The metadata approach
One of the main challenges in transforming and converting data is managing changes in the operational data environment. This is why Metasuite first defines and stores metadata for the data sources and targets.
Metasuite can also handle multiple versions of the same data definition. Changes in the metadata can be captured in the metadata repository, which can contain the definitions of all technical, editing and validation information related to the changes. This metadata is then used to generate the data transformation routines. Metasuite is the only data integration solution that allows you to perform these tasks over and over again. As a result, Metasuite’s metadata always reflects the actual data in the operational environment.
Special features
Filtering and transforming
Metasuite allows you to only select the data you need. It provides powerful options for filtering data, in order to minimize the data volume to be transferred to the target relational database. For instance legacy data types are transformed to standard RDBMS formats.
Hiding legacy system complexity
Metasuite collects, consolidates and centralizes data, through its intuitive graphical user interface, from a wide variety of systems using native COBOL generation. It generates COBOL applications and the corresponding custom run scripts for all data systems. Using Metasuite requires no knowledge of the legacy system whatsoever. The Metasuite graphical user interface handles the translation of business requirements to complex coding. Users have all the advantages of COBOL, (e.g. performance, multi-database, multi-system), without having to understand and use it. As a result, resources can be managed more efficiently.
Test Data Management
Metasuite not only allows you to create subsets of data sets by using powerful sampling techniques, you can also make sure that the public and company privacy rules are respected. Metasuite comes with predefined obfuscation functions and allows you to define your own obfuscation functions. Metasuite can also be used for data value discovery and data statistics
By using Metasuite for generating test data, you’ll be sure that:
- You can create representative data subsets by applying the appropriate sampling function,
- You respect privacy regulations and internal governance rules and
- You generate consistent obfuscated data sets that respect relations between.
User friendliness
Metasuite is equipped with an easy-to-use graphical user interface that features:
- A visual development environment.
- Source and target wizards.
- Building of mapping rules through point-and-click.
- Distributed development and deployment.
Data extraction projects typically are repetitive, and maintenance can be difficult and timeconsuming, because coding needs to be modified for each change. With Metasuite, development of routines is easy, as is their maintenance. A considerable part of the changes consists of metadata alterations, which are handled in a simple way thanks to Metasuite’s metadata approach.
Full documentation
As applications generated with Metasuite are self-explanatory, the creation of programmer documentation is simplified. The availability of metadata to business users will help them to better understand the data they are analyzing.
Data quality control
Metasuite allows for highly qualitative data integration generation and maintenance. Every data processing event comes with a comprehensive audit log, which includes the number of records handled, records in error, elapsed time, etc. Additionally, Metasuite can be used to define a range of audit reports, including a Duplicates Report and a Statistical Summary Report.
Connectivity
Metasuite supports a variety of operating systems, including z/OS, BS2000, DOS VSE, VMS, UNIX, OS/400, Linux, and Windows. In order to optimize the extraction process, Metasuite supports native database features that use database indexes and navigation process options. Supported sources include:
- IMS
- IDMS
- DATACOM/DB
- ADABAS
- VSAM, QSAM
- Sequential files
- Delimited files
- XML
- Any RDBMS including DB2, ORACLE, TERADATA, INFORMIX, SYBASE
Metasuite delivers the required target data along with RDBMS specific load scripts, to process all these data files.
Open system
Due to the openness of Metasuite, organizations can leverage existing system schedulers, security mechanisms and file transport systems to ease operations. Also, through its openness, Metasuite seamlessly connects to almost all commercially available data mining, OLAP and end-user reporting solutions.
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