Tutorial - Setting Usage Data Metrics to Zero for Period X - Gainsight Inc.

Tutorial Overview

Subject:	This tutorial demonstrates how to resolve and avoid gaps in Usage Data.
Scenario:	Data is loaded from a Custom Object or MDA for a period of time. The History section of C360 displays gaps in data; the graph displayed is not contiguous. Usage data rules may create these gaps because they have NULL values. The administrator must fill the gaps to make the data more presentable.
Complexity:	Hard
Description:	Replace NULL or missing values with zero values.
Challenges:	The initial "cleanup" step and usage data reload are required.
Approach:	Create a Rule to set Usage Data metrics over a particular range to zero Run this rule over historical values - for a relevant date range Schedule this rule to execute weekly to avoid gaps caused by NULL/Missing values

Notes and Tips

General:

This tutorial is presented for educational purposes only
Always test the rules before running them in a production environment
Understand the Salesforce environment before performing any operations that may affect your data
BEST PRACTICE: If you are simulating this tutorial you must load from either a Custom Object, or from MDA.
CAUTION: Ensure not to overwrite pre-existing data. If the source data is securely stored in a Custom Object or MDA, data should be safe.

Step 1 - Gaps Found in Data

The above image displays data with obvious gaps. Gaps are caused by missing data (NULLs).

Step 2 - All Zeros Rule

To avoid gaps in data on load, best practice is to load zero values to the date range of interest.

Step 2a - Create New Rule

Create a New Rule with the following parameters:

Rule Type: Custom
Rule Name: Admin: Weekly Usage Data Zero
Description: Load zero values at the beginning of the week for the date range of interest
Show: Account::Id, Account::Account Name, Account::Customer Info, Account::Customer Info Name
Filters:
- Account::Customer Info / not equal to / Check (NULL)
- Account::Account Name / equals / Wallys World

NOTE: This tutorial is restricted to the Account "Wallys World" to avoid zeroing other data.

Step 2b - Create Load to Usage Action

Create a new Load to Usage Action with mappings similar to the above image.

Important step is to set desired fields to zero. In the above Page Views and Total Logins are added as Custom Fields and set to zero.

Step 2c - Schedule the Initial Load Zeros Rule

To perform an initial "all zeroes" load, you must schedule the rule as follows:

Run on a Weekly basis
Schedule for start of the week (typically Sunday). Refer to your usage configuration to confirm.
For the first load, choose a data range
Start time must be the very start of the day (00 Hrs / 01 Mins)
Select "Run for historical periods"
Click START to initiate the rule run

Step 2d - First Run (for Historical Periods)

As "Run for historical periods" was selected, a confirmation screen is displayed. Click Yes to run the rules from the earlier date entered to the current date.

NOTE: This immediately runs the rule.

Step 2e - Edit/Confirm Schedule

When the rule runs, confirm dates going forward. The End Date is not required.

NOTES:

As this has been scheduled to run for historical periods, the "Run for historical periods" checkbox is unchecked to avoid overwriting data.
Going forward, this rule will run each week and place zero values for fields defined within the rule.

Step 2f - Values at Zero

After the rule is executed, data is zeroed for each value specified.

Step 3 - Reload Data

After all zero values have been loaded to appropriate accounts, reload data from the source.

Again, this may be either a Custom Object or MDA.

Step 4 - Confirm

After running the rule, the data is now contiguous. No gaps exist in data for the required period.

As mentioned above, if the Load Zero Values rule is scheduled to run as the first step each week - zero values are always loaded, then overwritten with actual values. In the case there are no values for a week - entire data is set to zero; no gaps or NULL values will be apparent.