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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2023-06-23
Concept: Datasets

Concept: Datasets

A dataset is a Prism Analytics object that controls some underlying data and describes some processing logic to manipulate the data. A dataset is a description of the data, otherwise known as metadata. It contains all of the data about the data, plus a subset of example rows to help you understand the data values. You create datasets to prepare data for analysis.
A dataset can describe either Workday or non-Workday (external) data. You might want to create a dataset using external data to blend, transform, and enrich it with Workday data. This enables you to analyze your Workday and non-Workday data together without having to export it into a separate electronic data warehouse and business intelligence (BI) application.
A dataset can also describe data that's output from another table or dataset by deriving the dataset from an existing table or dataset.
You can create a:
  • Base dataset. A base dataset is a dataset that is based on 1 or more source files. The source files can come from external sources (non-Workday data) or from the output of a Workday custom report. You create a base dataset when you create a new dataset using these options:
    • from File
      . This option creates a dataset with external data that you upload in the browser.
    • from SFTP
      . This option creates a dataset with external data that Workday retrieves from an SFTP server using an integration.
    • from Custom Report
      . This option creates a dataset with Workday data.
  • Derived dataset. A derived dataset is a dataset that is based on 1 or more existing tables or datasets. The source data of a derived dataset comes from the output of existing tables and datasets. You use derived datasets to blend data together from different sources, such as Workday data and non-Workday data. Some stage types, such as Join and Union, are only available to derived datasets. You create a derived dataset when you create a new dataset using the
    Derived Dataset
    option.