ETL is important to data warehouses. ETL is Extract-Transform-Load. Extraction involves extracting from multiple sources. Data is standardized as it is put into the warehouse and then the business can extract it. Data is then transformed by filtering the data. Transformation involves removing unwanted characters, applying business logic, and converting it. Then data is loaded into a presentation database.
The architecture of a data warehouse includes multiple transactional sources. The ETL tool is used to load the data warehouse and data marts. The difference between a data warehouse and data mart is that data warehouses are used across the business whereas data marts are used for individual, customized reporting. For example, there are different departments in a company. The finance department is different from the marketing department. They have different data marts but share the same data warehouse.
The data warehouse contains a data access layer. His is where the user would access the data and generate a report. Reporting tools are meant to make the front interface easy to use for the user.
The ETL Process is the heart of the technical side of data warehousing. Conduct some independent research on the ETL Process. Write a 1-2 page APA formatted paper with citations and references that analyzes why the ETL process is important for data warehousing efforts. Within your paper, discuss the three steps of the ETL process.