Documents
Data Warehouse ETL Framework
Data Warehouse ETL Framework
  • Introduction To The ETL Framework
  • Framework Overview
    • Framework Description
    • Why You Need An ETL Framework
      • What is the ETL Framework?
      • Framework Objectives
      • Can I use my own resources to implement The Framework?
    • Download The Framework
    • What's In The Box
    • v1.0 Release
    • Training Resources For Engineers
    • Getting Help
  • General Principles
    • Never Finished
    • Overall Engineering Philosophy
    • Self Service Analytics As The Goal
    • Strict Adherence To Globally Accepted Practice
    • Data Flow Design
    • Effective DataOps
    • Code First Philosophy
    • Melding Kimball And Inmon
    • Master Data Management
    • Open Architecture
    • Decoupled Systems
    • Independent Identically Executing Processes
    • Robust Processes
    • Self-Diagnostics
    • Data Provenance
    • Adverse Reporting
    • Error Recovery
    • Archrival And Recovery
    • Documentation As A Necessity
  • DataOps For The Uninitiated
    • DataOps Initiation
    • What Is Agile Software Development?
    • What Is DevOps?
    • What Is Statistical Process Control?
    • You Take All That And You Wind Up With...
    • The DataOps Manifesto
    • Want To Learn More About DataOps?
  • ETL Developer's Field Guide
    • The Plain English Explanation Of What You Are About To Build
    • Data Warehouse User Profiles
    • Using Data Source Names
    • Why You Should Not Use SSIS
      • SSIS Is Not Forward Compatible
      • SSIS Is Not Very Performant
      • Python Development Is Faster Than SSIS
      • SSIS Is Difficult To Deploy To Production
      • SSIS Is Difficult To Maintain
    • Python Software Engineering Considerations
    • Enterprise Data Ecosystem
      • EDW's Place In Enterprise Architecture
      • EDW ETL Overview
    • ETL Environment Databases
    • Data Acquisition Paradigms
      • Demand Pull
      • Supply Push
    • The Common Model
    • The Semantic Layer
    • Database Object Naming Conventions
      • Columns
      • Indexes
      • Primary Keys
      • Schemas
      • Stored Procedures
      • Tables
      • User Defined Functions
    • ETL Reference Architecture
    • Table Anatomy
      • Sample Dimension Table
      • Sample Fact Table
      • Sample Indexed View
      • Sample Junk Dimension Table
      • Sample Master Data Management Table
      • Sample Stage Table
    • Master Data Management
      • MDM With Exact Match On Source System Key
      • Implementation Details
    • Slowly Changing Dimension Processing
      • General Process
      • Creating Empty Records
      • SCD Processing Types
      • Implementing SCDs As Temporal Tables
    • Handling Calculated Values
    • Warehouse Load Commandments
    • Code Style Guide
      • SSIS
      • Transact SQL
      • Python
      • C#
    • The Role Of Schemas
      • Standard Schemas And Their Definitions
      • Schemas As A Security Device
      • Schemas As A DB Object Differentiator
    • Feedback And Control Systems
      • Having An Engineering Mindset
      • The Mechanics Of Checking For Unprocessed Records
      • Time Series Analysis 101
      • Passive Monitoring System Design Theory
      • Passive Monitoring System Implementation
    • Source Control
    • Loading Historical Data
    • Security Access Model
    • Wrapping Up
  • ETL Environment Set Up
    • Install Anaconda
    • Create Initial Source Control Folders
    • Create Primary Databases And Schemas
    • Customize And Run Deployment Scripts
    • Install Python Packages
    • Create Data Source Name
    • Create The SSIS Catalogue
    • Create The File I/O Directory Structure
    • Create Global Environment In The Integration Services Catalog
    • Create The SQL Server Aliases
    • Create The BIAnalytics Proxy Account
    • Create The Opt Folder
    • Configure Email Alerts
  • Standard SSIS ETL Development Package
    • Starting A New Process
    • Tracking Package Variables
    • Remove Things You Do Not Need
    • Creating New Configuration Settings
  • Sample Script Guide
    • SQL
      • Finalize And Audit Scripts
        • 18 CREATE PROC usp_RecordRowCounts
        • 19 CREATE PROC usp_MarkRecordsAsProcessed
        • 20 CREATE PROC usp_CheckForUnprocessedRecords
      • Monitoring Scripts
        • 21 CREATE PROC usp_DisplayTablesNotLoading
        • 22 CREATE PROC usp_LoadTableLoadReportingTable
        • 23 CREATE PROC usp_TableLoadMonitoring
      • Table Object Sample Scripts
        • sample type I dimension table
        • sample type II dimension table
        • sample fact table
        • sample indexed view
        • sample junk dimension table
        • sample master data management table
        • sample stage table
      • Data Processing Sample Scripts
        • Data Pull
        • batch processing
        • bulk insert
        • data cleansing
        • fact table load
        • remove dups
        • type I dimension processing
        • type II dimension processing
      • Helper Scripts
        • Create Database
        • add rowhash
        • change collation
        • configuration insert sample script
        • documentation block
        • populate fact table with fake data
        • proc execution scripts
        • show all columns in database
        • troubleshooting
        • util
        • start an agent job from T-SQL
    • Python
      • Building Blocks
        • CombineCSVsIntoOneFile
        • ConvertCommaToPipeDelimitedFile
        • ConvertExcelToCSV
        • LoopingOverFilesInADirectory
        • Process Zip File
        • QueryDatabaseAndWriteSmallFile
        • QueryDatabaseAndWriteLargeFile
        • SendEmail
        • StringMatching
        • YAMLConfigImport
      • Full Solutions
        • DownloadMoveAndStoreDataCSV
        • LoadLargeCSVsIntoDataWarehouseStagingTables
        • MoveAndStoreDataExcel
        • ReloadFromArchive
      • Jupyter Notebooks
        • Passive Monitoring System Design Theory
    • PySpark
      • ConnectToSpark
      • LoadCSV
      • ExampleDataProcessing
    • Windows Batch
  • A Methodology To Rapidly Convert OLTP Databases to OLAP Solutions
    • Step 1: Find The Nouns
    • Step 2: Find The Stuff We Want To Do Math On
    • Step 3: Analyze Relationships
  • Data Model Creation Tool
    • Record Count
    • Sample Data
    • Create Stage Table
    • Char Length Analysis
    • Column Notes
    • Column Cleansing Notes
    • Source To Target Mapping
    • Dimension List
    • Fact Table Creation Helper
    • Foreign Key Creation
    • Process Fact Script Helper
    • View Creation Helper
    • Date Role Play View Helper
    • Data Model View Creation Helper
    • List Population Values
  • Performance Monitoring
    • The Daily Chore
    • Diagnostic Tools
      • Using The Built-In Stored Procs
      • Using The Built-In Views
    • Logging Database Diagram
  • Data Warehouse Troubleshooting Guide
    • Generalized Troubleshooting Steps
  • Business Analytics Capability Maturity Model
    • What Is A Business Analytics Capability Maturity Model?
    • Level 0. Operational Reporting
    • Level 1. Rapid Delivery
    • Level 2. Self Service
    • Level 3. Central Repository
    • Level 4. Open Data 1
    • Level 5. Open Data 2
    • Level 6. Feedback 1
    • Level 7. Data Archaeology
    • Level 8. Crystal Ball
    • Level 9. Feedback 2
    • Level 10. Oil Rig
    • Level 11. The Singularity
  • Appendices
    • Appendix A. What is Medium Data®?
    • Appendix B. The Benefits Of Using Python And T-SQL Over SSIS For ETL
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  1. ETL Developer's Field Guide
  2. Feedback And Control Systems

Having An Engineering Mindset

Flinging data around an organization is a problem that should be given the same due consideration as any other engineering challenge. Just because our building materials are 1s and 0s and nobody dies when stuff fails, does not mean you can develop processes any less rigorous than a civil engineer.

You are building pipes through which data flows at 2/3rds the speed of light. Just like the physical world, those pipes have properties like pressure and volume. This means that we can put sensors on our system to measure these properties and to automatically alert us to a problem.

Think of it in terms of monitoring a pressurized heavy-water reactor. You want to manually monitor systems and get ahead of problems, but there are so many parameters that it is humanly impossible to keep an eye on everything. So you stick a sensor on a pipe hooked to a loud alarm. This allows you to monitor overall health of the system instead of going crazy trying to keep an eye on every subsystem.

Currently only a passive monitoring system is implemented. There are no automated negative feedback control mechanisms in place. An example of a negative feedback control mechanism might be noticing an excessive amount of records from prior days going unprocessed in staging tables and disabling the Agent Job responsible for pulling that data.

Having no automated negative feedback control systems in place is a serious limitation of the current version of the framework. To continue to use the reactor metaphor, this leaves your system open to risk of meltdown. The probability of experiencing a catastrophic system failure varies by organization but is highly positively correlated to the amount of attention upper management is paying to your data warehouse project.

For now, if you experience a meltdown, and the CFO wants to know where the data is, I highly recommended you just deny that there is graphite on the ground.

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Last updated 4 years ago