Every business needs an efficient and reliable method to record, update, and track data accurately. Databases are one of the most widely used systems to store customer, inventory, or any company information. The stored data can be further integrated with other systems, files, or applications and used by employees or decision makers for different purposes, such as reporting or data analytics.
Database Integration — An Efficient Approach to Utilizing Data
The process of combining information from diverse sources, including databases, cloud, data warehouse, virtual databases, files, and more, to distribute a clean and consolidated version enterprise-wide is known as database integration. The main benefit of database integration is that it makes data accessible to multiple stakeholders and client applications without the need to duplicate or move data.
For instance, a company stores its accounting data in Oracle database and customer data in Salesforce. By utilizing the database integration process, employees can access the combined data of both systems in one place such as a data warehouse or a database, and use the information to draw actionable insights in lesser time.
The Business Aspect of Database Integration
With big data being the driving source behind business intelligence and analytics, the importance of database integration in ensuring the effective use of enterprise data cannot be ignored. Proper management of database processes can convert the challenges associated with digital interactions into operational efficiency, such as:
Gain More Control Over Information
Database integration enables you to manage enterprise-wide information from a centralized location, making it easier to identify bottlenecks, improve user experience, and reduce delivery time.
Ensure Compliance with Regulations
The compliance with national and international operating standards, such as PCI, HIPAA, and GDPR is fast becoming a necessity for businesses dealing with digital information. Database integration enables centralized management, which makes it easier to ensure organization-wide compliance.
Create a Single Source of Truth
In the case of mergers or acquisitions, companies need to integrate their data stored in heterogeneous databases and other information management systems to create a unified view of reliable business data. Database integration tools help consolidate data from a wide variety of sources, which is then cleansed, transformed, and loaded into the desired target system(s).
Database Integration with Astera Centerprise
A comprehensive data integration solution, Astera Centerprise, enables business users and developers to connect data from heterogeneous sources, including data warehouse, cloud applications, and more in a drag-and-drop GUI (Graphical User Interface).
The platform has extensive features, such as in-built transformations, pre-built connectors for modern and traditional data sources, job scheduling, and workflow automation to support bi-directional integration between various databases, including:
Unify Database
Astera Centerprise enables you to integrate databases without writing a single line of code, reducing the risk of errors, manual effort, and IT costs. With user-friendly features, like Instant Data Preview, you can ensure the accuracy of data mappings at every step of the transformation process in real-time. This enables you to identify errors promptly and nip them in the bud before the job is executed.
The example below shows a simple dataflow in which Order data from PostgreSQL is integrated with SQL Server after applying a condition on Order Date using the Filter transformation.
Integration in a Code-Free Environment
Astera Centerprise enables you to integrate databases without writing a single line of code, reducing the risk of errors, manual effort, and IT costs. With user-friendly features, like Instant Data Preview, you can ensure the accuracy of data mappings at every step of the transformation process in real-time. This enables you to identify errors promptly and nip them in the bud before the job is executed.
The example below shows a simple dataflow in which Order data from PostgreSQL is integrated with SQL Server after applying a condition on Order Date using the Filter transformation.
The condition only forwards those records in the target database in which the Shipping Date corresponds to the year 1997.
Achieve Improved Performance with Pushdown Optimization
To attain high performance and make optimal use of database resources, Astera Centerprise allows data transformation jobs to be pushed down to a relational database. This generates better results in terms of time savings, optimal utilization of processing resources, and increased developer productivity.
Astera Centerprise supports two types of pushdown optimization modes:
1. Partial pushdown optimization mode: In this mode, Astera Centerprise server pushes the transformation logic either to the source or target database depending on the database provider or transformation logic.
For instance, figure 3 shows job execution in a partial pushdown mode in which the Sales data stored in SQL Server is aggregated with respect to the Company Name and then routed into three separate destination files based on the applied conditions.
2. Full pushdown optimization mode: This mode executes the job from start to end in pushdown mode.
The dataflow below shows job execution in full pushdown optimization mode where data from SQL Server is filtered with respect to Country and then transferred to the destination database, which is also SQL Server.
Ensure Database Integrity during Migration with Data Quality & Profiling
With built-in data quality, cleansing, and profiling features in a single environment, Astera Centerprise simplifies the creation and execution of a data migration project.
By applying the data quality rules, you can ensure the validity and consistency of your source data at any point of integration. Moreover, you can get a breakdown of your source data in terms of structure, error count, duplicate percentage, etc. using data profiling. These features ensure the accuracy of your database migration.
The example below shows database migration of Order data from SQL Server to PostgreSQL. Before the data is migrated to the destination database, it is profiled, sorted based on Product ID, and checked for errors in the Quantity field using data quality rules.
The exponential rise in data volume and variety makes database integration a vital technology in the business world. Enterprises have realized that data integrated on a database level can be a huge time-saver, expediting the process of extracting actionable, data-driven insights. Astera Centerprise can simplify the database integration journey for you!
Want to experience first-hand how our unified platform simplifies database integration? Request a free trial and see Astera Centerprise in action.
Originally published at https://www.astera.com on May 8, 2019.
