Many company’s viewpoint of data integration is blinkered, they see it as something that is purely IT department related and is involved with the mythical subjects of ETL and data warehousing. They are missing, and largely deem this type of data integration as kind of black magic tales relating to undetected black paced processes.
If you are a data integrator, you would be surprised to know the number of companies using big data to improve the businesses in a variety of ways. Through data integration, you will be able to plan more effectively, deliver consistent returns, and thereby enjoy more flexibility androom for continued growth. Such is the power of data integration.
So what about you?what do you need from such a tool? With so many companies vying for your business, how do you determine which one is the best? Which integration tool has the most industry adoption and is presently the most cost effective? Here are some considerations when considering the tool of choice.
Data Integration
Convenience
The most important reason why a tool should be chosen is because it should be the most convenient tool for the data integration project. This makes sense, as if a tool isailed to integrate data surely it should be the most convenient to use. Whatever the integration tool discipline, a superior tool will make the job easier for the data integration project. It also must be able to plan projects in an efficient manner.
Ease of Use
According to the definition given by the BSA, an integration tool is defined as “software that performs data processing procedures”. It basically encapsulates the activities that are involved in the integration process and ends the project. While the BSA also says that “data processing” must be “transparent”, on the other hand. It must be able to meaningfully exhibit the appearance of data processing carried out in it. Too often, data integration tools appear to make things transparent, when in fact there is a degree of complexity involved in the whole process. The BSA states “Data processing may be invisible, or known as translucent. Data processing may require more than a view into the inner working of the data processing system”.
Framework
According to another definition, the integration tool is a”software system that performs integration processes and uses all those performance enhancing techniques, for example, database processing techniques, query processing techniques, and so forth”. This software is specifically tailored to improve the performance of data integration projects, providing the highest return on project investments”. The BSA explains it as a ” sadly underestimated tool,entedities, tools or techniques that integrates data processing and returns on project investments. There are actually a lot of integration tools that exist nowadays. But only a handful of them are able to improve the performance of data integration projects, as the tools are becoming better and better”.
Data Mapping
Data mapping is the process of mapping or analyzing the data from different sources into a single database. This process is used for the data integration projects as this provides a single source for all the data entered. These sources may be from legacy systems and hardware as well as statistical and mathematical sources. The main reason for using data mapping is ” Lack of a single, consistent method of importing and synthesizing mission-critical information”. As the sources are all different, data mapping uses conversion modules to convert the data from one format into the other.Click here for more details about our®enterprise level solutions.