Mathematical Foundations of Modeling ETL Process Chains

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Maier, Levin, Schulze, Lucas, Lilow, Robert, Hahn, Lukas, Krasowski, Nikola, Barth, Arnulf, Gaebel, Sebastian, Güran, Ferdi, Hanau, Oliver, Wagner, Giovanni, Borgmann, Falk, Arenz, Oleg, Peters, Jan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Maier, Levin
Schulze, Lucas
Lilow, Robert
Hahn, Lukas
Krasowski, Nikola
Barth, Arnulf
Gaebel, Sebastian
Güran, Ferdi
Hanau, Oliver
Wagner, Giovanni
Borgmann, Falk
Arenz, Oleg
Peters, Jan
author_facet Maier, Levin
Schulze, Lucas
Lilow, Robert
Hahn, Lukas
Krasowski, Nikola
Barth, Arnulf
Gaebel, Sebastian
Güran, Ferdi
Hanau, Oliver
Wagner, Giovanni
Borgmann, Falk
Arenz, Oleg
Peters, Jan
contents Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) processes are core components of modern data processing infrastructures. The throughput of processed data records can be adjusted by changing the amount of allocated resources, i.e.~the number of parallel processing threads for each of the three ETL phases, but also depends on stochastic variations in the per-record processing times. In chains of multiple consecutive ETL processes, the relation between allocated resources and overall throughput is further complicated, for example by the occurrence of bottlenecks affecting all subsequent ETL processes. We develop a mathematical model of ETL process chains that is accurate at the level of time-aggregated throughput and suitable for efficient simulation. The process chain is represented as a controlled discrete-time Markov process on a directed acyclic graph whose edges are individual ETL processes. We model the mean throughput as a bounded, monotone function of the number of parallel threads, to capture the diminishing benefit of allocating more threads. We furthermore introduce a Flow Balance postulate linking number of threads, mean throughput, and mean processing time. The stochastic processing times are then modeled by non-negative heavy-tailed distributions around the mean processing time. This framework provides a principled simulator for ETL networks and a foundation for learning- and control-based resource allocation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_29877
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Mathematical Foundations of Modeling ETL Process Chains
Maier, Levin
Schulze, Lucas
Lilow, Robert
Hahn, Lukas
Krasowski, Nikola
Barth, Arnulf
Gaebel, Sebastian
Güran, Ferdi
Hanau, Oliver
Wagner, Giovanni
Borgmann, Falk
Arenz, Oleg
Peters, Jan
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
Databases
Machine Learning
Optimization and Control
Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) processes are core components of modern data processing infrastructures. The throughput of processed data records can be adjusted by changing the amount of allocated resources, i.e.~the number of parallel processing threads for each of the three ETL phases, but also depends on stochastic variations in the per-record processing times. In chains of multiple consecutive ETL processes, the relation between allocated resources and overall throughput is further complicated, for example by the occurrence of bottlenecks affecting all subsequent ETL processes. We develop a mathematical model of ETL process chains that is accurate at the level of time-aggregated throughput and suitable for efficient simulation. The process chain is represented as a controlled discrete-time Markov process on a directed acyclic graph whose edges are individual ETL processes. We model the mean throughput as a bounded, monotone function of the number of parallel threads, to capture the diminishing benefit of allocating more threads. We furthermore introduce a Flow Balance postulate linking number of threads, mean throughput, and mean processing time. The stochastic processing times are then modeled by non-negative heavy-tailed distributions around the mean processing time. This framework provides a principled simulator for ETL networks and a foundation for learning- and control-based resource allocation.
title Mathematical Foundations of Modeling ETL Process Chains
topic Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
Databases
Machine Learning
Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.29877