GLOSSARY

A data-integration pattern in which source data is loaded into the target platform before transformations are executed there.

ELT can accelerate ingestion, retain source detail, and support flexible analytical modelling without maintaining a separate transformation platform.

A company loads raw advertising and sales data into a cloud warehouse, then runs tested SQL models to produce campaign-attribution and revenue tables.

Loading first can expose sensitive or low-quality data inside the target. Compute costs, duplicated transformations, weak layer design, and uncontrolled access can offset the flexibility of ELT.

ELT uses the storage and compute capabilities of a cloud warehouse or lakehouse to preserve raw or lightly processed data and transform it into curated models. Modern implementations use versioned transformation code, tests, lineage, orchestration, and controlled access to raw layers.