PeopleSoft is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software platform that is intended for medium-sized to large businesses. Originally designed for human resources and finance applications, PeopleSoft can now help organizations with tasks such as human capital management (HCM), financial management, supply chain management, and enterprise service automation.
Multi-pronged tools like PeopleSoft can greatly benefit from establishing a reverse ETL workflow. Reverse ETL flips the sources and targets of the standard ETL (extract, transform, load) process. Rather than being a destination, your centralized data warehouse instead acts as a “single source of truth,” pushing information to third-party applications like PeopleSoft for easier access and operationalization.
So how can you actually achieve PeopleSoft reverse ETL? In this article, we’ll discuss five tips and best practices for pushing data from your warehouse to PeopleSoft.
1. Select Your Data
PeopleSoft’s intended user base (i.e., medium-sized to large businesses) likely has a great deal of enterprise data on hand. According to a survey by IDG, the average company manages 163 terabytes (163,000 gigabytes), and the average large enterprise manages 348 terabytes.
To get started with PeopleSoft reverse ETL, you’ll first need to pick and choose which data you want to transfer into PeopleSoft. As mentioned above, PeopleSoft’s strengths lie in activities such as human capital management and financial management, so select the information that best aligns with your goals in that regard.
2. Select Your PeopleSoft Reverse ETL Target
The goal of reverse ETL is to get data into third-party systems like PeopleSoft, where users will have an easier time accessing it and obtaining insights—rather than locked up inside your data warehouse, where it’s only usable by specialists. But how are you actually going to use your enterprise data inside PeopleSoft?
PeopleSoft comes equipped with reporting and analytics functionality that can be embedded into other interfaces and workflows, offering real-time explanatory capabilities. In addition, PeopleSoft allows direct access to the Kibana data visualization dashboard software at no extra cost for PeopleSoft licenses.
3. Select Your Reverse ETL Transformations
Once you’ve established the connection between your warehouse and PeopleSoft, your data may be flowing freely between them—but don’t forget the crucial “T” (transformation) stage of ETL. Your data may need to undergo multiple transformations before it’s suitable for loading into third-party systems like PeopleSoft.
At the very minimum, your warehouse and PeopleSoft may use different schemas, and you’ll have to transform the data in order to make it usable by PeopleSoft. You may also wish to perform data transformations like joins (uniting multiple tables via a single shared column) and splits (dividing a single row or column into multiple rows or columns).
4. Select Your Queries
Thus far, we’ve been discussing the technical aspect of PeopleSoft reverse ETL, but it’s just as important to consider the business impact of establishing this workflow. Before you put in the work to create a reverse ETL pipeline, you should already have answers to questions such as:
- Which queries or analyses do you want to perform, and how frequently do you want to perform them? How do these queries align with your need to track certain metrics or KPIs?
- For whom is your reverse ETL pipeline intended? How will it help them operationalize your enterprise data? Is it easier for these users to get the day-to-day insights they need from PeopleSoft, rather than within your data warehouse?
5. Select Your Reverse ETL Tool
Finally, you’ll need to select the right tool for the job in the form of an ETL and reverse ETL solution. The right ETL tool can automatically link your data warehouse with third-party platforms and systems like PeopleSoft, saving you untold hours of manual effort.
So what factors should you consider when choosing a PeopleSoft reverse ETL tool? Having a wide array of integrations and connectors is always a valuable asset for ETL solutions since it means that the tool can grow alongside your business—even as your technology stack might evolve.
Another important feature for reverse ETL tools is user-friendliness. The objective of reverse ETL is to get data out of your warehouse and operationalize it, which means that it will be accessible to many users outside the IT department. Catering to this less technical user base is, therefore, a must.
How Integrate.io Can Help with PeopleSoft Reverse ETL
Choosing the right ETL and reverse ETL tool can be a game-changer—so what’s the best ETL tool for reverse ETL?
Integrate.io is a powerful, feature-rich ETL, reverse ETL, and data integration tool that makes it simple for anyone to build robust automated pipelines between your data sources and your cloud data warehouse—as well as in the opposite direction for reverse ETL. Users benefit from Integrate.io’s user-friendly, drag-and-drop, no-code visual interface, as well as more than 100 pre-built connectors and integrations that help you get started integrating your data right away.
Ready to learn more about how Integrate.io can help with ETL and reverse ETL? Get in touch with our team of data experts today for a chat about your business needs and objectives, or to start your 14-day pilot of the Integrate.io platform.