Client Components

POWERCENTER CLIENT

The Power Center Client consists of the following applications that we use to manage the repository, design mappings, mapplets, and create sessions to load the data:

1. Designer
2. Data Stencil
3. Repository Manager
4. Workflow Manager
5. Workflow Monitor

1. Designer:

Use the Designer to create mappings that contain transformation instructions for the Integration Service.

The Designer has the following tools that you use to analyze sources, design target Schemas, and build source-to-target mappings:

• Source Analyzer: Import or create source definitions.
• Target Designer: Import or create target definitions.
• Transformation Developer: Develop transformations to use in mappings.

You can also develop user-defined functions to use in expressions.

• Mapplet Designer: Create sets of transformations to use in mappings.
• Mapping Designer: Create mappings that the Integration Service uses to Extract, transform, and load data.

2.Data Stencil

Use the Data Stencil to create mapping template that can be used to generate multiple mappings. Data Stencil uses the Microsoft Office Visio interface to create mapping templates. Not used by a developer usually.

3.Repository Manager

Use the Repository Manager to administer repositories. You can navigate through multiple folders and repositories, and complete the following tasks:

• Manage users and groups: Create, edit, and delete repository users and User groups. We can assign and revoke repository privileges and folder Permissions.
• Perform folder functions: Create, edit, copy, and delete folders. Work we perform in the Designer and Workflow Manager is stored in folders. If we want to share metadata, you can configure a folder to be shared.
• View metadata: Analyze sources, targets, mappings, and shortcut dependencies, search by keyword, and view the properties of repository Objects. We create repository objects using the Designer and Workflow Manager Client tools.

We can view the following objects in the Navigator window of the Repository Manager:

• Source definitions: Definitions of database objects (tables, views, synonyms) or Files that provide source data.
• Target definitions: Definitions of database objects or files that contain the target data.
• Mappings: A set of source and target definitions along with transformations containing business logic that you build into the transformation. These are the instructions that the Integration Service uses to transform and move data.
• Reusable transformations: Transformations that we use in multiple mappings.
• Mapplets: A set of transformations that you use in multiple mappings.
• Sessions and workflows: Sessions and workflows store information about how and When the Integration Service moves data. A workflow is a set of instructions that Describes how and when to run tasks related to extracting, transforming, and loading Data. A session is a type of task that you can put in a workflow. Each session Corresponds to a single mapping.

4.Workflow Manager :

Use the Workflow Manager to create, schedule, and run workflows. A workflow is a set of instructions that describes how and when to run tasks related to extracting, transforming, and loading data.

The Workflow Manager has the following tools to help us develop a workflow:

• Task Developer: Create tasks we want to accomplish in the workflow.
• Work let Designer: Create a worklet in the Worklet Designer. A worklet is an object that groups a set of tasks. A worklet is similar to a workflow, but without scheduling information. We can nest worklets inside a workflow.
• Workflow Designer: Create a workflow by connecting tasks with links in the Workflow Designer. You can also create tasks in the Workflow Designer as you develop the workflow.

When we create a workflow in the Workflow Designer, we add tasks to the workflow. The Workflow Manager includes tasks, such as the Session task, the Command task, and the Email task so you can design a workflow. The Session task is based on a mapping we build in the Designer.

We then connect tasks with links to specify the order of execution for the tasks we created. Use conditional links and workflow variables to create branches in the workflow.

5.Workflow Monitor

Use the Workflow Monitor to monitor scheduled and running workflows for each Integration Service. We can view details about a workflow or task in Gantt chart view or Task view. We Can run, stop, abort, and resume workflows from the Workflow Monitor. We can view Sessions and workflow log events in the Workflow Monitor Log Viewer.

The Workflow Monitor displays workflows that have run at least once. The Workflow Monitor continuously receives information from the Integration Service and Repository Service. It also fetches information from the repository to display historic Information.

What is Informatica

What is Informatica?

Informatica Power Center is a powerful ETL tool from Informatica Corporation.

Informatica Corporation products are:

• Informatica Power Center
• Informatica on demand
• Informatica B2B Data Exchange
• Informatica Data Quality
• Informatica Data Explorer

Informatica Power Center is a single, unified enterprise data integration platform for accessing, discovering, and integrating data from virtually any business system, in any format, and delivering that data throughout the enterprise at any speed.

Informatica Power Center Editions :

Because every data integration project is different and includes many variables such as data volumes, latency requirements, IT infrastructure, and methodologies—Informatica offers three Power Center Editions and a suite of Power Center Options to meet your project’s and organization’s specific needs.

• Standard Edition
• Real Time Edition
• Advanced Edition

Informatica Power Center Standard Edition:

Power Center Standard Edition is a single, unified enterprise data integration platform for discovering, accessing, and integrating data from virtually any business system, in any format, and delivering that data throughout the enterprise to improve operational efficiency.

Key features include:

• A high-performance data integration server
• A global metadata infrastructure
• Visual tools for development and centralized administration
• Productivity tools to facilitate collaboration among architects, analysts, and developers .

Informatica Power Center Real Time Edition :

Packaged for simplicity and flexibility, Power Center Real Time Edition extends Power Center Standard Edition with additional capabilities for integrating and provisioning transactional or operational data in real-time. Power Center Real Time Edition provides the ideal platform for developing sophisticated data services and delivering timely information as a service, to support all business needs. It provides the perfect real-time data integration complement to service-oriented architectures, application integration approaches, such as enterprise application integration (EAI), enterprise service buses (ESB), and business process management (BPM).

Key features include:

• Change data capture for relational data sources
• Integration with messaging systems
• Built-in support for Web services
• Dynamic partitioning with data smart parallelism
• Process orchestration and human workflow capabilities

Informatica Power Center Real Time Edition :

Power Center Advanced Edition addresses requirements for organizations that are Standardizing data integration at an enterprise level, across a number of projects and departments. It combines all the capabilities of Power Center Standard Edition and features additional capabilities that are ideal for data governance and Integration Competency Centers.

Key features include:

• Dynamic partitioning with data smart parallelism
• Powerful metadata analysis capabilities
• Web-based data profiling and reporting capabilities

Power Center includes the following components:

• Power Center domain
• Administration Console
• Power Center repository
• Power Center Client
• Repository Service
• Integration Service
• Web Services Hub
• SAP BW Service
• Data Analyzer
• Metadata Manager
• Power Center Repository Reports

Data warehousing Concepts Based Interview Questions

1. What is a data-warehouse?

2. What are Data Marts?

3. What is ER Diagram?

4. What is a Star Schema?

5. What is Dimensional Modelling?

6. What Snow Flake Schema?

7. What are the Different methods of loading Dimension tables?

8. What are Aggregate tables?

9. What is the Difference between OLTP and OLAP?

10. What is ETL?

11. What are the various ETL tools in the Market?

12. What are the various Reporting tools in the Market?

13. What is Fact table?

14. What is a dimension table?

15. What is a lookup table?

16. What is a general purpose scheduling tool? Name some of them?

17. What are modeling tools available in the Market? Name some of them?

18. What is real time data-warehousing?

19. What is data mining?

20. What is Normalization? First Normal Form, Second Normal Form , Third Normal Form?

21. What is ODS?

22. What type of Indexing mechanism do we need to use for a typical

Data warehouse?

23. Which columns go to the fact table and which columns go the dimension table? (My user needs to see

All elements before broken = Fact Measures

All elements after broken = Dimension Elements

24. What is a level of Granularity of a fact table? What does this signify?(Weekly level summarization there is no need to have Invoice Number in the fact table anymore)

25. How are the Dimension tables designed? De-Normalized, Wide, Short, Use Surrogate Keys, Contain Additional date fields and flags.

26. What are slowly changing dimensions?

27. What are non-additive facts? (Inventory,Account balances in bank)

28. What are conformed dimensions?

29. What is VLDB? (Database is too large to back up in a time frame then it's a VLDB)

30. What are SCD1, SCD2 and SCD3?

Informatica Experienced Interview Questions- Part4

76.While importing the relational source definition from database, what are the meta data of source U import?

77.Difference between Power mart & Power Center?

78.What kinds of sources and of targets can be used in Informatica?

79.If a sequence generator (with increment of 1) is connected to (say) 3 targets and each target uses the NEXTVAL port, what value will each target get?

80.What do you mean by SQL override?

81.What is a shortcut in Informatica?

82.How does Informatica do variable initialization? Number/String/Date

83.How many different locks are available for repository objects

84.What are the transformations that use cache for performance?

85.What is the use of Forward/Reject rows in Mapping?

86.How many ways you can filter the records?

87.How to delete duplicate records from source database/Flat Files? Can we use post sql to delete these records. In case of flat file, how can you delete duplicates before it starts loading?

88.You are required to perform “bulk loading” using Informatica on Oracle, what action would perform at Informatica + Oracle level for a successful load?

89.What precautions do you need take when you use reusable Sequence generator transformation for concurrent sessions?

90.Is it possible negative increment in Sequence Generator? If yes, how would you accomplish it?

91.Which directory Informatica looks for parameter file and what happens if it is missing when start the session? Does session stop after it starts?

92.Informatica is complaining about the server could not be reached? What steps would you take?

93.You have more five mappings use the same lookup. How can you manage the lookup?

94.What will happen if you copy the mapping from one repository to another repository and if there is no identical source?

95.How can you limit number of running sessions in a workflow?

96.An Aggregate transformation has 4 ports (l sum (col 1), group by col 2, col3), which port should be the output?

97.What is a dynamic lookup and what is the significance of NewLookupRow? How will use them for rejecting duplicate records?

98.If you have more than one pipeline in your mapping how will change the order of load?

99.When you export a workflow from Repository Manager, what does this xml contain? Workflow only?

100. Your session failed and when you try to open a log file, it complains that the session details are not available. How would do trace the error? What log file would you seek for?

101.You want to attach a file as an email attachment from a particular directory using ‘email task’ in Informatica, How will you do it?

102. You have a requirement to alert you of any long running sessions in your workflow. How can you create a workflow that will send you email for sessions running more than 30 minutes. You can use any method, shell script, procedure or Informatica mapping or workflow control?