Resource Management

Recognizing the importance of efficient data reconciliation, we provide a number of strategies to make the diffing process as efficient as possible:

Efficient Algorithm

The diffing algorithm itself leverages stochastic checksumming which is optimized for efficiency at scale. It provides detailed comparison by pushing down the compute to both source and target databases without requiring the extraction of datasets for comparison.

Flexible Controls

Users can easily control the volume of data used in diffing by using:

• Filters: Focus on the most relevant part of the dataset
• Sampling: Set sampling as a percentage of rows or desired confidence level
• Slim Diff: Selectively diff only the models that have dbt code changes in your pull request.

Workload Management

Users can apply controls to enforce low diffing footprint:

• On the Datafold side: Set desired concurrency
• On the database side: Most databases support workload management settings to ensure that Datafold does not consume more than X% CPU or Y% RAM

Also, consider that using a data quality tool like Datafold to catch issues before production will reduce cost over time as it lowers the need for expensive reprocessing and troubleshooting. Datafold’s features like filtering, sampling, and Slim Diff ensure that only relevant datasets are tested, minimizing the computational load on your data warehouse. This targeted approach can lead to more efficient resource usage and potentially lower data warehouse operation costs.