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About PowerCenter

Informatica PowerCenter to Cloud enables companies to migrate PowerCenter workloads to Informatica's Intelligent Data Management Cloud.

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Pros:

PowerCenter also has other additional features like the ability to profile data, visualize graphical data flow etc. Data validation can also be done very easily using the validation feature.

Cons:

There is no actual CONS that I have seen with tool.

PowerCenter ratings

Average score

Ease of Use
4.2
Customer Service
4.1
Features
4.4
Value for Money
4.0

Likelihood to recommend

8.2/10

PowerCenter has an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 41 user reviews on Capterra.

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Filter reviews (41)

Abhisha
Abhisha
Volunteer in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Higher Education, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Good ETL tool

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: I was using Informatica PowerCenter as an ETL to to feed data into Teradata datawarehouse that houses customer information for an insurance company.

Pros:

Informatica PowerCenter is a good ETL tool for users who wish to develop a datawarehouse but do not have much programming experience. It has a nice interface where the user can simply drag and drop to create a data flow. It is very intuitive and user friendly.

Cons:

PowerCenter is a heavy software and installation is not a trivial task. It uses a lot of memory and it could crash the system if it does not have enough resources.

Manali
Software engineer in India
Information Technology & Services, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Good but require to inbuilt multiple function

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: It's good but yeah not too good

Pros:

1. Drag and drop services 2. Easily maintain 3. Run multiple batch jobs 4. Define methods with logistics

Cons:

1. Can't schedule in workflow 2. Job running status logs are too long 3. Doesn't have parallel off functionality 4. Can't be sync with repository automatically

Joan
Joan
Head of Data in Spain
Verified LinkedIn User
Financial Services, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

POWERCENTER: The old legacy to be avoided

2.0 last year

Pros:

If you are a PowerCenter expert you can do almost any data transformation.

Cons:

It is very complex and difficult to use. Super expensive and with minimal suport.

Sri Ramani
QA MANAGER LEAD in US
Information Technology & Services, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Ease to use

5.0 7 years ago

Comments: Ease to work

Pros:

It Works vwell with large structured data files PowerCenter processes input files, performs specified transformations, and maps the input data format to the output data format very quickly. The PowerCenter backend implementation seems to be optimized to process and map structured input records to structured output records and load the records into a database. One of the strengths of PowerCenter is performance of processing petabytes of structured input data files. PowerCenter does not require a software development experience or education. After providing initial hands-on training, the data consultants (who are statisticians, subject matter experts) in our organization were able to implement data ingest and data transformation tasks fairly easily. PowerCenter supports multiple DBMS technologies (for example, Oracle, Netezza). This flexibility allows it to be used by multiple departments within AT&T organization.

Cons:

PowerCenter processes input files, performs specified transformations, and maps the input data format to the output data format very quickly. The PowerCenter backend implementation seems to be optimized to process and map structured input records to structured output records and load the records into a database. One of the strengths of PowerCenter is performance of processing petabytes of structured input data files. PowerCenter does not require a software development experience or education. After providing initial hands-on training, the data consultants (who are statisticians, subject matter experts) in our organization were able to implement data ingest and data transformation tasks fairly easily. PowerCenter supports multiple DBMS technologies (for example, Oracle, Netezza). This flexibility allows it to be used by multiple departments within our organization.

Sriram
Software Engineer in India
Information Technology & Services, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Awesome Tool

5.0 7 years ago

Pros:

When joining Informatica I have to say, the whole process was a very nice and comforting transition. I was very impressed by level of care, focus and how they approached the recruitment process. The Human resources and Management team are a really great bunch of people and I believe we made the right choice together. They gave me confidence in how the company is run, they were clear and concise on how the company structure works and what the expectations are. The company progression is great, already I'm gaining more responsibility and growing and learning more about the industry, so on this I would certainly recommend Informatica as a prospect to anyone looking for an Innovative, Positive, growing and fun company to work for

Cons:

Scheduler tools can manage dependencies accross many systems and environments. For instance you can configure it so that your informatica job only runs after the successful completion of some other system's windows job and/or another system's batch job.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Information Technology & Services, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Informatica - Performance with ease

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: I have been working on the tool since last 8+ years and the tool has never failed me.
I could design almost everything i could think of in terms of data flow and transformations.

Pros:

The ease of development, debugging, migrating and maintaining the code. Heavy duty performer and can scale to perform multi-threading.

Cons:

It does not have strong ELT features or market - so cannot leverage the high computing capability. Still based out of legacy ETL process which needs to be migrated.

Nikki
Data Analyst in Canada
Government Administration, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

PowerCenter in Data Integration & BI

4.0 9 months ago

Comments: I like it. we use it for daily batch load monitoring, issue debug and etc. However, it's super hard to upgrade from Informatica PowerCenter to IICS.

Pros:

multiple tools available for development, support and troubleshoot - workflow monitor, workflow manager, workflow designer, repository manager, etc.

Cons:

it's not an easy job to track back from target to source

Aniket
Aniket
Systems Integration Sr. Analyst in Mexico
Verified LinkedIn User
Information Technology & Services, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Informatica PowerCenter ETL Tool

4.0 6 years ago

Comments: I have used Informatica PowerCenter data masking module for masking Production data in the TEST and DEVELOPMENT environments. It has worked out pretty well.

Pros:

Informatica PowerCenter is a user friendly tool.

Cons:

The price of Informatica PowerCenter tool is a bit high

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Informatica Power center

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: Overall as a data analyst. Informatica is the one of the best etl tool to be used nowadays.

Pros:

The best thing about informatica power center is that we can use it with multiple source types.

Cons:

I guess the GUI can be improved as it is less user friendly or you can say boring.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Market leader in ETL

5.0 6 years ago

Pros:

Drag and drop function is easy for the developers and users to complete development faster. Powerful out of box functions are added advantage.

Cons:

Initially the licensing was a bit expensive however with competition from market helped make competitively priced.

natasha
IT Analyst in US
Information Technology & Services, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Informatica for every ETL demand

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: Informatica has simplified PowerCenter integration with power exchange, data quality, metadata management and data discovery tools. I highly recommend this tool for all your ETL processes.

Pros:

PowerCenter is being used across the organization for all our ETL needs weather to load data from different sources, collect data from different flat file or integrate multiple systems for reporting requirement. This is the best and easiest tool for pulling data from source systems, modifying it and load to target system. It also provide the best performance when processing huge data in batch PowerCenter supports various DBMS technologies for e.g: Oracle, Netezza. This flexible nature of it allows it to be used by multiple departments. And last but not ;least it is very easy to learn and use

Cons:

There is no or less password encapsulation in this software rest everything is great.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Information Technology & Services, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

One of the best ETL ( Extract, Transform, Load) Tools

4.0 5 years ago

Pros:

1. Able to process a huge record size. In the latest project, we used Informatica to load approx 5 Million records daily. There were no performance issues due to the data size. 2. . PowerCenter has very easy to use drag and drop interface which can be used in integration with other applications. 3. Good tool to manage legacy data and to make compatible with modern applications. 4. PowerCenter also has other additional features like the ability to profile data, visualize graphical data flow etc. Data validation can also be done very easily using the validation feature.

Cons:

There is a huge licensing fee which is worth it as the product is one of the best ETL tools, but projects which smaller budget find it challenging to justify the cost.

Sagar
BI Lead in US
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Strong ETL Tool for your data warehousing need

5.0 6 years ago

Pros:

Powercenter by Informatica is a strong ETL tool which has all the features and functionality making it the best choice for your data warehouse needs. The GUI interface makes designing a mapping super-easy. The tool contains various transformation that can be used to translate your business needs

Cons:

There is no actual CONS that I have seen with tool. Have been using it for so many years and I am completely happy with it.

krystal
na in US
Health, Wellness & Fitness, 5,001–10,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Great Product for All Medium to Large Companies

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: I have been using it 15 plus years to development, installation administration - all aspects

Pros:

It allows you to integrate multiple datasets from different sources.

Cons:

What I like the least about this software is the costs of the licensing.

Saurabh
Manager in US
Information Technology & Services, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Informatica

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: I like ease of working with this software but would prefer Informatica to focus more on Data Science

Pros:

Easy to Learn Multiple connectors for data transfer Handles multiple data sources IDQ and Informatica MDM were real game changer compared to other ETL tools

Cons:

Not so compatible with upcoming technologies for Big Data and Data Science. Informatica cloud needs to be marketed more and made compatible like Powecenter

Sarathy
MTS in US
Information Technology & Services, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Informatica Powercenter

5.0 8 years ago

Comments: I have using Informatics Powercenter for ETL and data integration needs for the past 12 years and its one of the best tool available in the market.

Pros:

It can connect to almost all types for sources and targets, it has so many built in transformations which can be readily used to meet the business needs.

Cons:

Its performance when dealing with huge volume of data is not that great when compared to Ab-initio. Also, its very expensive.

Siddharth
Senior ETL Developer in US
Financial Services, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Best ETL tool

5.0 3 years ago

Pros:

Easy to integrate with any DB, flat file. Core concepts are very similar to sql. Very easy to understand the flow of data from source to target.

Cons:

No auto refresh functionality. Lack of a Script to automatically generate the parameter file.

Daniel
Daniel
Architect IT in Spain
Information Technology & Services, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

A complete integration platform with a high focus on ETL/ELT processes

4.0 8 years ago

Comments: If you need to do a fast ETL/ELT process and you do not want complications, this is your application. Informatics (on-premises) is quick to deploy and you can start to develop your process really quickly. The Informatica Knowled Base is very complete and you can find in it some templates to use.
In all the development process, you can see and following the data per each transformation. You can launch a part of the process, simulating the data output.
The quality of the solution is fantastic and his support is great, they usually respond to a problem in hours.

Pros:

Great support and knowledge base. Easy to learn

Cons:

Currently the managing of EII processes (like Restful or SOAP) are not well supported by the on-premise solution.

Raviteja
Data Warehouse Architect in US
Leisure, Travel & Tourism, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Used to be the best ETL tool, has to catchup alot with new Cloud services

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: So far the best ETL tool I have used.

Pros:

This tool has so many functionalities and options to use for data flow and transformations

Cons:

Didn't meet my expectations when tried to use it along with other Cloud AWS services

Lakshmi
Consultant in US
Computer Software, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Informatica Powercenter Experience

4.0 8 years ago

Comments: I am working on Informatica Power Center since 2000 as I have a good amount of expertise with this tool.

Pros:

Ease of Use

Cons:

Too many tools

Darpan
Darpan
Tech Lead - Development in US
Information Technology & Services, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

User friendly tool for ETL developer

4.0 6 years ago

Comments: PowerCenter is an great tool for ETL if it involves multiple kind of data sources / targets.

Pros:

One of the Important pro is that GUI interface is very easy to use and understand. I have used other ETL tool like SSIS but Informatica PowerCenter helps developing ETL is easiest way. Transformation works great and efficiently.

Cons:

When compared with SSIS, informatica PowerCenter doesn't perform well when source and/or target database is SQL Server. However that is understood because SSIS and SQL Server both are native to Microsoft. Sometimes the buffer space gets filled quickly even if lookup query doesn't seem to be heavy. Just as a suggestion - It would have been great if there was a inbuilt performance tuning tool that could suggest way to improve mapping performance.

Scott
US
Used the Software for: Not provided
Reviewer Source

Powerful ETL Tool with Steep Learning Curve

4.0 8 years ago

Comments: Informatica is known to have a love/hate relationship with the majority of its users. The main reason for this is the steep learning curve of its vast amount of features. A lot of the features are very "hidden" without a knowledge both deep and wide of the software. Other than with lengthy experience, it is very hard to understand how to tackle a lot of specific problems. However, the majority of the solutions it can provide are very straight forward and can be created very quickly. There is very good customer support provided with the product but the code Informatica is built on is old and a lot of features that the community desires cannot be added. This does not necessarily take away from the functionality but more the overall quality since the product will someday be too out of date. In conclusion, it is one of the best ETL tools and is great value but its main issue is the steep learning curve that will still hit you every couple months.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Insurance, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Best tool in Market

4.0 5 years ago

Pros:

It's level details about the issue and various tool for each activities

Cons:

We require a better system configuration to support the software there is no lighter version of it

Srinivas
Software Engineer in US
Information Technology & Services, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

PowerCenter

5.0 5 years ago

Pros:

Excellent for ETL (extract, transform, load) use cases.

Cons:

User Interface tool is a large process. There are atleast few tools which have to opened to finish an ETL job

Michael
Associate in US
Information Services, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Great ETL Tool - Better if you're Informatica savvy

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: Powercenter is a great standalone application but the way the entire informatica suite is divided into multiple licenses, this is a system you need to understand and be okay with

Pros:

Very flexible tool - have yet to find something I couldn't accomplish with it SQL input capability

Cons:

Packaged solution, so you're better off buying the other Informatica tools with it - this can make it a rather expensive solution