The Data Aggregator is a processor function, meaning it operates on data as it passes through a stream, transforming it before forwarding it to the next function. The Data Aggregator configuration contains the following sections:
Group Fields: In the first section, define the fields the Data aggregator will use to group records during the aggregation process.
Aggregation Fields: In the second section, specify the fields on which the aggregation operations (such as sum, count, min, max) will be performed.
Flush by: In the final section configure how and when the aggregated data should be flushed (forwarded) to the next function in the stream.
Note!
A note on TTL (Time to Live) for aggregated data sessions: Aggregated sessions are stored for a maximum of 180 days. This means that if a session is not updated for 180 days, all the stored data from that session will be permanently deleted.
Configuration field | Description |
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Group fields Note! Changing how you group data (updating the Group fields) will start new aggregation sessions and the the old sessions will be stored. If you want to revert to the original way of grouping, the system will reuse the old stored sessions, but only if they haven’t timed out yet. See the note on TTL above. | |
Fields | Specify which fields will be used to group records together for aggregation. If two or more records have the same values in the fields you select, they will be grouped into the same session for processing. You must configure at least one field for the data aggregator to work properly. If left empty, you will receive an error message advising of this. Example - Grouping user records by the user field Let’s say you have three records, and you decide to group them by the user field:
In this case, Record 1 and Record 3 will be grouped in a session because they have the same user value (A), while Record 2 will be in a separate session with its own user value (B). If you’re using a COUNT operation, for example, the total for the group with user A will be 2 and the total for the group with user B will be 1 You can either type the field names manually or select them from the drop-down menu. |
Group based on date/time | Select the checkbox to specify a defined period for aggregation. Note! The supported format is ISO 8601 (extended format), following the pattern
For example: If you need to convert a date format to support the ISO standard, see Script. Click + Add period field to add additional period fields |
Field | If you select to group the fields by date/ time you will specify each field and then select a time duration for each. |
Period | Select a time duration from the dropdown:
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Aggregate fields | |
Field | Specify the name of the field(s) on which the aggregation operation will be performed: |
Operation | Select the aggregation operation from the drop-down menu, this operation will apply to the chosen field. The available operations are grouped into two categories: Numeric, and General. Click + Add Aggregate field to add more fields. Numeric:
General:
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Flush by | |
Flush by | Select how and when to flush the aggregated data to the next function in the stream. The options are:
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Flush by
The data Aggregator collects and processes data internally until it is "flushed." Flushing means the data is finalized and either saved or sent for further processing. For details see, https://infozone.atlassian.net/wiki/x/y4JLDg. In the data aggregator configuration are three options for how and when the data can be flushed.
Flush by ‘End of transaction’
This option flushes the aggregated data once a transaction is completed, even if the overall stream is still running, and it allows for more frequent, smaller data outputs. If the data is coming from multiple files each file's data is handled as an individual transaction within the stream. After processing each file's data and applying the aggregation logic, the results of that particular file are "flushed" immediately.
Flush by ‘End of stream’
In this case, no data is flushed until the entire stream has finished running. It continues to be aggregated throughout the entire duration of a stream. This will ensure that the output represents the entire stream's data.
Example - telecom billing system.
You have four CSV files with data from different regions (North, South, East and West), each file contains 10,000 call records from the last hour. The data must be aggregated before it’s sent to the billing system. If you set the ‘flush by’ to…
Flush by End of transaction - When the system finishes processing the first file (e.g., North region), the aggregated sessions with total calls, minutes, etc… are flushed immediately downstream for that file. The same behavior would occur for the other regions' files.
Flush by end of stream - The system would process all 40,000 records in the sessions before flushing the aggregated results downstream.
Note!
The Flush by options, End of transaction and End of stream, do not apply to real-time streams.
Flush by 'Timeout'
In this case, the system flushes the aggregated data after a specific timeout period has elapsed or a condition is met. This can be useful when the data should be output at regular intervals.
In batch streams, the timeout is passive and waits for the next stream execution to flush data
In real-time streams, the timeout is actively monitored, and the system automatically flushes the data every 60 seconds if the timeout has arrived.
Example of a timeout
“Record the sum of sheets of paper used by a subscriber to a printing service on the 10th of every month.”
In this case, the data is flushed strictly based on time—on the 10th of each month.
Select the Timeout type
This can be one of the following options:
Hour: Select the hour interval after which the data will timeout.
Example- Timeout type with 1-hour intervals
If you aggregate price per account and set timeout to 1 hour, then you will have the following behavior:
At 13:00, Account 'X' might be charged $10 for a specific transaction or service usage.
At 13:33, Account 'X' uses another service or makes another transaction, leading to a new charge of $12. By the timeout (set to 14:00), the total sum for Account 'X' would be $22 (10 + 12).
For Account 'Y':
At 13:07, Account 'Y' is charged $20 for a service. Since Account 'Y' has its own aggregation window starting at this time, its timeout will be set to 14:07.
No further records come in for Account 'Y' during this window, so at 14:07 when the timeout occurs, the total for Account 'Y' remains $20.
Day: Data is timed out daily at a specific time you set. You must specify both the exact time of day and the timezone when this should happen. You specify both the exact day of the month (e.g., the 1st or 15th) and the time of day when the timeout should occur, along with the timezone.
Example - Timeout type set to ‘day’
If you set the timeout to happen everyday at midnight in the "UTC" timezone, all data will be flushed at that time, every day, according to UTC.
This means the timeout will always occur at the same time each day, regardless of when data was first aggregated.
Month: Data is timed out monthly at a specific time you set. You specify the exact day of the month (e.g., the 1st or 15th or ‘last day of the month’) and the time of day when the timeout should occur, along with the timezone.
Example- Timeout type set to ‘month’
For example, if you set the timeout to happen on the 1st of every month at 23:59 in the "UTC" timezone, the system will flush all aggregated data at that exact time, on the 1st of every month.
Based on timestamp field: This setting uses the event timestamp from the input data to determine when to flush the aggregated results.
Note!
Any field can be selected for the ‘timeout type', it doesn’t have to be labeled ‘timeout’, however, it must contain a valid timestamp to work correctly. Only timestamps in UTC with the following format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sss will be accepted.
Example - Timeout type set to ‘Based on timeout’
If your data has a field containing a timestamp (e.g., "event_time": "2024-09-18T15:00:00"), You can select to flush the data "Based on timestamp field". The system will flush the data according to this timestamp.
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Adding custom conditions
You can add custom conditions when the flush by is set to timeout by clicking + Add condition.
Example - Custom condition on Flush by Timeout
Record the sum of sheets of paper used by a subscriber to a printing service on the 10th of every month or if the 70 page limit is reached.”
Here, the data will be flushed either when the 70 page limit is reached or on the 10th of the month, whichever happens first.
This is what the custom condition would look like in the Data aggregator configuration.
OR condition configuration | Description |
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Condition name | Assign a name to the condition. |
Based on | Select which input field or aggregated field you want to apply the condition on. The Input Fields show all the input fields configured in the stream and Aggregated Fields show the fields that you have selected to perform aggregation on. In this example, the only aggregated field is the total SUM of ‘sheets’.  |
Type of field | Select the type of field. Your selection will determine the configuration options that follow this.
Type of field is only available if an Input field was selected in Based on. |
Operator | Use this field to choose how you want to compare the selected Field with a specific value. Operator is not available if you have selected Boolean in Type of field |
Value | The options for this field will change depending on the type of field selected:
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