Good ETL tool
January 22, 2025

Good ETL tool

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with IBM DataStage

IBM DataStage is use as a ETL tool useful to extract information from the source systems (for example SAP ERP), to trasform them defining the correct logics to calculate KPIs and clean data (Data Quality checks). Morever it is used to read manul file from Business Users and to link them into the useful information for the BI tool.

Pros

  • Easy to use, you can manage both visual joins and transformation and SQL queries
  • Able to read from all source systems, there are all the needed connectors
  • It can orchestrate job at different levels and it is easily scalable

Cons

  • Many specific parameters are not well documented and therefore are difficult to use
  • The debugging option doesn't work well
  • datatype management is complex
  • Centralization of ETL processes in one tool
  • All the flows are updated overnight and reports ready for Business Users in the morning
  • Using SAP ERP connector , we avoid using a middleware
Because it is a flexible tool that can manage many flows and create a strong solution with a interesting use of variables. Easy to scale up as you can copy jobs arleady build and modify them. SQL queries allow to be fast in development and have the pushdown feature, but you loose a little of user friendly look. Metadata management is not strong as a visual feature, but can be determine by job codes.
IBM DataStage performes bettere than SSIS in every aspect. IBM DataStage performes better than SAP Data Services in terms of variables and job orchestration flexibility. It is as strong as ODI, but less complex to implement. It allows to write SQL queries as dbt and Glue, but I don't think it is better than them.

Do you think IBM DataStage delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with IBM DataStage's feature set?

Yes

Did IBM DataStage live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of IBM DataStage go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy IBM DataStage again?

Yes

If you want to create a complex environment with many running jobs linked together and manage dependencies it is very strong. If you want to build everything using custom features you loose pushdown advantage, so many times it is better to write directly SQL queries. Variables management can be really powerfull, but also difficult to set up if you are a beginner.

IBM DataStage Feature Ratings

9.5
Connect to traditional data sources
10
Connecto to Big Data and NoSQL
9
8.0
Simple transformations
8
Complex transformations
8
5.6
Data model creation
5
Metadata management
5
Business rules and workflow
6
Collaboration
6
Testing and debugging
6
6.0
Integration with data quality tools
6
Integration with MDM tools
6

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