Data profiling is a critical step in data management.

It involves analyzing and

examining a data source to understand its structure, quality, and suitability for
different applications.

Have you ever worked with a dataset that had missing or incorrect data?

How do you think businesses ensure their data is accurate and useful?

Why is Data Profiling Important?

It helps assess data quality – It checks for missing, duplicate, or incorrect data.

It identifies anomalies – Helps find errors, inconsistencies, and unexpected values.

It helps in database design – Ensures the database is structured properly.

It aids in decision-making – Organizations use clean and accurate data for better
decision-making.

It improves data integration – Ensures that data from different sources can work
together smoothly.

Analogy:
Think of data profiling like proofreading an important report before submitting it.
You check for errors, inconsistencies, and missing information to make sure it’s
perfect.

Types of Data Profiling

data profiling can be classified into two main types:

Data Quality Profiling

Examines data accuracy, completeness, and consistency based on business rules.

Helps find duplicates, missing values, or incorrect data.

Two approaches:

Summaries (e.g., percentage of missing data, unique values in a

column).

Details (e.g., lists of incorrect records, missing entries).

Example:
If a customer database has 10% of emails missing, it affects marketing campaigns.
Data profiling helps identify and fix such gaps.

Database Profiling

Examines the structure and relationships within a database.

Checks schemas, tables, columns, data types, and keys.

Ensures the database is well-structured and optimized.

Example:
In an e-commerce database, database profiling helps check if the customer table is
correctly linked to the orders table.

When and How to Conduct Data Profiling?

When to Conduct Data Profiling?

During the discovery phase (before designing the database).

Before dimensional modeling (to ensure proper structure).

During ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processing (to maintain data quality).

How to Conduct Data Profiling?

Writing SQL queries to analyze data samples.

Using data profiling tools like Talend, Informatica, or Microsoft Data Quality
Services.

Why is clean and structured data important?

Have you ever seen messy or incomplete data in Excel or databases?

What happens when data is incorrect or missing?

Key Aspects of Data Profiling

The main steps in data profiling are

Analyzing Data Quality

Ensures data is clean, consistent, and accurate before using it.

Example: A phone number column should only contain numbers, not alphabets like
"ABC123".

Activity: dataset where some phone numbers contain alphabets and how they would
fix it.

Checking for NULL Values

NULL values are missing data in a table. Example: A customer database may have
missing email addresses.

Activity: Run an SQL query to count NULL values in any sample dataset.

SELECT column_name, COUNT(*) AS NullCount FROM table_name WHERE

column_name IS NULL;

Why do missing values matter? How can we fix them?

Identifying Candidate Keys

A candidate key is a column (or combination of columns) that can uniquely identify
a row.
Example: In a student database, Student ID can be a candidate key because each
student has a unique ID.

Selecting Primary Keys

A primary key is a candidate key that has been chosen to uniquely identify records.

It must not have NULL values or duplicate values.

Example: In an Employee database, "Employee ID" should be unique. If two

employees have the same ID, it means there’s an error.

Activity: Create a table with duplicate primary keys and how they would fix it.
Handling Empty String Values

A column may contain NULL values or empty strings ("").

Example: If a customer’s "Address" field is stored as an empty string instead of
NULL, it can cause issues in reporting.

Solution: Convert empty strings to NULL for consistency.

Analyzing String Length

Helps determine the maximum and minimum length of text fields.

Example: If a "Customer Name" column allows only 20 characters, but some names
are longer, data may be cut off.

SQL Query to check max string length:

SELECT MAX(LENGTH(column_name)) AS MaxLength,

MIN(LENGTH(column_name)) AS MinLength FROM table_name;

why knowing string length is important when designing a database.

Checking Numeric Length and Types

Analyzing maximum and minimum values helps in selecting the correct numeric
data type.
Example: If an "Age" column has values from 1 to 100, using INTEGER is better
than FLOAT.

Activity: dataset where the wrong data type is used (e.g., age stored as FLOAT
instead of INTEGER) and how to fixes.

Identifying Cardinality (Relationships Between Tables)

Cardinality defines the relationship between tables:

One-to-One (e.g., Each student has one school ID).

One-to-Many (e.g., One teacher teaches many students).

Many-to-Many (e.g., Students enroll in multiple courses, and each course has
multiple students).
Checking Data Format Issues

Some data is stored in unfriendly formats that need to be converted for better
understanding.
Example: "M" for Married, "U" for Unmarried can be changed to full words.

Dates stored as "20250327" should be converted to "27-Mar-2025".

The popular data profiling tools:

1. Trillium Enterprise Data Quality

This is a powerful yet user-friendly data profiling software designed for businesses
that require high-quality data management.

Key Features:

Scans all data systems and updates regularly.

Runs automated checks to ensure data consistency.

Removes duplicate records to prevent data redundancy.

Organizes data into categories for better management.

Generates regular statistical reports about data quality.

2. Datiris Profiler

A flexible and automated data profiling tool that requires minimal user input. It allows
businesses to set default rules, and the system manages data automatically.

Key Features:

Strong metric system for data evaluation.

Supports domain validation and pattern analysis.

Command-line interface for advanced users.

Real-time data viewing and batch profiling.

Provides pre-built templates for easy data management.

3. Talend Data Profiler

A free, open-source data profiling tool. While not as powerful as some paid solutions,
it is ideal for small businesses and non-profits looking for basic data profiling
capabilities.

Key Features:

Free and open-source, making it accessible to many users.

Useful for small-scale data profiling needs.

4. IBM Infosphere Information Analyzer

A highly advanced data profiling tool from IBM that performs deep scans quickly. It
integrates well with IBM's other data security and management solutions.

Key Features:

Provides deep system scans in a short time.

Integrates with IBM's security framework.

Offers a scheduling system for automated scans.

Includes reporting and rules analysis features.

Ensures consistent metadata across IBM products.

5. SSIS Data Profiling Task

This is not a standalone tool but a feature built into SQL Server Integration Services
(SSIS) by Microsoft. It helps in evaluating source and transformed data before
loading it into a data warehouse.

Key Features:

Works within Microsoft's SQL Server ecosystem.

Provides statistics on both source and transformed data.

6. Oracle Warehouse Builder

This is not strictly a data profiling tool but a data warehouse development software
that includes data profiling features. It is great for users with little to no programming
knowledge.

Key Features:
Allows non-programmers to build a data warehouse.

Includes data profiling functionalities to ensure data quality.

Data profiling is the process of analyzing data to understand its quality, structure,
and patterns. This helps organizations clean, organize, and manage their data
efficiently. Many software tools are available for data profiling—some are
independent tools, while others are integrated into larger data management
platforms.