Informatica PowerCenter Reviews

We are generally using it for ETL systems. 

We have different sources of files coming, sometimes from the mainframe, and Informatica is very useful for accepting different sources, such as spreadsheets and databases, and doing the transformation. Libraries are also helpful. I also managed to go into the database and create my own transformations for mapping automatically.

The greatest feature is that it is very easy to have someone come in and jump right in. It is one of the nicest tools in terms of getting a person acquainted quickly.

What I didn't like about it is that the platform itself is not great at distributed processing. When you need high parallel processing, it has some inherent issues. We had to use Java transformation, and it did not go very well. I have heard that it is going to the cloud, but we haven't tried that. We have Informatica in-house, and we thought it would go with ADF. Microsoft is leaning on us to do that because we're working with Azure. So, I don't know much about cloud features.

The pricing model is a little bit difficult for development tools versus running the system in production. So, it has some shortcomings, but in general, it is not bad.

We worked with PowerCenter for a long time, and we have a site license for it.

We haven't had major problems. The issues that we had were more around libraries linking to other places. It was not so flexible there. For example, we used a Java transformation that needed a separate set of libraries, but they collided if a library was used by Informatica. So, we had to stay a version earlier. Although it seemed a little bit rigid on what it can provide in terms of the ability to go into the database and create your own stuff, I wrote a makefile that actually went into the database, and based on the parameters that people put in the makefile, created transformation for them.

I wasn't impressed with its ability to process in parallel. Some of it is inherited in the tool, and there is nothing you can do about it. For example, if you have aggregation, then everything stops, which is okay and I understand that, but for the other things also, I didn't see it scalable. I have heard that it is better in new releases.

I work with Azure Data Factory and Informatica PowerCenter, and we are now considering taking either of them. We did work with PowerCenter for a long time, and we have a site license for it. With ADF, we're just starting.

We have a site license, but we do pay by the division.

I would rate it an eight out of 10.

Informatica PowerCenter is a data extraction and data loading tool. We extract data from some sources and we load data to different source systems.

Improved the data integrity, data flow and data managment with consummption too made easy and ustainanble and scalable.

The most valuable feature of Informatica PowerCenter is the flow designer functionally. It is the best out of any ETL tool. Additionally, the solution is reliable and trustable in dealing with large data sources anytime. When we're using billions of data transactions, it's smooth. 

Informatica PowerCenter could improve on the documentation for the implementation. The documents provided are not very good for a new user.

In a future release of Informatica PowerCenter, they should add more flexibility on re-usability options. Reusing any setup developed on Informatica PowerCenter, more options to make it reusable, exporting the setup, or importing the setup to any project folder or anywhere in Informatica PowerCenter so that we can use it as a plug-and-play option.

I have used Informatica PowerCenter within the last 12 months.

Informatica PowerCenter is stable. We did not have any downtime.

Informatica PowerCenter could improve its re-usage strategies. There is a scope of improvement in the re-usability of their applications. They could make it more user-friendly for re-usage so that we can create plug-and-play options for different setups.

We have more than 100 people using this solution in my organization.

I have not used the support from Informatica PowerCenter.

Oracle data integrator to Informatica because of reliability and cloud benefits.

The initial setup of Informatica PowerCenter is of a moderate level of difficulty. The full implementation took approximately one day.

When evaluating other solutions we found Informatica PowerCenter to be the most stable.

We had a major banking client, and Informatica PowerCenter is the go-to option when we are dealing with any kind of banking client. It provides the stability and very trustability factor for any kind of banking client's requirements.

This solution has provided me with all functions that I need. I recommend others to use Informatica PowerCenter if they have a decent knowledge of how data migration and data integration works. If they have good knowledge about it and if they have used any other ETL tools previously, they will find it easier to use Informatica PowerCenter. 

If it is for a beginner, I would suggest they learn something about the basics of how data migration works, and then they can start using it.

I rate Informatica PowerCenter a nine out of ten.

We use the solution primarily as an ETL.

It helps with the automation process. We have a lot of requests from the user to create for them data alerts. We have had some success using Informatica. 

It is an excellent tool. It covers our needs. 

The solution is used mostly to handle our daily data loads in our data warehouse. We've been successful so far using it. 

It provides monitoring and we can therefore be aware of what is happening when we are handling jobs. 

The ETL and monitoring tools are the most useful for us.

The transformations we need to do, to comply with user requests, is very easy with this product.

The solution is stable.

It can scale. 

We also have a data integrator, and if we were to compare the software together, the one thing Informatica doesn't have is the ability to create the script inside the solution. We need to rely on Unix or Windows. We can't do the scripting in Informatica itself. We need better integration potential. 

The FTP tools that the solution has are limited. 

If you want to transfer a ZIP file, it is a pain. You need to use Command-Line. Sometimes we just want to transfer a file. It should be easy to move them from A to B.

I want to eliminate interdependencies on the script. If Informatica could do everything, it would be a more powerful tool.

We'd like to have all of the capabilities available in the cloud available also on PowerCenter.

The solution is expensive. 

I've been using the solution for four years. 

Sometimes we have problems, however, the problems are in the database, not Informatica. The solution is very stable. It's reliable. I'd rate it ten out of ten. 

We're in the process of moving to the cloud. 

PowerCenter itself can scale. 

I've never contacted technical support. Typically, I will Google an answer to my questions. It's easy to find what I need on their website or online. 

I did not use a different solution. This is my first experience working with a data center. I did use the ETL from Microsoft that came with the SQL server. 

I didn't handle the installation. I did practice installing on my workstation to practice, and it was easy. However, for the entire company, it was handled by a third party. 

While it is on-premises right now, we have plans to move everything to the cloud in the short term. We are working on that right now.

The installation process is done by a third party.

I don't deal with licensing and have never seen an invoice. I am aware it is expensive, however. It's as expensive as Oracle. When you want to use the best brands, you have to pay.

I did not evaluate other solutions. By the time I came to the company, this solution was already in use.

When I was in another bank, we selected Informatica which was a recommendation of a consultant. Informatica at that time was one of the best ETL tools, even though it was expensive. 

I'm an end-user.

The solution is very popular. I'd rate it ten out of ten. It is an excellent tool.

The solution is basically used for anything and everything that we process, for example, from the SQL Server, from other application sources like Oracle, from Flatfiles, or loading into these kinds of sources. We use it for pretty much everything.

It's the best ETL tool that one can have.

The initial setup is easy.

It's stable.

We can scale the product.

Support has been helpful in the past.

If we could have the option of performance improvement within Informatica, and if it could have more features, that would be ideal. For example, we have a DTM buffer, and sometimes we face issues where we are creating the cache in Informatica, and it keeps on adding onto that particular directory. Even though we deploy code to remove that cache, somehow Informatica DTM does not remove the cache, and it keeps on piling up, filling up the whole server unless we manually remove that.

There are some functionalities in Informatica, however, after some time, they stopped working. That has been an issue that has added up to operational costs. If we could have the consistent working of all the functionalities that Informatica offers, not just during the start of the project or for around six months, that would be ideal. We find that it stops working due to some issue, due to some process not getting started or getting in a hung state.  

From 10.1, to 10.1.1, to 10.5.1, there is a feature in the expression transformation where users have the option to evaluate the expression. It works only when you do not have variables in that, yet only some values (hard-coded values). For example, if you have column one and column two and put in column three, then when you evaluate the expression, and you only get column one plus column two, and it even does not work. It says you can't pass the variables, pass the values, and then that feature that was introduced is of no use. 

I've used the solution for almost 14 years. 

The solution is stable and reliable. I'd rate it 9.5 out of ten in terms of stability. There are no bugs or glitches.

The solution is scalable. However, it depends on the server. 

You can scale unless the server on which it is hosted does not have enough resources to handle the additional load.

In our organization, most developers are on the product. There are around 50 people at least using it. 

I have not used technical support yet in this organization. That said, in my prior organizations, I have. When we had a new tool, for example, we had OneConnect for an SAP Field Glass Connector and we were not sure how to connect to it. Therefore, we had some connectivity-related questions that we were not able to explore on our own since there wasn't much online expertise available. We had to reach out. All questions were addressed and answered by Informatica.

The level of assistance we received was as expected. We were happy with their response time and their answers provided solutions to our questions.

The initial setup takes time sometimes. It can take around two days if you have a prior code. That said, if you are starting it from scratch, then more than four hours, so it is easy - if someone has experience in it, of course, and the proper manual to follow.

I don't recall the exact cost o the solution. That said, it is one of the costliest products that one can have. They are costly ETL products. When it comes to Oracle, we have cheaper options since Oracle provides its ODI fee of cost if someone buys any of their modules for business intelligence. That is something that Informatica does not have.

Still, if you have large data volumes and you do not want to be at risk for your daily loads, then it is worth the money.

I'm an end-user.

I'd advise new users to go through proper training and get at least one to two years of proper work experience in it before they actually go to customers to suggest its implementation - especially if they will be the primary point of contact.

I would rate the solution nine out of ten.

The product is primarily used for building the data warehouse as an ETL tool for our hospital.

In general, it is a great tool. 

The initial setup is not very complex. 

There are many features available. It has very rich transformation tools. You can have union integration. There are many kinds of set operators, aggregators, and plate operators. 

Graphically you can define a lot, and you can also inject variables too. If you define one transformation, you can replicate it with several sources. 

It has very good monitoring and process monitoring. 

There is an excellent scheduler. 

The integration capabilities are pretty good. 

We've found the solution to be very stable. 

It's a product that scales well.

It doesn't have the change data capture feature. That's why we have been exploring some alternatives.

The licensing is difficult. It prevents us from accessing all of the features.

Since I haven't used the latest version, it's hard to comment on what needs to be added. 

I've been using the solution for more than ten years. 

It's a stable product. I'd rate the stability at five out of five. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

You can easily scale the solution if you need to.

I'd rate the ability to scale 4.5 out of five. 

We have around 100 or more sources using the solution. 

We don't really use technical support. However, we did initially find it quite good. 

We did not previously use another solution. 

The solution is pretty straightforward to set up. It is not complex.

We got some training on the transformations and the ETL process itself; however, the implementation of the things was done by then. The strategy was to have teamwork on the building and accumulating data from the hospitals and then build a data warehouse around it. 

The full deployment took two months for us. We had two engineers working on the implementation. 

Our team handles the maintenance. One or two people are handling it. Other than running some interim tasks, everything is scheduled, and then some operational monitoring is required. Otherwise, there are no other maintenance jobs to worry about.

The deployment was handled in-house. We did not need any installation help from integrators or consultants. 

Licensing is frustrating as you have to pay for some additional features. It would be ideal if it were all under one cost.

We usually have a license that lasts a year or two.

We do not pay for technical support. You have to pay for it separately every year.

At the time, around ten years ago, we compared the product with the Oracle Data Warehouse builder, however, PowerCenter was a much better tool.

Many of its current competitors came into the picture after we installed this tool.

We're end-users.

We are not using the latest version of the solution. We are using one of the previous versions. It's around version 10. I don't know the EMEA number.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. 

I'm using it in my company, in the sense that some of our clients use it as their tool for their day-to-day development.

It has good standard features for ETL development. I mostly like the transformation simplicity, which is very good. It has common features that are very similar to all similar tools.

It is stable and reliable. 

Technical support is good.

This product is going to decommission in the next couple of years. Therefore, I don't have anything specific to say something has to be improved.

The pricing is pretty high.

I've worked with the solution for more than eight years. 

The solution is stable. It's reliable, and the performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

Scalability is limited since it's on-premise. PowerCenter is mostly implemented on-premises only, so it's all based on how we configure it, the number of nodes, et cetera. Few people can even deploy it in the cloud VMs, where they can scale up and scale down in the background. For Informatica, the license is based on the number of cores. You have to scale within the number of cores only.

We have more than ten people working on the solution currently.

The technical support is very good. 

I have used other solutions in the past. For example, I've used SSIS, Talend, and SnapLogic.

It's a use-case question, which solution would make the most sense. We cannot say straight away which will fit in, or which is the best product. However, both PowerCenter and SnapLogic are very good compared to SSIS and Talend.

The initial setup has a moderate level of difficulty.

If it is a simple first-time implementation, no one will face issues. However, when people keep upgrading from one version to another, there can be some compatibility issues. It all depends on how you write the code. For example, a few of the code migrations when we were upgrading did or did not work, and that's where we faced some challenges.

The product can be costly. Price can change according to negotiations, so it may be a bit flexible. However, a basic setup can be from $100,000 and up annually.

I'm not a partner or reseller.

I've worked with various versions, from 8.6 to 10.1.

PowerCenter is going to be decommissioned by 2025. Already, people have started migrating from PowerCenter to Informatica Cloud. 

It may be better not to implement that right away. It is better to go straight away with Informatica Cloud or any other tool like SnapLogic. Even Informatica Cloud has some issues in terms of migrating PowerCenter to Informatica Cloud. At this point, however, every solution gives similar output. Regarding cost, you can go with some other tools like SnapLogic that may be less expensive.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

We use this solution for regular ETL access. All our warehouses are built through Informatica. We also use Informatica to build data marts.

It's very easy to use it to develop mappings and workflows.

Informatica are very rigid when it comes to cloud migrations which discourages customers in moving their solution to the cloud. I cannot simply move my code from on-premise to the cloud. There is a conversion process and that conversion process has to be done by Informatica. They charge a huge amount for their professional service. 

Informatica is not as mature when it comes to cloud solutions and cloud connectors and still they want to charge for cloud IACS adoption. If I compare Informatica with Oracle, Oracle provide almost double the licenses when we move onto a cloud solution, regardless of what on-prem license we have. The migration is free of charge.

In a future release, we would like to have cloud connectors.

We have used this solution for more than 15 years.

This solution is not scalable.

This solution is stable.

The customer support is not great. I would rate them a six out of ten.

Neutral

We have not previously used a different solution. We chose Informatica because we needed an enterprise solution. The problem with Informatica data capture is that it is not an end-to-end solution. We have a different automation solution called Oracle GoldenGate. 

The setup is straightforward but we have been doing it for 15 years. A good feature they offer is the backward compatibility which makes the setup seamless.

We did it in-house. 

I would rate the pricing for this solution a six out of ten. The exact pricing depends on various products that you have. We have various Informatica products and it varies from automation to automation.

Informatica is so rigid and so we were trying to look for other partners for our entire ETL process. Modern data solutions are more cost effective and mature with the latest data basis or cloud awareness. We are going to decrease our usage of Informatica.

If you already have Informatica and plan to move to the cloud solution, then you have to evaluate other solutions based on compatibility and do a thorough cost analysis. They have been the market leaders for more than 15 to 20 years. They could use their experience to make better products for modern cloud adoption. 

I would rate this solution a five out of ten.

Informatica PowerCenter is an ETL data integration platform.

It's all part of the data warehouse's extract, transform, and load process. Data is extracted from all source systems, transformed, and loaded into a data warehouse.

It is very robust, scalable, and simple to use.

It is very comprehensive in terms of connector and transformation capabilities from both a source and target perspective.

I believe that people are shifting to more agile, flexible platforms not only in this era but also in the last two or three years. This is happening not only on data management platforms but also on analytics platforms. Platforms for visualizing data dashboards. We used to have very rigid tools like Cognos and MicroStrategy, but Tableau and Power BI have recently taken over. The same can be said for data management. 

Informatica, in my opinion, is very rigid and not very flexible, whereas platforms like Alteryx or Matillion are very flexible and agile.

I have over 15 years of experience working with Informatica tools, and we have worked with Informatica PowerCenter in the last 12 months.

Informatica PowerCenter is stable. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would rate it a ten.

I haven't had any problems with jobs or projects failing or anything like that.

You can definitely scale it as the data volume increases. You have many options for scaling up.

The technical support is great.

They are responsive and simple to contact.

While I have not implemented it, I am familiar with Informatica PIM.

We have also used Informatica Cloud in the last 12 months.

The installation and configuration are both well-documented and straightforward.

I am not sure about the most recent price, but I think it should be $100,000 or more.

It's obviously the best.

I would rate Informatica PowerCenter a ten out of ten.