Metrics Metadata

Configuring Metric Metadata in the UI

There are two types of metric metadata. Metadata that can be defined either in the configuration files or in the UI (e.g. metric description), and metadata that can only be defined in Transform's user interface (e.g. metric value format). If the metadata can be defined in both places and the user sets it in the configuration files, it then becomes locked in the UI. If it has not been set in the configuration file, it can always be edited or changed in the UI by a metric owner.

For metadata that can only be set in the UI, this will be available to an owner immediately when they login to the interface after committing a metric. For example, the user can specify the value format that the metric should be displayed and in which direction the metric should be moving in. The full list of configuration options that can be added in the Catalog is listed here.

Metric Description

The description and definition are meant to help business users understand what a metric means. At the top of the Metric Page, you will find a configuration section that includes the definition. If the metric description was specified in the configuration files, it won't be editable. If it has not been, metric owners will be able to add and edit a description. It is recommended to create descriptions in our user interface to take advantage of the rich markdown editing abilities.

Metric Lineage

The lineage section will help users understand the source and calculation of a metric. Opening the Metric Lineage panel will expose what Data Source the metric comes from, what measure it's derived from, and the metric definition itself. Clicking into the YAML link will open a code snippet for each respective component. If the metric is derived from multiple measures (e.g., ratio or expression), the lineage will indicate this. Finally, you can click "View Code" which will navigate you to Github where these files were committed to Transform.

Default Chart Granularity

The default chart granularity option allows metric owners to define what view appears in the chart for data consumers. For example, a metric may be defined with daily granularity in configuration files but folks want to see it as a weekly granularity metric in the Transform UI. Options to set this include daily, weekly, monthly, etc. and different granularities will work for distinct counts as well as total counts.

Default Chart Time Range

When viewing a chart, Transform had previously defaulted to 365 days for all metrics. This is now configurable to show any date range in the chart at the discretion of metric owners.

Trim Incomplete Data

Metrics that have incomplete data that gets loaded in small batches or streamed in before a time period is complete, can be trimmed to not show those incomplete values. For example, if you have a daily metric for number of users that is increasing throughout a day, you may not want to show that value until the day is complete. In that case, you can trim the values for the incomplete day and only show the previous day's value.