My overall experience with Informer has been great! There are a few tweaks that I feel need to be made and periodic glitching but other than that everything has gone smoothly. When teaching my end users how to navigate and use the product everything is very self explanatory and I hear nothing but amazing comments and compliments about Informer once they get the hang of it. I would highly recommend Informer to other universities and organizations that would benefit from using it.

-User friendly -Allows data to be easily manipulated to create a report that shows exactly what you are looking for. -The ability to assign Users to Teams and set permissions/access for those users so that they can or can not edit or view other Teams Datasets. -Useful tools and features that allow you to alter the formatting of the data. -Easily being able to create a Job and schedule them to run on specific days and times. -Being able to use Datasources to view the fields within each mapping as well as being able to hide those fields that you do not want end users to use. -Creating custom expressions for those fields that you need within a specific mapping. -Amazing visually and gives you a great end result.

-Can be glitchy at times (ex: When editing a Dataset and organizing the columns the way you want them it tends to undo the organization when you go back into the Dataset to edit it). -Not being able to share a Dataset with a specific user. -Even as an Admin/Super User I find that I need to change the ownership of a Dataset owned by another user in order to edit the Dataset. Without changing the ownership of the Dataset over to myself I am still able to edit the Dataset but they tend to glitch and will either not show data within the field I am adding for them or the query will fail to run. However, when I change the ownership of the Dataset to myself and make the same changes it works perfectly. -In Datasources it would be nice to have a column within the mappings that shows a description of the fields that end users are choosing so that there is less confusion.

Overall I really have no complaints. The customer service is extremely responsive and the software itself is constantly be improved and enhanced. We've used Informer for over 10 years and the product of today is far superior to what we started with. Also, the support team really listens to user feedback and tries to incorporate as many suggestions as possible into new releases.

I like the fact that Informer is able to connect to various databases which makes reporting seamless to the end user. We are currently using it for unidata, SQL and mySQL. Being able to create reports that pull from one or even all 3 databases simultaneously using a web interface has really allowed us to put the power of reporting into the hands of our users and reduced the reliance on IT to create custom reports using Colleague, or another web interface.

The online documentation is not as extensive as many other products. There is a help center, but it seems as though most clients prefer to email support to have questions answered rather than post it to an online forum. I think the biggest improvement that could be made is really building up the forums to make it easier to share resources and get answers to more simple questions.

We have had some difficulties setting up Informer 5, but the support has been very good, both knowledgeable and timely.

I like that it's an affordable tool for a smaller company. It is intuitive to set up reports and dashboards and being able to report across multiple data sources is key.

There are features in Informer 4 that I need (comma-separated filters), so until that exists I have to use both Informer 4 and Informer 5. It would be better to be able to just use 5 for everything.

Excellent for Dashboards and reporting

ease of use and user friendly best for price/performance ratio

Intergration with other business process is easy to handle

Excellent. Informer delivers the powerful, complicated reporting our data-hungry team needs. Our data is spread between several connected yet disparate systems, with different systems being in charge of different types of information (e-commerce is here, ERP is there, customer Source of Truth is SFDC) and Informer consumes and unifies it all in one application.

Our team is pulling data from 4x Postgres databases, Salesforce.com and a few legacy-export CSV files. The reports we create are complicated can contain as many of the above-mentioned sources as we need. If you like the flexibility of SQL and custom code, you can do that. If you want point-and-click, you may lose some of the most advanced function but can probably still get yourself some great charting.

You're going to need a few power users that are comfortable with basic Javascript or SQL to take full advantage of the software. Powerscripts and complex, multi-step build jobs are powerful but somewhat cumbersome, but they do deliver the flexibility to manipulate a report in so many ways.

I recently selected Entrinsik Informer to fill a need for real time and scheduled reporting in a distribution environment with Infor SX.e (ERP), Infor Storefront (Ecommerce), TWL (Warehouse Logistics) Tour de Force (CRM), and a new Infor Proof of Delivery product. Software installation and connecting to various data sources was very easy and support was very helpful. I was in production with the product literally within days and without a drawn-out, expensive, resource intensive implementation. Their people are absolutely top-notch. Out of the box, the product is pretty much a blank slate. That's was exactly what I was looking for. It is not a prebuild set of management tools/reports/dashboards that are already integrated with my specific ERP. You will want to have some knowledge of your databases if there is not a mapping suite already available. That has not been a problem for the platforms/dbs I've mentioned but it's something to be mindful of. Also it would be helpful to know javascript for certain field calculations - I've never really worked with javascript before and it's something I've picked up while working with the product. Overall, I'm a really big fan of the product. Pretty much right out of the gate, I was building near real time alerts for conditions that required action throughout the day, I was building reports and dashboards for a Proof of Delivery app that is in development and for which those tools just didn't exist yet in the app. I created reporting that helps keep customer data consistent between ERP, CRM and ecommerce systems. I was able to create loss prevention alerts on access to sensitive databases. I've pretty much accomplished in the first few months what I set out to do with the product initially and now, I'm working on finding new ways to use the product. I will say that one specific advantage to the product and one that I can ROI the thing with all by itself is in managing user licenses for other products. I have been able to use the 'Live Excel' capability to give access to real time queries from various dbs without having to pay for/manage additional user licenses for other products. I recommend the product and look forward to collaborating with other users.

Overall experience with Informer has been impeccable. The new GUI makes it so pleasing to work with since it is alot more user friendly.

I can best answer this question in comparison to Informer 4 and I have to say Dashboards hands down. I5 offers a lot more options than prior versions for their Dashboards. They are much easier to configure, their display options really allow the user to provide a new way to display decision making data for executives.

As with all new software you will encounter bugs. They are a part of providing the best possible version for customers. We are still dealing with some however, the customer support behind these is impeccable. Quick responses to support requests, friendly staff and quick resolutions are provided.

Of all of the 3rd-party software the College uses, Informer has by far the best cost-to-value ratio. It was relatively easy to implement and is easily picked up by non-technical users. It integrates with all of our data sources (including the non-SQL compliant database the College's SIS uses) and has been invaluable in filling our reporting needs.

As an administrator, I much prefer the permissions management of Informer 4 to Informer 5, as it's really useful (though requires more intervention) to be able to manage the permissions very specifically. The 'user defined fields' capability in Informer 4 would also be useful to us if it were in Informer 5.

I've been using Informer for at least 8 years in my current research position at an institution of higher education. It has been a fantastic tool that has allowed me to more effectively and efficiently perform the duties of my job.

I absolutely love Informer. It is incredibly user-friendly and very intuitive. Nearly everything I know about Informer is self-taught. The dashboard feature was a bit more difficult to figure out, but I was still able to do it and it provided a fantastic overview of the data that our higher administration was looking for.

There is not really anything that I dislike about Informer. The only issues I run across are with regards to locating pieces of data and that is not really an Informer issue.

End users can easily access their own office's data and create ad-hoc reports themselves. It's an empowering tool that is very user-friendly compared to other reporting tools. In addition, many colleges and universities use it, so it's very well-suited for the BI / reporting needs of this industry. Managing user access & security has gotten easier in more recent versions of the software, too.

Setting up the initial data connections is tricky. However, once that's configured there is not a lot of maintenance needed.

No longer spending ages writing reports in Visual Studio based on SQL views. Can leverage old views in Informer and connect in directly to database as well. I've only crashed it once running a rogue query, it is very dependable.

Allows us to plug in several different data sources to quickly build and run user friendly reports. Quick formatting and sort options, easy aggregation, fast loading. Supports lots of formats for data export. A real software Swiss Army knife for reporting.

The search functionality could be improved a little bit to be more keyword based than literal.

The thoughtfulness behind design has made this tool very versatile and scalable. Data modeling flexibility, built-in drilldowns, and powerful conditional calculations and formatting are among the strong differentiating features for this tool.

The dashboard designer leaves a little to be desired.

Once a custom report is written, a user can copy and edit the report to suit different needs. You aren't constantly having to start from scratch with building a report. Informer has been a great tool for fundraising for my organization.

I would like to see the geographics be a little more at a macro level--down to counties and cities.

Informer provided me with amazing data as an Academic Advisor. It really made my job much more simple.

I loved the fact that this system allowed you to pull extremely detailed reports in a matter of minutes.

The cons are that the reporting does take a while to load, which can be frustrating. However, it is much better than manual tracking!

It's versatility is second to none, allowing us to capture countless metrics and data for any aspect of our business.

It can be overwhelming getting started, but its ease of use comes quickly and it's well worth the learning curve!

Deployed with Informer 4 and upgraded to Informer 5. Love the overall look and ease of use.

Easy product to integrate and use. I enjoy the ability to use datasets!

Sometimes, the fields have to be deleted and re-entered for use in some reports.

The ability to write quick, ad-hoc reports.

I like being able to use native SQL to write my queries. One of the most promising things, at the moment, is that Version 5 is close to being released. We are part of the ICE Consortium and ICE support is not that well-versed in the use of Informer. Informer is an easy to use GUI environment reporting tool.

Some of the things I like least about Informer are, since our migration from UniData to SQL, we have issues with record duplicates and auto normalization. It would be nice if there was an editor that assisted with the writing of native SQL code or even java scripting.

I use it everyday and it never fails to help me get tasks done.

It is intuitive, robust, dynamic and can do everything we need it to.

I have no negative things to say about this great reporting tool.

It's quick and responsive. It has been used to solve a lot of data mysteries created by our users...

Nothing really other then trying to use more of the functionality of the product...................

Easy to use. Intuitive. Meets our reporting needs. Little training required for new users to get started.

The ease of writing a simple report for use.

Having to restart the entrinsik service several times a day.

This software is easy to use and makes report writing fast and fun. I use it on a daily basis, easy to import into Tableau.

its easy

logging in

Overall this software meets most of our goals of dashboard creation and end user functionality.

The software is very easy to use. Dashboard are an excellent and easy way to visualize data.

I would like to see more drop down menus for end uses instead of filtering.

Great product with excelent team behind it

Intuitive, easy to use with a lop of very powerful features

Unlimited possibilities to extend and customize

I am generally extremely stingy with my star ratings, so 4's and 5's mean a LOT to me. The company: Everyone that I have worked with, from sales through support has always been prompt, polite, and most important, very helpful. I've never had a problem getting a hold of anyone at Entrinsik, and can generally count on quick resolutions. The product: Informer is easy to use for the non-technical users, yet has flexibility for the more advanced users. We utilize Informer for many different functions around the college. We have about 150 automated reports, some sending emails, some creating saved lists, some saving files to the server to be transferred elsewhere. Many of the schedules have been set up and forgotten. This may sound odd, but it means that we don't have to "baby-sit" the process. It runs without needing assistance, which lets us spend our time elsewhere. In short, we love Informer. :)