Case Study: Modernizing Data Warehouse ETL Operations with Informatica PowerCenter

Industry : Enterprise Data Engineering / IT Services

Duration : 6 Years 2 Months

Users Impacted : 300+

ETL Objects Managed : 1,500+

Project Overview

A global enterprise partnered with DataTerrain to modernize its Operational Data Store (ODS) and Data Warehouse (DW) environments by migrating legacy PL/SQL-based ETL pipelines to Informatica PowerCenter 10.2.

The large-scale migration impacted more than 650 tables, 20 workflows, and over 300 end users.

Following the successful migration, DataTerrain continues to manage the client’s entire ETL ecosystem — providing continuous support for new development, enhancements, bug fixes, automation, and database/ETL environment upgrades.

Business Challenge

The client’s legacy ETL system was built primarily on PL/SQL scripts and manual scheduling processes, which presented several operational challenges:

• Difficulty maintaining and scaling hundreds of PL/SQL data pipelines
• Manual error handling and limited process visibility
• High dependency on database performance and resource constraints
• Time-consuming troubleshooting during month-end data loads

To overcome these limitations, the enterprise aimed to standardize ETL operations on a modern, automated, and scalable platform — Informatica PowerCenter — to improve reliability, monitoring, and development agility.

DataTerrain’s Solution

DataTerrain implemented a comprehensive PL/SQL to Informatica PowerCenter migration strategy, focusing on scalability, accuracy, and operational continuity.

Project Highlights

1. End-to-End ETL Migration

DataTerrain engineers re-engineered legacy PL/SQL data pipelines into Informatica PowerCenter mappings and workflows, leveraging reusable transformations and parameterized logic for maintainability.

This migration ensured that complex business rules embedded in SQL code were seamlessly replicated and optimized in Informatica.

The transition impacted over 650 database tables and 20 mission-critical workflows, all validated for data accuracy and process continuity.

2. Ongoing Data Warehouse & ODS Operations

Post-migration, DataTerrain continues to manage and optimize the client’s entire DW and ODS environments, handling:

• New ETL development and enhancements
• Issue resolution and bug fixing
• Python-based process automation for daily data refresh verification
• ETL environment upgrades and Informatica version management (10.2 → 10.4)

This long-term engagement ensures continuous modernization and peak performance of the enterprise data ecosystem.

3. Automation and Data Validation

To maintain data consistency and reduce manual verification, DataTerrain implemented a Python-based automation engine that validates all 550+ ODS tables post daily refresh.

This automated process compares source and target datasets, detecting discrepancies early and ensuring accurate data availability for analytics teams.

4. Enhancements and Continuous Improvement

The engagement followed an agile enhancement model, where user teams could raise requests for logic optimization, new data mappings, or additional transformations.

DataTerrain provided rapid turnaround support for:

• Enhancing existing ETL logic to meet evolving business requirements
• Integrating new data sources from Oracle, MySQL, and AWS Redshift
• Creating parameterized mappings for performance and reusability

This continuous improvement approach helped the enterprise maintain a future-ready, scalable ETL infrastructure.

5. Testing & Quality Assurance

Rigorous testing and validation ensured migration success. The QA process included:

• Automated Python-based data comparison scripts during ODS migration
• Validation of migrated Informatica workflows against legacy PL/SQL results
• Regression testing to ensure no data loss or deviation in transformation logic

This ensured zero disruption during production rollout and 100% accuracy in migrated datasets.

Results and Business Impact

The Informatica PowerCenter migration delivered substantial business and operational benefits:

• Standardized ETL processes across the enterprise
• Enhanced automation and reduced manual verification effort
• Scalable data integration framework supporting future analytics expansion
• Improved performance and monitoring with centralized workflow control
• Reduced downtime and faster issue resolution through proactive Python-based checks

With a unified, automated ETL architecture, the organization achieved higher operational efficiency, faster data availability, and greater analytics reliability across all business units.

Key Technologies

• Informatica PowerCenter 10.2 / 10.4 – ETL Platform
• Oracle, MySQL, GCP Postgres, AWS Redshift – Source Systems
• Python Automation – Validation and Monitoring
• AWS S3 / Cradle – Data Storage and Integration Environment

Looking Ahead

The success of this multi-year engagement has positioned the client to explore Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services (IICS) for hybrid cloud integration and Python-based orchestration frameworks for advanced automation.

DataTerrain continues to partner with the client for ETL optimization, migration roadmap planning, and data modernization initiatives aimed at enhancing agility, performance, and long-term sustainability.

About DataTerrain

DataTerrain is a global leader in data migration, analytics automation, and enterprise ETL modernization.

With deep expertise in Informatica, AWS, Snowflake, Power BI, and data warehouse transformation, DataTerrain helps global organizations modernize legacy systems and achieve high-performance, scalable data operations.

Informatica, AWS, Snowflake, Power BI, and data warehouse transformation,