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 KPIs. 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.

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

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. Go to the Data Dictionary page.

  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 Explore and Present pages.

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

  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 Explore & Present. For more information, see Measures used for metrics in Adverity.

  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. Go to the Data Dictionary page.

  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 for metrics in Adverity.

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

  7. Click Apply.

As a result, you have updated the target field.