We had been using software before IntraStage that had limited reporting capabilities and no way for us to create our own reports, so any custom reporting we did was done with Excel. Some of the more complex reporting could take us several days to a week to perform. Using IntraStage we were able to create custom reports that allow us to pull the reports we need in a matter of seconds. The software is very easy to use and we were able to train several of our internal customers to use IntraStage to pull the reports they needed without our help, which saves them a lot of time.

There is a lot of flexibility in reporting. I have worked with other companies that did not provide the ability to create custom reports and charged a lot of money to generate even a simple custom report. IntraStage allows me to create my own custom reports. Using IntraStage we also have the ability to trace the history of a product from the field failure back through the manufacturing process. The customer support is world class! The team is extremely knowledgeable and helpful. When we were initially talking to the IntraStage team about getting field return and shipment data into the system for tracking return rates, they had a working prototype (using our data) for us in about a week. They have been awesome to work with!

I'm not a big fan of Report Builder (from Microsoft) and that this the tool used to develop custom reports. But, honestly, that is a personal preference issue and not a problem with the software. There are no real Cons that I can think of regarding the software.

We used IntraStage to alert on specific measurements using custom control limits. This can let us know if products are trending to fail. We were also wanting to alert on a custom CUSUM report. IntraStage did not have this feature but we worked with them to create it. We handed over a specification document which they turned into a complete custom report which satisfied our requirements. All the work was done quickly and it enabled us to be successful in our project.

The architecture behind their data model is well document and extremely easy to follow. Once all our manufacturing data was transferred over it made analysing data simple and genealogy of models easy to follow. IntraStage have their own XML file spec which is far better than anything other companies can offer! It is robust and well documented. The custom reporting feature is simple to use once you get the hang of it, and incredibly useful when sorting your reporting needs. I specially like how reports can be sorted into folders. Another notable feature is how easy it is to get email alerts on reports with an easy to use logic form. The support we have received from IntraStage is second to none. We work in completely different timezones (8 hours apart) and they have made the effort to work with us at times that suit us (which can be very early for them). Their team is great to work with and very knowledgeable in their field.

The software can be slow at times when generating reports. There are also a couple of bugs sometimes here and there that can result in some of your changes to reports not being saved. However every time I have encountered a bug IntraStage have been quick to fix it. The pre-built adaptors work relatively well but sometimes it can fail. We have found some of our measurement data to be missing and this can be quite hard to find with very large data sets. This is a relatively easy fix as IntraStage can create custom adaptors for your specific data but it is something to be aware of. The UX design can be quite difficult to get your head around initially but you do get used to it. There is a lot of learning required when first configuring the software. Luckily IntraStage provide handy training and their system is well documented!

Overall our experience with IntraStage has been very good. The key players within IntraStage have been highly engaged with the engineers here in order to help us to understand the overall database system and IntraStage has been willing to work with us to meet our data collection and viewing needs. Honestly, from the outside looking in, IntraStage may not appear as 'polished' as some of their competitors, but from my perspective what that means is that IntraStage understands and appreciates the engineering expertise that exists within our organization and is willing to work with us to leverage both their, and our, capabilities. We would have been frustrated working with an organization that believed they had all the answers and gave us a database solution that forced us to meet what they provided. IntraStage did not do that but instead provides a database that has a very solid base, but allows us to customize our solution to meet our overall needs.

IntraStage's open architecture and open API's allow us to gather data from a wide variety of systems. The architecture also allows us to gather a wide variety of data from test system measurement data, to Failure Analysis data, to human input data, to engineering data. We have transitioned to a 'data driven' environment and IntraStage has been a key part of that transition. Since its initial implementation back in 2012, the volume of data we have been gathering has grown exponentially and the engineering community here has now come to expect data availability. As stated above, the open architecture presented by IntraStage allows us to solve our data problems in ways that are the best for our needs and does not force us to change our methodologies to meet the structure of the software.

As our data volumes have grown we are experiencing some challenges with the response times of getting data out of the database. IntraStage is currently developing their next generation system (based on Microsoft's Power Platform technologies) and we have high expectations that this transition will greatly improve our data access speeds.

Simple, clean, SQL Server architecture under the hood, allowing collection of any type of automated test measurement data. We do not use IntraStage to consolidate other types of manufacturing data, eg. ERP, PLM, MES, etc.. so I do not have an opinion on that portion of the product. I feel like there are a multitude of capable products on the market that do those things well. IntraStage handles the collection of test measurement data well. Better than other products I’ve encountered. The fact that, as another reviewer commented, the database/model is not hidden from the user allows us to use the data collected by Blackbelt in the most appropriate ways for our organization, without incurring unexpected “development” costs from the vendor, is significant. As with any SQL Server based application, it is important a solid DBA is supporting it for optimal performance. That is not a pro or con per se, but important to be aware of if you do not have that type of resource within your organization. The vendor provides excellent, tireless support. They are continually iterating with customers like us to make the product even better. I will take a partner like this any day of the week.

Blackbelts immense flexibility is both a strength and a weakness. I feel sometimes the vendor is too responsive in trying to meet all manufacturing data related needs, and would be better served to stay focused on what I believe is their core capability around test measurement data. The only other potential concern with this vendor is their size. I believe they are a fairly small shop, working hard to be able to support scaling big implementations of their product across multiple sites for large organizations. I am confident they will get there, but I’m not sure they are there yet.

Overall, our experience with IntraStage has been very good. Our immediate requirements included having a system that would reduce our engineering hours and workload for Design Verification Test analysis. The prospective system would need to be able to integrate with other software systems, and would have to give engineers a high-level view of design verification progress. In addition, those engineers needed detailed parametric and metadata analysis for each test requirement. Another large factor in our requirements was the need for a secure system that would be supported by internal personnel on an air-gapped network. This included having a standard data format and ETL method that would allow our engineers to evolve their data outputs over time without needing intervention from the vendor. A stretch requirement was having a system that could provide a foundation for cradle-grave test data traceability (including the initial phase of engineering design, with a future-proof platform that would scale for our organization all the way through production and sustainment).

We deployed a system that met our immediate needs for internal supportability and DVT/SVT visibility under budget. We measured a 70 percent reduction in engineering hours spent producing weekly reports related to DVT and SVT. This means our R&D engineers are able focus their limited time on product design and value-add tasks rather than compiling and distributing reports. By using the well-documented IntraStage CSV format, we are able to internally support the data output from our equipment. We could also adjust and update our reports and analytics without needing database or software people. The automated reporting means we can share on-demand audits with our customer without needing travel and facetime, which gained increased importance during the COVID pandemic.

The custom reports were not off-the-shelf at the time of deployment, so they did require up-front development time and effort. However, that does mean we received reports tailored to our needs.

The software ships with a mature set of tools for the extraction, translation and storage of test results data into a flexible data model. The out of the box reporting capability covers the standard manufacturing & test KPI's and offers good SPC capability. The data model natively caters for most standard test data variables, whilst offering a mechanism for the user to also import any customer specific data. The open platform architecture also allows for the product to be customized to suit the users needs

Whilst the shipped test adapters cover standard result file formats we had to do deal with a number of special to type formats that required custom development. The report offerings are a mixture of older offerings which currently sit alongside the more interactive/intelligent new offerings which leverage Power BI. Whilst the older static/paginated reports are capable they do suffer in comparison to the newer reports. I understand that there is ongoing development in this regard to transition more reports to the newer format.

Very friendly.

Once you are familiar with the reports, is very useful in a daily basis. Able to see current status of the units. Able to edit, and update different fields. Able to have summary and detail reports.

Very slow to run reports. Takes time to get results. There are some reports that takes to much time to open. Another issue is when you update and submit, sometimes takes to do the submit few times to updated.

The interface has evolved over time and has implemented more functionality and improved speed as well as accessibility to data.

Ability to perform a wide variety of SPC functions as well as ease of use and access to our PCBA Manufacturing data from our CM.

Some data was not accessible. Considerable investment of my time in developing the database and XML adapters to translate the data from its native form to a form consistent with Intrastage database.

The interface has evolved over time and has implemented more functionality and improved speed as well as accessibility to data.

Using the SW in remote manufacturing for over 10 years and early struggles with XML adapter and data access/visibility have been resolved. Working with the Intrastage development team has been a positive experience and we have resolved all challenges together.

Recent modernization and security protocols in Azure has been challenging. But our data is now more secure.

The interface has evolved over time and has implemented more functionality and improved speed as well as accessibility to data.

Very friendly user and easy to access. Data collection very useful and helping during reviewing in manufacturing processes for debugging/troubleshooting. Having excellent supporting from vendor.

Recent modernization and security protocols in Azure has been challenging.