Summarization Configuration Options

 

 

 

Use this page to configure how summarization is performed.  Essentially, the summarization phase will all for the grouping of data and application of aggregate functions to those groupings which results in a new set of general lines that has potentially different detail than the original lines.  This is achieved by grouping the imported general line data using user-defined criteria which can include original values, macro commands, hard-coded values, and even omission logic and then optionally applying aggregate functions to those values.

 

When viewing the summarization data grid, you will see rows with the following columns:

Name - this is the name of the property or attribute to transform.  If the attribute name exists already in the journal lines that were imported the original value can be accessed directly or transformed through a macro expression.  If the attribute name does not exist in the general lines that were imported a new attribute with the name specified will be created and appended to the summarized data.  It is possible to have an attribute that has the same name as a built-in journal line property but it is not possible to define two attribute definitions that have the same name as each other.  It is recommended that attribute names avoid the user of punctuation characters and spaces where possible.

Action - this determines whether summarization logic is applied to a property or attribute and how it is applied.  Attributes that are detected in the general lines previously imported will appear in the grid and remain present on subsequent runs but they can be ignored simply by choosing to disable the item with the None action (the default) and will not be used to create groupings or appear as attributes on the summarized lines.  Any property or attribute that you deem not significant for summarization is removed from the imported data set and is no longer accessible by any means (including the built in macro expression language) once summarization is complete.

None - properties and attributes marked with this action are removed from the resultant set of data and neither included in the list of values that define groups nor as measures of aggregate functions.

Group By - properties and attributes marked with this action will be combined with all other similarly marked items and each unique set of values will be a grouped for which the remaining aggregate function actions are applied.  Groups are case sensitive so consider using Upper and Lower macros in the Macro Expression code to uniformly convert data to one case prior to grouping if case varies.

AVG - computes the average numeric value in the set for all values for a group.  Blanks or null values are treated as 0.  If text values that cannot be safely converted to numbers are detected a fatal exception will be thrown unless using the AVGA variant in which case all invalid conversions will be treated as 0 values.

COUNT - computes the total number of lines in the group.  Each row is counted regardless of the values on the row.  The COUNTA variant counts the number of non-blank values in the set of all values for a group.

FUSE - creates a semicolon separated string comprised of all the distinct values from the set of values for a group.  Blanks or null values are ignored. Use the FUSEA variant to include duplicate values in the string.

MAX - computes the largest numeric value in the set for all values for a group.  Blanks or null values are ignored.  If text values that cannot be safely converted to numbers are detected a fatal exception will be thrown unless using the MAXA variant in which case all invalid conversions will not cause an error but will also not be factored into the logic.

MIN - computes the smallest numeric value in the set for all values for a group.  Blanks or null values are ignored.  If text values that cannot be safely converted to numbers are detected a fatal exception will be thrown unless using the MINA variant in which case all invalid conversions will not cause an error but will also not be factored into the logic.

SUM - computes the mathematical sum in the set for all values for a group.  Blanks or null values are ignored.  If text values that cannot be safely converted to numbers are detected a fatal exception will be thrown unless using the SUMA variant which ignores such values. 

Macro Expression - in the event that the Action option is not configured as None this text field allows you to specify a macro expression that can be used in place of existing property or attribute values.  Using macro expressions can allow you to fine tune the data that was imported and even be used to construct new attributes or entirely different values for existing attributes and properties.  The macro expressions you write here can access the properties and attributes of the original general lines created during import but after summarization is complete any of those values that have not been preserved will no longer be available to subsequent processing phases.  All macro expressions will be evaluated prior to evaluating aggregate functions.

 


Copyright © 2024 pasUNITY, Inc.

 

Send comments on this topic.