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Tech Lead at Complete Enterprise Solutions
Real User
Scalable and stable with excellent technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is very stable. We haven't faced any issues with glitches or bugs. We haven't had any crashes."
  • "The pricing of the solution needs to be improved. They need to work to make it more affordable."

What is most valuable?

The interface of the solution is great. You don't need to be an experienced analytics person to work with the product. Even new users can do all sorts of modeling on the data. 

The data-cleaning aspect of it is awesome. 

You can put together different data sets from different environments and different platforms. SAS Data Management takes a lot of data sets, and you can do any sort of analysis on them. It's very, very comprehensive.

What needs improvement?

The pricing of the solution needs to be improved. They need to work to make it more affordable.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. We haven't faced any issues with glitches or bugs. We haven't had any crashes.

Buyer's Guide
SAS Data Management
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about SAS Data Management. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There are very few limitations to the scalability of the product. Organizations with hundreds of thousands of customers or millions of customers use this solution. It scales very well. The support is good.

How are customer service and support?

We're very satisfied with technical support. SAS works very closely with its partners. When any issues come up, they're very quick to respond. You really can't run the products without their support, in any case. You have to rely on their expertise.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It's very easy to implement everything.

Usually, SAS will directly give an organization all the deployment plans. You come up with the scope of the work together with them, you work together with them, and you typically have a project manager that oversees everything. It's just a very smooth deployment.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented the solution with the assistance of SAS.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is very expensive.

What other advice do I have?

We're a SAS partner.

We don't use the solution ourselves but we implement it for customers.

We only work with enterprise-level organizations as they would be the only types of companies that could afford the solution.

I would highly recommend the solution to other organizations. It's a very solid platform. It's hard to knock it down.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
it_user275229 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager MDM with 1,001-5,000 employees
MSP
It's streamlined our vendor master-data approach, but it needs native or more efficient SAP integration.

What is most valuable?

Data quality and the great integration possibilities.

How has it helped my organization?

It's streamlined our vendor master-data approach. It has become more reliable and more efficient.

What needs improvement?

Native SAP integration or more efficient SAP is needed.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for three years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

System requirements could be clearer.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No, it is a very stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No, however we spend time analyzing our system upfront.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

8/10.

Technical Support:

7/10.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did, but nothing specifically for MDM.

How was the initial setup?

It's straightforward and you can be up and running in a few days.

What about the implementation team?

We used a mixed team.

What was our ROI?

It's less than two years.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Their software pricing offers the best value for money on the market.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, we also looked at SAP MDM and Informatica.

What other advice do I have?

Data integration is the difficult part of the implementation. The basic setup is quick and is very easy.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
SAS Data Management
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about SAS Data Management. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1268517 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of BI at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Very powerful, offers a variety of outputs and has good technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "If you compare it to SQL, the memory and development times are very quick."
  • "We find we often have to go back and re-train users when there are changes made to the solution because the changes are not intuitive."

What is our primary use case?

We have customers that are typically in the finance sector and include banking and insurance companies. They require us to align or integrate their existing data warehouse into all the processes that feed into the data warehouse. We clean the data and create reports for the clients. Typically, they are visual in nature and may include Excel or PowerPoint. The solution allows for a great variety of output in the reports we provide to our clients. 

What is most valuable?

The language is the most valuable feature within the solution. It's very flexible and very powerful. 

If you compare it to SQL, the memory and development times are very quick.

Trying to develop the code is very easy.

What needs improvement?

SAS Institute build its solutions starting from the basic modules of the platform. So each solution consists of these basic modules plus some dedicated parts that are usually quite small. To adapt to the market which is rapidly evolving, SAS often changes these packages or solutions. These changes can involve both the functionality and the interfaces and the names of the applications. This sometimes creates confusion among users, both end users and consultants.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this SAS solution for more than 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Excellent stability for the language and many basic component (libraries). For the newer components they need time (as usual for all software vendor).

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

SAS is strong scalable, I have used on very little server that during the time have grown to huge. I can say that with SAS this is not a problem.

How are customer service and technical support?

SAS offers different levels of support. All are quite good quality. If you have a problem, they're right there to assist. We find them very useful and have been satisfied with the level of service we've received.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I've worked with Oracle in the past as well as Python and other solutions. I find SAS the most productive and reliable.

How was the initial setup?

Whether the setup is straightforward or complex often depends on the model used. Some models are very easy to implement. Others are much more complex. We have team members who specialize in installation for our clients and we choose the model that will best fit with their needs.

In terms of deployment, once again, the length of time and complexity depends on the project. Some customers need an installation done on 100 servers. However, typically, within two to five days we'll have the platform up and fully functioning. It only really takes one person to handle the deployment.

What about the implementation team?

We handle the implementation for our clients.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is quite expensive. It's not cheap but it's very powerful. Therefore, most businesses can't afford to use this particular product. But, good news, SAS in putting on the market solutions at a more affordable price.

What other advice do I have?

We're a gold partner with SAS and we typically use the latest versions of the solutions we have with them.

Most of our clients are enterprise-level organizations. Smaller companies may find using SAS difficult because the pricing is quite high.

The best advice I can give to other organizations contemplating installation is to find someone who knows the solution very well. SAS as a platform is very, very powerful but it is very complex as well. It's complicated to use properly. It's also difficult to learn the systems. If a company finds someone who understands the solution well, however, they can get a lot out of its offerings. 

No project is simple. All projects have some level of complexity in their data, so having data integration or management isn't enough. It's necessary to use code. Visual instruments are not enough. That's why SAS is great.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten. I've worked with many other solutions in the past, but I find that, for the warehouse and BI environment, SAS is very quick, very intuitive, very, very powerful, and very valuable. I've used a huge amount of data on servers that were not good enough. Also, when you're looking at other technologies, like Python, they can be much more difficult and take more time to develop. This product, however, can work miracles. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
it_user154305 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal & Manager at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Consultant
Data Governance needs specific tools, don't try to survive with user written codes

What is most valuable?

National Quality Knoledge Base
Matching features
QPI (Quality Performance Indicator) analysis approach

How has it helped my organization?

High performances in matching tool

What needs improvement?

ETL functions

For how long have I used the solution?

Since 2012

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Proprietary programming language

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Not at all

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No, high integration level with SAS

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

High

Technical Support:

High

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Informatica Powercenter
Lack of data quality governance features

How was the initial setup?

Complex, as usual with SAS

What about the implementation team?

The vendor team was from SAS, high level of expertise

What was our ROI?

High
Consider that, for Data Governance, the meaning of ROI may be Risk Of Inactions

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

IBM QualityStage

What other advice do I have?

Data Governance needs specific tools, don't try to survive with user written codes

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user4518 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Databases at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
Access data from across the enterprise with this high end solution

Valuable Features:

• In my previous employer we used the DataFlux suite of data quality, data integration and data governance solutions. It provided us cross-functional data management. • Great for ETL, CDC, data federation, RT data flow. Works with cloud and big data environments. • It enabled us to access and use data sources from across our enterprise in order to maintain a consistent set of policies for managing our data. • We had a single and unified view of our enterprise data by using its MDM component.

Room for Improvement:

Costly. Not great for non-ETL use cases. Licensing model is not very flexible.

Other Advice:

I like the fact that with DataFlux you can standardize and merge multiple records in a database such as people's names and locations. DataFlux in my opinion is an excellent high end solution for enterprise wide data management.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1268517 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of BI at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Quick, reliable, powerful data management
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool is reliable, quick, and powerful."
  • "The solution is quite expensive and hard to install/configure."

What is our primary use case?

I am an IT specialist manager and we work within the SAS Data Management on a daily basis.

What is most valuable?

The tool is reliable, quick, and powerful.

What needs improvement?

The solution is quite expensive and hard to install/configure.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for 25 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The platform is stable.

How are customer service and support?

I think that they offer good support and have a good knowledge about the platform - especially second level reps. I have been working with them for over twenty years and am on a first name basis with some of the reps.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is quite complex. We had one person set this up and manage it. Initial deployment can take up to five or more days depending on the level of complexity (i.e. is grid computing involved?).

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The tool is a bit expensive.

What other advice do I have?

Customers should have knowledge about SAS language - the basic for the platform - and SQL - in order to export the data to read from an external rational database. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user149697 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
We switched from SAP BODS to Dataflux as Dataflux has good data profiling and data standardization capabilities.

I've been using DataFlux for 3 years. We switched from SAP BODS to Dataflux as Dataflux has good data profiling and data standardization capabilities. Since then, we have implemented many Data Standardization and Data enrichment Projects using Dataflux and have found that the most important features are its data profiling capabilities and ease of use. We implemented in-house- setup was very simple. Technical support and customer services are good - 4 out of 5.

QKB customization and Integration of Dataflux with Other Tools like MDM/ETL etc., has room for improvement. Over the last 3 years we haven't experienced any issues when it comes to stability, scalability or deployment. Overall, it's an easy solution to use and is a highly stable product with good data profiling and standardization capabilities.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user231147 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user231147Associate at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor

Hi, We are currently using SAP DS for address and name standardization purposes; our client wants to evaluate whether there is any other product on the market which can do better. The question I have is, how good is the address cleansing, parsing and enrichment capability of the DataFlux? Also, does it provides the data coverage for all the global countries?

Any suggestion will be useful for my analysis.

Thanks

reviewer992760 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Consultant at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Consultant
Good monitoring but needs better stability and more documentation
Pros and Cons
  • "The product offers very good flexibility."
  • "The solution could use better documentation."

What is our primary use case?

I primarily use the solution to compare the Computer Associate of Outcome with the data management program.

What is most valuable?

The monitoring capabilities are very good.

The product offers very good flexibility.

What needs improvement?

The stability could be a bit better. It's lacking in this area right now.

The solution could use better documentation.

It would be nice if the solution offered better training and certification for the product itself to ensure people know the ins and outs of every aspect.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've only been using the solution for a few weeks. It hasn't been that long yet.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of the product is okay. However, occasionally we do face some instability issues. It's not 100% perfect in that regard.

How are customer service and technical support?

I haven't directly dealt with technical support, however, it's my understanding that the solution should offer faster, more responsive support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I'm not sure which company we used before we used this solution. It's my understanding, however, that they did not properly meet the client's demands and therefore we needed to find a new solution, which was this current product.

How was the initial setup?

The installation was pretty straightforward. It wasn't that difficult. I wouldn't describe the process as complex.

My colleague and I can both handle deployment by ourselves. You might need as many as four people to handle deployment. We also handle maintenance and take care of some of our customers.

What about the implementation team?

Typically our team handled the installation in-house. We don't need the assistance of outside consultants or integrators. We can perform the task ourselves.

What other advice do I have?

I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using currently.

We have about 100 users on the solution currently.

We do plan to continue to use the product.

I would recommend the solution to other organizations. In general, I would rate the solution at a six out of ten. There are still some elements that need to be improved in future releases.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SAS Data Management Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SAS Data Management Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.