ACL Analytics 14 Release Notes
Release highlights:
- The ability to upload analytic scripts to Robots, a new cloud-based option for scheduling and running ACL analytics
- The introduction of the Cluster command, the first of a planned set of machine learning commands
- A new, easier way of importing SAP data using the integrated Data Access window in ACL
- Several new ACL data connectors
- A new outliers feature for quickly and easily identifying statistical outliers in a numeric field
- A new fuzzy join feature for joining tables on nearly identical or fuzzy values
- Updated third-party components in ACL that ensure application security meets stringent requirements
- An enhanced Excel import that supports multiple Excel files and wildcards in file or worksheet names
Software release November 2018
New
- Robots Analytic scripts, authored in ACL, can now be uploaded to Robots, a new, easy-to-use, cloud-based option for scheduling and running analytic scripts.
Existing analytic scripts used in Analytics Exchange or the Analysis App window can be run in Robots with little or no modification.
- Machine learning command The new Cluster command is the first of a planned set of machine learning commands in ACL. With Cluster, you can discover groupings in a data set that may have gone undetected with traditional approaches.
- identifying clusters using the ACL user interface Learn more >
- CLUSTER command Learn more >
- SAP data connector The integrated Data Access window in ACL now includes an SAP data connector, which provides an easy way of connecting to an SAP system and importing data. SQL-like queries are easier to edit than comparable queries in Direct Link.
The SAP data connector requires a separate subscription entitlement beyond the basic ACL subscription. Learn more >
- New ACL data connectors You can now connect to these external data sources using newly added ACL data connectors:
- Jira
- JSON
- LDAP
- Marketo
- Open Exchange Rates
- Outliers The new outliers feature (OUTLIERS command) identifies statistical outliers in a specified numeric field in an ACL table.
You have the option of identifying outliers by group, or for the entire table.
- identifying outliers using the ACL user interface Learn more >
- OUTLIERS command Learn more >
- Fuzzy joins You can now join two tables on key field values that are nearly identical. You can choose between two fuzzy matching algorithms: Dice coefficient or Levenshtein distance. Existing joins in ACL require that key field values be exactly identical to constitute a match.
- performing fuzzy joins using the ACL user interface Learn more >
- FUZZYJOIN command Learn more >
- Retry imports A new configuration option, Retry Import Attempts, allows you to specify that ACL will retry failed imports from certain types of data sources, and to specify the number of repeated attempts. Learn more >
Enhanced
- Security upgrades To improve overall application security, ACL contains updated versions of several components that are installed along with the application. These changes were first made in version 13.1. For detailed information, see ACL Analytics 13.1 Release Notes.
- Excel import You can now import Excel worksheets from multiple Excel files simultaneously.
This latest enhancement builds on the ability, introduced in version 13.0, to import multiple Excel worksheets simultaneously from a single Excel file. Learn more >
- IMPORT MULTIEXCEL The new IMPORT MULTIEXCEL command allows you to use a single command to script the import of multiple Excel worksheets. You reference multiple worksheets by using a wildcard character (*) in file or worksheet names. Learn more >
- Improved Join dialog box The Join dialog box has been redesigned, with a more logical arrangement of fields, and icons for each join type. The new design makes selecting the correct join type easier and more intuitive. Learn more >
- Improved harmonizing in Append Two new options for the Append command support harmonizing common fields on the Character data type, or importing all fields as Character data.
- Append dialog box Learn more >
- APPEND command Learn more >
- Resize the DDW The Data Definition Wizard, used for defining data and importing it to ACL, can now be resized, or maximized.
The ability to use your full screen for previewing and working with data makes the experience of importing files such as Excel, delimited text, and PDF much more user-friendly.
- Auto-add new fields Newly created physical or computed fields can optionally be added to the table view automatically. The Add created field to current view option is now available in the Table Layout dialog box.
- Data Access window improvements Two improvements have been made to the Data Access window:
- Hash imported data You can now protect sensitive data imported using the Data Access window by hashing it on a field-level basis. Learn more >
- Wildcards in table search Wildcard characters are now supported when searching tables in the Data Access window. Learn more >
Fixed
- ACL 14.0 corrects the following customer-reported issues:
- Scrolling Scrolling in views for large tables has improved responsiveness.
- Resize columns The menu option Resize All Columns now correctly adjusts the column widths in a table view. (AN-6282)
Unresolved
- In the SAP connector in the Data Access window, using a SQL OR operation to reference two different fields within a single filter group does not work. (ADA-1186)
- A connection for the ACL ServiceNow connector saved in ACL 13 does not work in ACL 14. Users need to create a new ServiceNow connection in ACL 14. (ADA-1329)
- In the Jira connector in the Data Access window, data in custom Jira fields is not shown in the Import Preview. The data in the custom fields is imported correctly. (AN-7032)
