IBM DataStage Flow Designer is a web-based UI for DataStage, compared to DataStage Designer, which is a Windows-based desktop client. We can use IBM DataStage Flow Designer to create, edit, load, and run any DataStage jobs with several benefits compared to DataStage Designer.
This is a new feature provided in 11.7 version by IBM.
IBM DataStage Flow Designer has following benefits:
No need to migrate jobs:
Many companies have thousands of jobs in a single project, and they depend on DataStage jobs to run 24 hours a day. Migration, with the likely possibility of errors, is not an option for companies. You can take any existing DataStage job and use it in IBM DataStage Flow Designer. Hence there is no need to migrate those jobs to a new location.
Money and Time saving:
Keeping up with the latest version of the DataStage software requires not only a server upgrade but also an update of all the desktop clients. Valuable time and resources are used to make these enhancements. You don’t need to worry about thick-client(desktop client) upgrades with the web-based IBM DataStage Flow Designer. You can save even more money with IBM DataStage Flow Designer because you don’t need to purchase Citrix licenses.
More productivity from developers:
IBM DataStage Flow Designer has features like built-in search and a quick tour to get you jump-started, automatic metadata propagation, and simultaneous highlighting of all compilation errors. Developers can use these features to be more productive.
Search: Find what you need fast by using the flexible Search feature.
Quick Tour: Take the built-in Quick Tour to familiarize yourself with the product.
Automatic metadata propagation: Changing a stage in a DataStage job can be time-consuming because you must go to each subsequent stage and redo the change. IBM DataStage Flow Designer automatically propagates the metadata to following steps in that flow, increasing productivity.
Highlighting of all compilation errors: The DataStage thick client identifies compilation errors one at a time. Large jobs with upwards of 30 or 50 stages can take longer to troubleshoot in this situation. IBM DataStage Flow Designer highlights all errors and gives you a way to see the problem with a quick hover over each stage, so you can fix multiple problems at the same time before recompiling.
