1. What exactly is DeltaMax, and what problem does it solve?
DeltaMax is a comprehensive data quality and governance solution available on the Google Cloud Marketplace. It provides a pre-built framework to automate critical data validation checks—such as anomaly detection, population drift analysis (PSI), statistical comparisons (T-tests), and data type consistency—before loading data into BigQuery for reporting. It solves the problem of ensuring that data used for business intelligence in tools like Looker Studio is reliable, consistent, and of high quality.
2. How do I deploy and run DeltaMax in my Google Cloud environment?
DeltaMax is deployed as a Virtual Machine (VM) within your own Google Cloud project. After subscribing via the Google Cloud Marketplace, you will configure the VM with your specific network settings (VPC, subnets, etc.). Once the VM is running, you interact with it via the command line, executing a series of provided Python scripts (modules) that guide you through the entire data generation and quality check workflow.
3. What specific data quality checks does DeltaMax perform?
The DeltaMax pipeline includes a wide range of checks, going beyond simple anomaly detection:
Anomaly Detection: Uses both statistical (IQR) and machine learning (Isolation Forest) methods.
Statistical Drift: Calculates the Population Stability Index (PSI) to measure distribution shifts between datasets.
Comparative Analysis: Performs T-tests to detect statistically significant changes in means between time periods.
Data Integrity: Checks for data type mismatches, inconsistent decimal formatting, and unexpected changes in string lengths across files.
Business Logic: Identifies new or churned entities (e.g., businesses appearing in only one month's dataset).
4. I don't have my own data to start with. Can I still test DeltaMax?
Yes. The "How to get started" guide includes a Data Generation step. DeltaMax provides a script (DeltaMax_synthetic_data_generator.py) that creates synthetic datasets, including one with injected anomalies. This allows you to run the entire quality check pipeline and understand its outputs without needing access to your production data.
5. How does DeltaMax integrate with the rest of the Google Cloud ecosystem (BigQuery, Looker)?
DeltaMax is designed for seamless integration. After the data quality checks are complete, the workflow guides you through:
Uploading the generated (or your own) CSV files and the logs containing quality check results to Google Cloud Storage (GCS) .
Loading those files from GCS into BigQuery tables.
Structuring the data in BigQuery so it can be easily connected to Looker Studio for building dashboards and visualizations that monitor data health over time.
6. What kind of support and customization options are available?
Basic technical documentation and support pages are part of the product. For advanced needs, such as creating custom visualizations, tailored reports, or adapting the pipeline to specific business rules, DeltaMax's provider, Katalyst Street, offers professional services to assist you.