The Data Analytics Pipeline

Once you understand the steps in a data analysis workflow, it's helpful to zoom out and see how those steps connect inside a real system.
That big-picture flow is called the data analytics pipeline.

A data pipeline is the full journey that data takes from its original source to its final use in decision-making.
It includes the technical systems and tools that move, store, clean, and analyze the data.

In many real-world jobs, you won’t just analyze data — you’ll need to understand where it comes from, how it's processed, and who uses it next.

Every pipeline is different, but most share a few key stages:

• Source: where the data comes from (e.g. forms, sensors, APIs)
• Storage: where it's held (e.g. databases, cloud services)
• Processing: cleaning, filtering, or formatting the data
• Analysis: applying logic or models to find patterns
• Visualization: turning results into dashboards or charts
• Action: using the output to make a decision

We’ll break these down visually in the next section using a whiteboard.