Categories: Tutorials

Data Profiling with IBM Information Analyzer

2 min read

Information Analyzer is a client-server software. A data profiling user (metadata analyst) works on its GUI client, so to make it easier to show you how I solve the problem I’ll use a lot of screenshots.

Our example data is an Oracle table that has two columns and three rows (In real life, they can typically be more than 50 and a few millions, respectively).

When you start the Information Analyzer client, called Information Server Console, you’ll be shown its start-up screen; and then, its log-in window.

When your log-in is successful, the console main window will show up.

Assuming the Oracle table that we’d like to profile is new; we must identify it to the Analyzer, which technically means importing its metadata.

Make sure you have connected the Oracle database to the Information Analyzer server before you import the metadata of its tables.

Expand Metadata Management from the HOME drop-down menu.

Then, click Import Metadata.

Our example Oracle data (table) is in the CLROPER database (hosted in DDOM02), so select CLROPER and then click Identify Next Level.

It might take a while, particularly for a database that has many tables and many columns; so just wait.

On the completion message screen, click OK to close the screen.

All tables in CLROPER database will be identified (listed) including our example table named SPACE1. We’ll next identify the columns of our SPACE1 table; so select SPACE1 and then click Identify Next Level.

The result shows that Analyzer has correctly identified the two columns of the table.

Now, import metadata of all columns of the table by selecting the table and then clicking Import.

Click OK to continue.

Wait for completion.

Click OK on the successful completion screen.

We’re now done with the metadata of the data; we’re now ready to start our profiling task.

In Information Analyzer (as in most other software of these days) we group our profiling works into projects. Here, I just use an existing project (DJONI_TEST), so select Open Project from the drop-down arrow on the right of NO PROJECT SELECTED.

You’ll be shown the list of existing projects. Select your project, and click Open.

Our previous (existing) profiling works are shown.

Next, open click Project Properties from the OVERVIEW drop-down menu.

Go to the Data Sources tab. Our SPACE1 table is not in the list yet, as we haven’t identified it specifically in our project (we did in the previous steps at the server-wide level); so we need to add it into our project, click Add.

Expand the SPACE1 table to see its columns. Select all of the columns as we want to profile all of them, and then click OK.

When completed, click Save All, and then close the Project Properties window.

Now, we’re ready to profile our SPACE1 data, to analyze its columns. On the main toolbar select Investigate | Column analysis.

Packt

Share
Published by
Packt

Recent Posts

Top life hacks for prepping for your IT certification exam

I remember deciding to pursue my first IT certification, the CompTIA A+. I had signed…

3 years ago

Learn Transformers for Natural Language Processing with Denis Rothman

Key takeaways The transformer architecture has proved to be revolutionary in outperforming the classical RNN…

3 years ago

Learning Essential Linux Commands for Navigating the Shell Effectively

Once we learn how to deploy an Ubuntu server, how to manage users, and how…

3 years ago

Clean Coding in Python with Mariano Anaya

Key-takeaways:   Clean code isn’t just a nice thing to have or a luxury in software projects; it's a necessity. If we…

3 years ago

Exploring Forms in Angular – types, benefits and differences   

While developing a web application, or setting dynamic pages and meta tags we need to deal with…

3 years ago

Gain Practical Expertise with the Latest Edition of Software Architecture with C# 9 and .NET 5

Software architecture is one of the most discussed topics in the software industry today, and…

3 years ago