IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management (TDM) Reviews

• Data growth solution
• Data masking and test data management
• Data decommission

The tool does not support new test data generation.

Optim tool is helpful to extract (subset and mask) the data from a production-like environment. The test data generation is not part of IBM Optim.

I have used it for three years.

Sometimes, we have had deployment issues.

Only very rarely have we encountered stability issues.

Customer service is good.

Technical support is not bad.

The latest version of Optim with designer and manager are quite complicated, but this includes various features.

Data archiving on some of the packaged applications, test data management and data masking on custom as well as packaged applications.

Performance improvement in the application by archiving the obsolete data on some of the packaged applications.

• Data archiving reduces application performance issues and storage.
• Test data management
• Data masking for GDPR.

Improvisation in the area of the self-service user interface for test data management is required to cater to test data needs.

I have worked with IBM Optim tool, and implemented it in automobile, finance, and health care organizations on all its four solutions - Data Archiving (DG), Test Data Management (TDM), Data Masking (DP) and Application Retirement. 

Data archiving saved much storage and improved production performance. We were able to achieve data privatization.

Its data masking feature is very effective and the latest improvisation in this is UMask which I expect to be another powerful add-on.

The Core Optim was much better than the newer front-end release Designer & Manager, which added more complexity. However, the newer release has more elaborate reports.

I have implemented IBM Optim Test Data Management on several clients from the financial and healthcare industries. Dozens of database servers were covered and running RDBMS, like Oracle, MS SQL Server, and DB2.

My clients improved the quality of test data in their non-production environments and the privacy of sensitive information.

Data masking features are the most valuable, as non-production environments are used by diverse parties and data privacy has to be guaranteed.

I would like to be able to combine different masking functions on the same column map, making more complex masking without the need to write a Lua procedure.

• Data masking
• Test data environment setup and management

Makes it really easy to obfuscate big tables involving lots of columns and to manage 100’s of tables without putting in much effort.

Data masking with InfoSphere Optim products creates intermediary extract files and writing the data to persistent storage, which means that extraction, masking, and insertion happen being separate processes, taking more for the process to run.

I have used IBM InfoSphere Optim for five years.

We have not had any stability problems.

We have had some scalability issues.

We previously used IBM DataStage. There is a lot less flexibility in the InfoSphere DataStage Pack compared to the InfoSphere Optim products for selecting a specific subset of data to be masked. DataStage is driven by supplied SQL statements, whereas InfoSphere Optim is driven by traversing the database model and picking up related data elements from a starting point. Optim has more data privacy options.

Initial setup was a bit tedious and time consuming.

It’s very helpful in the mainframe environment.

• Optimizing and automating recurring processes that create and manage non-production environment data.
• Creating right-sized fictionalized test databases.
• Protecting sensitive data in non-production environments: Sensitive data such as national IDs, credit card numbers, email addresses and confidential corporate information can be masked to protect it from misuse and fraud.

This product allowed us comprehensive test data management capabilities for creating right-sized, fictionalized test databases and it accurately provides subsets of referential intact data.

We have been using this solution for six years.

IBM Optim TDM is quite stable. We have never had any stability problems.

IBM Optim solutions are highly scalable. We have never had any scalability issues.

I rate level of technical support a good 7/10.

We didn't use any different solution before.

Initial setup is a little bit complex.

Pricing and licensing models may vary depending on the server infrastructure.

Before choosing this product, we also evaluated Informatica Test Data Management and Oracle Data Masking.

Optim Test Data Management and Privacy solutions help you to create right-sized test databases, automate test processes and mask sensitive data to protect privacy, maximize the accuracy of testing using production data for test purposes.

Data masking with consistency across databases and applications is the most valuable feature.

We only do data masking as of now because it is a compliance requirement. However, the benefits in sub-setting have not been realized yet. No application has availed of the service.

Licensing could be improved. The PVU licensing mechanism is a limiting factor to expanding the use of the tool.

I have been using IBM Optim for five years.

We did have some stability issues.

We did have some scalability issues.

I would give technical support a rating of 7/10.

We did not have a previous solution.

The setup was complex for me, because I am not familiar with ODBC. I have to learn how to use it, in order to connect to different databases.

Discuss the PVU limitations when it comes to extending the service with new apps.

I have no idea if our architecture team looked at alternatives. I started to use the tool as developer.

There are many flavors of Optim. Make sure you understand what you want.