6. What do you understand by ODS (Operational Data Store)?

An ODS (operational data store) is a central database that presents a current snapshot of the
business data from multiple sources for data processing activities such as real-time analysis
and operational reporting. It contains the most up-to-date information and supports business
intelligence tools for strategic decision-making.
In contrast to ETL systems, an operational data store ingests raw data from production
systems and stores it in its original format. There is no need to convert the data before it can
be analyzed or used to make business operating decisions.
7. Explain the tracing level and its types.
Tracing level refers to the amount of data stored in log files when you execute a workflow. It
helps you analyze the error and find bugs in the process. They are classified into four types:
Normal, Terse, Verbose initialization, and verbose data.
8. What are the differences between ETL and ELT?
The following table helps you understand the difference between ETL and ELT:

Key Features ETL ELT

ETL stands for Extract, ELT stands for Extract, Load, and
Full form
Transform, and Load. Transform.

ETL loads data into the staging

Data ELT loads data straight to the
server and then to the target
processing target system.
system.

ELT is used for cloud-scale

ETL is used for on-premises,
Use structured and unstructured data
relational and structured data.
sources.

Data lake ETL doesn’t provide data lake

ELT provides data lake support.
support support.

Data volume ETL is Ideal for small datasets. ELT is ideal for large datasets.

Structured, Semi-structured, and

Data output Structured
unstructured.
9. What are the advantages of increasing the number of partitions in an ETL?
The increase in the number of partitions enables the Informatica server to generate multiple
connections to various sources.
ETL Testing Interview Questions and Answers
The following are the most commonly-asked ETL testing interview questions and answers
that you must read to ace your next interview:
10. What are the steps followed in the ETL testing process?
The steps involved in the ETL testing process are
Step 1: Analyze Business Requirements.
Step 2: Identify the data sources
Step 3: Design test cases
Step 4: Perform test execution
Step 5: Prepare a summary report
Step 6: Test closure
11. What do ETL Testing operations include?
ETL testing operations include:


 Check if the data is being transformed appropriately, following the

business requirements.
 Ensure that data loads within the scheduled time frame to improve
scalability and performance.
 Check that the expected data is put into the warehouse without
truncation or loss.