Data discovery method for Extract-Transform-Load

Information Systems (ISs) are fundamental to streamline operations and support processes of any modern enterprise. Being able to perform analytics over the data managed in various enterprise ISs is becoming increasingly important for organisational growth. Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) are the necessary pre-processing steps of any data mining activity. Due to the complexity of modern IS, extracting data is becoming increasingly complicated and time-consuming. In order to ease the process, this paper proposes a methodology and a pilot implementation, that aims to simplify data extraction process by leveraging the end-users' knowledge and understanding of the specific IS. This paper first provides a brief introduction and the current state of the art regarding existing ETL process and techniques. Then, it explains in details the proposed methodology. Finally, test results of typical data-extraction tasks from four commercial ISs are reported.