Guest Post: Extract, Load and Analyze – the Agile Way

This article discusses three common approaches to data analysis - ETL (Extract, Transform, Load), ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) and ELA (Extract, Load, Analyze). It highlights that while ETL and ELT are well-known concepts, they do not describe the most common agile analytics workflow. In practice, data teams often omit modeled transformations and perform extraction, loading and analysis (ELA). The article also compares these approaches by use of coded examples, primarily transformation and analysis. It concludes that both ELT and ELA have advantages and disadvantages, with the choice between them largely depending on factors such as cost, efficiency, quality and scalability concerns.