Retail ETL Pipeline Series: 7 Complete Data Engineering Projects Using One Dataset

🚀 One Dataset, Seven Powerful ETL/ELT Portfolio Projects

Build Real Data Engineering Experience Using the Online Retail II Dataset

A Practical Roadmap from Beginner to Industry-Level Data Engineering

By DETLENG.com — Learn Data Engineering Through Real Projects


🌍 Why This Project Series Matters

Most learners spend months watching tutorials but never build a complete end-to-end project. The reality is simple: Companies don't hire tutorial watchers. They hire problem solvers.

That is why at DETLENG.com we are launching a practical Data Engineering Portfolio Series using one of the most famous publicly available retail datasets:

📊 Online Retail II Dataset
📈 1+ Million Transaction Records
🛒 Real E-Commerce Business Data
🌎 Multiple Countries
💰 Revenue, Customers, Products, Orders and Returns

Instead of creating random toy projects, we will solve the same business problem through multiple modern ETL and ELT architectures used across startups, SMEs, enterprises and cloud platforms.


🎯 Our Goal

A single learner should be able to demonstrate:

  • Data Cleaning
  • Data Transformation
  • Data Warehousing
  • Cloud Analytics
  • Business Intelligence
  • Modern ELT Architecture
  • Data Engineering Best Practices

And the best part?

All tools used in this series are FREE or have FREE tiers.


🔥 The 7 Portfolio Projects

1️⃣ Power BI Only ETL Project

Excel Dataset
      ↓
Power Query
      ↓
Data Modeling
      ↓
Power BI Dashboard

Perfect for:

  • Beginners
  • Freelancers
  • Business Analysts
  • Small Businesses

Learn Power Query transformations, DAX calculations, customer analytics, revenue analysis and dashboard development.

2️⃣ BigQuery + Power BI Project

Excel Dataset
      ↓
Google BigQuery
      ↓
Power BI

Learn cloud-based analytics while still using the world's most demanded BI tool.

Perfect for startups and growing businesses.

3️⃣ BigQuery + Looker Studio Project

Excel Dataset
      ↓
BigQuery
      ↓
Looker Studio

Build an entirely Google-powered analytics stack.

A great solution for companies already using Google Cloud.

4️⃣ Python + PostgreSQL + Power BI Project

Excel Dataset
      ↓
Python (Pandas)
      ↓
PostgreSQL
      ↓
Power BI

This is one of the most common ETL architectures used by aspiring Data Engineers.

  • Python ETL
  • Data Cleaning
  • Database Loading
  • Reporting

5️⃣ Python + BigQuery + Power BI Project

Excel Dataset
      ↓
Python
      ↓
BigQuery
      ↓
Power BI

A cloud-first architecture combining coding, cloud warehousing and business intelligence.

6️⃣ dbt + BigQuery + Looker Studio Project

Excel Dataset
      ↓
BigQuery
      ↓
dbt
      ↓
Looker Studio

Learn Analytics Engineering the modern way.

  • Staging Models
  • Intermediate Models
  • Mart Models
  • Testing
  • Documentation

7️⃣ Airflow + BigQuery + dbt + Power BI Project

Excel Dataset
      ↓
Airflow
      ↓
BigQuery
      ↓
dbt
      ↓
Power BI

This is where learners move from projects to professional Data Engineering.

You will learn:

  • Pipeline Orchestration
  • Scheduling
  • Automation
  • Cloud Warehousing
  • Analytics Engineering
  • Executive Dashboards

💡 Why Use The Same Dataset 7 Times?

Because companies do not care how many datasets you have touched.

They care whether you can solve the same business problem using different technologies.

By rebuilding the Online Retail II project through seven different architectures, you will demonstrate:

  • Technical versatility
  • Architectural thinking
  • Cloud readiness
  • Business intelligence skills
  • Data engineering maturity

📚 What We Will Cover In Every Project

  • Raw Layer Design
  • Staging Layer Design
  • Curated Layer Design
  • Data Cleaning Rules
  • Handling Null Customer IDs
  • Removing Cancelled Orders
  • Revenue Calculations
  • Date Dimension Creation
  • Customer Analytics
  • Product Analytics
  • Country Analysis
  • Dashboard Design
  • Portfolio Documentation

🚀 Follow The Complete Series On DETLENG.com

From Power BI to Airflow.
From Excel to BigQuery.
From Beginner to Professional Data Engineer.

One Dataset. Seven Architectures. Endless Learning.

🌐 DETLENG.com

Practical Data Engineering • ETL • ELT • BigQuery • Power BI • dbt • Airflow

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