Re: HELP Windows based query tool for Oracle

>Can anyone pls suggest a Windows based front-end query tool (other than
>MS Access) for Oracle/UNIX client server environment. It should be able
>to handle 100,000+ rows table for read access only.
>Reasonable performance/response time is very important.
>Thanks
>
I spent several months evaluating Windows based front-end query tools. I looked at

ClearAccess with ClearManager (ALPHA/BETA) from ClearAccess Corporation Impromptu from Cognos
R&R Report Writer
IQ Software (Both host & Client Versions) PowerMaker/PowerViewer from Powersoft.
DataBrowser from Oracle.
Q&E - The version that comes with Excel from Microsoft.

We chose Impromptu. The feature that Impromptu offered that did not exist in the other products was the ability to set up a "CATALOG" this allows us to insulate the users from understanding the Joins and hide columns that are not needed. We are using Oracle Financials which is made up of over 1000 Tables. A user can easily get lost in such a wealth of data. Impromptu also seems to be the most user friendly. It can't do all the report formatting that is always needed but it has been able to provide us with the majority of the reports that we have created since we first started testing/using it. We never ran timing comparisons between any of the products. There are however two categories of time to be considered.

1. How long does it take to build the query/report
2. How long does it take to run the report.

The only other product that we thought about reviewing was Business Objects. They unforunately require too much commitment in order to do a product evaluation. The sales staff was also particulary difficult to contact.

All the products listed require a seperate purchase of Sql*Net for windows. The latest release of which uses winsock.

Hope this helps

Steve Liffmann
Phoenix Technologies Ltd. Received on Mon Feb 14 1994 - 15:32:22 CET