Creating rules for matching link records

When you create rules for matching i2 Analyze link records, you decide what information Analyst's Notebook uses to identify matches between the same end records on your chart.

About this task

Depending on how your system administrator has configured Analyst's Notebook, you might have a number of link matching rules that are available as defaults. You can activate or deactivate these rules but you cannot amend them. You can also choose to create and edit your own rules based on the link conditions in your schema. Link match rules consist of:

A name and description.
A link type, Communication for example.
The property or properties to use in setting conditions, such as the duration of the communication.
The link direction that can either be matched exactly or ignored.
An operator that sets the kind of comparison for the match, such as Exact match.
Refinements to ignore particular characters and white space, if required.
The minimum conditions that must be met to report a match.

For example, your chart contains a large number of links relating to communication between devices. You could improve the look and readability of your chart if you could identify and merge the matching links. You can create a rule that tells Analyst's Notebook to identify the link records on the chart with the same values for these properties. The example match rule would be:

Link type = Communication
Link direction = ignore
Match all:
- Property type = Communication Type
- Operator = Exact match
- Property type = Communication Start Date and Time
- Operator = Exact match

Note:

Analyst's Notebook maintains a separate set of match rules for each server. The rules that you create remain in the Rules Overview window until you delete them, or connect to a different server.

Procedure

Click the Analyze tab, and then in the Match group, click Find Matching Records.
The Find Matching Records window opens.
Click the Links button.
Click the Rules button, next to the Find Matches button.
The Rules Overview window opens.
Click the New rule button.
All the link types from your current schema are listed.
Choose an option from the list, for example, Communication.
The New Communication rule window opens.
Enter a name for your match rule in the Name field. You cannot create a rule without a name.
Optional: Enter a description of your match rule in the 'Description' field.
In the next column, if you want to create conditions that records must meet in order to match, click the Add a condition button .
The Add conditions window opens.

Select a property type such as Communication Type and choose an operator for the condition. The default operator is Exact match. Click the drop-down menu arrow to select other options.

Operator	Description
Exact match	The search identifies property values in the link records that are exact matches.
Match first characters	The condition is met when the opening characters of the property values match each other. For example, enter the number '3' to match with the first three characters.
Match last characters	The condition is met when the closing characters of the property values match each other. For example, enter the number '5' to match with the last five characters.
Equal to	The condition is met when the property value matches the value that was specified.

Note:

The default condition for Link direction is Exact match. To ignore link direction, click the drop-down menu arrow and select Ignore.

Click the Refine condition button next to the arrow to make further refinements to the conditions.
Your system administrator might have selected some default options for value handling, such as when to ignore white space. You can change the default selection to suit your own rules. A dot icon appears next to the Refine condition button to indicate when these refinements are modified.
In the last column, you can apply a number of conditions of which at least one must be met. You specify these conditions and refinements in the same way as you did for the previous column.
Click OK.
Your rule appears in the list on the Rules Overview window along with a summary of your chosen conditions.
Note:
Link records that do not connect the same ends are never a match for each other.

What to do next

You might want to create more rules before looking for matches. The Duplicate option in the Rules Overview window is useful for creating rules to edit, rather than starting from the beginning. When you are ready to begin matching, activate the rules that you want to search with, click OK, proceed to the Find Matching Records window and click Find matches.