PDI allows creation of two file types: jobs and transformations. A transformation is used to describe the data flows for an Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) process, such as reading from a source, transforming data and loading it into a target location.

A job is used to coordinate ETL processes. A job might be used, for example, to wait for a file to be created in a directory, trigger an ETL process and finally send an email to communicate success or failure of the process. A job may utilise several transformations to achieve its goal.