Informatica Cloud for Dummies - Informatica Cloud, Components & Applications
Informatica Cloud is an on-demand subscription service that provides cloud applications. When you subscribe to Informatica Cloud, you use a web browser to connect to Informatica Cloud. Informatica Cloud runs at a hosting facility.
Informatica Cloud Components
1. Informatica Cloud :- A browser-based application that runs at the Informatica Cloud hosting facility. It allows you to configure connections, create users, and create, run, schedule, and monitor tasks.
You can log on to Informatica Cloud application using your user id and password.
You can log on to Informatica Cloud application using your user id and password.
2. Informatica Cloud hosting facility :- A facility where the Informatica Cloud application runs. The Informatica Cloud hosting facility stores all task and organization information like it is stored in PowerCenter repository. Informatica Cloud does not store or stage source or target data.
3. Informatica Cloud applications :- Applications that you can use to perform tasks, such as data synchronization, contact validation, and data replication.
4. Informatica Cloud Secure Agent :- A component of Informatica Cloud installed on a local machine that runs all tasks and provides firewall access between the hosting facility and your organization. When the Secure Agent runs a task, it connects to the Informatica Cloud hosting facility to access task information, connects directly and securely to sources and targets, transfers data between sources and targets, and performs any additional task requirements.
Informatica Cloud Applications
Informatica Cloud provides the following applications to help with different type of data integration tasks. These applications can be used to perform tasks, such as data synchronization, contact validation, and data replication and more.
- PowerCenter
- Mapping Configuration
- Data Synchronization
- Data Replication
- Contact Validation
- Data Assessment
- Data Masking
PowerCenter
The PowerCenter application allows you to Import PowerCenter workflows in to Informatica Cloud and run them as Informatica Cloud tasks. When you create a task, you can associate it with a schedule to run it at specified times or on regular intervals. Or, you can run it manually. You can monitor tasks that are currently running in the activity monitor and view logs about completed tasks in the activity log.
Below screenshot captures the options available to import a PowerCenter workflow.
Below screenshot captures the options available to import a PowerCenter workflow.
Mapping Configuration
Mapping Configuration Task is similar to a session task in PowerCenter. The Mapping Configuration Task allows you to process data based on the data flow logic defined in a mapping.
Below screenshot captures the options available to build a mapping configuration.
Below screenshot captures the options available to build a mapping configuration.
When you create a mapping configuration task, you select the mapping for the task to use, just like you choose a mapping while you create a session task in PowerCenter. You also define the parameter value associated with the mapping.
Data Synchronization
Use to load data and integrate applications, databases, and files. Includes add-on functionality such as saved queries and mapplets. The Data Synchronization application allows you to synchronize data between a source and target. This performs insert,update,delete and upsert operations.
Using data synchronization task you can perform insert,update,delete and upsert. Options are shown below.
Using data synchronization task you can perform insert,update,delete and upsert. Options are shown below.
For example, you can read sales leads from your sales database and write them into Salesforce. You can also use expressions to transform the data according to your business logic or use data filters to filter data before writing it to targets.
Data Replication
Use to replicate data from Salesforce or database sources to database or file targets. You might replicate data to archive the data, perform offline reporting, or consolidate and manage data.
Shown is the options available to setup data replication task.
Shown is the options available to setup data replication task.
Contact Validation
Contact validation is used to validate and correct postal address data, and add geocode information to postal address data. You can also validate email addresses and check phone numbers against the Do Not Call Registry. With the Contact Validation application, you can validate and correct postal address data, and add geocode information to postal address data. You can also validate email addresses and check phone numbers against the Do Not Call Registry.
The Contact Validation application reads data from sources, validates and corrects the selected validation fields, and writes data to output files. In addition to validation fields, the Contact Validation application can include up to 30 additional source fields in the output files for a task.
Data Assessment
The Data Assessment application allows you to evaluate the quality of your Salesforce data. Use to measure and monitor the quality of data in the Accounts, Contacts, Leads, and Opportunities Salesforce CRM objects. It generates graphical dashboards that measure field completeness, field conformance, record duplication, and address validity for each Salesforce object. You can run data assessment tasks on an on-going basis to show trends in the data quality.
Data Masking
Use data masking to replace source data in sensitive columns with realistic test data for non-production environments. Data masking rules define the logic to replace the sensitive data. Assign data masking rules to the columns you need to mask.