What is most valuable?
The logical creation of selection criteria make data retrieval much easier to teach end-users. The ability to create custom functions also allows for business intelligence at their fingertips.
How has it helped my organization?
FPU continues to use informer as our main retrieval and delivery system. Pulling data from so many datasources and delivering it via email or writing files for systems integrations, it's an invaluable tool.
What needs improvement?
While not as robust as other platform/systems, informer could continue to expand it's offerings in their dashboard offerings.
For how long have I used the solution?
Fresno Pacific University has been an informer user for 10+ years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
The installation is very simple. Once our server was setup, we installed the software, added a datasource and was writing reports within an hour.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There have been a few issues with stability over the years. Their developers are very responsive and have always worked with us to ensure we had resolution quickly.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool itself doesn't have a problem with scalability, sometimes the systems it reports against are the bottleneck.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Excellent. Every case I've opened with them, or phone call I have had have been more than helpful. It is clear they care both about my needs as a customer and their product.
Technical Support:
Excellent. Each question I've asked, intelligent or not, has been met with the same level of professionalism and expertise. I always feel they will come to some resolution if possible and they do.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Our previous solution barely qualifies as a solution. What we were doing before had so many steps between request and delivery, we couldn't keep up with demand, let alone account for the changes to data. We switched because this tool empowers our users to get their data when they want consistently and reliably.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is now very straightforward. The installshield wizard walks you through and makes the whole setup a breeze.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented with a team here at our institution, with myself as the driver and many others in support. We did not use a vendor team.
What was our ROI?
It's difficult to quantify the ROI on the data that has been retrieved. I can say, just by using informer and calculating the time spent executing the reports, it saves us over 1 FTE a year. And that's just in the time spent executing the reports, it also cuts out the formatting and delivery we used to have to do, so I can easily say we save over 2 FTE a year.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Our setup cost was the server, I don't know the exact cost, but we have scaled it up over the years.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Not really, what we needed, a solution to report against our Unidata DB backend (multivalued) just wasn't available at the enterprise level we wanted. Informer was not chosen by default, however. Informer brought an impressive tool that exceeded our expectations and needs.
What other advice do I have?
We use informer constantly. It is integral, it is vital, it is invaluable. We quite simply could not continue without this tool. It is the workhorse behind so much of what drives our institution operationally and in terms of integrations.
