The Definitive Glossary of Data Integration Terms

This glossary provides definitions of key terms related to data integration and analytics. Analytics refers to identifying meaningful patterns in data to inform business decision-making. Data connectors continuously replicate data from a source to a destination on a set schedule, while APIs enable not only data extraction but also the automated, programmatic operation of an application. Big data is often described using Three Vs: Volume, Variety, and Velocity. A cloud function is a small unit of software hosted on a cloud platform that can be used to build custom data pipelines and integrations. Data integration refers to aggregating operational and transactional data from across an organization and then massaging (i.e., transforming) and analyzing it to enable data-driven decisions. A data pipeline is the "EL" portion of the ELT sequence, delivering data to a destination where transformations are performed. ETL stands for extract-transform-load, while ELT stands for extract-load-transform. The former approach was developed at a time when bandwidth, data storage capacity, and on-demand computational power were expensive, but the latter approach is more modern and cost-effective.