empower® suite vs. Windward Core

AutoTag is a brilliant solution for less complex reports where native Microsoft Office output is required. This is where AutoTag really shines. It's also appropriate in situations where our customers want to develop and maintain their own reports but don't necessarily want to commit an experienced data person or report developer to do the work. For complex report requirements that need JavaScript or considerable data manipulation inside the report templates, we will continue to look at other tools in our kit.

Incentivized

• AutoTag can easily be connected to virtually any data source. The wizard walks you through all the needed steps. This is very helpful in getting reports from multiple sources or departments.
• WindWard has put together a Wiki based user guide and has the best tech support I have ever worked with. For the rare occasions that we get stuck trying to convert a report the help is plentiful.
• AutoTag is built within the Office suite and is therefore able to leverage all the familiar features. This is very useful when you need to make reports useful and appealing.

• It would be very helpful if it was possible for tag logic to handle an array of data. Without it, the syntax can become very verbose when there are multiple logical conditions to check.
• Most tags are only built to handle a single piece of data so it can be a little confusing when a query only appears to return 1 record.

Incentivized

For the most part, the Windward report designer is intuitive for our users; but there are a few areas where it is less intuitive. In these cases, our users need to search Windwards support wiki site, or even contact their support technicians. This can also be due to the short time we've had Windward and our lack of knowledge.

Incentivized

Support is something they take pride in. Once an issue is raised, they are quick to respond and provide details on a fix. No complaints on support here.

Prior to Windward, we were using an HTML to PDF conversion for our reporting solution. It required substantial development to create and modify our reports and the styling was never up to our standards. Windward has certainly helped decrease our time in developing and modifying reports and has also helped us greatly improve the styling of them as well.

Incentivized

• As a fully integrated solution, the ROI is impacted when a client gets stickier with our solution because they see the benefit of Windward.
• Support has been fantastic for our development team so that as we integrate the solutions we have a clear and clean design.

Incentivized