If you’re new to Jedox Integrator, one of the most powerful tools you’ll want to learn early is the tracepoints. It’s a simple but useful feature that helps you see what your data looks like at different stages of your ETL process.
In this guide, we’ll explain what tracepoints are, how to use them, and walk through a real-world example using employee data.
What Are Tracepoints?
A tracepoint is like a checkpoint in your ETL process. It lets you capture and inspect the data flowing through your Extract, Transform, and Load steps — without changing the data itself. Think of it like placing a camera on a conveyor belt: it takes a snapshot of the data at that moment, so you can see what’s happening behind the scenes.
Why Use Tracepoints?
Here’s what tracepoints help you do:
- Debug: Spot errors in your data flow
- Validate: Confirm that transformations are working
- Audit: Track what data was processed and when
- Filter: Focus on specific rows (e.g., one employee)
Real-World Example: Trace a Specific Employee
Let’s say you’re working with a CSV file of employees and you want to trace only the row for the employee with EmployeeID = 101. In this example, we will calculate the age from the birthdate and later on cluster it in some generation. Let’s see how that employee data is changed during these transformations.
Sample CSV Data:
| EmployeeID | Name | Birthdate | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| 101 | Alice | 1985-04-12 | Finance |
| 102 | Bob | 1990-08-23 | Marketing |
| 103 | Charlie | 1982-11-05 | HR |
Goal: Trace Only Employee ID 101
How to Set It Up in Jedox:
When adding a tracepoint to your Extract or Transform component:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Input | EmployeeID |
| Filter Type | Accept |
| Value | = 101 |
This tells Jedox:
“Only trace the row where EmployeeID is exactly 101.”
This is especially useful when:
- You’re debugging a transformation for one employee.
- You want to avoid cluttering the trace monitor with all rows.
Viewing the Trace
After running your ETL job or Data Preview:
- Open the Trace Monitor tab.
- You’ll see only the row for EmployeeID 101.
- You can inspect how the data looked at that point in the process.
Pro Tips
- You can’t name tracepoints manually, but they inherit the name of the component they’re attached to.
- Use clear component names like
Extract_EmployeeDataorTransform_CalculateAgeto make tracepoints easier to identify. - Leave the filter empty if you want to trace all rows.
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