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About Altair SLC

Altair SLC (formerly WPS Analytics) is a powerful and versatile software platform for scalable data manipulation and analytics.

Learn more about Altair SLC

Pros:

I could not be happier with SLC. Their support team has been great, too.

Cons:

Data importing is not flexible and you have to comply with the requirements before importing the data. Other softwares adjust the data according to the requirements automatically.

Altair SLC ratings

Average score

Ease of Use
3.8
Customer Service
4.2
Features
4.1
Value for Money
4.1

Likelihood to recommend

7.3/10

Altair SLC has an overall rating of 3.9 out 5 stars based on 19 user reviews on Capterra.

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Filter reviews (19)

Dr Dean Gordy
Dr Dean Gordy
Senior Lead Analytics Consultant in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Banking, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Flexible & Powerful Analytic Toolset for a price small businesses can afford

5.0 2 years ago

Pros:

The product is easy to use if you know SAS programming. They have their own ML PROCS that are better than SAS offerings. The cost is very reasonable and support is prompt and thorough.

Cons:

I do not use the GUI Workflow side of the product so I am unable to rate that. Most complaints or issues I have had are so rapidly solved by support that many disadvantages are transitory. I would say that the set of extra windows is confusing to me when doing SAS coding and troubleshooting. They do not have all options in certain procedures that you would get with SAS 9.4.

Altair Response

2 years ago

Thank you for your nice review!

Olivier
Responsable Actuariat et Data analytics in France
Insurance, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Good product

4.0 2 years ago

Pros:

- the ability to code in SAS - the ability to mix Python, R and SQL with the SAS language- server mode operation- fiability of the product

Cons:

- I would have liked to see more training on this very feature-rich product via more tutorials or to make these resources more visible.- get logs of python or R programs encapsulated in SAS code- more monitoring tools

Charles
R&D in US
Computer Software, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Dud

3.0 2 years ago

Pros:

Nothing much - it does not keep up with SAS

Cons:

Changes in install need to be better documented and CFG file needs to stay when new release is installed

Isabell
Staff Data Engineer in US
Pharmaceuticals, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

A robust product that is worth the money

5.0 2 years ago

Comments: Overall we have been very happy working with Altair.

Pros:

Setup is fairly easy, ease of use as a standalone but works well with Python, and the database connections are so far stable and easy to configure.

Cons:

1. Sorting large datasets have always been a challenge. Some of this is due to our config settings, as by default we always compress datasets and use the sas7bdat engine, but the way the product works with the Windows OS to balance cpu/memory can be frustrating.2. GETTING TO THE DOCUMENTATION! You must bookmark it once you find it else it takes 10 minutes to figure out how to get to it, as it gets lost in the midst of everything else that is on the site.

Michiko
Principal Consultant in US
Management Consulting, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Long-time user!

5.0 2 years ago

Pros:

I have used it for well over 10 years since the early WPS years. Their support has been great, with favorable licensing terms for consultants like me. Also, the pricing structure now makes it possible for me to use additional Altair products.

Cons:

Sometimes the convenient features in the SAS language are unavailable, though workarounds usually exist. Also, sometimes it has limitations that had not existed in SAS, so, moderately complex tasks often require non-trivial adjustments.

Altair Response

2 years ago

Thank you for the positive review - we really appreciate it!

Amr
Associate Professor in Saudi Arabia
Medical Practice, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

My short trial period

3.0 2 years ago

Pros:

I like more the interface of the software and it is user friendly

Cons:

Data importing is not flexible and you have to comply with the requirements before importing the data. Other softwares adjust the data according to the requirements automatically

Altair Response

2 years ago

Thank you for leaving your comments about the challenge of importing data into Altair Analytics Workbench (WPS). We are constrained by the language of SAS in this area and although the Workbench provides some graphical support it is true that you typically have to comply with the requirements before importing the data. You might wish to take a look at our sister product Monarch which has some great functionality for data preparation that you might find useful.

Gilles
BI software Consultant in France
Computer Software, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

replacing SAS use

4.0 2 years ago

Pros:

Easierer than SAS to uimplement and use wit similat functionnality

Cons:

performance can be improved in management of I/O and memory spacially for access to extternal Database

Edward
Senior Financial & Model Risk Analyst in UK
Banking, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Altair SLC

4.0 2 years ago

Pros:

Simple to use, lots of functionality, flexible to work with, either using data from CSV or our internal database. multiple coding languages - perfect for a start up.

Cons:

Integration with our internal server and databases has been challenging, and required us to get help from the support team. documentation helps but was light or lacking in places.

Altair Response

2 years ago

Thanks for the review! We will check into providing more online documentation.

Joseph
Director of Business Intelligence in US
Hospital & Health Care, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Ruined the product

1.0 2 years ago

Comments: I'm switching analytics platforms.

Pros:

None and i'm typing more words to fill the minimum word count

Cons:

I've had to rewrite most of my code since the most recent upgrade. Customer support has been dismal and beyond useless.

Altair Response

2 years ago

I'm very sorry to hear that you are switching analytics platforms after so long with WPS. Unfortunately we appear to have let you down in the transition from WPS 3 to WPS 4 when many changes were made to our ODBC database connectors and we recognise that it is unsatisfactory to have to rewrite any code just to deal with database driver upgrades. Our tech support team are now embedded in Altair tech support team and we are available to help if you want to look again at getting WPS 4 to run as it should on your systems.

MarcPaul
Data Analytics Innovation Specialist in US
Health, Wellness & Fitness, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

I love SAS but....$$$

5.0 2 years ago

Pros:

I've been programming in SAS for nearly 40 years and it's indispensable for working with large data sets and statistical analysis. I love the software but let's face it, SAS pricing is not transparent, is too expensive, and they charge for additional functionality like SAS/Stats. I've been using SLC (formerly WPS) for over 10 years and have had no problems with compatibility to Base SAS. There have been a few statistical procedures that were not initially supported but when I requested them they were implemented within the year. I could not be happier with SLC. Their support team has been great, too.

Cons:

Honestly, there is nothing that I do not like about the software. It lives up exactly to my expectations and has not failed me in any way. That said, I would like to see a connector to Tableau hyper datasets. That could make my life easier.

Altair Response

2 years ago

Thank you for your detailed review, we really appreciate it! We will check into the connector request you have as well.

Dean
data scientist in US
Financial Services, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Happy User!

5.0 2 years ago

Comments: All positive. Excellent customer support!

Pros:

Able to extract, analyze, report, and predict with one package!

Cons:

None...have been able to answer all related data analytics questions.

Altair Response

2 years ago

We really appreciate your positive review, thank you!

Chris
Supply Chain Lead in UK
Retail, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

World Programming System

2.0 2 years ago

Pros:

Cost effective solution and great connectivity options

Cons:

Bugs, slow speeds and performance issues/crashes

Altair Response

2 years ago

Thank you for the review! We urge you to submit a ticket for any bug or performance issues so we can troubleshoot with you right away. We have a team of technical experts here and ready to support you! https://community.altair.com/community

Emanuel
Predictive Analytics Consultant in US
Banking, 5,001–10,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Great for Developing Quick IVS

4.0 2 years ago

Comments: Overall rating B

Pros:

We mainly use Altair Knowledge Studio for predictive analytics purposes. The decision tree functionality provides an easy to use interface for creating interactive variables between attributes. This is a huge advantage for myself and team as we can quickly examine relationships between certain predictors in our models.

Cons:

Cost can be a big factor, but Altair stands alone in the industry for the capabilities it provides to fintech companies.

John
Chief Risk Officer in UK
Financial Services, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Best Analytics Product

5.0 2 years ago

Pros:

I have really enjoyed using this software and the fact that I can use both visual and code based views of this.

Cons:

A number of my colleagues bitching and moaning about pricing, functionality and the desire to not use Hub in preference for AWS.

Altair Response

2 years ago

Thank you for your review, we really appreciate it!

Jesse
Senior Data Analyst I in US
Education Management, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

New position - SAS to Altair

4.0 2 years ago

Pros:

Almost a seamless switch for me from SAS to WPS/ Altair.Flexibility facilitated by macros language and data-step are industry leading.

Cons:

Graphic visualizations remain difficult to use.

Altair Response

2 years ago

We're very happy to heard about your seamless switch to Altair. Thanks for your review!

Colby
Chief Actuary in US
Government Administration, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Chief Actuary review

4.0 2 years ago

Pros:

My team found this to be a dependable product to help with data manipulation.

Cons:

Customer service isn't great especially with the acquisition of WPS by Altair.

Altair Response

2 years ago

Thank you for your review, we really appreciate it! I'm sorry to hear that you have not received such good service from our customer support team in 2022, since the acquisition of WPS by Altair. We are working to improve our support in 2023 as our tech support team are now embedded in Altair tech support team.

Anders
Senior ANAlyst,DWH Platform Manager - retired in Sweden
Information Technology & Services, Self Employed
Used the Software for: Free Trial
Reviewer Source

Alternative to Win PC SAS

3.0 2 years ago

Pros:

Almost like traditionally SAS. The price is probably much lower.

Cons:

The user interface is not good: VERY SMALL symbols, No command line. "I know where I want to go! How to I specify that?"

Altair Response

2 years ago

Thank you for leaving your comments about the size of icons in the user interface of Altair Analytics Workbench. There are ways to scale the size of the user interface elements and we can send these to you if you need them. We can also provide information about the wps command for invoking Altair SLC from the command line.

Akhtar
Z/OS SYS Prog in South Africa
Information Technology & Services, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Software Install and customise

5.0 2 years ago

Comments: Product was easy to install and customise, and support was good when issues were reported.

Pros:

My role was primarily to install and customize for our Analytics team, ease of installation and understanding install documentation is important for upgrade purposes.

Cons:

I cant really comment about the use, I only and customize and resolve user run and deploy issues

Altair Response

2 years ago

Thanks for the positive review!

alessandra
Senior data analyst in Italy
Marketing & Advertising, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

mi e' semplice utilizzare WPS perche' avevo gia' una buona conoscenza di SAS

4.0 2 years ago

Comments: Siamo in contatto con Michael Vallely per delle implementazioni sui nostri programmi e delle eventuali prove su cloud

Pros:

I vecchi programmi che utilizzavo in SAS sono stati facilmente e velocemente convertiti per l'utilizzo di WPS

Cons:

solo all'inizio (circa 2 anni fa) non erano ancora state implementate tutte le procedure che usavo con SAS : il servizio di supporto pero' mi e' stato di grande aiuto nella risoluzione / riscrittura di alcune parti di programma

Altair Response

2 years ago

Thank you for your review, it's great to hear that the conversion was quick and easy!