kildestabel

Kildestabel is a Danish term used in data management to denote a source table, a database table that holds raw data imported from external systems before transformation. In many ETL and ELT pipelines, the kildestabel functions as the primary landing area for incoming data, preserving an unmodified or lightly processed copy of external records to support traceability and auditability.

Typically, a kildestabel mirrors the structure of the source system and may include metadata such as source_system, extract_timestamp, batch_id, and record_hash, in addition to the data fields. The goal is to capture the original values as they arrived, before business rules are applied in later stages. As such, the kildestabel is often read by subsequent staging, cleansing, and transformation processes that populate the data warehouse or data lake.

Design considerations include clear naming to reflect its role, alignment to source schemas, handling schema evolution, and strategies for dealing with duplicates or late-arriving data. Performance considerations may involve appropriate indexing, partitioning, and minimal transformations at load time to preserve data fidelity.

In data governance terms, the kildestabel supports data lineage, audit trails, and compliance. Depending on the organization, it may be retained for a limited period or archived separately. The term is primarily used in Danish-speaking data engineering contexts; in English-language literature it is commonly referred to as a source table or landing table.