ETL for Dummies?

Over the last couple of years we’ve been advised by some of the technical elite that Foxtrot is an “ETL” tool.  So this week I decided to look up ETL in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and see exactly what it means.  Here’s what it says:

Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) is a process in data warehousing that involves

• extracting data from outside sources,
• transforming it to fit business needs (which can include quality levels), and ultimately
• loading it into the end target, i.e. the data warehouse.

It goes on to say that ETL is important, as it is the way data actually gets loaded into the warehouse. This article assumes that data is always loaded into a data warehouse, whereas the term ETL can in fact refer to a process that loads any database. ETL can also be used for the integration with legacy systems.

Since I didn’t really know what ETL was until I looked it up, you could make the case that I’m the dummy - and I’ll give you that. 

And although we wouldn’t promote Foxtrot as an ETL tool, it is fully capable of doing everything in the Wikipedia definition with a couple of big differences.  First, Foxtrot was not specifically designed for data warehousing.

Second, Foxtrot was specifically designed for data managers/knowledge workers (not particularly for programmers/analysts).  It can do a great deal more than load databases or warehouses, including complete data conversions, quasi real time interfaces and application testing and certification.

Now about the play on words “ETL for Dummies”… I have a number of the “Dummy” books and one of my friends actually wrote one of them.  I’ve never read one cover to cover but have referenced them from time to time.

I like these books because they cut to the chase and simplify the complex.  Still, I keep them in the lower cabinet with the door closed.

So although Foxtrot can do ETL and like the Dummy books it simplifies the complex and cuts to the chase, we’re not going to be renaming it “anything for Dummies” anytime soon.   Not to mention the fact that our clients who use it are anything but dumb – they are very smart!

Oh by the way, ETL also means Express Toll Lanes…

Richard Milam
Founder, Enablesoft, Inc.

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