ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load)
Extract, Transform and Load is the technique of extracting the record from sources (which is present outside or on-premises, etc.) to a staging area, then transforming or reformatting with business manipulation performed on it in order to fit the operational needs or data analysis, and later loading into the goal or destination databases or data warehouse.
Strengths
Development Time: Designing from the output backwards provide that only information applicable to the solution is extracted and processed, potentially decreasing development, delete, and processing overhead.
Targeted data: Due to the targeted feature of the load process, the warehouse contains only information relevant to the presentation. Reduced warehouse content simplify the security regime enforce and hence the administration overheads.
Tools Availability: The number of tools available that implement ETL provides the flexibility of approach and the opportunity to identify the most appropriate tool. The proliferation of tools has to lead to a competitive functionality war, which often results in loss of maintainability.
Weaknesses
Flexibility: Targeting only relevant information for output means that any future requirements that may need data that was not included in the original design will need to be added to the ETL routines. Due to the nature of tight dependency between the methods developed, this often leads to a need for fundamental redesign and development. As a result, this increase the time and cost involved.
Hardware: Most third-party tools utilize their engine to implement the ETL phase. Regardless of the estimate of the solution, this can necessitate the investment in additional hardware to implement the tool's ETL engine. The use of third-party tools to achieve the ETL process compels the information of new scripting languages and processes.
Learning Curve: Implementing a third-party tools that uses foreign processes and languages results in the learning curve that is implicit in all technologies new to an organization and can often lead to consecutive blind alleys in their use due to shortage of experience.