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4. Add Descriptions and Tag Semantics

Understanding the semantics of data fields and their tables is crucial for creating meaningful features and avoiding noise. However, data scientists often do this informally.

At FeatureByte, we've made this process more systematic. We map each data column to an ontology, determining the appropriate feature engineering techniques. This mapping is aided by FeatureByte Copilot, which uses Generative AI to analyze metadata from tables and columns. It proposes semantic tags for each column.

Clear descriptions of your data enhance Copilot's ability to make better recommendations and suggest relevant data aggregations, filters, and feature combinations during feature ideation. While Copilot can operate without these descriptions, they significantly enhance its recommendation quality.

Note

Table and column descriptions are automatically fetched from your Data Warehouse when they are available. If these descriptions are missing or incomplete, you have the option to edit and update them

Step 1: Update Tables Descriptions

From the menu, go to the 'Explore' section and access the Table catalog.

Table Catalog

Note if the current page is the table diagram, click Table Catalog to navigate back to the Table catalog.

Check that the descriptions are as follows:

Table Description
GROCERYCUSTOMER Customer details, including their name, address, and date of birth
GROCERYINVOICE Grocery invoice details, containing the timestamp and the total amount of the invoice
INVOICEITEMS The grocery product item details within each invoice, including the quantity, total cost, discount applied, and product ID
GROCERYPRODUCT The product group description for each grocery product

To edit the description of a table:

  1. Select the table from the Table Catalog.
  2. Go to the 'About' tab.
  3. Edit the description using the edit icon next to the description field.

Table Description Table Description

Step 2: Update Columns Descriptions

To edit the description of a column in a table:

  1. Select the table from the Table Catalog.
  2. Go to the “Columns” tab.
  3. Use the edit icon to update column descriptions

Column Description

Step 3: Tag Semantics

For each table:

  1. Select it from the Table Catalog.
  2. Go to the “Columns” tab.
  3. Click 'Run Semantic Type Detection'
  4. Review Suggestions
  5. Accept, adjust or do nothing

Semantic Tagging

Note

If a column remains semantically untagged, FeatureByte Copilot will repeat the detection during feature ideation.