Business metrics often need to be calculated within specific time frames, such as "last 7 days" or "current calendar month." Create standardized periods to normalize business statistics and improve analysis efficiency. Reuse periods across derived metrics to keep time range definitions consistent.
Key concepts
A period defines a reusable time range for business metric calculations. Together with an atomic metric and one or more modifiers, a period forms a derived metric that reflects the status of a business activity.
DataWorks provides nine built-in period granularities, including Day, Week, and Month. To see the full list of available granularities, open the Period Granularity drop-down when creating a period in the DataWorks console.
Build finer-grained periods on top of these granularities. For example, "last 7 days" on top of Day, or "last 3 weeks" on top of Week.
For more information about how periods fit into derived metrics, see Derived metric.
Create a period
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Go to the Data Modeling page.
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Log on to the DataWorks console. In the top navigation bar, select the desired region. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Data Development and O&M > Data Modeling. On the page that appears, select the desired workspace from the drop-down list and click Go to Data Modeling.
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On the Data Modeling page, click Data Metric in the top navigation bar. Then, in the navigation pane on the left, click Period.
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In the Period pane, click the
icon. -
Configure Basic Information for the period.
Parameter
Description
Period Granularity
The granularity to which the period belongs.
Abbreviation
The unique identifier of the period. Cannot be changed after the period is created.
Name
The name of the period.
Display Name
The display name of the period.
Owner
The owner of the period. Defaults to the creator.
Description
A description of the period.
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Click Save, then click Submit.
After submission, the period is available to reference when you create derived metrics.
To delete a period that is referenced by a derived metric, remove the reference relationship between the period and the derived metric first.
Import periods in bulk
If you need to create multiple periods at once—for example, when initializing a standard set of time ranges for a new workspace or migrating period definitions from another system—use the batch import feature.
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On the Period page, hover over the
icon and click Import from Excel. In the dialog box, download the template file. -
Fill in the period information in the template. Follow the column descriptions and examples in the template.
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Upload the completed template and run the import task. When creating the import task, set Import Type to Period. For more information, see Import.
What's next
Reference the period, an atomic metric, and one or more modifiers when you create a derived metric. The derived metric collects statistical data on atomic metric values within the period, filtered by specific dimensions and business conditions.
For details, see Derived metric.