What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution to embed reports. We are using it as a server to share our embedded reports.
How has it helped my organization?
In terms of reporting, it gives us a central place to store all our reports. We can also do version control. Instead of just relying on emails to disperse our reports, having a central server to do this for us has helped our organization and has pushed us into a better place. It's simplified our reporting.
We can test. There's room for testing reports before you deploy to other users and so forth. Just that functionality as well as their dashboards and the statistics you can collect on the usage of Knowage also helps our organization function effectively.
What is most valuable?
The solution is open-source and free to use.
The embedding feature is great. That's the most useful tool that we are getting out of Knowage. We also use a lot of Jasper reports in our ERP system. The fact that you can also deploy Jasper reports using Knowage is helpful.
We can also embed Knowage into our own applications. We've embedded it into our own ERP system.
What needs improvement?
The integration could be better. We've been struggling a bit with embedding it without the need to log on.
The dashboard components could be better. They could do a lot more. If you compare it with Power BI, for example, then you can see that they can do a lot more and have more components on the other side. If they could increase their components and then just reduce the bugs that come with the components as well it would be so much better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for three years now. It's been a while.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
For the most part, it's very stable. We've been growing as an organization, up to now, and it doesn't stress us out a lot. In terms of resource usage, like most Java systems, they tend to take up a lot of resources.
The solution does have some bugs that need to be dealt with.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have had to move to better cloud environments to have it running for a larger organization, however, in terms of its scalability, it has been impressive.
We have 100 to 120 users on the solution currently. They are mostly in sales and finance.
I wouldn't be privy to information about if the company will increase usage. We've been using it for the last few years. However, we definitely intend to keep going with probably only the Community Edition. We've got a lot out of it. Maybe somewhere down the line, we might go into the enterprise edition.
How are customer service and support?
In terms of technical support, it's available. Since it's an open-source solution, we do have communities we can consult in terms of getting help. Since we don't use the enterprise edition, we're not entitled to too much. However, the community out there as well as the stack overflow offers enough support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before Knowage we were using SpagoBI. Aside from that, we're also using Power BI, however, with the costs related to Power BI and the flexibility, Knowage is way more affordable. With Power BI you are looking at $10 a user. With Knowage, if you can get the dashboards right, if you can implement reports properly, then it doesn't cost you a thing.
How was the initial setup?
I know the initial setup is pretty straightforward. It doesn't take a long time to deploy. Even on your own personal computer, when you want to try it out, it doesn't take too long to get it running.
For the initial setup, I'd say it's maybe a four out of five in terms of how easy it is.
You need to add these Java dependencies and so forth, which can be a bit boring, however, it's almost perfect.
To deploy Knowage usually takes about a day. In terms of the implementation strategy, it's just following the instructions that they give us on the installation and then just knowing how to handle the process. Usually, there is a group of engineers who do that for us and manage the server itself. If a team is knowledgeable, then it doesn't take a long time. When you need a new instance, it's very quick. The implementation strategy is based on just following instructions on the installation process from Knowage.
For deployment and maintenance, we need just maybe two people simply to monitor the traffic coming in. However, it's maintained by people who were doing other jobs like maintaining our other server. They just monitor the Knowage server and make sure that it's up and running and that there are no bugs. There are not too many bugs coming out from the debugger.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the implementation in-house ourselves. We didn't need any assistance from integrators or consultants.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's an open-source product; we use the open-source edition for Knowage.
What other advice do I have?
We are just customers and end-users.
We're using the latest version of the solution.
I'd advise new users to give it a go. They need to be patient with the whole open-source package, however. It takes time to get up and going the way you want it to. It's not out of the box. Once you have it going, it's a sure way to save money and allow you to be innovative with your reporting. You can do a lot of things with Knowage that you wouldn't be able to do with other traditional reporting sites.
It being open-source and very easy to configure, I'd give it a rating of seven out of 10. It's very usable. For us, we've managed to find the proper use case for it, as our system is also Java-based.
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.
