A Comprehensive Guide to Data Extraction vs Data Abstraction

Data Management has become a vital component for businesses across all sectors today. Whether you operate in banking and financial management, manufacturing, or data analytics, the universal need for data underscores its importance in all fields.

Businesses rely heavily on accurate data to make better decisions about their profitability. However, inaccurate data can become a recipe for disaster.

Data extraction and abstraction can make data management efficient for organizations. They can easily filter through the data, sort it out the way they wish, interpret it quickly, and promptly make decisions based on the analysis.

This article will delve deep into data extraction and data abstraction and explore the differences between the two. It will also highlight their characteristics on various parameters, which will help you decide which process is most desirable based on your requirements.

Understanding Data Extraction

Data extraction is the process of pulling out raw data from single or multiple sources to analyze the information in a customized way. A few of the many sources of data extraction could be a scanned PDF document, Excel file, or handwritten documents. 

Usually, you can extract information such as invoices, customer profile data sets, form-filled data, financial information, and so on from documents during the data extraction process.

Let’s take an example of a financial institution that wants to extract data from various loan applications filled in by different customers. 

• The loan applicant must fill out a standard form provided by the financial institution. 
• Once done, the financial institution analyzes and verifies the information provided in the document. These institutions receive hundreds and thousands of loan applications, so manual data extraction becomes cumbersome. 
• Using data extraction tools, these institutions can set parameters and extract data from the documents with minimal human intervention. 
• The higher accuracy of these data extraction tools means that information extracted from the document must only be reviewed manually by humans if an error has occurred.

• Data extraction tools use optical character recognition (OCR) technology to extract data accurately from documents. This automates the process of pulling out information documents and makes it efficient for analyzing and making decisions based on extracted data.

Understanding Data Abstraction

Data Abstraction is a process that hides the complexities of data processing and storage from the user. The user can navigate through an easy-to-use interface to achieve their desired datasets.

There are several advantages of using the data abstraction process. Some of them are as follows:

• Enhanced security: Data abstraction provides a sense of security by hiding the data processing method from the end user. This ensures that the process of translating raw datasets to an interface system remains undisclosed, preventing any potential leaks of sensitive information. The data processing method is kept confidential, offering a robust solution in terms of data security.

• Simplification of data systems: Another benefit of the data abstraction process is that since the data processing methods are hidden, it can create a straightforward interface that users without technical know-how can use. No additional training is required to use the interface to sort out the data.

• Better performance: As data structures are already in place and the user just has to navigate them, the overall experience through data abstraction is effortless, and the output is generated quickly. 

Data abstraction solution provides a summarized view without understanding how the data is extracted from it. By eliminating the need to understand the process, it focuses on delivering excellent performance in terms of the results requested by the user.

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Head-to-Head Comparison: Data Extraction vs. Data Abstraction

Both data extraction and data abstraction have advantages and disadvantages. The data extraction process is adaptable and flexible but does not hide the method in which it takes place. Data abstraction makes it easy for end users to filter out and extract data but has limited functionality in terms of rule settings.

The end objective of why you need to extract and store data matters the most in deciding which approach to take. Data management is essential for all enterprises today, but their approach depends a lot on their goal with the data they have in hand.

Apart from the end objective, there are a few other factors to consider before deciding between data extraction and data abstraction processes.

1. Scope of work

What kind of data do you want to extract? What is the data source, and how must it be presented? Answering such questions can help define the scope of work and determine the process to be implemented for database management.

2. Integration

Another factor to remember before you choose a data extraction or data abstraction process is software integration. 

• The data extraction process is best suited when data needs to be stored externally on different solutions. 
• If the data does not need to migrate elsewhere, data abstraction is recommended.

3. Research & analysis

Another factor to consider before choosing one of two options for the database management process is how the data will be used and for what purpose. 

• Data extraction is best suited for reviewing and storing information without summarizing it.
• Data abstraction process can summarize and present the data more simply and easily to interpret it. 

4. Budget

• Data extraction solutions have flexible pricing as they are customized solutions that are specifically tailored for different use cases and, at the same time, have predefined templates. 
• Data abstraction solution costs can vary in terms of the scale of operations at which you would like to extract the data on a day-to-day basis and, therefore, are priced accordingly. 

5. Use cases

The critical factor in deciding between a data extraction or data abstraction process also depends on the type of dataset you are working on. 

• Data extraction is the recommended process if you want to extract information from files and store it externally. 
• If the use case is to generate a record of several employees who have applied for a loan, you can use a data abstraction process.

Below is a comparison of data extraction and data abstraction processes based on various standard parameters.

Conclusion: Future of Data Management: Integration of Extraction and Abstraction

Database management is a highly complex process. Filtering, sorting, interpreting, and storing information is a massive task you cannot achieve by implementing one method alone.

Data extraction and data abstraction processes complement each other rather than compete with each other. Both these processes can be implemented simultaneously depending on the requirement, use case, and objective.

If an organization has to manage large amounts of raw data, it becomes effective and efficient if it enforces multiple database management strategies. Therefore, it is highly recommended that both processes be used to get the best out of both and become more adaptable to innovative methods of managing data.

Docsumo is a leading data extraction and data management solution that can be easily integrated with any existing solution. With up to 80% data accuracy, you implement a solution that can extract and store data end-to-end with minimal human intervention. 

Docsumo can self-learn and improve its accuracy using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques after processing several documents. 

Schedule a Docsumo demo or talk to our expert to learn more about Docsumo.