1.
Data Sources
Data is generated from:
Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems: Records transactions.
E-commerce Platforms: Tracks online purchases.
IoT Sensors: Monitors inventory in physical stores.
2. Data Ingestion
Data is ingested into both the batch layer and the speed layer using a streaming
tool.
Tools:
Azure Event Hub: Streams sales data.
Kafka: As a message broker for incoming data streams.
3. Batch Layer Implementation
Purpose: Process and store all historical sales data.
Data Storage:
Store raw data in a Data Lake (e.g., Azure Data Lake, Amazon S3). Data is immutable
and in a columnar format like Parquet for efficient querying.
Processing Framework:
Use Apache Spark or Azure Synapse Pipelines to process historical data.
Example: Calculate total sales, revenue, and trends over time.
Batch Outputs:
Save results (e.g., monthly sales reports) to a serving database (e.g., Azure SQL
or Synapse Analytics).
4. Speed Layer Implementation
Purpose: Process real-time data for low-latency insights.
Stream Processing:
Use Azure Stream Analytics or Apache Flink to process sales transactions in real-
time.
Example: Identify the top-selling product in the last 5 minutes.
Output Storage:
Save real-time metrics in a NoSQL database (e.g., Cosmos DB, Elasticsearch) for
quick access.
5. Serving Layer Implementation
Purpose: Provide a unified view of historical and real-time data.
Unified Querying:
Use Power BI or a dashboard tool to query data from both:
Batch Layer Outputs: Accurate historical data.
Speed Layer Outputs: Real-time trends.
Example Dashboard:
A retail analytics dashboard showing:
Live sales by region (from the speed layer).
Monthly sales trends (from the batch layer).
Architecture Diagram (Conceptual Overview)
Data Sources: POS, E-commerce, IoT Sensors →
Ingestion: Azure Event Hub / Kafka →
Batch Layer: Azure Data Lake + Apache Spark → Batch Outputs (Synapse Analytics) →
Speed Layer: Azure Stream Analytics → Speed Outputs (Cosmos DB) →
Serving Layer: Power BI Dashboard.
Implementation Steps
Set Up Data Lake:
Configure a storage account in Azure for historical data.
Save incoming sales data in raw format (e.g., JSON or Parquet).
Configure Stream Analytics:
Create a Stream Analytics job to process real-time sales data from Event Hub.
Define queries to calculate metrics like live sales volume.
Set Up Spark Batch Jobs:
Write Spark scripts to process historical data in batches.
Calculate metrics like monthly revenue and product trends.
Create a Serving Database:
Use a SQL database for batch results and a NoSQL database for real-time data.
Ensure both are accessible for dashboard queries.
Build a Dashboard:
Use Power BI or Tableau to create visuals that combine real-time and historical
insights.
Example Queries
Stream Layer (Speed Layer Query):
sql
Copy code
SELECT TOP 5
ProductID, COUNT(*) AS SalesVolume
FROM EventStream
GROUP BY ProductID
ORDER BY SalesVolume DESC
Batch Layer (Spark Job):
python
Copy code
from pyspark.sql import SparkSession
spark = SparkSession.builder.appName("SalesBatchProcessing").getOrCreate()
sales_data = spark.read.parquet("adl://data-lake/sales/")
monthly_sales = sales_data.groupBy("month").sum("revenue")
monthly_sales.write.parquet("adl://data-lake/reports/monthly-sales/")
Benefits of This Implementation
Real-Time Insights: Managers see live trends like top-selling products.
Historical Accuracy: Batch processing ensures reliable long-term insights.
Unified View: A single dashboard combines real-time and historical data for better
decision-making.
Would you like to dive deeper into any of these layers or tools?
