It is important to pick the right ETL (extract-transform-load) software to be able to move data from multiple sources, cleanse and transform them into analytics-friendly formats. In this article, we will look at how to choose the right ETL tool for your business.
How To Choose The Right ETL Tool
Here are the factors to keep in mind when you select an ETL platform.
1. Supported Data Sources
It is important to find out which data sources are supported by your prospective ETL tool. At the minimum, it must be able to support all the data sources used in your organization, out of the box.
Otherwise, you may have to employ another tool just to prepare your data for your ETL software. Most ETL tools support spreadsheets, databases, XML formats, and even cloud data sources.
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2. Quick setup, Easy to Use
While most ETL tools are sophisticated and require a fair amount of technical expertise, it should be as easy as possible, and must have a quick setup.
Some ETL tools have simple installation and are well-documented, while others require you to call IT consultants. If your ETL tool is difficult to setup, it will also be difficult to manage, and give you lifelong headache.
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3. Data Quality
Every ETL tool is expected to shoulder the tasks of data extraction, transformation and loading reliably. It must be able to ensure data quality and integrity while it works with your data.
This means it should be able to ensure that all data rows in your data sources, are actually available to you in the ETL tool, without any missing data. It must also have robust syncing and data replication.
Also, it should allow you to cleanse data as well as inspect data quality at each stage of transformation.
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4. Version Control
Most ETL tools support version control that allows developers to maintain a history of changes in code/workflow. It is very useful if you want to rollback changes and also refer to past changes.
It also allows users to work independently without disturbing original workflows.
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5. Data Processing
Although ETL are traditionally required to extract-transform-load data, it is helpful if you can do some data processing before loading it into your ETL/reporting tools.
For example, when you pull data from multiple sources, you may need to process it into a uniform format before you add it to your data warehouse.
Similarly, you may need to consolidate data from different sources in a specific format required by your reporting tool.
In all these cases, it is useful if your ETL tool has some data manipulation capabilities.
Once you have chosen the right ETL tool for your business, it is important to pick a good BI reporting tool that allows you to easily create charts, reports and dashboards that you can share with your team.
If you are looking for a powerful BI reporting software that enables you to easily connect to your data, build interactive dashboards quickly, and share them with others, why not try Ubiq?
