Rank Fields

This function will rank the attributes in accordance with their effect on the current outcome. The attributes will be reordered where the topmost attribute is the one that has most effect on the current outcome and the lowest one has the least effect. This option can be used to decide which attributes to Exclude from the induction process when inducing the tree.

You can change the way that the Rank order is shown by clicking on the Rank column heading.

Excluding fields from the target table

By default, all the fields in your target table will be made available on the Data Window for analysis. However, when you first open up a table you are given the option to exclude fields by deselecting from the list.

Excluding fields will speed up processing and you should therefore exclude any fields when you are sure that they will have no use or influence on your analysis project, for example:

·Fields that are unique index identifiers. In general, a field that holds a 'customer account code' or a 'product code' would be of no predictive value.

·Telephone numbers or area codes. Fields like this need more thought as in some instances they might be needed, but rarely in their original 'as is' form. For example, you may want to use these to identify geographic groups. However, it is more likely that only the main exchange number or first part of an area code would be suitable and the field would therefore need pre-processing to achieve this. There are also possibilities such as 'telephone given' Yes/No would be a useful field, whereas the actual number would not - such as on a credit loan application form.

Mined Tree object – Tree tab