# Data pipeline · Glossary
An automated sequence of steps that moves data from sources to destinations and transforms it along the way, for example from an operational system into a warehouse and on to a report or model.
[Glossary](/glossary) · Data platforms and engineering

# Data pipeline

     An automated sequence of steps that moves data from sources to destinations and transforms it along the way, for example from an operational system into a warehouse and on to a report or model. Pipelines can run on a schedule or continuously.

## Why it matters

     Every dashboard, model and data-driven workflow depends on pipelines running correctly. Pipelines that fail silently, cannot be rerun safely or depend on one person’s knowledge are an operational risk.

     Reliable pipelines are version-controlled, tested, monitored, rerunnable without creating duplicates, and documented with owners and downstream dependencies.

## In practice

     For example, a UK utilities contractor might run a pipeline every morning that pulls completed jobs from its field-service system, validates them, joins them to asset data and refreshes the operations dashboard, alerting the data team if any step fails.

## Where Rodan fits

     Rodan builds tested, observable pipelines through [Data and Analytics Engineering](https://rodan.io/data-analytics-engineering).

## Related terms

- [ETL (extract, transform, load)](/glossary/etl)

- [Data engineering](/glossary/data-engineering)

- [Workflow orchestration](/glossary#workflow-orchestration)

- [Data observability](/glossary/data-observability)

- [Change data capture (CDC)](/glossary/change-data-capture)

- [Data contract](/glossary/data-contract)

- [Medallion architecture](/glossary/medallion-architecture)
HTML: https://rodan.io/glossary/data-pipeline