what is data integration

Data integration is the process of combining data from different sources into a single, unified view. This process is significant in both commercial and scientific domains, and it encourages collaboration between internal as well as external users. The data being integrated must be received from a heterogeneous database system and transformed to a single coherent data store that provides synchronous data across a network of files for clients. Data integration involves several steps, including ingestion, cleansing, ETL mapping, and transformation. The ultimate goal of data integration is to produce consolidated data sets that are clean and consistent and meet the information needs of different end-users in an organization. Data integration enables analytics tools to produce effective, actionable business intelligence. The process of data integration also improves the value of a business’ data over time, as quality issues are identified and necessary improvements are implemented, resulting in more accurate data. Data integration techniques are available across a broad range of organizational levels, from fully automated to manual methods. Some typical tools and techniques for data integration include manual integration, common user interfaces, middleware, and data virtualization.