Datawatch - Monarch Pro 8.0
Pros
- Reduces multiple lines of data into one. This allows for a more across the page reference rather than a hunt and peck for the data.
Cons
- Field definition needs to include more options to retrieve the data.
What is Altair Monarch?
Altair Monarch (formerly Datawatch Monarch, acquired by Altair in December, 2018) works with both relational and multi-structured data including support for a wide range of formats including PDF, XML, HTML, text, spool and ASCII files. The product can access data from invoices, sales reports, balance sheets, customer lists, inventory, logs and more.
According to the vendor, the system is easy to use, allowing users to quickly select any data source and automatically convert it into structured data for analysis. Monarch provides data masking to remove or obscure confidential data such as customer information, medical records and employee IDs with redaction capabilities. This feature allows users to distribute reports to partners and customers, even in heavily regulated industries such as healthcare and financial services, without compromising customer and employee privacy.
Prepared data can be saved in a variety of native BI formats so users can visualize results not just in popular BI tools such as Tableau, Qlik and Excel. Users can also share and reuse data preparation processes with other Monarch users.
According to the vendor, the system is easy to use, allowing users to quickly select any data source and automatically convert it into structured data for analysis. Monarch provides data masking to remove or obscure confidential data such as customer information, medical records and employee IDs with redaction capabilities. This feature allows users to distribute reports to partners and customers, even in heavily regulated industries such as healthcare and financial services, without compromising customer and employee privacy.
Prepared data can be saved in a variety of native BI formats so users can visualize results not just in popular BI tools such as Tableau, Qlik and Excel. Users can also share and reuse data preparation processes with other Monarch users.
Categories & Use Cases
Media
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Datawatch Monarch/Modeler and RMS: Very effective for data mining from legacy reports.
Pros
- Creating a basic model to extract data from a report is very easy.
- Advanced features like Calculated Fields and External Lookups allow you to augment the raw data.
- You can create a "project" to automate the data extraction. Combined with Datapump (a separate DW app), you can fully automate the process once the raw report is generated.
Cons
- Moving fields around in a model can be very cumbersome because you can't overlay them.
- Moving models between different versions of Monarch can be a pain.
- I'd love to see a utility that would combine the field lists from a collection of models. This would help us standardize our field definitions.
Datawatch Modeler review
Pros
- It allows us to quickly dump large non-ALV SAP reports into Excel. Exporting these reports prior to Modeler was cumbersome at best.
- Customizable models allow us to easily gather required data from the same report running different dates. This is perfect for month-end reports.
- Quick exports.
Cons
- Editing the models is not intuitive and takes a fair amount of training. Datawatch should work on their GUI.
Return on Investment
- Quicker reporting
- Improved efficiency
- Improved morale
Datawatch - Great Product, New (ouch) Pricing!
Pros
- Monarch is very flexible, easy to use, and intuitive. It links well with other data sources, and has a wide array of calcs available for power users.
- Data Pump is a logical conclusion for those who are familiar with Monarch xprj's. Once a project's model, data source, and data destination are established, it makes sense to want to automatically schedule it. Data Pump makes it easy to group, organize, schedule, track and trouble-shoot multiple projects in one place.
Cons
- Recently, we had some major sticker-shock when we wanted to upgrade Data Pump. It is an exceptional product, but when the price jumped from $6,000 to over $60,000, it was impossible to get the funds approved internally for the upgrade.
- We also paid for yearly maintenance contracts which included Professional Services, but rarely found those services beneficial. However, we did receive all software upgrades for Datapump as part of the contract which we found to be very beneficial. However, with the new pricing, that is not longer the case.
Return on Investment
- Data Pump reduces complexity of report solutions by offering a standardized approach for organizing and scheduling
- 97% service level for past 5 years for all of our jobs going through Data Pump
Datawatch services review
Pros
- Ease of use
- Ease of managemet
- Proactive monitoring
Cons
- Graphical interface
Return on Investment
- Peace of mind for security of employees
- Tracking of off hours access
- Ease of access to authenticated employees
