Transformations

Professional spaces can use the Transformations located in Modeler Prepare to make additional modifications to the data.

This table lists all available transformations and describes what they do. You can also view the topics in this section for more information on some of the transformations. Not every transformation has a topic.

Transformation Type Description Icon
Add Column Transformation Adds a new column by writing an expression for customized data.
Caution: 
Not available in the Trial.
Append Table Transformation Appends a table with another table. Append is a common operation used by analysts for data workflows. Common use cases include appending historical data with current data, appending data from various retail outlets, or multiple profiles in the case of Google Analytics. Append is inspired by SQL based Union and Union All statements. Union appends rows by removing duplicate rows, whereas Union All appends all rows that may include duplicates.
Combine Transformation Merges two columns into one. You can optionally indicate a separation, using a delimiter or a space, between the two. By default there is no space between the two.

This transformation can combine operation is to put a first name and last name together in a single column for full name or to put address or location columns together. For example you could combine a City column with a State column and separate them with a comma.

Data Type Transformation Changes the data type of the column or columns. It does not change the data type in the source data, only for the column in Birst. In addition to the standard date casting, users can now suggest date formats for parsing and casting Numeric and Text columns into Dates.
Date Transformation

Allows a variety of functions related to dates.

Works only with columns of type date or datetime. If you try to apply this to other types of columns there will be an error.

Filter Transformation Filters the rows based on the contents of one or more cells in the column. A filter transformation cannot be edited once you create it. Filters use operators including as equal to, not equal to, greater than, greater than or equal to, less than, less than or equal to. For example, you can filter data out of a table based on the value of a cell.

Wild cards and partial entries are not supported. The filter value text must exactly match the text in the cell. For text columns, the greater than and less than operators use alphabetical order.

Ignore Transformation Excludes the column from the Birst data store. Does not change the column in the source.
Index Transformation Creates a new column of ascending sequential numbers titled "Index", most often used as an index on a table.
Lookup Transformation Creates a new column based on a lookup value in another table. Lookup is a common operation that analyst use for data cleansing. Lookups in BI tools are similar to Vlookup and Hlookup in excel where the Vlookup provides a matching a key value to a column and returns the corresponding value to a different column. The first match is considered if there are duplicates and any unmatched columns can return a specified default value.
Merge Transformation Merges columns from two tables into a single table.
Null Handling Transformation Replaces empty cells in a column or columns with text of your choice. For example, some cells may be empty and you do not want to leave the cell blank. You can put text into the empty cells of a column or columns.
Pivot Transformation Pivots the table based on column.
R Code Transformation The R transform lets users leverage R code when applying transformations to a prepared a source.
Remove Duplicates Transformation Deletes records based on the contents of one or more columns. When employing this transformation, the first matching record is kept while the other matching records are removed from the prepared data source.
Remove Records Transformation Deletes records based on the contents of one or more columns. You can edit or delete this transformation.
Rename Transformation Renames the title of the selected column or columns.
Replace Transformation Finds and replaces a value in the selected column. Can replace multiple values at the same time. Select the column and provide one or more text or number replacements.
Split Transformation Splits the contents of a cell into multiple cells by adding a column based on either a delimiter or a number of characters. You can split on a delimiter, or on a count of characters. The new column is next to the original one, and you can use the Rename transform to give it a different name.
Split Row Transformation Duplicates a column based on a selected delimiter. Split row is a way to duplicate rows based on a delimiter. You can use one of the delimiters in the list field or enter your own.
Summarize Transformation Summarizes both groups one or more rows based on matching values, and also shows a calculation based on data another column. A Summarize transformation cannot be edited once you create it.
Text Transformation Changes case or trims out empty spaces of the selected column. Provides uppercase and lowercase transforms, and trims extra blank spaces.