Powerful Data Extraction Tool

Pros

It is extremely powerful to extract data out of PDF files. The automator product works great to automate data extraction processes

Cons

We had a few issues with the installation and upgrade process. The installation instructions could be a little bit more detailed.

Monarch is integral to our day-to-day activity

I've been using Monarch for over seven years and I continue to find ways to use it to make my job easier. We use Monarch daily to quickly produce the information we need.

Pros

I love the way that Monarch can flexibly capture huge amounts of data from various levels of a source file, allowing you to then present that information with formulas, filters and summaries. Monarch projects can also be seamlessly paired with Altair's Automator to produce the reports/data summaries automatically and distribute the files produced via e-mail to variable recipients. The customer service group is top notch (knowledgeable and pleasant)!

Cons

We've had problems working with 17M record ODBC sources, but most anything would. However, that issue may be more due our outdated (7 years behind current) ODBC version than Monarch. Otherwise, my only other complaint is that I didn't start using this software earlier in life!

Monarch Complete turned a 5 year long project into a quarterly process.

See my review...

Pros

It's so versatile. I use it to normalize data exported from various sources so that I can make apples to apples comparisons for reconciliation and identification. It's a tremendous help to me. My description above is speaking to the fact that my first use of Monarch Complete was to develop a process to create a data table of custodian cost basis data concatenating data from 20 separate proprietary text files into a single table so that I could compare it to the same data from our portfolio accounting system - to reconcile cost basis or our clients' eligible investment accounts. Incorporating Monarch Complete into my process, I reduced a manual process that took over 2 hours to complete down to about 10 minutes - and then I was able to use Excel to reconcile the cost basis and determine all out of balance issues and report them for resolution - thereby concluding my cost basis project. During the development stage in Monarch, I saved workspaces related to this process, which allows me to then duplicate the process, I just have to change the source file name and it's done.

Cons

Mistakes are not always reversible, as I have found out and I have spent countless hours learning this lesson. When you cannot recover from a mistake, you are forced to close the workspace without saving, so all changes you made since your last save are lost and you have to start over. Basically, if you are not very technically oriented, you may find it difficult to begin working with. But that's mostly a learning curve and thankfully Datawatch has a large community of users that can assist and their support staff are very knowledgeable as well.

Just the tool needed

its a huge time saver

Pros

It saves SO much time on a lot of tasks that would normally take way more time to complete and does it pretty effectively.

Cons

There is a learning curve before you can use the product efficiently. Took some of our users a few months to get proficient.

Great and powerful!

Benefits include time savings and automating tasks. Since Monarch can read and comprehend, it makes it the ideal software for automating bills, receipts, databases or even any type of data analysis/action items you may have. Be careful setting it up, but once you get your captures just right, the program can amaze. Speedy and reliable!

Pros

Easy to use, powerful, options galore and there is a great help file! This program is excellent for automating mundane tasks and this software is able to read/understand data with precision. Program allows you to read files, excel, csv, etc and able to identify text, numbers and other characters. Want the program to look for a text specific field? No problem! Monarch lets you identify the type and length of expected lines/fields so you can automate with ease. Great for macro running!

Cons

Program only has a few minor negatives, such as size/resources. Otherwise, the program is pretty reliable. Sometimes you have to get a bit creative with the captures of data or try a few tricks such as looking for specific text/fields, but I find overall the program does the job well. There are a lot of variables with documents/spreadsheets so this program will help but you will need some patience :)

The Tool That Helps Me Looking Good

As I mentioned before Monarch helps me to say "yes" to every request (almost) I receive regarding reporting. After 16 years of using it I can say that I am still learning new things by practicing and using it. My wish is that Altair/Datawatch will revisit/reorganize their training and support departments in order for us to get the services we want and deserve. Please create/provide more advance training similar to the one on July 25, 2019 in Boston.

Pros

The flexibility we have to access different files at the same time and produce a customized output.

Cons

The support and the "following up" after selling it. I am a "champion member" an I have been using Monarch for 16 years. I honestly believe that the app does not get the proper attention from Altair/Datawatch. Sorry to say this.

Monarch Assessment & Value

After using the tool for over 15 years, I find some application for Monarch in my daily responsibilities involving data analytics and reporting and integration with Microsoft Excel

Pros

Empowers the business user and freedom of substantial IT support when doing data analytics; analyses of unstructured and varied data sources

Cons

Somewhat elongated learning curve; costs per user

Time saver

Pros

I use Monarch on a daily basis. This software is a huge help for those who works with lots of data information stored in different formats that needs to be cleaned and re-formatted to tables. Saves a lot of time for me. My favorite function - sort and clean all extra noise from the original files that requires formatting.

Cons

I'm comfortable with the way it works, did not find any issues.

I have a product that is fun and easy to use. I can get quick answers to important questions!

Pros

I can quickly join different types of data together. I am able to reproduce the data structure I want every day. I can create it and then reproduce the results on the fly. Support for the product is awesome!

Cons

Training is mostly eLearning through WebEx's and YouTube. Would like to have more in class training offered. Training needs to be more than one day.

Powerful, Easy to Learn and Use

Increased efficiencies and greater flexibility with data.

Pros

The ability to easily extract data and it also has many spreadsheet and database functionalities. Works very well with Excel and Access. Fantastic at extracting data from PDF files.

Cons

Expensive, some processes could be streamlined or be made more user friendly, some performance issues.

Monarch has been invaluable with extracting data from our mortgage servicing reports

easy data extraction into excel, text, and pdf formats

Pros

Ease of use. When I first started, I was able to teach myself how Monarch worked and easily able to get answers for my one off questions through their discussion boards.

Cons

More knowledge around the mortgage industry reporting and how the data is presented and needs to be extracted. I had to find another user in our industry to get a lot of help with the reports.

Altair Monarch - Game changing data preparation software

Pros

The ease of use of Monarch is amazing. Drag and drop data sets right into the software and you're off. Even if you've never used the product before, basic usage is very intuitive.

Cons

As with any software product, there is always room for improvement. Occasionally you will run into limitations with formatting or presentations. However, they do an excellent job of listening to the needs of their customers and each update often answers many of issues you struggle with.

Good Value

We were able to recoup our expenses from purchasing the system with the very first use case that we found. We took unstructured text from a .txt file and converted it to Excel, with quite a bit of manipulation being done from that point. Saved a ton of time, with great customer support helping out along the way.

Pros

Reasonably priced for the variety of capabilities that you get with the software.

Cons

Has a learning curve, but great training and support to make that easier.

Monarch Complete and Automator

Unstructured data from the statements and invoices is now part of our data processing. It provided the insight into the detail statistics and allows for the accruals and reconciliation.

Pros

Monarch allows us to process data gets sent in PDF, non-tabular TXT, XML and Excel files. Its very flexible and user-friendly. After transformations are created, they are deployed on the Automator server where they run on schedule or being triggered.

Cons

Scripting is achieved via VBScript, which requires a learning curve for our team.

Monarch is powerful and is the best value for our needs

We primarily use it for extracting data from PDF's so we can import it into SQL.

Pros

It is the only product we have found in this price range that meets our need for PDF extraction. I am learning the REG EXP functions and they are very powerful.

Cons

No real drawbacks, but PDF's can be a real problem and on rare occasions I have to do extra paring in SQL.

Transfer unformatted data into Excel

Pros

I like the ability to dump unformatted data into Excel. For me, this was especially useful with SAP reports that couldn't be exported to Excel cleanly. Also, I like having different models that automatically format reports depending on what I need to analyze.

Cons

Some of the functionality isn't intuitive, like editing models.

Been using for 25 years

Easy of developing information into usable data and I like the compare feature as well.

Pros

The newest version cuts out all the logic required to map data and is now automated. The new version also allows for easy database down loan of structured tables from the Internet.

Cons

It can get pretty complex, while not a con, can be more difficult to use for the the average person.

Monarch Pro

Looking for a more efficient way to extract data from numerous formats of data received from 3rd parties

Pros

Ease of use and cross-training other users, feature rich with lots of clever options, and the in-built audit trail (from control point of view)

Cons

Lack of OCR - the ability to also extract data from scanned documents would be powerful addition

I use this software to compile multiple documents into one spreadsheet.

It used to take me hours to compile all my documents in to a format that was usable. Using Monarch has reduced the time spent per month dramatically.

Pros

I love that this software allows me to save formats, so when I come back to a similar project in a couple of weeks, I don't have to re-format my new work.

Cons

The software can be confusing to use, especially at the beginning. Once you understand the way it works, it's okay, but initially learning how the software works can be challenging.

Best Data mapping software

I've used Datawatch for about 5 years now and have yet to find a mapping need that it couldn't perform for what we do. Its very fast and is incredibly robust. You get what you pay for. It isn't cheap but it will do what you need it to do! Saves us a ton of time in daily work.