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SAP Data Services vs SAP Information Steward comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 6, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP Data Services
Ranking in Data Quality
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (11th)
SAP Information Steward
Ranking in Data Quality
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Metadata Management (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Data Quality category, the mindshare of SAP Data Services is 15.7%, up from 13.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Information Steward is 3.4%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Quality
 

Featured Reviews

RambabuMandala - PeerSpot reviewer
Responsive support, scalable, and beneficial integration
The BA reporting tools, such as Data Services, and ETL tool in SAP Data Services are the most valuable. When we had in-memory requirements, we used HANA. HANA is most preferably for most the customers for in-memory. SAP is the first company that created the in-memory concept. There are a lot of SAP applications and they have good integration with SAP packages. In the next release, they should be more advanced cloud functionalities and web services. More integration with other applications including SAPs and other applications. They should not switch to a complete solution but provide better integration with other applications.
FranciscoSantos - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides accurate data that is validated against a personalized reference tool
For most SAP customers, Information Steward is enough because it is able to build quality data rules to detect issues in the source systems like SAP HANA, Business Warehouse, or other systems. A business user can first organize their data into several data domains. For example, procurement, human resources, and logistics setup. The domains can build data quality dimensions where you can describe the kind of rule that you are going to use. The user then can immediately see if something is wrong with their data using traffic lights. Another great feature of SAP Information Steward is the accuracy that the content is followed by validating against the reference tool. With the solution, you are creating data quality dimensions. Within these dimensions, you are creating business data quality rules that are looking for specific fields. From these rules, you can create a scorecard. The scorecard will highlight the percentage of good data and ensure the user can feel confident that the data is accurate within predetermined limits. SAP tables have field names that are very cryptic, making them hard to understand the meaning of the fields. Metapedia helps describe these fields in business terms.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable features of SAP Data Services lie in its ability to effectively observe and interpret the information within data related to people or facts, stands out."
"Technical support from SAP is awesome. If we have an issue, they give a good solution."
"The most valuable feature is the ETL functionality."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the scheduling part."
"The basic functionality is quite good as is the basic logic and data information."
"Its integration capabilities and the data migration capabilities are the most valuable. It is very good for SAP and non-SAP tools. It has very good integration with SAP, but it also has the capabilities to connect to other systems. We find it very helpful and stable."
"The initial setup is not complex."
"The user interface is ok."
"The Data Cleansing and the scorecard dashboard are very valuable. Additionally, the financial aspect of SAP Information Steward is very good. When a rule is incorrect then it will show how much is it costing the business. These features are very valuable."
"The scorecard will highlight the percentage of good data and ensure the user can feel confident that the data is accurate within predetermined limits."
"Data insight is the most valuable feature."
"Ability to collect information, monitor user access and to plan storage capacity."
"The solution is very fast."
"Initial setup was straightforward."
"The data profiling was excellent, as was the ease of generating the dashboards."
"Setup is straightforward."
 

Cons

"The pricing of the solution should be improved."
"Data Services SAP is lacking in sources and target databases compared to Informatica. SAP Data Services should have more connectivity."
"The solution should improve connectivity with more source systems and target systems."
"The solution shows a lack of cloud support data services."
"Newer feature integration is lagging behind the company acquisitions and the product could do more to service a broader range of devices."
"It will work fine only in an SAP environment. It could be said that the integration with other vendors could be better."
"We would like the different tools offered within this solution to be available as standalone entities, rather than having to purchase the entire package when we only require a few features."
"At the integration level, there could be certain set of improvement to connect to various other systems."
"The solution could improve by incorporating other applications, such as Power BI to show more visualization. More interaction with other solutions would be a good benefit."
"Performance could be improved."
"We'd like to see some manipulation techniques included in SAP Information Steward."
"Granularity could be reduced from an application level to the object level."
"The support team is not very responsive."
"The user experience of metapedia could be improved."
"Needs to be more powerful on rules."
"SAP Information Steward could be improved by offering a cloud version of the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Speaking about prices, Oracle and SAP are market leaders. So, the prices are more."
"The product’s on-premise version is expensive for a medium-sized company."
"It's relatively expensive compared to other vendors, but it is competitive."
"I rate the product price as one or two on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"Pricing is good, there is no problem."
"The price is very reasonable."
"The pricing is a little high to make the product more competetive in the marketplace."
"The license price is expensive but medium to large-scale companies, should be able to afford it. Other solutions, such as Talend are easier to afford for smaller companies. Depending on the sources of the data where you are receiving your data you could be paying for more than one license."
"A bit pricey, and better tools are available for a lower price."
"I do not know if there were additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees."
"Smaller-sized organizations may not be able to invest in SAP Information Steward because of the cost."
"SAP Information Steward is an expensive solution compared to others."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Government
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How do you evaluate the ratio of price to quality for SAP Data Services?
I believe the license for the product is fair, even though some competitors offer similar services at lower prices. The difference between the Edge edition and the next one up is significant in pr...
Would you recommend SAP Data Services to complete beginners?
I think after some preparation, a beginner will be able to use SAP Data Services, however, if you are completely unprepared, you may have some issues. I think that in particular you will need a mo...
How has SAP Data Services helped your organization?
SAP Data Services has helped our whole staff understand the data across various sources and systems within the company. Not everyone who works at my organization is an IT expert - most just have av...
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Also Known As

SAP BusinessObjects Data Services, SAP BusinessObjects Data Integrator, BusinessObjects Data Integrator
Information Steward, SAP Data Insight
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

EMC Corporation, LivePerson, Eldorado, Mozzart, The VELUX Group, AOK Bundesverband, Hilti Group, Nissha Printing Company Ltd., Asian Paints, Aareal Bank Group, Migros Group
American Water, Graphic Packaging International, OSRAM Licht AG, Maxim Integrated
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP Data Services vs. SAP Information Steward and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.