Astera Case Studies Michigan Education Association Reduces Data Extraction and Loading

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	Michigan Education Association Reduces Data Extraction and Loading Astera

Michigan Education Association Reduces Data Extraction and Loading

Astera

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries	Education
Applicable Functions	Business Operation
Services	Data Science Services System Integration
Challenge	The Michigan Education Association (MEA) was facing a major challenge with its manual data extraction and integration process. The association received invoice data from a third-party vendor via an SFTP server. This data, contained in a zip folder, had to be downloaded, unzipped, and loaded into an MS SQL transactional system. The zip folder contained different types of files, including CSV and flat files, often with thousands or millions of records. Without an automation tool, the team at MEA had to download the individual files, set up flows, and execute the integration process manually. This was a time-consuming process. Additionally, MEA only wanted to insert records that had been changed or updated into the MS SQL transactional system, which was a challenge without a tool to facilitate the process. Read More
About Customer	The Michigan Education Association (MEA) is a self-governing education association that represents about 120,000 educators working throughout the state. The association utilizes data to organize bargaining units and continuing education, prepare invoicing, and for resolving member issues. MEA leverages data from several sources, including flat files and CSV files with over 8 million rows. To make integration easier, MEA uses Astera's Centerprise platform to extract data from these files and load it to an MS SQL-based transactional system. With Centerprise, the association is also able to minimize the manual effort involved in downloading and processing data, building a MySQL data warehouse, and populating it with data from its MS SQL transactional system. This data warehouse has enabled the organization to build an online membership application, allowing MEA to assist members more efficiently. Read More
Solution	MEA opted for Astera's Centerprise platform due to its ease of use and robust automation capabilities. Centerprise allowed MEA to eliminate manual work and dramatically speed up its data integrations. Using the Centerprise platform, MEA scheduled the process of downloading folders containing invoicing data from the SFTP server overnight. This allowed the team to save on crucial productive time in the workday and spend it on reporting and analyses. Instead of waiting for an employee to manually execute the process as they arrive at work in the morning, MEA used Centerprise to complete the integration process overnight and have data available in a report-ready format before the start of the workday. With Centerprise, MEA was able to build a fully functional data warehouse to consolidate data and get a holistic view of its invoicing process. The team loaded data from the MS SQL transactional system to the MySQL data warehouse. From there, it was integrated with Salesforce CRM and Salesforce Marketing Cloud to turbocharge MEA's marketing efforts. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Education

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Services

Data Science Services

System Integration

Challenge

The Michigan Education Association (MEA) was facing a major challenge with its manual data extraction and integration process. The association received invoice data from a third-party vendor via an SFTP server. This data, contained in a zip folder, had to be downloaded, unzipped, and loaded into an MS SQL transactional system. The zip folder contained different types of files, including CSV and flat files, often with thousands or millions of records. Without an automation tool, the team at MEA had to download the individual files, set up flows, and execute the integration process manually. This was a time-consuming process. Additionally, MEA only wanted to insert records that had been changed or updated into the MS SQL transactional system, which was a challenge without a tool to facilitate the process.

About Customer

The Michigan Education Association (MEA) is a self-governing education association that represents about 120,000 educators working throughout the state. The association utilizes data to organize bargaining units and continuing education, prepare invoicing, and for resolving member issues. MEA leverages data from several sources, including flat files and CSV files with over 8 million rows. To make integration easier, MEA uses Astera's Centerprise platform to extract data from these files and load it to an MS SQL-based transactional system. With Centerprise, the association is also able to minimize the manual effort involved in downloading and processing data, building a MySQL data warehouse, and populating it with data from its MS SQL transactional system. This data warehouse has enabled the organization to build an online membership application, allowing MEA to assist members more efficiently.

Solution

MEA opted for Astera's Centerprise platform due to its ease of use and robust automation capabilities. Centerprise allowed MEA to eliminate manual work and dramatically speed up its data integrations. Using the Centerprise platform, MEA scheduled the process of downloading folders containing invoicing data from the SFTP server overnight. This allowed the team to save on crucial productive time in the workday and spend it on reporting and analyses. Instead of waiting for an employee to manually execute the process as they arrive at work in the morning, MEA used Centerprise to complete the integration process overnight and have data available in a report-ready format before the start of the workday. With Centerprise, MEA was able to build a fully functional data warehouse to consolidate data and get a holistic view of its invoicing process. The team loaded data from the MS SQL transactional system to the MySQL data warehouse. From there, it was integrated with Salesforce CRM and Salesforce Marketing Cloud to turbocharge MEA's marketing efforts.

Impact #1	MEA schedules their data extraction and integration process overnight ensuring that employees have access to reporting- ready data at the beginning of each work day.
Impact #2	MEA was able to build a fully functional data warehouse to consolidate data and get a holistic view of its invoicing process.
Impact #3	The team loaded data from the MS SQL transactional system to the MySQL data warehouse. From there, it was integrated with Salesforce CRM and Salesforce Marketing Cloud to turbocharge MEA's marketing efforts.

Impact #1

MEA schedules their data extraction and integration process overnight ensuring that employees have access to reporting- ready data at the beginning of each work day.

Impact #2

MEA was able to build a fully functional data warehouse to consolidate data and get a holistic view of its invoicing process.

Impact #3

The team loaded data from the MS SQL transactional system to the MySQL data warehouse. From there, it was integrated with Salesforce CRM and Salesforce Marketing Cloud to turbocharge MEA's marketing efforts.

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Overview

Michigan Education Association Reduces Data Extraction and Loading

Operational Impact