Data prep options

Create data prep steps for individual columns.

In This Topic

Create data prep steps for individual columns
Undo or edit steps
Sort columns
Change column data type
Rename column
Filter rows

Merge columns
Replace values in a column
Prepend or append values to data values
Apply capitalization rules to values in a column
Delete column

Create data prep steps for individual columns

Each column has several data prep options that depend on column data type. Use these options to change data types, replace data values, and delete entire columns.

Prep step sequence

Each data prep step becomes part of the step sequence. New steps are added after the step that is selected.Thus, you can add steps before or after any existing step.

To see all the steps, select Open Steps.

For information on the initial cleanup step, go to Modify the initial data cleanup step for the entire data set. For more information on file parsing, go to Verify parsing.

Note

After you create the steps to clean your data, the steps are easy to export to apply to future data sets. For more information, go to Example of importing/exporting data prep steps.

Undo or edit steps

To revert a step, select Undo next to the filename of the data.

You can also delete or edit the prep step. Open the steps sequence to access the individual steps.

Sort columns

To sort the data by a column, select Sort Ascending or Sort Descending from the Data Prep Options dropdown menu.

To sort by several columns at the same time, select Advanced Sort for the first column. Then add additional columns in their sort order.

Change column data type

To change a single column's data type, select Change Type from the Data Prep Options dropdown menu.

Change a numeric column to text or date/time.
Change a text column to numeric or date/time.
Change a date/time column to numeric or text.

Rename column

To rename a data column, select Rename from the Data Prep Options dropdown menu.

Use the following requirements for column names.

Use unique names.
Use names between 1 and 31 characters.
Use names without the following characters: # '
Use names that do not start with the following character: *

Note

If you rename a column in the Data Center that connects to an asset in a Dashboard, the asset will not update.

Filter rows

To filter the rows of data to meet a condition, select Filter Rows from the Data Prep Options dropdown menu.

Filter options include the following operators.

equals
does not equal
greater than
greater than or equal to
less than
less than or equal to
is missing
is not missing

Note

If you filter rows in the Data Center and sync your data, the Dashboard assets update.

Merge columns

To merge several columns into a single text column, select Merge Columns from the Data Prep Options dropdown menu.

You can merge up to six columns. The new merged text column is added to the end of the columns.

Replace values in a column

To find and replace non-missing and missing text and numeric values that are contained in the specified column, select Replace All from the Data Prep Options dropdown menu or the column context menu. The validity of the find value is determined by the column's data type and user's regional settings.

For text columns, you can also specify the following options.

Require letter casing to match the find value.
Require an exact match to the find value. This means that the whole word needs to match in order to replace the value.

Prepend or append values to data values

To add characters to the beginning or end of contents in text columns, select Prepend or Append Values from the Data Prep Options dropdown menu.

In this example, change the column to Text, then prepend the number symbol to the beginning of the claim number.

Apply capitalization rules to values in a column

To specify the capitalization format for text values in a column, select Change Case from the Data Prep Options dropdown menu. Select one of the following options.

Uppercase: Capitalize all letters.
For instance, SALES ASSOCIATE.
Lowercase: Do not capitalize any words.
For instance, sales associate.
Proper case: Capitalize the first letter of each word.
For instance, Sales Associate.
Sentence case: Capitalize the first letter of the first word.
For instance, Sales associate.

Delete column

To delete a data column, select Delete Column from the Data Prep Options dropdown menu. You can also select the column and press Delete on the keyboard. To select a column, select the column title cell or the column summary cell.