Informatica Transformations :-

1) Aggregator Transformation

Aggregator transformation performs aggregate functions like average, sum, count

etc. on multiple rows or groups. The Integration Service performs these
calculations as it reads and stores data group and row data in an aggregate cache.
It is an Active & Connected transformation.

Difference b/w Aggregator and Expression Transformation? Expression transformation

permits you to perform calculations row by row basis only. In Aggregator you can
perform calculations on groups.

Aggregator transformation has following ports – State, State_Count, Previous_State

and State_Counter.

Components: Aggregate Cache, Aggregate Expression, Group by port, Sorted input.

Aggregate Expressions: are allowed only in aggregate transformations. can include

conditional clauses and non-aggregate functions. can also include one aggregate
function nested into another aggregate function.

Aggregate Functions: AVG, COUNT, FIRST, LAST, MAX, MEDIAN, MIN, PERCENTILE, STDDEV,
SUM, VARIANCE

Application Source Qualifier Transformation

Represents the rows that the Integration Service reads from an application, such as
an ERP source, when it runs a session.It is an Active & Connected transformation.

2) Custom Transformation

It works with procedures you create outside the designer interface to extend
PowerCenter functionality. calls a procedure from a shared library or DLL. It is
active/passive & connected type.

You can use CT to create T. that require multiple input groups and multiple output
groups.

Custom transformation allows you to develop the transformation logic in a

procedure. Some of the PowerCenter transformations are built using the Custom
transformation. Rules that apply to Custom transformations, such as blocking rules,
also apply to transformations built using Custom transformations. PowerCenter
provides two sets of functions called generated and API functions. The Integration
Service uses generated functions to interface with the procedure. When you create a
Custom transformation and generate the source code files, the Designer includes the
generated functions in the files. Use the API functions in the procedure code to
develop the transformation logic.

Difference between Custom and External Procedure Transformation? In Custom T, input

and output functions occur separately.The Integration Service passes the input data
to the procedure using an input function. The output function is a separate
function that you must enter in the procedure code to pass output data to the
Integration Service. In contrast, in the External Procedure transformation, an
external procedure function does both input and output, and its parameters consist
of all the ports of the transformation.

Data Masking Transformation

Passive & Connected. It is used to change sensitive production data to realistic
test data for non production environments. It creates masked data for development,
testing, training and data mining. Data relationship and referential integrity are
maintained in the masked data.

Example: It returns masked value that has a realistic format for SSN, Credit card
number, birthdate, phone number, etc. But is not a valid value.

Masking types: Key Masking, Random Masking, Expression Masking, Special Mask
format. Default is no masking.

3) Expression Transformation

Passive & Connected. are used to perform non-aggregate functions, i.e to calculate
values in a single row. Example: to calculate discount of each product or to
concatenate first and last names or to convert date to a string field.

You can create an Expression transformation in the Transformation Developer or the

Mapping Designer.

Components: Transformation, Ports, Properties, Metadata Extensions.