Teradata Best Practices

1. Load into Teradata stage table as fast as possible via TPT API. 2. During load, convert and cast field to the correct data type. Minimize cast/convert function later specifically for columns which will be joined on. 3. Use SET In-Database Processing, taking advantage of the Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) nation of Teradata to move the data from Stage to Core (via PDO) 4. Maintain Field Level Lineage for maximum traceability via Imformatica Metadata Manager (IMM). Basics - Informatica/Teradata Communication Informatica 'talks' to Teradata Tools and Utiliteis (TTU) installed on Informatica Server. TTU then communicates with Teradata database. 1. Install Teradata Database 2. Install Teradata Tool and Utilities on Informatica Server 3. Install all TTI eFixes, or patches 4. Test TTU at the command line (i.e. TPT/FasLoad/Mload/TPump/odbc) 5. Install Informatica PowerCenter 6. Install Informatica TPT API module 7. Test Infomatica to Teradata load With TPT API - Integration Example 1. Informatica PowerCenter/PowerExchange pass script parameters to TPT API 2. Informatica PowerCenter/PowerExchange reads source data and passes data buffer to API 3. Teradata tool loads data and passes return codes and messages back to caller

Recommendations

Informatica stage mappings should:

• Bring over all of the fields exactlu as they are in the source
• Insert these raw fields in VARCHAR fields to insure they are accepted
• Explicitly convert the format of all dates and timestamps into Teradata format (keeping the type VARCHAR within Informatica)
• If the conversions are unsuccessful, fill the fields with NULL
• Record that an error record exists in the database