Processes
What is ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)?
ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) is a data integration pipeline that extracts data from source systems, transforms it into the format required by the destination, and loads it into a target database or application.
Explanation
In accounting, ETL describes the movement of data from source documents or systems into your ERP or data warehouse. The extract step reads data from invoices, bank files, or legacy systems. The transform step applies business rules: currency conversion, GL code mapping, format standardization. The load step pushes clean data into the destination system. Traditional ETL required engineering effort to build and maintain. Modern AI-powered accounting automation platforms handle the ETL pipeline for document-based workflows automatically — extracting from unstructured documents, applying transformation rules defined in plain language, and loading into your ERP via API.
How Rima relates
Rima's Blueprints implement ETL for accounting document workflows: extracting from PDFs, transforming according to your business rules, and loading into your ERP or Excel.
Explore accounting automationRelated Terms
Data Extraction
The process of retrieving specific data from source documents or systems for further processing.
Data Mapping
Defining how data fields from a source document correspond to fields in a destination system.
ERP Integration
Connecting an external system to an ERP to automatically exchange data without manual re-entry.
Structured Data Extraction
The process of pulling specific, organized fields from unstructured documents like PDFs or emails.
See it in action
Rima automates the manual document workflows accounting teams spend hours on every week.