Why Data Ingestion Testing Is Critical Before Trusting Your Data Warehouse

Data Ingestion Testing Is Critical Before Trusting Your Data Warehouse

When data flows into your warehouse, there’s a lot that can go wrong.

Sometimes column names don’t match. Sometimes you have missing fields. Other times the structure breaks because a file was uploaded in the wrong format.

If you’re not testing what’s coming in, then your reports, dashboards, and decisions may all be based on faulty data.

Here’s what ingestion testing helps with:

• Schema issues: Is the file structure the same as yesterday? Are the fields in the same order?

• Missing or extra columns: Sometimes a column disappears. Sometimes one shows up out of nowhere.

• Data types: A number suddenly becomes text? That can break your pipeline.

• Incomplete files: One file has 5,000 rows. The next has only 17. That’s not a trend; that’s an error.

• Format problems: You expect a CSV but get Excel. Or maybe JSON with a few typos.

Example:

You expect a daily CSV file with 10 columns. One day, a column is missing. Without a check, it still gets ingested. Your report shows zero revenue. You panic. Teams scramble. But the truth? The data was never there.

That’s why ingestion testing matters. It acts as a gatekeeper — only clean and expected data flows in.

🧠 TL;DR: If you’re not checking what’s coming in, you can’t trust what’s going out.

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