Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) Reviews

We primarily use the solution for digital health and sometimes automation tasks.

The integration of the solution with Oracle is very good. It's nice and easy.

The scalability is great. It's one of the reasons we chose the solution.

The stability is okay.

We found the implementation to be quick and easy.

The resource management aspect of the solution could be improved.

The migration process could be easier.

Technical support could be better. They're okay, however, their service could improve a bit.

The solution could be more reliable.

I've been dealing with the solution for around four years at this point.

The stability of the solution is pretty good. It doesn't crash or freeze on us. We don't have any bugs or glitches. 

We have about 20 people using the solution within our organization. They use it on a daily basis.

We deployed with scalability in mind. We've found it to be quite effective.

We've contacted technical support in the past. They're okay in terms of the service we provide. I would rate them seven out of ten overall. They could be a bit better.

We did previously use a variety of different solutions. So far, this product has been the best option for our organization. It has more features and integration capabilities. It's a bit more complex than other options.

The initial setup of the solution is not complex. It's very straightforward. We found it to be easy.

For simple mapping, deployment only takes about half an hour.

We handle the maintenance ourselves. Occasionally, we may reach out to Oracle for certain tasks, however, largely, we deal with everything maintenance related internally.

We did not need the help of a vendor or integrator. We did do everything on our own.

The solution isn't the most expensive, nor is it the cheapest option. In terms of pricing, it sits somewhere in the middle. Everything is covered under one license. You don't have to buy any add-ons.

We're simply an Oracle customer. We don't have a business relationship with the company.

There's no specific version of the solution that we use.

I wouldn't recommend any other services above Oracle.

Overall, I would rate the solution eight out of ten.

The most important aspect of the product is the ability to work with almost any data source or target. I can readily develop processes that use relational, file, XML, JMS messaging, web and big data sources or targets.

I can control the style of integration through "knowledge modules", and if they don’t do exactly what I want. I can write my own or customize the Oracle supplied ones.

The ability to execute third-party (or in-house developed) Java code by installing JAR files allows a great deal of flexibility; for example, I can add custom processors to do access web APIs that use token based authentication.

Another key feature is that we do not need to pass our data through some form of ETL engine hosted on a server; in some cases for example transforming data within a data warehouse all of the processing is done in single SQL queries thus reducing network traffic.

Finally, the rich SDK supplied with ODI allows developers to create virtually any form of development or deployment automation.

It allows a single skill set to handle virtually all of the data transport and transformation needs of a company. It moves the ETL processing to where the data resides and saves network traffic and the need for dedicated transformation engines - hardware that needs to be purchased, managed and supported.

There needs to better support of external version control software, currently only SVN is present, but I hear the GIT is planned in future patch.

From a DevOps point of view it would be useful to add better separation between ‘code’ and ‘executable’ exports, at the moment a piece of code will contain the embedded executable which bloats any source control objects (this may only be relevant to those the develop their own source and code control processes).

I've been using it for the last 10 years.

We've had no issues with deployment.

12cR2 is a new version, and there are a few issues with stability, but I expect most to be resolved in the first patch.

There have been no issues with the scalability.

I rarely engage with support.

As an independent consultant, I work with other ETL products, and switching is requirement of my employers. However, of the products I used recently (Informatica and Talend), I feel ODI gives me the most flexibility.

Set up of ODI Studio and the ODI repository is relatively simple, it is all done through a single JAR file executable. The complexity comes when you need to create ODI agents - there are three flavors of agent and the best choice of agent will depend on your agent management needs and infrastructure. The ODI agent executes ODI code and interacts with the host OS, typically one agent is sufficient, but more may be needed.

The licensing model has changed a few times over the years - read the Oracle price list or speak to sales.

Plan your ODI infrastructure, especially where data is transformed to ensure you get the best balance between license costs and performance. Get your developers trained in best practices so that avoid unnecessary pit falls.

ODI is integrated with Hyperion Planning, Essbase and other Oracle products. Data transfer is also easy since ODI already knows the metadata of these applications between the different databases. There is also ease of development in terms of the interface and customization with scripts, as well as data lineage and tracking, which are advantages to us.

We hadn’t upgraded in a long time, so all of our business users were creating their own solutions with spreadsheets, for example. We realized we were behind and purchased a whole stack of Oracle products that have simplified the way we move and track data. The accountants enjoy being able to reconcile where the data is and how it is changing. That’s the reason we bought the tool.

It would be nice to improve reconciliation. Additionally, better external authentication support through Microsoft Active Directory would be useful. Right now, it doesn’t support this very well. You have to buy Oracle’s special product instead.

When you start integrating products, it's not that stable. For example, if you upgrade other applications, like Hyperion Planning, it's going to break ODI.

I still need to learn a bit more about scalability in ODI, but I don't think you can scale it like DataStage.

Technical support for ODI has been awful, but I think it differs by product because support for OFSAA is wonderful. When I gave tech support a problem, the answer I got was “Oh. Well, keep testing.”

Initial setup for version 11.1.1.7 of ODI was a little difficult, but installing 12c was really easy.

I haven’t checkout out other solutions, so I don’t know where it scales, but from a developer’s standpoint, I’d give the product a seven or an eight. On infrastructure, I’d bring it down to a five.

The product separates business logic (data mapping) from how data moves from source to target. A Knowledge Module defines the steps to move data from an Oracle DB to SQL Server for example, leaving only the transformation logic for the developer to define. This results in an ability develop transformations more rapidly than say Informatica.

We spend much less time developing integrations because all we need to focus on is the business logic.

The user interface is a little slow. When compared to Informatica, the UI is more intuitive, but because it is Java based, it does hang at times. This can be tuned, but it is something that could be streamlined.

I've been using it for over five years.

There were no issues with the deployment.

We have had no issues with the stability.

It's been able to scale for our needs.

It is adequate.

It is adequate.

I have used a number of ETL tools. I like this one because it is part of Oracle Business Intelligence applications which is my primary focus. I would choose it over Informatica because you can develop more rapidly.

It was straightforward as the installation is fairly easy and well documented.

As with all software, read the installation guide cover to cover before you start.

The ability to extract from multiple sources, the flexibility of using the Knowledge module, and the ergonomics of the GUI are the features I've found most valuable.

Before using ODI, I was forced to develop programs with multiple technologies (Java, Python) to extract data from multiple sources. Now with ODI, I just have to configure the knowledge module to perform the extraction.

I think that job scheduling can be improved.

I've used it for four years.

We've had no deployment issues.

I think that ODI 11g is very stable. I've had no issues with instability.

We've had no issues scaling it for our needs.

I have never contacted customer service or technical support of Oracle for this product. If I have a problem, I try to find a solution from the Oracle community.

I've used Microsoft, but I think that ODI is simpler to use and offers more flexibility.

The initial setup was a little complex because the architecture of the product was blurred, so I needed some weeks to understand it.

I implemented with our in-house team. You should try to have good documentation before using this product.

We use this solution for Data Integration in Data warehouse projects.

This automation using Knowledge Modules has improved our organization.

The most valuable feature that we use is the Knowledge Modules.

The performance of the user interface is in need of improvement.

The user interface for the data integrator tool is probably the most valuable piece. I'm a relatively newcomer to the ODI. We opted to use ODI instead of Informatica. Relatively, I do not have a lot experience with a lot of VARs, but I've been able to understand a lot more about the direction Oracle is heading through the tool. It was very intuitive. It helps to have a good background in data manipulation, but it's very intuitive and has given a good appreciation of what the tool can do.

We use ODI to extract and transform data to load into our data warehouse from our source system, which is Oracle EBS. We have found that it's very efficient; very fast. We can easily customize and review even out-of-the-box analytics that came with Oracle. We’re able to easily go in and modify and correct any anomalies that we have.

Perhaps more learning resources related to ODI would be helpful. I'm not sure if that's what restricted the buy-in. Even though the product has been out for 4-5 years, there are still a lot of people who aren't using it or have opted to stay with Informatica. It could be because there aren't enough self-study or self-research resources related to the product. That surely could be improved in the near term.

We've had it implemented for two years.

Any stability issues I've had, have been related to the data itself. It really depends on how whomever has implemented the product. If it stands up, it works well.

We get very good and very timely response from technical support. Maybe, we just don't have very complicated questions, but we get very, very good response; very quick answers.

We decided to move away from Informatica after we attended an Oracle conference about three years ago. We learned a lot more about where Oracle was going with it. One of the key reasons was not just moving forward with the newer technology; it was also because of the compatibility with the applications we use versus the applications that were available in Infomatica.

We have the capability to extend it to other data sources, all of the non-standard data sources. We don't have to build out huge data structures in order to feed them in through Infomatica. We can read Excel spreadsheets and a bunch of other sources.

As a customer to a consultant team, I was involved in the installation and deployment of ODI. There were some challenges, which was probably due to the relative inexperience of the team that handled it. Eventually, they were able to get through it. Fortunately, my internal team as costumers were also able to do our research and participate in that discovery, too.

You would have to evaluate what your key purpose is, and your existing, internal talent and experience. It's my belief that you should always try to have internal talent that is very confident, rather than having to always rely on consultants. If your talent has the experience in Infomatica – I don't think Infomatica is going anywhere – then it might be the best choice for you. I don’t think your office will fall apart. I think you have to evaluate which one will work for you.

We were new customers to data integration, so we decided to go with newer technology that had already come from the same source.

The main features we use and has helped us to implement our ETL process are

• Data transformation
• In memory engine
• KM customization
• User friendly GUI
• Versioning
• Big Data support
• Security support
• Easy deployment
• Reusable Mapping
• Multiple Target Load
• ELT Architecture
• Application Server support for other vendor servers such as IBM Websphere

The features that we have applied to our project has helped us reduce manual effort and increased our scalability and growth. I worked on multiple domains where requirements were adversely different. We used many ODI features to enhanced our data transformation capability.

I am personally satisfied with current version, however, I think they should be able to provide a feature where we can easily use a configuration tool for TFS, GIT etc. This is essential for code management.

I've been using it for six years.

We have had no issues with the deployment.

There have been no performance issues.

It's been able to scale for our needs.

9/10

8/10

I have not used any other product. However, I have seen other ETL tools in use such as BODS, SOA, and Informatica and I did not like them as I did not that they were user friendly.

It was straightforward. I used an application server for the initial setup and I did not find any challenges.

We performed an in-house one. If you have a technical team for ODI, then they can easily perform any implementation. If not, then you should have the vendor perform your implementation.

10/10

It is not as costly as other ETL tools.

You should use Oracle Data Integrator for your data transformation, or at the very least give it a try.