---
schema_version: "1"
id: d757c9b2d41460004ad5cc69e4667ed37cde5b762d55d002d2d9909414fb9b78
title: Clean, Transform, and Load Data with Data Prep
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/analytics/264-0-0/bi_integrate_data_prep_overview.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=analytics.bi_integrate_data_prep_overview.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 595690548eb6f98cb9c3feea9ef9b18826dec499c68e12fa62e228c11f9c1c43
description: Data Prep provides an intuitive, visual interface in CRM Analytics that allows you to easily point-and-click your way to build recipes that prepare data and load it into a target. Use the graph of a recipe to see at a glance where the data comes from and how it flows through the recipe to the target. To validate the recipe as you build, preview how raw data is transformed at every step of the way.
products:
  - CRM Analytics
  - Cross Cloud
release: "264"
---
# Clean, Transform, and Load Data with Data Prep

Data Prep provides an intuitive, visual interface in CRM Analytics that allows you to easily point-and-click your way to build recipes that prepare data and load it into a target. Use the graph of a recipe to see at a glance where the data comes from and how it flows through the recipe to the target. To validate the recipe as you build, preview how raw data is transformed at every step of the way.

Watch a Demo: [![Play button](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-analytics-bi-264-0-0-production-enus/ec791473-f5b4-4f64-a656-9104f455d966/resources-global/_corporate/images/play_btn.png) Introducing Data Prep (English Only)](https://salesforce.vidyard.com/watch/dbZ1ibEJJqvN7EkWTuTpNt?)

In Data Prep, a recipe consists of nodes. You can add different types of nodes to a recipe to bring in, manipulate, and write data to a target. Data Prep displays a graph of the recipe and its nodes in the Graph area.

![The large recipe is a lot easier to read bbecause transformations don't appear in the graph.](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-analytics-bi-264-0-0-production-enus/ec791473-f5b4-4f64-a656-9104f455d966/resources-global/analytics/images/bi_integrate_recipe_large.png)

A Data Prep graph doesn’t show every transformation. It shows only inputs (source data), appends, aggregates, filters, joins, and the output (where the data is written). It also shows transforms, which are groups of transformations that change the raw data, such as concatenation and column type conversions. By hiding lower-level data changes, the graph provides a higher-level, easier-to-read view of the flow of data. We call each object shown in the graph a _node_. A recipe can have multiple Input, Append, Aggregate, Filter, Join, Transform, and Output nodes.

Although the graph doesn’t show individual data transformations, you can select a Transform node (1) in the Graph area to see its transformations in the Details area (2).

![The Steps panel shows all transformations included in the selected Transform node. Preview shows the results for the selected transformation.](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-analytics-bi-264-0-0-production-enus/ec791473-f5b4-4f64-a656-9104f455d966/resources-global/analytics/images/bi_integrate_recipe_transform_details.png)

You can select a transformation step in the left panel of the Details area to preview the results of that transformation in the Preview tab. Similarly, you can select any node in the graph to preview the results of that node.

![The Details area shows all tranformations added to the selected Transform node and the results of the selected transformation step.](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-analytics-bi-264-0-0-production-enus/ec791473-f5b4-4f64-a656-9104f455d966/resources-global/analytics/images/bi_integrate_transformation_step_preview.png)

When you run a recipe, CRM Analytics applies the function of each node on the input data, and then outputs the results to the specified target. If the target is a dataset, you can then use that dataset as input to other recipes.

#### See Also

- [Why Should I Use Recipes Instead of Dataflows?](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=analytics.bi_integrate_prepare.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Recipes and dataflows both prepare data. Compared to dataflows, recipes are newer and are recommended for functionality and ease of use. Recipes allow you to preview the data as you transform it, while dataflows only show your node schema. For example, recipes have more join types and transformations with built-in machine learning - such as Predict Missing Values and Detect Sentiment - that aren’t available in dataflows. Recipes can also aggregate data to a higher level.")