Creating and editing target fields

This guide explains how to create and edit target fields in the Data Dictionary page.

Introduction

The Data Dictionary provides an overview of all your target fields and calculated metrics. You can view the target field’s data type, description, and usage summary and edit custom target fields.

The Data Dictionary contains all target fields available in all workspaces in your instance.

A target field is a field in Adverity that you can use to harmonize data from different data sources. Target fields can be loaded into Adverity Data Storage and external destinations. Source fields are mapped to target fields according to the Data Mapping you apply to your datastream.

There are two types of target fields:

  • Adverity default target fields - these are created by Adverity and based on industry best practice. Adverity default target fields cannot be edited or deleted.

  • Target fields created by a user in your organization - these can only be created, edited and deleted by users with the required permissions in Adverity.

Creating a new target field

To create a new target field on the Data Dictionary page without mapping a source field to your new target field, follow these steps:

  1. Select the workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Data Dictionary.

  2. In the top right corner of the page, click + Create target field.

  3. In the Create new target field pop-up that opens, in the Name field, enter the name of the new target field. This name can only contain lower-case letters, numbers, and underscores.

  4. (Optional) In the Display name field, enter a display name for the new target field. This name will be used for the target field in the Data Explorer and Dashboards pages.

  5. In the Data type field, select the data type. For more information on data types, see Data types used in data harmonization.

  6. (Optional) In the Length field, specify the maximum character length of the values in the new field. This option is only available if you select String in the Data type field.

  7. (Optional) In the Currency field, select the currency in which the values in the new field are displayed. This options is only available if you select Currency in the Data type field.

  8. In the Measure field, specify the mathematical function underlying the values in the new field. This option is only available if you select a numerical data type in the Data type field, and it only has an effect if you load data into Adverity Data Storage for use in Data Explorer & Dashboards. For more information, see Measures used in data harmonization.

  9. (Optional) In the Description field, enter a description for the new target field.

  10. Click Create.

As a result, you have created a target field that does not have any mapped source fields. This target field will now appear in the Data Mapping tab when configuring the Data Mapping for a datastream.

Editing a target field

Only users with the required permissions can edit target fields. For more information, see Managing user permissions.

To edit a target field, follow these steps:

  1. Select the workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Data Dictionary.

  2. Hold the pointer over the target field to edit, and then click Edit.

    You cannot edit the Name or Data type of a target field after it has been created.

  3. In the Display name field, change the display name of the target field.

  4. In the Length field, change the maximum character length of the values in the new field. This option is only available for target fields with the String data type.

  5. In the Measure field, change the mathematical function underlying the values in the new field. This option is only available for target fields with a numerical data type. For more information, see Measures used in data harmonization.

  6. In the Description field, change the description of the target field.

  7. Click Apply.

As a result, you have updated the target field.

Configuring image dimensions

Configure a dimension with image URL values as an image dimension to display the actual images in a data table or KPI box widgets in Data Explorer & Dashboards. This results in the following changes:

  • When you add an image dimension to a data table or a KPI widget, the values are displayed as images instead of image URLs.

  • You can specify the height and width of the images from the dimension in data tables.

To configure an image dimension, follow these steps:

  1. Select the workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Data Dictionary.

  2. In the top right corner of the page, click + Create target field or edit an existing field.

  3. Enable the Set as image dimension toggle.

  4. In Pixel size, select the minimum height or width in pixels for the images displayed in a data table widget. This determines the minimum height or width of the images, which are displayed according to the option you choose in the next step.

  5. In Image layout, select how to display the images in a data table widget. Choose from the following options:

    • Same height (cropped) - crop images to the same height and width.

    • Same width - resize images to the same width. The height of the images may be different.

    • Same height (left aligned) - resize images to the same height. The images are aligned to the left.

  6. Click Apply.

As a result the selected dimension is configured as an image dimension. When you use this dimension in data tables and KPI boxes in Data Explorer & Dashboards, the associated image will be displayed instead of the image URL.

Image dimensions are displayed with an icon before the dimension name.

Video guide: How to set up Data Mapping and Data Dictionary

This video guide explains what Data Mapping is, how to map your fields in Adverity, and how to use the Data Dictionary.