Benchmarking ETL Workflows

Extraction-Transform-Load (ETL) processes comprise complex data work-flows, which are responsible for the maintenance of a Data Warehouse. A plethora of ETL tools is currently available constituting a multi-million dollar market. Each ETL tool uses its own technique for the design and implementation of an ETL work-flow, making the task of assessing ETL tools extremely difficult. In this paper, the authors identify common characteristics of ETL work-flows in an effort of proposing a unified evaluation method for ETL. They also identify the main points of interest in designing, implementing, and maintaining ETL work-flows.