|  | Posted by dba_222 on 04/15/07 17:47 
Dear Experts,
 I've worked with Oracle since 1995.   I have gone
 very deep into many of the Oracle features, including
 sqlloader, and export/import.  And I've done data
 modelling even longer.
 
 
 At the same time, I have done ETL since 1995.
 Although, at the Proc, and PLSQL, sqlloader, level.
 Map the data.  Take data from the source, do any
 modifications/transformations that are required,
 and insert or update.  Easy. The hard part is
 determining the mappings.
 
 
 But I have not been given the opportunity to
 work much with ETL tools such as:
 Informatica, DataStage, Ascential, Ab Initio
 
 The little bit of experience that I do have,
 showed that Informatica was -incredibly- easy to use.
 It's a GUI.  It's SUPPOSED to be simple!!!
 
 
 I have missed out on a number of opportunities
 because I didn't have a few YEARS of experience
 with ETL tools.  Which seems odd, because the
 tool looks like it requires a max of a week to learn!
 
 
 Just how difficult are these ETL tools to learn?
 Especially if you have already been working with
 Oracle, and doing data mappings and loads since 1995?
 I'm thinking that it can't be difficult at all.
 
 When you search for newsgroups, there are no newsgroups
 for these tools.  Although the companies who make
 them, might have their own newsgroup.
 
 
 There are also not many books on these tools.
 If you search for books on Oracle, or SQL Server,
 you will find a lot of very big, and detailed
 books.  But there is next to nothing specifically
 on the various ETL tools.
 
 Any certifications for any of these tools look
 to be much simpler than Oracle's.
 
 
 To me, the real issue is the mappings.  If you
 come into a new environment, the data mappings
 are completely esoteric to those systems.
 No amount of experience with an ETL tool, or any
 tool, is going to tell you what the mappings should be.
 
 
 Questions:
 - Just how difficult are these ETL tools to learn
 for an experience Oracle pro like myself?
 
 - Other than a GUI, making everything simple to use,
 just what are the advantages of using ETL tools?
 
 - what built in functionality do ETL tools
 have, that can't be done in PLSQL?
 
 
 Thanks a lot!
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