Contribute data to a data set

A data set contribution is a single, distinct addition of data to your data library. Contributions add rows of data to a corresponding data set, where each row is a finite and distinct transaction or entity, such as information about a single order or customer contact.

Contributions are generally additive, that is, they add new data to an existing data set. A data library’s first data set is also its first contribution.

Data can be added to a data library manually or automatically via a data connector that manages communications between Advanced Reporting and the source data system. A connector can be cloud-based or remote, and can be configured so that data is added on a scheduled basis or whenever new data is available.

When data is added automatically via a data solution, it is done in batches of 50,000 rows of data. For example, if a single query to retrieve data results in 125,000 rows of data, the data is added in three separate data set contributions.

Who Can Upload Data?

A data library has only one owner account, and that owner account (sometimes referred to as the library administrator, or LBA) is the one that has the rights to add to and edit that data library. This user account has the Data Library Design permission assigned to it. If the LBA also has the Data Library Publishing permission, they can share the collections in the data library with other groups of users.

By default, a collection shared with a group allows users in that group to only view reports and dashboards based on the collection. However, the owner account can choose to share the collection with either of two permissions: Create reports or Create reports & upload data. If your user account is part of a group with whom the owner account has shared a collection with the Create reports & upload data permission, then you can upload data to the data sets in that collection.

NOTE   The Create reports and Create reports & upload data permissions are unrelated to Calabrio ONE roles and permissions. These permissions are assigned to a group when a collection is shared using the Sharing action on the Data Library page.

Data Format

The data in a contribution should be as raw as possible. That is, the data should not contain calculated values. An example of a calculated value is “Total Sales 2020”. It is better for the contribution file to include the sales figures for products sold in 2020 instead. An Advanced Reporting report does the calculations that you need.

The contribution files must be one of the following file types:

  • Microsoft Excel files (XLSX)

  • Separated value text files using comma, tab, or bar/pipe delimiters (CSV, TSV, or BSV).

    NOTE   It is preferable to use a tab or bar/pipe delimiter rather than a comma. Commas are often present in source data, which can complicate data import if they are also used as the delimiter.

Make sure your contribution file has the following attributes.

  • Data is organized into rows and columns:
    • Each row represents a complete record of a single transaction, entity, or object.
    • Each column contains data of similar type.
  • The first row of the file contains the column headers where each header is unique and not blank.
  • The data does not contain groupings or totals.

Upload a Contribution

You can upload a data set contribution only to a data library that you own, or to a shared collection if the collection has the Create Reports and Upload Data permission.

Upload a data set contribution to a data set

  1. In the Data Sets panel on the Data Library page. select the data set to which you want to add data.
  2. In the Details panel, click Upload Additional Data.
  3. Select the file type of your contribution from the Choose file type field.
  4. Click Choose File and select the file to upload.
  5. Click Open. The data file is uploaded. If similar data has been uploaded in the past, the contribution is added to an existing data set. If this is new data, the contribution becomes the basis for a new data set; the Design Data Set tool launches to help you model the new data and make it available for reporting.

Add an extension data set

A contribution file must contain the same columns as the data set it is being added to. If it has additional columns, you can add it by changing the destination data set and all its contributions to an extension data set, with the new columns added to them.

  1. In the Data Sets panel on the Data Library page, select the data set to which you want to add data.
  2. In the Details panel, click Upload Additional Data, choose the file type, and browse to your contribution file.

  3. Data Management detects that the data set and the contribution do not have the same columns, and presents two options.

    • If you click Extend, the destination data set and all contributions already made to that data set are extended with the new columns, and the new contribution is added.
    • If you click Cancel, the contribution is not added to the destination data set. You can then opt to either reconfigure the contribution to contain only the same columns as the data set, or create a new data set that contains all the columns.
    EXAMPLE   

    The contribution file you select contains columns A, B, C, D, and E. The destination data set (people.csv) contains columns A, B, C, and D. Advanced Reporting detects that the columns are different and displays this message

    The Data Set “people.csv” cannot be updated with this data file as the columns do not match. The extra columns are: E. Do you wish to extend the data set so that it can support data files with these columns?

    You choose to extend the data set and click Extend. The data set and all existing contributions are extended to include column E.

Work with Contributions

You can take a number of actions once a contribution is uploaded to your data library.

Display the contributions in a data set

  1. In the Data Sets panel on the Data Library Manager page, click the data set whose contributions you want to view.
  2. The contributions are listed on the Data Contributions tab.

View a contribution file

  • On the Data Contributions tab, right-click the desired contribution and choose View Contribution from the resulting menu. The contribution file is displayed as a spreadsheet on the Design Data Set page.

View invalid rows in a contribution

  • On the Data Contributions tab, right-click the desired contribution and choose View invalid rows from the resulting menu. Any invalid rows in the contribution are displayed as a spreadsheet on the Design Data Set page. This action is disabled if there are no invalid rows. You must correct any invalid rows in your source file and upload the file again.

Edit the contribution properties

  • On the Data Contributions tab, right-click the desired contribution and choose Edit properties from the resulting menu.

Download a contribution file

  • On the Data Contributions tab, right-click the desired contribution and choose Download contribution from the resulting menu. The contribution file is saved to your computer as a CSV file.

Delete a contribution

  • On the Data Contributions tab, right-click the desired contribution and choose Delete contribution from the resulting menu.

    NOTE   Deletions are permanent and cannot be undone. Contributions can be deleted only one at a time, and not in bulk.

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