Data Analytics in a Click
Updated March 23, 2017

Data Analytics in a Click

Cal Humphrey | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Desktop

Overall Satisfaction with Spotfire

Spotfire is used extensively across several departments within the company. Spotfire is used to create reports used throughout the company. The engineering department uses it mostly for analyzing data. Spotfire allows us to quickly manipulate and analyze data that we are unable to do in Excel. The vast amount of data we deal with often crashes Excel. Spotfire allows us to import the data and create charts, reports, maps, and other visualizations in a few clicks that would have taken hours in Excel. The amount of time saved by using Spotfire makes it a very important tool to our department.
  • The ability to import and analyze very large amounts of data very quickly.
  • The ease of creating professional looking charts and reports.
  • A simple user interface that makes it easy for new users to pick up using the basics, but still offers experienced users almost endless possibilities.
  • The mapping capabilities are lacking. I would like to have a greater ability to manipulate the appearance of the data on the map.
  • I have also noticed that some functions are limited in their use if using data linked to a SQL database. This is referring to actual functions like if one is trying to create a calculated column.
  • It would be nice to be able to create an additional data table within Spotfire based on linked data from multiple sources.
We have tried both Microsoft products. While we are still heavy users of Access, the reporting capabilities of Spotfire are much more useful. We often have to build individual reports in a short time frame. These reports take time to build in Access but can be thrown together on the fly in Spotfire. The simplicity of Spotfire made it preferable to Microsoft BI. Spotfire allows us to manipulate the data much easier than we were able to do in Microsoft BI. Microsoft BI would have been okay for financial data but was almost useless for engineering data.
Our company receives daily flowback reports. These are combined in a Spotfire tool that allows us to easily see trends with the well that we are unable to see in the raw data from the daily reports. We also have a tool that allows us to map current rig activity as it related to our current acreage position.

Spotfire Feature Ratings

Customizable dashboards
9
Report Formatting Templates
9
Drill-down analysis
8
Formatting capabilities
7
Integration with R or other statistical packages
Not Rated
Report sharing and collaboration
10
Publish to Web
Not Rated
Publish to PDF
8
Report Delivery Scheduling
Not Rated
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
9
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
5
Predictive Analytics
8
Multi-User Support (named login)
9
Role-Based Security Model
9
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
9
Responsive Design for Web Access
Not Rated
Mobile Application
Not Rated
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
Not Rated

Using Spotfire

The zoom feature only allows preset levels. A more robust zoom feature would improve the mapping by allowing the user to see only the specified area.

Spotfire Training

  • In-person training
  • Self-taught
I have only had the basic training. It was very useful for new users. The majority of what is taught in the training can be self-taught by daily use of the product. However there were also many things I learned even after using the product for over a year. I would highly recommend investing in the training offered by Spotfire.
The product's simple user interface makes Spotfire easy to use without formal training. Creating charts, reports, and simple data analyzing can be picked up in minutes. More advanced charts and reports take some time to learn. For heavy users of Spotfire I would not recommend self teaching as the only source of training. I believe many of the features Spotfire has to offer are lost because they are not easily discovered through simple use of the product.