Data pipelines can have many sources. Many of these cases are either covered in this article about converting csvs to databases or this one about excel files. Some of these sources could be external to your organization. You could be requesting data from one of your sister companies on a weekly basis. Or you've outsourced data entry to another organization and constantly pass data around on emails. It can be frustrating to having to always remind your business partners about that monthly POS. The pain points are endless. We're going to cover these problems in depth and show how Dropbase can solve them.
Regardless of which Dropbase feature listed below you use to solve your problem, we're going to save you time and make it convenient to work with data. You no longer have to download that csv, re-clean it, and then finally upload to database. Both solutions eliminate the hassle of working with data the same way everyday. Use any of these features and all you'll have to do is click approve. Let's get into it.
Do you get a flat file mailed to you frequently where you download it, clean it the same way as last time, and then merge it with your data pipeline? Here's how simple your email integration could be:
In that video, a data sender mails over the data they usually do but to a special email address that automatically accepts the data, and starts a predefined cleaning routine before loading it to your database. All you have to do is click "Approve".
Dropmail (and many other Dropbase features!) is ready for you to use if you'd like to sign up for a trial here.
Here's how to set up a Dropmail Request:
3. Here, you can give your Dropmail a meaningful name. For example, if this is a monthly occurring sales file from Douglas Adams, you can call it "Monthly Sales from Douglas". You can also select which pre-made cleaning steps you'd like to apply to it
4. Click on Create Dropmail and you now have an email address that anyone can use to send data to your pipeline!
From above, we learned that Dropmail is for anyone who gets flat file data sent over email repeatedly and cleans them for their pipeline. The key point is that the data sender usually sends the data as an email attachment. What happens if your data source isn't email but still sent by an external source? Here's some examples:
In these cases, we need a different Dropbase feature to help us fully utilize our data. Introducing Dropzone.
Instead of sending data over email, a shared folder link buried in ancient folders, or something else, all the data sender has to do is drag and drop their data into Dropbase. This is how you set up a Dropzone request:
Here's what it looks like in Dropbase:
Dropzone requires the data sender to make a Dropbase account but the data sender pays nothing. They don't have to sign up for a trial account or be added to your Team on Dropbase. This makes organizing your data sources a lot more convenient.
Both Dropzone and Dropmail help you save time and energy importing flat files from external sources. They make it easier to repeatedly work with the same kind of data, so you never clean the same data twice manually. Dropmail is best when you're sending files over email that meet your email provider's size limit. If you're receiving email attachments larger than (usually) 25MB, then Dropzone lets your data sender upload the files—at no cost to them—and all you have to do is click Approve.
If you'd like to try out Dropmail, Dropzone, or the rest of Dropbase's features, sign up for a trial here.