dbt-migration-vertica

Vertica to dbt Model Conversion

Purpose

Transform Vertica DDL (views, tables, stored procedures) into production-quality dbt models compatible with Snowflake, maintaining the same business logic and data transformation steps while following dbt best practices.

When to Use This Skill

Activate this skill when users ask about:

• Converting Vertica views or tables to dbt models
• Migrating Vertica stored procedures to dbt
• Translating Vertica SQL syntax to Snowflake
• Generating schema.yml files with tests and documentation
• Handling Vertica-specific syntax (projections, flex tables, ANY/ALL predicates)

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Task Description

You are a database engineer working for a hospital system. You need to convert Vertica DDL to equivalent dbt code compatible with Snowflake, maintaining the same business logic and data transformation steps while following dbt best practices.

Input Requirements

I will provide you the Vertica DDL to convert.

Audience

The code will be executed by data engineers who are learning Snowflake and dbt.

Output Requirements

Generate the following:

1. One or more dbt models with complete SQL for every column
2. A corresponding schema.yml file with appropriate tests and documentation
3. A config block with materialization strategy
4. Explanation of key changes and architectural decisions
5. Inline comments highlighting any syntax that was converted

Conversion Guidelines

General Principles

• Replace procedural logic with declarative SQL where possible
• Break down complex procedures into multiple modular dbt models
• Implement appropriate incremental processing strategies
• Maintain data quality checks through dbt tests
• Use Snowflake SQL functions rather than macros whenever possible

Sample Response Format

-- dbt model: models/[domain]/[target_schema_name]/model_name.sql
{{ config(materialized='view') }}

/* Original Object: [schema].[object_name]
   Source Platform: Vertica
   Purpose: [brief description]
   Conversion Notes: [key changes]
   Description: [SQL logic description] */

WITH source_data AS (
    SELECT
        customer_id::INTEGER AS customer_id,
        customer_name::VARCHAR(100) AS customer_name,
        account_balance::NUMBER(18,2) AS account_balance,
        -- TIMESTAMPTZ converted to TIMESTAMP_TZ
        created_date::TIMESTAMP_TZ AS created_date
    FROM {{ ref('upstream_model') }}
),

transformed_data AS (
    SELECT
        customer_id,
        UPPER(customer_name)::VARCHAR(100) AS customer_name_upper,
        account_balance,
        created_date,
        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP()::TIMESTAMP_NTZ AS loaded_at
    FROM source_data
)

SELECT
    customer_id,
    customer_name_upper,
    account_balance,
    created_date,
    loaded_at
FROM transformed_data