Informatica Tutorial: Beginner to Expert Level

Informatica Power Center Data Integration tool is the top in the Gartner’s magic quadrant for the past ten years with high GO LIVE rate compared to any other existing ETL tools in the market.

Informatica Power Center tool supports all the steps of Extraction, Transformation and Load process/life cycle. There are lot of other (third party) products which are offered and created around the Power Center’s ability to connect to different technologies ranging from Legacy systems, Mainframes to CRM, SAP, TIBCO, HP VERTICA to BIG DATA.

Informatica Power Center Developer course, will introduce you to work with the Power Center version 10.x/9.6x to create, execute, as well as administer, monitor and schedule ETL processes and understand how these are used in data mining operations and enterprise data warehouse setup.

Informatica Power Center is an easy to use GUI based tool. It has a simple visual interface which is easy to understand and use. All the components are designed to be used by a simple drag and drop feature for different objects like source, targets, transformations, mapplets, mappings, sessions, worklets and workflows which contribute to the design process flow of the data extraction, transformation and load.

Once the objects are integrated into a package called as workflow, it can be scheduled to run as and when required with rich features to accommodate all the possibilities of a business requirement. 

The architecture of Informatica 10x/9x is created based on the SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) which takes care of the data fetch, execution of the transformation and load the data into the target systems in the desired formats like Relational, Flat File, XML, WSDL, PDF, Word (Structured, Semi-Structured, Un-Structured).

Informatica Power Center 10x/9x has the ability to communicate via ODBC sources/plugins/extensions with all major data sources like Mainframe, Big Data, traditional RDBMS (Oracle, SQL Server, Teradata, Netezza, Informix, DB2 etc), NoSQL (Mongo DB, Cassandra etc) Flat Files, XML, TIBCO, WSDL (Via web services) SAP, Salesforce etc) and move/transform data between them based on the need.

The tool’s ability to fetch/transform and load huge volumes of data in a very effective way, with less resource consumption is better than hand coded programs written for specific data movement using PL/SQL procedures, Java, Perl and other languages.

The course covers all topics starting from Data warehouse concepts, Roles and Responsibilities of an ETL developer, Installation & Configuration of Informatica Power Center 10x/9.X, in detailed explanation of transformations with practical examples, performance tuning tips for each transformation (clearly shown and explained), usually asked interview questions, quizzes for each section and assignments for your hands on and in-depth explanation of the Repository Service, Integration Service and other basic Administration Activities. 

🚫 **Course Overview:** The global rating for this course is a strong 4.41 out of 5, with all recent reviews considered. The course covers advanced topics in Informatica PowerCenter and ETL processes, suitable for individuals who have some experience with data tools, SQL, and ETL but may not be ideal for complete beginners struggling with the installation process. **Pros:** - **Expertise:** The instructor is reported to have a deep knowledge of the subject matter, offering detailed explanations that are particularly useful for practical applications and interview preparation. - **Comprehensive Content:** The course provides extensive coverage of Informatica transformations and concepts, with some users mentioning that it refreshed their previous knowledge and prepared them for real-time project work. - **Real-world Scenarios:** The course content seems to be well-suited for professionals working in large companies, offering insights into scenarios that are relevant to their work. - **Learner Experience:** For those with some prior experience, the course is described as very detailed and beneficial even for seasoned data engineers looking to refresh their skills. - **Interview Tips:** The interview preparation aspect of the course has been highlighted as being particularly strong, providing on-point advice. **Cons:** - **Installation Difficulty:** Some users encountered significant difficulties with installing the necessary prerequisites for the course, which took a considerable amount of time to resolve. - **Outdated Content:** A few reviews suggest that the course material is outdated, with some critical gaps in the installation guides and missing major steps. - **Volume and Pace:** Some learners found the volume of content to be low and the pace at which the course is delivered to be too fast, making it hard to follow along. - **Voice and Delivery:** The instructor's voice and teaching style were described as boring and unengaging, lacking the necessary enthusiasm to maintain learner interest. - **Language and Accent:** A few users had difficulties understanding the instructor's accent and wished for an accompanying script in clear English. - **Installation Issues:** Several learners reported issues with downloading the software required for the course, which persisted even after a week, detracting from the overall learning experience. - **Simplicity and Practical Examples:** Some users felt that the explanations could be simpler and more practical examples should be included to aid beginners in picking up the material more easily. **General Feedback:** The course seems to strike a balance between theoretical knowledge and practical application, with some learners reporting significant improvements in their understanding of Informatica PowerCenter and ETL processes after completing the course. However, the course may require updates to remain current with the latest developments in Informatica and improvements in the installation process and course materials for beginners. In conclusion, the course appears to be a valuable resource for those with some experience looking to deepen their understanding of Informatica PowerCenter and ETL processes, provided they can navigate the initial setup issues and find ways to supplement the learning where the content is outdated or unclear. The positive reviews highlight the course's strengths in depth of coverage, practical application, and interview preparation, while the negative feedback points out areas for improvement regarding installation, content updates, engagement, and clarity.