Astera Data Pipeline Builder (Centerprise) vs. Crisp

• API integrations vis REST Web Service transformation
• Stored Procedure integration via SQL statement Lookup transformation
• Bulk imports and exports to and from tables
• Data dumps from SQL tables to excel, csv, text files etc...
• EDI Integrations like 810, 856, 940, 945 etc.. via Astera Centerprise Data Integrator plus EDI Connect

• When purchasing Astera Centerprise you are given options on how you would like to be trained and each option comes with a different price tag. We chose to be trained using online meetings over several days. The training went too fast and it was not always easy to understand until I started using the product.
• I am a person that wants to learn how and why something works so that I can use the knowledge in the future. When contacting the support team they take the problem, create a solution for you and send it back. The solutions always work, but when I get the solution I have to review every field and function to understand how it works so that I can re-create it for another solution I need. I would much rather have the support team explain what I had done incorrectly and what they changed or I would like to find a solution with them instead of having it handed to me.
• Astera uses license keys to allow their customers rights to only the functionality that was purchased. Each user and server has its own key and each key is only good for one year. There have been 2 different times that we received keys that had less functionality that we purchased. It wasn't until it created problems that we noticed and had to request new keys. This year our sales representative made sure she was available when we updated our keys so that if there was a problem she could fix it right away; however, there were not issues this year. I believe this is something they pay closer attention to now.

We've been using Astera Centerprise application for the last 6 years and we've already added EDI connect to it. Both applications are working really well for our enterprise needs so far with no issues, so we'll continue renewing the licenses.

Astera support provided us implementation/installation tutorial and we were able to perform all the activities. Also one of the support was there to shadow us to make sure the process was smooth with no issues

We looked at continuing to use SSIS as an alternative. Although we own SSIS as part of our SQL licensing, we found that it takes a much higher skill level to create solutions. It also does not have the ability to parse unstructured data the way that Centerprise Data Integrator can. We also looked at Datawatch Monarch as a possibility but found it over-all to be cost-prohibitive. We also looked at a cheaper alternative called SimX but did not have a strong confidence in the product as we evaluated it. We landed on Centerprise Data Integrator as it met all of our business requirements and we know we could leverage it for many uses across our enterprise.

• It is tough to say on how Centerprise would have helped us with ROI. Unfortunately our project (after 3 years) was scrapped (put on hold) due to the impromptu purchase of another Crop Insurance company. But with that, Centerprise was huge in getting our warehouse loaded for our BI Team to make important decisions about our policies.