The key aspect is ensuring that any policy changes in data governance are translated into rules within Alation. For instance, if a new attribute, such as a private one like SSN, is added to a database, and a policy mandates SSNs be masked for the first eight characters, Alation will enforce that rule uniformly. This ensures that all SSN information columns are properly masked and aligned with the governance policy. Data discovery is best achieved through crawling. If we need to build lineage around it—tracking how data flows from one system to another—some of that is automated. With Alation in place, from a business user's perspective, if they need to derive a calculated field, the system helps track where the data originates. The entire transformation is captured in the data lineage from the source to the actual KPI value. This often involves multiple systems where the same attribute might change. Lineage becomes especially important during regulatory audits, where you're asked to explain how a KPI was derived. If the lineage is built into Alation, retrieving and providing that information is accessible. Without it, you'd have to analyze how the KPI was calculated each time manually. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Alation Data Catalog is another data catalog product gaining momentum in small and medium financial institutions. The solution's data discovery and enabling the data marketplace improves productivity. The solution has an AI-based metadata curation model, but I'm unsure how effective it is. I know Alation Data Catalog has some AI functionalities that they're cataloging to leverage. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
data engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
MSP
Top 20
2024-07-01T12:45:33Z
Jul 1, 2024
I haven't explored the solution's data lineage capabilities much. However, I have heard that there are some difficulties with getting the lineage to work, as it doesn't properly pull the information in. The solution provides automation, metadata descriptions, and tags. I would recommend the solution to other users because it's a stable product and an industry leader. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
We had no issues integrating the solution with Redshift. Alation Data Catalog is a good tool for analytics, but we need to go for some other tools for reporting. Alation Data Catalog is mostly a tool for querying. We need to integrate it with other third-party tools for reporting. Redshift, AWS, and MySQL tools are better than Alation Data Catalog for querying purposes. MySQL and Databricks are visually appealing and faster tools than Alation Data Catalog. Even though Alation Data Catalog is a free tool, we can check other available tools. If other tools perform well, we can choose them over Alation Data Catalog. Overall, I rate the solution a six out of ten.
Vice President at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
2024-02-06T16:21:25Z
Feb 6, 2024
Alation Data Catalog has improved discovery by addressing and searching particular data, including systems, tables, and columns. However, it could have been more helpful in the data governance aspect. They are about to introduce more features in that area. Its knowledge community is active; I rate it an eight. I rate the overall product a seven out of ten.
I'm working with the latest version of Alation Data Catalog. I have seen many tools, and Alation Data Catalog is far better than other data catalog solutions. I recommend every user go through the Alation Data Catalog courses. They have very well-defined videos explaining all the features of Alation Data Catalog. I won't say that Purview has more features than Alation Data Catalog, but customers tend to go for Purview if their platform is on Azure Cloud. Purview won't be expensive if you already have an Azure membership. Overall, I rate Alation Data Catalog an eight out of ten.
I rate Alation Data Catalog 10 out of 10. I've seen many other data catalogs, and I think Alation is better than all of them. My expectations have been met and exceeded. And they bring out new features and functions every quarter. I've never seen a tool like it. Vendors have been saying they've got end-to-end metadata management tools for years, but it's never been the case. This is a fantastic tool. It's easy to use and navigate. It can do just about anything that you want it to in our environment. I don't know what other technical environments are like and how complex they are, but I'd say it's getting better. However, I would caution against expecting benefits from day one. You talk to any sales rep for any tool — whether it's a BI tool or whatever — and they'll always say, "We'll be able to support all your needs within two to three weeks for whatever." I'd be cautious about thinking that Data Catalog can solve all your problems in a short time. It takes a while for new users to understand the breadth and depth of the features and functions, particularly around the machine-learning capabilities and things like that. Prepare yourself because it's going to be a journey. Prepare yourself for Data Catalog to provide no apparent benefits for some period while you're getting used to the tool, getting it implemented, and building it up. You can't just install it, and it's there. You've got to install it and build up the content to be useful. Otherwise, people will look at it, think there's nothing in it, and they'll never come back to it again. So installing it, configuring it, and making it available might be a milestone for tech, but people don't get value immediately. And if they don't know what's in it for them, then they'll turn away. You're probably losing the overall battle if you like. Your success criteria are the amounts of people who use it, come back to it over and over again, and add to it themselves. You need to invest a lot of time before getting to the point where that is the case.
Senior Data Governance Specialist at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
2021-10-14T18:59:00Z
Oct 14, 2021
It's a very effective tool but it helps to do pre-planning, have a good rollout, and architecture strategy place so that you can get the most out of it in a staged and progressive way. Start small and focused so you can provide real and demonstrable value and you can build on that as you go. It's a one-stop-shop type of solution. I would rate Alation a ten out of ten.
Alation pioneered the data catalog market and is now leading its evolution into a platform for a broad range of data intelligence solutions including data search & discovery, data governance, lineage, stewardship, analytics, and digital transformation.
Thanks to its powerful Behavioral Analysis Engine, inbuilt collaboration capabilities, and open interfaces, Alation combines machine learning with human insight to successfully tackle even the most demanding challenges in data and metadata...
The key aspect is ensuring that any policy changes in data governance are translated into rules within Alation. For instance, if a new attribute, such as a private one like SSN, is added to a database, and a policy mandates SSNs be masked for the first eight characters, Alation will enforce that rule uniformly. This ensures that all SSN information columns are properly masked and aligned with the governance policy. Data discovery is best achieved through crawling. If we need to build lineage around it—tracking how data flows from one system to another—some of that is automated. With Alation in place, from a business user's perspective, if they need to derive a calculated field, the system helps track where the data originates. The entire transformation is captured in the data lineage from the source to the actual KPI value. This often involves multiple systems where the same attribute might change. Lineage becomes especially important during regulatory audits, where you're asked to explain how a KPI was derived. If the lineage is built into Alation, retrieving and providing that information is accessible. Without it, you'd have to analyze how the KPI was calculated each time manually. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Alation Data Catalog is another data catalog product gaining momentum in small and medium financial institutions. The solution's data discovery and enabling the data marketplace improves productivity. The solution has an AI-based metadata curation model, but I'm unsure how effective it is. I know Alation Data Catalog has some AI functionalities that they're cataloging to leverage. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
I haven't explored the solution's data lineage capabilities much. However, I have heard that there are some difficulties with getting the lineage to work, as it doesn't properly pull the information in. The solution provides automation, metadata descriptions, and tags. I would recommend the solution to other users because it's a stable product and an industry leader. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
We had no issues integrating the solution with Redshift. Alation Data Catalog is a good tool for analytics, but we need to go for some other tools for reporting. Alation Data Catalog is mostly a tool for querying. We need to integrate it with other third-party tools for reporting. Redshift, AWS, and MySQL tools are better than Alation Data Catalog for querying purposes. MySQL and Databricks are visually appealing and faster tools than Alation Data Catalog. Even though Alation Data Catalog is a free tool, we can check other available tools. If other tools perform well, we can choose them over Alation Data Catalog. Overall, I rate the solution a six out of ten.
Alation Data Catalog has improved discovery by addressing and searching particular data, including systems, tables, and columns. However, it could have been more helpful in the data governance aspect. They are about to introduce more features in that area. Its knowledge community is active; I rate it an eight. I rate the overall product a seven out of ten.
I have gone through the training for Alation Data Catalog. Overall, I rate the product a seven out of ten.
I rate Alation Data Catalog an eight out of ten.
I'm working with the latest version of Alation Data Catalog. I have seen many tools, and Alation Data Catalog is far better than other data catalog solutions. I recommend every user go through the Alation Data Catalog courses. They have very well-defined videos explaining all the features of Alation Data Catalog. I won't say that Purview has more features than Alation Data Catalog, but customers tend to go for Purview if their platform is on Azure Cloud. Purview won't be expensive if you already have an Azure membership. Overall, I rate Alation Data Catalog an eight out of ten.
Alation Data Catalog is more user-friendly for technical users than business users. I would rate it five out of ten.
I rate Alation Data Catalog 10 out of 10. I've seen many other data catalogs, and I think Alation is better than all of them. My expectations have been met and exceeded. And they bring out new features and functions every quarter. I've never seen a tool like it. Vendors have been saying they've got end-to-end metadata management tools for years, but it's never been the case. This is a fantastic tool. It's easy to use and navigate. It can do just about anything that you want it to in our environment. I don't know what other technical environments are like and how complex they are, but I'd say it's getting better. However, I would caution against expecting benefits from day one. You talk to any sales rep for any tool — whether it's a BI tool or whatever — and they'll always say, "We'll be able to support all your needs within two to three weeks for whatever." I'd be cautious about thinking that Data Catalog can solve all your problems in a short time. It takes a while for new users to understand the breadth and depth of the features and functions, particularly around the machine-learning capabilities and things like that. Prepare yourself because it's going to be a journey. Prepare yourself for Data Catalog to provide no apparent benefits for some period while you're getting used to the tool, getting it implemented, and building it up. You can't just install it, and it's there. You've got to install it and build up the content to be useful. Otherwise, people will look at it, think there's nothing in it, and they'll never come back to it again. So installing it, configuring it, and making it available might be a milestone for tech, but people don't get value immediately. And if they don't know what's in it for them, then they'll turn away. You're probably losing the overall battle if you like. Your success criteria are the amounts of people who use it, come back to it over and over again, and add to it themselves. You need to invest a lot of time before getting to the point where that is the case.
It's a very effective tool but it helps to do pre-planning, have a good rollout, and architecture strategy place so that you can get the most out of it in a staged and progressive way. Start small and focused so you can provide real and demonstrable value and you can build on that as you go. It's a one-stop-shop type of solution. I would rate Alation a ten out of ten.