Glossary
Key terms used throughout Dalgo and these docs, defined in plain language.
Warehouse The central database where all your data is stored after it has been ingested. Dalgo supports BigQuery and PostgreSQL. Think of it as the single source of truth your charts and dashboards draw from.
Source Any external system where your data lives before it comes into Dalgo. Common examples: KoboToolbox, Google Sheets, CommCare, Avni, Salesforce, Zoho. You add a source once by saving its credentials.
Connection A link between a source and your warehouse. A connection tells Dalgo which data streams (tables) to sync, how often to sync them, and how to handle updates. One source can have multiple connections.
Sync The act of copying data from a source into your warehouse via a connection. Syncs run automatically on a schedule or can be triggered manually.
Pipeline A scheduled job that runs one or more connections (to sync data) and optionally runs transformation tasks afterwards. Pipelines are configured in Orchestrate.
Transform / dbt After raw data lands in your warehouse, it usually needs cleaning, joining, and computing before it's useful. Dalgo uses dbt (data build tool) to run SQL-based transformations. You don't need to know SQL to use the UI Transform canvas, but dbt is what runs underneath.
Model A single transformation step in dbt — typically one SQL file that produces one table. Dalgo's UI Transform canvas lets you create models visually.
Chart A single visualisation — a bar chart, pie chart, line chart, number, map, or table — built from one dataset (warehouse table). Charts are the building blocks of dashboards.
Dashboard A collection of charts arranged on a canvas. Dashboards always show live data — they update automatically each time your pipeline runs.
Report A frozen snapshot of a dashboard at a specific date range. Unlike dashboards, reports don't update. They're used for quarterly reviews, donor updates, and team discussions.
Pipeline Overview The monitoring screen inside the Data section that shows a visual history of every pipeline run — when it ran, how long it took, and whether it succeeded.
Elementary An open-source dbt observability package that Dalgo uses for data quality monitoring. Once set up, it surfaces test results, anomalies, and model run history.
Superset An open-source BI tool that Dalgo optionally hosts for organisations on the Dalgo + Superset plan. It offers more advanced dashboarding than Dalgo's native dashboards.