Converting date values

A date conversion is a data transformation. For a variable that is based on a date value in the source data, you can convert the date value to a year, a half year, or a quarter year.

1.         Click Settings.

The Settings page appears.

2.         In the Configure System section, click Manage Configurations.

The Manage Configurations page appears.

3.         Click the row menu () for the data configuration, then click Edit.

The Modify Configuration page appears.

4.         To add a variable to represent the converted data values, click the Add New Variable link. For more information, see Adding or editing a data configuration variable.

The Edit Variable page appears.

5.         In the Name field, enter the name of the variable.

Variable names display throughout the application, including when users select criteria for viewing data mining results, defining queries, or creating report definitions. For example, a column might be named SYMPTOM in the Oracle table, but renamed to appear as Event in the application.

6.         In the Description field, type a description of the variable.

7.         Next to the Table field, click Select Table/Column.

The Select Table and Column dialog box appears.

8.         As the Column of source data, select the variable containing values that you want to convert. The source column must contain date values.

9.         Set Hide From Query Wizard to Yes. (Even if this setting is set to No, the mapped variable is not available in the Query Wizard.)

10.      In the Data Transformation section, click Date function, and then click Select Function.

The Function Specification for Variable dialog box appears.

11.      Select one of the following functions:

1. QUARTER—Convert the date to a quarter year formatted as the four-digit year followed by the quarter (for example, 2006Q1, 2006Q2, 2006Q3, and 2006Q4).

1. YEAR—Convert the date to a four-digit year.

1. HALF—Convert the date to a half-year formatted as the four-digit year followed by the half year (for example, 2006H1 and 2006H2).

12.      Enter a minimum or maximum value (optional). The minimum and maximum apply to the source values, not the transformed values.

This option is useful if you want to exclude extreme values from inclusion in a run. The excluded values are considered missing. The application assigns the value that the user sets for the user preference, Replace Missing Values with.

When specifying a minimum and maximum value, use the format mm/dd/yyyy, for example, 12/14/2006.

13.      Click Save.

The date values for the variable are converted.

Note: If you convert a date variable in a configuration for which there are existing runs that use the variable, users cannot drill down correctly in the run results until the runs are re-executed.