What is our primary use case?
We are a typical manufacturing company. We have around 65 to 70 manufacturing locations all over the world, and we hold down 60 different sources of data coming from ERP, CRM, and other applications kind of thing. We have eight different data source types, such as Oracle, SQL, et cetera. It really helps in terms of automation. We have a template and we have data type matching in place. It's even configured to be a drag and drop and helps you to segregate all the objects in types of projects and tools.
How has it helped my organization?
We were a division base for the department under the warehousing team, and have been moving to the centralizing and standardizing of some aspects, and combining all the individuals doing warehouses into one centralized enterprise-level warehousing team. The solution allows us to streamline users so that fewer people are needed to do the warehousing for the entire company.
What is most valuable?
It's easy to deploy. Everything is metadata-based and we can do work by location also. It's easy to segregate between teams.
WhereScape is really helpful in terms of architecture data. Everything is one of automation. Two people can do thousands of tables in one day or two. It saves a lot of time.
The solution is very stable.
It's compatible even with old methodologies.
The solution is able to automatically generate code for you for managing procedures.
The product is very flexible.
You are able to easily create statements.
The initial setup is quick and easy.
What needs improvement?
The scheduling part I don't like due to the fact that it allows you to schedule as a parent and child and other things, however, the error trackability has to be a little more user-friendly.
It's also not user-friendly in the sense that it loads all the jobs and there are not enough filters so that it doesn't need to load everything.
If the job fails, you don't get any type of alert or email. It would be ideal if there was some sort of automated alert message.
Technical support isn't the best.
It would be ideal if we understood how to do it in a card exception regarding exclusion, where the card is captured separately rather than filling the whole process on the data inbound side. Certain workloads like this are organized in such a way where you seem to be doubling the work as opposed to streamlining the process.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for two and a half years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability capabilities are really awesome. It doesn't crash out. It also doesn't do sluggishness or anything. It's fast and stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable in that you can have multiple people working on it at once and it won't slow down.
The data scalability depends on the methodology you use.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support isn't the best. They seem to be more money-oriented than customer-oriented. We found that after the purchase, assistance and support really dropped off.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we were completely on the Microsoft stack. This product gave us a bit more automation.
How was the initial setup?
The product is easy to deploy. It's not overly complex or difficult.
It only takes one person two or three hours to complete the task. It's very fast and simple.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment was handled in-house. We have many experts on staff. We did not need any outside assistance.
What other advice do I have?
We tend to use the latest version of the solution.
We are considering the cloud. We are currently debating whether we need to go to WhereScape or drop WhereScape and we go to the cloud. I've been asking about their host-ability and version controllability if we move to the cloud and they were not giving too many promising answers. Basically, when we go to cloud viewer, we want it to go completely on a platform as a service, not infrastructure as a service, as IaaS is a little more costly than PaaS - The Chinese PaaS.
Also, we would like to use, as a team, seven or eight people at scale - not just on the server installed and then use it as one or two accounts. The whole stability issue on the cloud needs a little more clarification.
I'd advise companies considering the solution that, if it is on-premise and they have a good volume of data coming, it can be easy to start using it. I'd say that negotiating is important and making sure that the pricing is clear, as they can come back and alter the price after the fact.
Other than that, if you had a lean team, I would say go for Wherescape. It's simple, straightforward, and not too complex. That said, if you have more XML semi-structured data, or unstructured data, you might want to look for some other product.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
*Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
