TIBCO Spotfire Reviews

Ability to connect to multiple databases. This is important because our company uses many different database solutions across the functional and geographic areas of the organization. Spotfire can map to all of them.

In-memory interactive capability to work with the data. The tool is relatively easy to use without any training, but has many features to slice and dice data in sophisticated ways.

No row/column limitations. Many of our datasets of interest have tens of millions of rows and hundreds to thousands of columns. Spotfire handles these situations with relative ease.

Many users have developed dashboards for management review that are now automatically generated, as opposed to something that requires many hours per week or month.

Some people are using Spotfire to provide analysis updates in meetings as opposed to using static PowerPoint slide decks. This allows for more interaction with the data, as ad-hoc questions can be answered by manipulating Spotfire to display data as requested.

Expert users can deploy analytic platforms for data that are periodically generated, which less-experienced analysts can then use to make good decisions. For example, yield review of batches of material received in manufacturing.

The original version of the system was called DecisionSite, which we installed in 2004. We have maintained continuous capability since that time as the tool has changed over the years.

No specific deployment, stability or scalability issues. We have a dedicated admin who maintains the servers, installs patches, and updates Spotfire to major new revisions as they become available. We have encountered issues and have got them corrected as necessary, but overall the platform is very stable. We have facilities across the world that are using it, so it is generally available 24-7. The Web Player version is heavily utilized, which has required hardware upgrades over the years to keep performance up.

Technical support is acceptable, but not superior. Sometime after TIBCO purchased Spotfire (the company), they outsourced support to Perkin-Elmer. For minor problems, P-E is capable of finding solutions, but problems that require more detailed knowledge of the tool often take very long to resolve. P-E has to go back to TIBCO for assistance in these cases.

We had a number of different tools, some off-the-shelf and some home-grown, before we chose Spotfire. When we decided to look into other options, we evaluated several tools in addition to Spotfire. We eventually chose Spotfire based upon a detailed comparison of its capabilities against the other contenders, including the features mentioned elsewhere in this review.

The installation itself was fairly straightforward, but building up the database connection infrastructure has been an ongoing process. Although it is not problematic in the sense of having issues or bugs, it requires someone with good relational database skills to optimize the Information Model.

There are many tool configuration options that can be set during installation. Most of the default options appear to work well, although we have found a few that required modification in order to optimize the platform to our specific IT infrastructure and user preferences.

We installed Spotfire in two distinct phases: initially, when it was DecisionSite, using an on-site Spotfire team for the heavy lifting, and then a second round when the current version of Spotfire was released. The second round was mostly performed by our in-house admin, with support from Spotfire. This all happened before Spotfire was purchased by TIBCO.

One claim to fame made by Spotfire is that doing sophisticated analyses does not require a team of IT professionals. This spreads the burden of report generation and ad-hoc analyses to the experts in the data itself, which we have definitely seen to be a benefit. We can use the tool without having to write detailed requirements, learning and experimenting as we go before setting up validated dashboards and other reports.

Find first-adopters and enthusiasts in your organization. If you have data, these folks exist. Let them play around with the tool, and then leverage their acquired skills to evangelize.

On a per-user basis, we are saving several hours per week of analysis time. This has been especially impactful for analysts who had been spending as much as 20% to 50% of their time managing and summarizing data each week, and who now have time to generate more detailed analyses in less time. This leads to better insights into the data, and has resulted in more targeted actions to address improvement opportunities.

For ad-hoc analyses, Spotfire allows us to manage much larger datasets than we had ever been able to look at before. This has led to many breakthroughs in productivity, customer focus, supplier management, issue resolution, etc. It is difficult to quantify these situations, but in many cases, we believe we reach solutions faster with Spotfire than we would have done otherwise. In one specific case during our initial evaluation, a large team had been working on a manufacturing yield issue for a month without nailing down the root cause. We decided to apply Spotfire (then DecisionSite) to the data, and literally within 15 minutes we had narrowed the problem down to a specific piece of equipment at a supplier facility. What made this possible was the ease with which we could aggregate the data in ways we had not been able to do without Spotfire.

For licensing, try to obtain as broad a user base as possible. TIBCO offers a variety of licensing schemes, including less-costly individual licenses for the view-only version called Web Player. In order for that tool to be useful, you will need a number of people who are experts in Spotfire Professional to deploy analytic solutions.

There are many options available that are built upon the Spotfire platform (S+, Operations Analytics, Lead Discovery, Cloud, etc.); make sure you review the capabilities of each before deciding which to include.

Determine how organized your internal data sources are, and then put together a strategy for how to build the Spotfire Information Model that will best utilize these resources. Unless you are very confident in your ability to execute, do not attempt to consolidate all of your data sources into one large warehouse. Spotfire works very well with many individual databases, so you may find that a better solution is to construct specific analytical tools within Spotfire that aggregate the data on-demand.

We have a small cadre of individuals who host a weekly online training session. Users can call in with specific questions about analyses they are currently performing. We have found this extremely beneficial in improving the level of Spotfire skill across the corporation. It only takes a handful of people to make this work, and the time investment is minimal, so it’s well worth the effort.

The following features are the most valuable to me:

• The ability to analyze your data quickly
• Extensibility: Quintus consultants develop QuintusVisuals and custom extensions using the Spotfire SDK.

In a previous job, I implemented a signaling system for calls coming in from the first line support desk. I placed Spotfire on top of a small live data sheet. It reloaded Spotfire with an external script and exported the analysis to HTML. After that, another script (created by a co-worker) ran to extract the contents and place the items in an automated web page, where tabs were switched every couple of seconds.

This tool was even able to run in the Network Operation Center on a big screen.

I'd like to see the following improvements:

• Configuration options (properties screens are too crowded)
• Licensing system: Make it more clear or get rid of the special groups and their special tick boxes that can only activate on that specific group.
• Enhance multiple scales in line and bar charts to grouped scales (group numerical, percentage etc. columns).

I have used this solution for about seven years.

In the recent version of Spotfire, 7.5 or 7.6, I was able to corrupt my webplayer services deployment with no way to restore it. I had to re-install it. Luckily, this is very quick to do.

Technical support provided very fast response times and helpful people. Excellent.

Initial setup was a straightforward process.

Because we are a Spotfire partner, we have the ability to deploy Spotfire in-house.

I tried to evaluate a version of Tableau but it felt hard to configure and not as easy as I’m used to with Spotfire.

It’s a business tool, but it’s always a good thing to have IT stand behind your decision when implementing it.

In my opinion, TIBCO Spotfire is the best tool that really serves the business analysis needs.

The feature most valuable to me is the incorporation of analytical techniques such as K-Means and ETL.

Reporting and dashboarding became quite easy. It is much faster and more robust than other BI or visualisation tools.

I would like to see the following improvements:

• Multiple Interactive Layers
• More Built-In Visualisations.
• Dropdown and Hierarchy Filtering

I have used the solution for two years.

We did not encounter any issues with deployment, stability, or scalability.

Customer service and technical support are good.

I have used Tableau for the same amount of time. Spotfire has its own advantages in transforming data and analytical functions.

The initial setup is complex when you use Spotfire Server.

A vendor team implemented the solution.

It provides a great ROI.

Pricing is just fine.

Self-service analytics and easy visualisation are the most valuable features of this product to me. It shows where you are fetching data from, in the same way that you like to have a data model for a database. If you made a mistake in building a table, you need to start all over, there is no way to change it. That takes a lot of time.

This saves time in the analysis of the data structure and in fixing issues in the data structure of data tables.

It gives us better insight into data, taking things out of Excel and sharing solutions. We save many millions of dollars.

I would like it to be easier to see how data is combined and when a user changes. It would help when creating complex Spotfire files.

I have used this solution for 15 years.

Deployment is easy and stable.

Scaling was harder with prior versions, but better since 7.5.

I rate customer service 8/10.

I rate technical support 9/10.

The initial setup was simple, but that was 15 years ago. We are now at >10,000 users.

Implementation was performed by an in-house team with specialized contractors.

We looked at PowerBI, Tableau and Lumira. On features and on deployment in large organisations, Spotfire scores very well.

The following features are the most valuable to me:

• Ability to import data from disparate sources and manipulate/transform that data
• Ability to create visualizations that communicate insight
• Integration with R

This application has reduced the amount of time we spend manipulating data in Excel.

Allow insert columns to be changed after the initial operation. Currently, if an insert columns operation needs to be changed, the user must replace the entire table and this could involve significant rework.

Expand the statistical modeling functions.

Allow lines in line charts to be formatted.

I have used this solution for 3.5 years.

I have found that the manuals for deployment can be lacking in detail and explanation. I frequently open help desk tickets when working on installations.

I rate technical support 7/10 and getting better.

I know that we had a vendor team do the initial installation but have done all upgrades and additional product (Stats Services) installations ourselves. Again, the manuals are often lacking in detail and explanation.

Spotfire seems to be more expensive than other tools and negotiating with the vendor can be difficult. They could make purchasing the product a lot easier by being more transparent on pricing and having the same pricing or pricing tiers for all customers. Customers absolutely hate this negotiation process because it is not transparent, and also because the negotiations seem to take a long time. Be transparent and fair.

I have only used Spotfire. Every oil and gas company I have worked for uses it.

The vendor has historically provided two updates per year, although there can be more. In my opinion, updates twice a year with new features is pretty good given the amount of testing required to rollout an updated version of the product.

Also, if you find defects in the software and report them to their HD, they will notify you when hotfixes have been created, and they are pretty good about pushing out hotfixes for known issues.

Being able to create dashboards on the fly while stakeholders give requirements in real-time is extremely valuable in advertising. Creating dashboards with high interactivity and drilling down with record sets of multi-millions of rows is very fast. Stake holders would have experience a very long lag with similar tools on the market.

Spotfire also has a sky-is-the-limit extensibility to it that is very impressive. I can say yes to almost anything a stakeholder asks for and be able to deliver.

There is a bevy of advanced analytics tools included that only SAS can compete with.

Our organization utilizes Spotfire in many ways, we have had major success in using Spotfire for resource utilization and project management as well as with big data in website analytics.

We have demonstrated creating tools using advanced analytics in Spotfire that our analytics team can run and get the information needed to provide insights extremely fast.

Some of the syntax for custom expressions can be complicated and the learning curve for advanced work is steep.

Training is only offered by Tibco and there are not many courses for advanced usage. There are a few internet blogs and community forums I can turn to, but I would like to see more training options available.

The only stability problems we have encountered are due to the anti-virus software running on the servers, but it is very rare and runs 24x7 for months without any intervention.

The product is very scalable. If server resources are running low, we can spin up a virtual server and create a new node to help share the burden.

Technical support can be a slow process involving email threads and scheduling screen share meetings, but they usually solve the problem in the end.

Implemented in house.

We evaluated Tableau and PowerBI

Spotfire is a very impressive solution and I would highly recommend it.

.NET SDK, IronPython and R integration

We are BI Consultants and this tool is by far the most complete software for data analysis. It has helped many organizations to analyze, predict next trends and report findings using interactive dashboards. One of the best features is the capability to export the analysis to make it run in a web browser without loosing the core interactive and filtering functionality making it available to anyone without having to install any software. This characteristic can represent in huge savings in custom web application programming efforts.

The look and feel is not very customizable out of the box, which is the cherry on the cake when it comes to analazing data. If you are looking for a nice looking sexy reporting tool, this is not it but I doubt you will find one with the brains and sophistication Spotfire has.

6+ years in different projects and 2 years doing full time Spotfire consulting

As any other software, deployment has its challenges, but once the server is up and running, it is reliable stable. If you follow the well written Spotfire documentation, you should be good to go.

Issues come and go by the Spotfire development team via the hot fixes and constant version updates. No major issues with stability from my end. If there are any, the issues are addressed quickly.

They have new version releases twice a year, which is hard to keep up with the latest version since it requires migration efforts from the IT admins. If you do not keep up to date, in a few years Spotfire will no longer support your outdated version. Another issue is that once you convert and old version analysis to a new version, you can no longer save it as an old version, but that is rarely the case to be backward compatible.

I am a technical guy, but according to the business, they are very responsive and generous.

They have a strong Spotfire community where they discuss technical issues. My experience with technical support is limited.

I was born with Spotfire so I never "switch" but I tried other tools, however it is hard to compare apples to apples.

With the right technical skills, especially in reading and following instructions, you should not have any issues installing and configuring the Spotfire Server. For the client, it is straightforward.

We are Spotifre consultants, so we are that vendor team that implements Spotfire to our customers.

I do not have that figure

It really depends on the complexity of the client. Each project and client are different hence, each each implementation will have a different setup cost.

No

If you are looking for an analysis tool, this is the one. It has great features. It is also great for interactive dashboards that can save huge web development work. A 3 months web application sashboard project, even with third party controls to consume data from a database can be done in a couple of hours with Spotfire.

Also, I have a technical blog that helps developers extend Spotfire beyond its out of the box features http://spotfired.blogspot.com

Interactive Visualizations, allowing us to write scripts to change the outlook of the tool and statistics are the key to this product.

This has allowed us to see real time operational analytics helping us to take timely decisions in correcting the defects and repositioning them in correct mode.

Story Telling features aren't intuitive as much as Tableau and some of the features are segregated

2+ years.

Deployment issues were very minimal.

So far, not any noticed issue on stability.

Few times when the data size got increased , it shuts automatically and restarts in the thick client environment.

It’s good, at least the Tibco Community is active and very helpful.

9/10

I haven’t used any other reporting tool as my present organization using Spotfire exclusively for it.

It was implemented in-house.

I know that other products were evaluated but I don't know what they were.

Know the complete tool by going through all the help files available. Feel free to play with this product with no limitations to the imagination. It makes it possible to give us factual insights, helps us to take a right decisions transforming our business.