Coming soon: data transformation

This post is to tell you about a new exciting feature we’ve been working on and which is almost ready: data transformation. Successful data analysis starts with clean data, and this new feature will make preparing and cleansing data easier than ever before.

Using our new web client editor, users will be able to specify simple step-based transformation rules to prepare data. Of course, we’ve followed our number one principle: if you can do something using our Web client, then you can also do it programmatically using our XML web API. Therefore, developers will also be able to create data transformation tasks, and schedule them for background execution.

Another design principle we’ve followed is: if you know how to write a Microsoft Outlook rule, then you’ll know how to use the new data transformation feature. As a result, the feature will enpower most users to filter data sets, handle missing or extreme values, take random samples, or set fields to calculated values. Below are some of the built-in transformation rules:

• Copy existing data sets
• Create, delete, rename, or convert fields
• Filter rows with multiple and/or criteria
• Take a random sample of rows
• Set fields to complex formulas
• Scramble data to anonymize its content
• Rank rows using multi-level ordering
• etc.