SolarWinds Task Factory vs. Toad Database Developer Tools

Since I started working with this great tool all data analysis programs have been running effectively. Implementation of projects and tasks have been effective and reliable. Data collected from each department gives us working plan on better management of various programs. The Dimension Merge SCD Transform helps us to load large volumes of data within a short period of time.

Incentivized

Well suited for development of stored procedures, packages, running scripts, and each and every DBA operation. Not very well suited for quick and simple querying. Toad seems to be overkill for simple things. Also, it's not very well suited for non-Oracle developers, who might be scared of by the endless amounts of options, tools and windows that Toad offers.

Incentivized

• The Slowly Changing Dimension Component saves us a huge amount if time compared to the native SSIS component.
• JSON Transform is really useful to convert record and send it to rest API.
• The advanced derived columns allow us to use really cool functions that are not available in the regular transforms.

Incentivized

• I appreciate the library feature that enables me to label and store previously created statements. These are saved off to a network share for future use.
• I also really like the describe function that lists all fields in a table. This helps as I build new queries.
• I wish I was better at using the tuning function. I have seen others use it and am very impressed with the graphical depiction of query costing.

Incentivized

• It was built by Pragmatic Works who sold it to SentryOne and now Solar Winds, concerned about future support. SolarWinds is discontinuing support for related products such as BiXpress.
• Had issues with connecting to certain versions of SQL Server - would fail when deploying one package - had to deploy the entire solutions.
• Occasional random failures observed with the Filter tranform.

Incentivized

• The date/time settings in Toad are kind of difficult to figure out. I have to use an ALTER SESSION command to format the dates so I can actually query date/time fields.
• It seems to be updated too often. I get notifications very frequently about new versions being available.
• The export function is difficult to use.

Incentivized

Task Factory has become a key product for our use of doing ETL work in SSIS. Their custom SSIS components allow us to work simply on the data engineering side of things. We can ignore the lower level work needed to connect to disparate data sources. This allows us to work faster and provide more value to the business

Incentivized

It is the preferred tool for our organization.

Incentivized

Compared to some of the other transformations I have worked with, it really is pretty simple for the type of functionality you get

Incentivized

I give is an 8 because nothing is a 10 and there is always room for improvement. I believe the user who is not as technologically inclined would be better suited with an easier way to identify the options for setting the layout up for Toad's GUI. To some it is very cumbersome and confusing.

Incentivized

Overall, the best vendor we currently have on the data side of the house. No issues, issues are resolved very quickly and upgrades go without any issues.

Incentivized

I give the overall support for Toad for Oracle a 10/10. This is because whenever there has been an issue with this software, our team has got an immediate response. The same can not be said for similar software. The most recent example of this is when we needed to renew our licenses. Some employees were unable to log in to code with the given license key. Support was able to resolve the issue quickly.

Incentivized

Overall it went smoothly. Had a couple of gotchas with licensing and upgrading but nothing that really stopped us.

Incentivized

I've not found too many tools to bolt onto SSIS that encompass what you get with Task Factory. I have used some Enterprise ETL tools like Dell's Boomi, but did not find it to be very intuitive. Task Factory does not leave you guessing how to use its components. Additionally, their support is very responsive and helpful.

Incentivized

We didn't make a decision of choosing one and dropping the other. Our database guys have their own preference of tools. Since SQL Developer is a free-to-use tool and light weighted tool, we used it for education materials. For those who need advanced functions, database administrators for example, we bought an enterprise license of Toad and distributed them to developers. For enterprise level of analytics running Oracle based databases, I believe SQL Developer and Toad are two basics and safe choice to start with, unless one has very particular need (or preference).

Incentivized

• We were able to support our developers with Task Factory features and reduce the development time by 40%.
• Recently Task Factory has changed their pricing module and it seems to be pretty costly for our process. Our business team has started to evaluate whether this is worth it going forward.

Incentivized

• Quick and easy query development helps reduce man-hours in a project which converts to real dollars.
• Query analysis and tuning result in low database overhead and low latency, thus translating into real dollars because a system can thus handle more requests from customers.
• Ease of use makes it easy to deploy greenhorns in projects with minimal training, thus helping save money. Otherwise menial and simple jobs would have required experienced DBAs.

Incentivized