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IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog vs SAP PowerDesigner comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 3, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM InfoSphere Information ...
Ranking in Metadata Management
5th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP PowerDesigner
Ranking in Metadata Management
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Metadata Management category, the mindshare of IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is 5.0%, up from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP PowerDesigner is 4.5%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Metadata Management
 

Featured Reviews

DEVINDRA SINGH CHAUHAN - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly and good for streamlining and organizing data
Sometimes, if the product is new, getting support is difficult and the team was facing some challenges. Though it was managed, later on, I would say if there is some easy support mechanism is there, it would be very good. We'd like the option to have more integration. We have different databases. We have moved our ERP Oracle system and data warehousing system to the cloud, however, we have too many legacy systems. We were not able to integrate with all those legacy systems. However, it's not a critical factor as no product, no new product provides all support for the legacy products. It's not a deal-breaker, let's say.
JorgeSanz - PeerSpot reviewer
Effective in terms of validating everything, but sometimes they don't allow us some flexibility and GUI could improve
I would recommend SAP PowerDesigner to others for data architecture management. It provides all the functionalities in terms of data modeling, so it's also a good tool for that. I see trends in terms of data classification, but I don't see this tool with the intelligence to do that automatically. So, like, with artificial intelligence. Overall, I would rate the solution a six out of ten because there are too many validations. Also, I found some gaps in terms of relationships; they didn't appear when you do reverse engineering. Also, this tool lacks artificial intelligence that should be very good in terms of automatically identifying the classification of elements and maybe also to incorporate some artificial intelligence in providing descriptions for each data element included in the solution.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The graphic flows and the lineage are the most valuable features of this solution."
"The best feature of IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog for me is that it's easy to use and only requires a little bit of manual intervention. Once you discover the data sources, everything flows into the tool automatically, so you do not have to map it manually. There's been a lot of automation in the solution which I like best."
"It is easy to use."
"The ability to create special rules inside the solution using Portuguese is the most valuable feature."
"What I liked about IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is that it seemed to have most of the options that you would want from a government catalog. The features of the product are very rich and comprehensive."
"Working on the roles, actually, is the most valuable aspect."
"Ability to connect with multiple types of sources."
"The solution allows us to leverage a concept called Open IGC to create custom assets and data lineages that are not technologies typically supported by IBM via connectors."
"I've used the reverse engineering feature a lot. I can take a look at the structure of the database and what relationships it has."
"I like the connectivity or the lineage between the models and usability."
"The most valuable features of the solution are it's built very well, easy to use, and simple to describe freely what is needed in logical and physical data models."
"It's a great tool for documentation."
"It offers a lot of features in one solution. You would have to get multiple other products to bundle together all of the capabilities that you get in just this product."
"SAP PowerDesigner is fairly stable."
"The most valuable feature of SAP PowerDesigner is the testing of the models, it has the best function. Reverse engineering is very helpful too."
"Very good repository features."
 

Cons

"They need to improve asset management."
"The solution has performance issues when scaling up small sets of information such as assets and data lineage to the ITC."
"The simplicity of usage could improve. Perhaps the simplicity of use for end users, not for system integrators, but for the user, the end users."
"A complex solution that requires a lot of coding."
"What could be improved in IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is its query tool, including its terms, labels, and reports because the query tool isn't user-friendly. This would also be an additional feature or enhancement in the solution that would make it more attractive to users and would make IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog a really good solution."
"The scalability has room for improvement."
"What I would tell IBM in terms of what needs to change or improve is that the product is too complicated. IBM purchased various components from different vendors over time and certainly in the UK, IBM did not have anybody that had the expertise to be able to get IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog to run properly."
"An area for improvement in IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is that it's missing a lot of connectors. Clients complain about not being able to connect some data sources because there's no available connector, so my company raised that issue with IBM. In some cases, third-party connectors are available, but not for all data sources. Another area that needs improvement in the solution is stability because it also has some stability issues. This is the same issue with the other IBM products bundled with IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog. The solution is connected with IBM Infosphere Information Analyzer and IBM InfoSphere DataStage in my company, so if one has issues with stability, the rest of the products are affected as well."
"Pricing for small consultancies needs improvement. They sustain prices to competing tools. The competing tools tend to do special offers. PowerDesigner SAP doesn't pay much attention to the pricing of it and there are no special offers."
"SAP PowerDesigner can improve the ease of use. It is not the best tool on the market because it is tough to navigate and use. A beginner would not be able to use it well, it requires some experience. If the solution was more user-friendly it would be able to be used by more audiences. I do not think many people are aware of this solution and they should use it."
"I've tried to use Power Designer to bring in images, which didn't work very well at all."
"I have found the solution not easy to use. When publishing you have to download the HTML, make adjustments against the updated HTML, convert it to HTML, then finally paste the HTML. There is not an on-the-fly function available to bypass the step-by-step converting process that other solutions have."
"The tool lags in the area of customer service."
"The portal of SAP PowerDesigner could be better. The tool also needs more features and integration with other products, such as Collibra. It would be interesting for SAP PowerDesigner to have more integration."
"The user interface could be more user-friendly."
"Connectivity can be improved because it's not very good."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is expensive."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"In terms of pricing, I find IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog excessive. It's at the top end of the price range in terms of what you get for your money. It's an expensive product, and contractually, IBM is difficult to deal with. I can't remember the exact cost of IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog, but it could be in the region of three hundred thousand pounds."
"Licensing for IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is per user."
"SAP PowerDesigner is cheaper than eriwin."
"The pricing varies based on functionality and users."
"The price of the solution is too expensive. When we asked for certain licenses in different countries it was unattainable."
"I bought the software outright and do not pay a licensing fee."
"The price of the solution is low."
"The ROI has been 43%."
"Regarding costs, SAP PowerDesigner is pricey, as I've heard from my team manager, which is why the company has been thinking of bringing another solution on board."
"I would like SAP to prove free licenses to professionals that are using the solution. The free version is limited."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
35%
Computer Software Company
10%
Insurance Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
25%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog?
The ability to create special rules inside the solution using Portuguese is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement with IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog?
The scalability has room for improvement. I would like the ability to run the solution from different servers. The price has room for improvement.
What is your primary use case for IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog?
IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is used to integrate and govern our information.
What do you like most about SAP PowerDesigner?
It allows us to have proper documentation in terms of the databases.
What needs improvement with SAP PowerDesigner?
Based on my experience with SAP PowerDesigner, I'd like to see improvements in the DMM feature. Even if I have an ETL tool, I'd like the DMM options to directly connect to ETL tool repositories lik...
 

Also Known As

IBM Information Governance Catalog
Sybase PowerDesigner
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Rabobank, QuadReal Property Group, Jakarta Smart City
Medtronic, Cirque du Soleil, Antarc, B&G Manufacturing, EarlySense, eBay, Ferrero, James Austin Company, Lenovo, Sagem, RAK Ceramics, Vodafone
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog vs. SAP PowerDesigner and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.