PCSchool 2017 Data Mining

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1 Spider Data Mining Introduction Data Mining is a tool for searching your PCSchool databases. Generally there are reports and interactive controls that allow you to intuitively find the information you re looking for quickly, but sometimes you need to find something not readily available. An example might be trying to find out what which students are not to have their photos published. For those that have used VDF Query in PCSchool Back Office, Data Mining is similar and is modelled after it, although Data Mining has some added options and is significantly faster. Currently Data Mining does not have the full functionality of VDF Query but this will be incorporated in time. Table of Contents Introduction... 1 Security... 2 Data Mining... 3 Access to Data Mining... 4 Select Fields Tab... 5 Field Tab... 6 Relationship Tab... 7 Filter Condition Tab... 8 Order By Tab Export Save DataMine Query Dynamic Student Tagged Set Dynamic Family Tagged Set Dynamic Staff Tagged Set Source Code Version /14

2 Security For users to be able to access and use the Data Mining tool in PCSchool Spider they must first have the necessary user security rights. Security object Data Mine [999] must be allocated to users: The other CRITICAL aspect of Data Mining is to ensure the tables you do not want users to be able to browse are hidden. Currently this can only be done through Back Office. To hide an entire table, you need to apply the DENY VDFQUERY Access item, and ensure it is set to H (Hidden) as opposed to the default S (Shadowed), which still allows viewing. This needs to be repeated for each security user staff are following. Information about how to determine which security user an Identity is following can be found by clicing the link below. Version /14

3 Data Mining To help find the information you need, you should be able to answer the following questions. What fields do I need to see in the results? (Database\Table\Field selection) What do I need to find (include / exclude from the possible results)? (Filtering) What order should the results be in? (Ordering) What format do I need the results in? (Exporting/Saving) Essentially the Database is the complete set of data for a given workarea or snapshot. Tables are the names of the containers that contain rows of information Fields are the individual parts of each row, so a row is made up of 1 or more fields. The data resides inside the fields. Sometimes information in a row of one table relates directly to information contained in another table. To ensure these records line up, a KEY field is used in each table. These key fields, when linked together, form what is called a relationship. In many cases, when using Data Mining, we create these for you. When selecting the SF:Student table, we create the links to the Family and Image tables. This allows you to select Caregiver information based on a student record. Although Data Mining automatically creates several of these relationships automatically, hundreds more exist, which can be created using a soft relationship. This is decribed later in the manual. For more complex analysis, you can export the information you need to a CSV file and work with it in a spreadsheet application such as Excel. Version /14

4 Access to Data Mining Data Mining in the PCSchool Spider Web Application can be accessed in two ways Menu option Select Setup and Utilities from Filter menu by. Click on Spider Management menu. Select Data Mining from the menu. Favourites option Data Mining control may have been added to staff favourites by the administrator. OR it can be added by the user upon opening the Data Mining control for the first time and selecting the option to add it to portal s homepage (Star icon). Version /14

5 Select Fields Tab This is the answer to the question: What do I need to see in the results? This tab is where you select the main data table to draw information from and where you select the fields to include in your query. 1. Workarea Select the work area you wish to draw information from. 2. Table Filter Filter the tables list to find a certain table. 3. Data Table Select the data table you wish to draw information from. Selected Table & Banner shows the Main Table Selected. 4. Available Tables Tabs below show the main table and related tables. 5. Available Fields Shows the fields within the selected table in alphabetical order. 6. Select/Deselect All Select or deselect all fields in the table in one step. 7. Search Filter the fields list to find a certain field. 8. Search Generates a list based on your selections made. 9. Field Shows the Selected Fields. 10. Relationship Allows you to create custom table relationships to add to the scope. 11. Filter Condition Choose what records should appear in the results (include/exclude). Select what order to put results in initially. 12. Order By You can change the order by clicking on the column headings to change the order once you ve run the query. 13. Source Code Displays the SQL code for the current search. Version /14

6 Field Tab Displays the fields previously chosen on the Select Fields tab. 1. Field Name Name of the data field chosen. 2. Table Name Table the data is being drawn from. 3. Delete Can be used to remove the field from the current selection. Version /14

7 Relationship Tab Allows you to add soft table-relationships to your query, adding to the scope. While the majority of the main relationships are built into Data Mining, some relationships aren t specifically defined. The phrases Hard-Relationship and Soft-Relationship refer to whether a relationship is one of the existing, built-in relationships, or one custom-defined respectively a b a b Main data table selected and field common to the other related / available table. Existing related / available table and corresponding field common to both tables. To create a new Soft Relationship and bring in another data table to draw information from select an existing table and a field in the existing table that will be common to the new table. Select the new table from the database and the corresponding field common to both tables. 3. Add your new Soft Relationship to your query. 4. Shows the Soft Relationships created. 5. Delete the Soft Relationship. The new Soft Relationship data table is now available in your Selected Fields tab. Fields from this table can be added to your query. Version /14

8 Filter Condition Tab This is the answer to the question: What do I need to find in the results?. This tab is about defining the conditions that must be met for the information you need to find. When adding filters, they are joined based on AND, not OR. This means that if the filter is set to say CURRENT_YEAR = 9 CURRENT_YEAR = 10 no records will show as a student cannot be set to be in Year 9 AND in Year 10 at the same time. To show Year 9 and 10 students, you would need to use the In condition. CURRENT_YEAR IN 9,10 as this implies the student could be in Year 9 OR in Year 10. Below is a two leveled filter. Only the data that matches ALL of the filter conditions will show Select the Data Table and Field/Column Name you wish to create a condition for. Any of the available tables can be used for creating conditions. Search for records that match/don t match/fall in the range of the column value. Select the Condition (Equal To/Greater Than/Between) Type in the value/s to be checked against (Dates/Code/Amount). 3. Add will save the condition information to the list below. 4. Conditions can be set as Active or inactive by ticking them. 5. Conditions can Deleted from the list. 6. Search will check the data and display any records matching your conditions. All Active conditions must be met for the record to show. Version /14

9 The filter options are as follows: Equal To Greater Than Greater Than or Equal To Greater Than or Equal To Less Than or Equal To Between Like In In Like Not In Equal To returns data that EXACTLY matches the value within the field. For numeric values, Greater Than looks for numbers larger than the one being compared to. For text fields, it looks at their ASCII order, essentially A Z. If the field contains both text and numbers, numbers are considered to come before the letter A ( ABC ) This will operate like Greater Than, but also includes the compare value if it matches exactly. For numeric values, Less Than looks for numbers smaller than the one being compared to. For text fields, it looks at their ascii order, essentially A Z. If the field contains both text and numbers, numbers are considered to come before the letter A ( ABC ) This will operate like Less Than, but also include the compare value if it matches exactly This will search for data between 2 nominated values. If searching for numbers, it includes both upper and lower values specified. If searching for text ranges, it will include the lower value, but only the upper value if it is an exact match. If looking for surnames starting with letters C,D and E, you would say Between C to F (not E) The Like option finds data that has the selection as part of the field. When using like, it assumes the first part of the text must match. If you are looking for data within a field, you need to proceed the selection with a %. Like AN would find Andrew but not Mandy. If using Like %AN it would find both Andrew and Mandy. In allows you to define a number of values, each separated by a comma. If the field contains any one of the values, it will show. In Like is similar to In but allows for non-specific values to be included. If you are looking for mobile numbers starting with 04 or 027, you could use an In Like 04,027 Not In allows you to preclude a set of values from the results. Not In 6,7,8 would show students in all other years. Version /14

10 Order By Tab The Order By tab allows you to pick the default sort order for the results of your query. 1. Select the Data Table and Field / Column Name you wish to sort the data by. Any of the available tables and their columns can be used for ordering data. 2. Add will save the Sort Order information to the list below. 3. Sort orders will be listed here Delete to remove the order option. 4. Search will run the selections you have made in all your tabs and return any matching data. Version /14

11 Export Using the Export button you can save the contents of this table (as it is) in CSV format. The system will automatically download the CSV file to your Downloads folder on your local computer. Once exported to CSV the data can be opened in Excel and sorted, formated, analysed as needed. Save Currently there are 4 types of Save available within DataMine. If you have already opened a previously saved Query, you also get the button to [Update] any changes you have made. Version /14

12 1. DataMine Query This option will save the details of the query (fields selected, relationships created, filters used etc) so that it can be opened and run within the DataMine control again. 2. Dynamic Student Tagged Set A Dynamic Student Tagged Set must be based on the Student File and contain both the Student# and StudKey fields in order for it to be saved. NOTE: Dynamic Tagged sets will be implimented in the new Tagged Set controls. It is currently available within the Group Absence Entry screen of Attendance Flow. 1. Select Open Existing Tagset from the Criteria options within the Manage Tagset screen. Version /14

13 1. Select the previously saved tag set listed under the Dynamic Tagset option. 3. Dynamic Family Tagged Set A Dynamic Family Tagged Set must originate from the Family table and contain both the IDENTITY_ID# and FAMKEY fields. 4. Dynamic Staff Tagged Set A Dynamic Staff Tagged Set must start from the Staff table and contain both the TEACHER# and TEACHER_CODE fields. Version /14

14 Source Code The Source Code tab allows you to read and/or copy the SQL query that has been generated by Data Mining. This can be used to find both the relationships between tables, and generate the foundation of a more complicated query. This source code is generated when you run your query by pressing [Search]. Version /14