things multiple times sometimes which is really frustrating. No easy concept of (1 and 2 AND (3 OR 4)). Have to do (1 And 2 and 3) OR (1 and 2 and 4), which can take FOREVER to do through the interface.
- No ability to just plug in custom SOQL.
- Has made data stewardship teams more efficient and quicker to do their jobs.
- ROI is starting to be eroded by their new pricing methodology (moving from named user to org-based pricing). Will make it prohibitively expensive, which is a shame.
- Reduction in data errors has led to better data consistency and fewer errors causing issues downstream.
Best in class for data mass update and dedupe. At the time of selection, this was the most cost-effective. May not be the case in the future with the new pricing strategy. Working with large data sets seems to be best when using a GUI program like this. Compared to Apex Data Loader, DemandTools is much more full-featured and integrated with Excel. Easily becomes a one-stop shop for everything you need to do data update wise.