Oracle Data Integrator - a natural migration from OWB
November 23, 2016

Oracle Data Integrator - a natural migration from OWB

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

Overall Satisfaction with Oracle Data Integrator

We have a large data warehouse that consolidates data from three different case management systems. We use Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) as the primary ETL tool for transporting the data into the data warehouse. Prior to ODI, we used Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB) for Oracle databases and Microsoft SSIS for SQL Server databases. ODI replaced them both. We found ODI to be a very powerful, full-feature ETL tool, and it's lightning fast, too.

Pros

  • It's fast. If you have used OWB before, you will notice how much faster ODI is.
  • The Knowledge Modules (KMs) are extremely useful.
  • Integrates really well with the rest of the Oracle Technology Stack (GoldenGate, WebLogic, OEM, and, of course, the Oracle Enterprise Database).

Cons

  • In ODI 12c, Oracle added a migration tool for OWB clients. It works, but not as well as we thought. We knew we would have to recreate the process flow - but then some of our OWB scripts didn't migrate well - and we ended up spending a lot more time than we initially thought [while] going through the entire migration.
  • The installation isn't trivial. It took us a while to figure out which components need to reside where, how WebLogic fits in, and how to set it all up.
  • The Oracle training for ODI is outrageously expensive - over 4K for a 5-day class.
  • With ODI, we are able to run our nightly ETL process at less than half the time it took before with OWB. This enables us to have the data warehouse updated and our BusinessObjects environment up and running 2 to 3 hours earlier than what we were used to.
  • For new projects, the ODI Data Transformation capabilities are saving us development time compared to what we had to do before with OWB.
We migrated to ODI from OWB - and we found ODI to be light years ahead of OWB (features, performance, and connectivity). We also looked at Informatica, but were turned down by its cost. Being a SAP Business Objects shop, we also considered the SAP Data Integrator tool (it offers data lineage capability that could be very valuable) - but since our entire data platform is running on Oracle, we preferred staying with Oracle. Once ODI 12g came out with the OWB to ODI migration tool, it was a no-brainer.
Well, if you are an Oracle shop, then ODI is clearly a very good choice. It is a much better tool than OWB has ever been; it is lightning fast (which really comes handy when you have to transform massive amount of data), and it gives Informatica a run for its money. It [has the] ability to support heterogeneous databases, big data, JMS, XML, and many other flavors.

Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) Feature Ratings

8.5
Connect to traditional data sources
9
Connecto to Big Data and NoSQL
8
9.0
Simple transformations
9
Complex transformations
9
8.2
Data model creation
8
Metadata management
9
Business rules and workflow
9
Collaboration
8
Testing and debugging
7
8.5
Integration with data quality tools
8
Integration with MDM tools
9

Comments

  • Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
    Verified User
    commented 8 years ago
    Thank you, Ely. I will try ODI, I am using SSIS and it is good but some times it is too much slow.

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