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8b. Refine Ideation

In the previous tutorial, we explored the Automated Mode of Feature Ideation, where the system independently generated a comprehensive set of features.

Now, we turn our focus to the Semi-Automated Mode, which introduces an interactive layer to the ideation workflow. This mode empowers you to review, refine, and enhance the system's recommendations step by step, ensuring that the features align with your specific requirements and domain knowledge.

Through this tutorial, you will:

  • Learn how to incorporate custom transformations, such as embedding UDFs, to enrich feature engineering.
  • Review and adjust the system's suggestions, from table selection to filters.
  • Understand how Semi-Automated Mode combines the efficiency of automation with the flexibility of manual refinement.

Step 0: Add New User Defined Function (UDF) to the Catalog.

Before starting a new Feature Ideation, we will register an "embedding" UDF that leverages the Sentence-BERT (SBERT) transformer model. This UDF will be used to transform the Product Group column of the PRODUCTGROUP table into embeddings.

  1. Navigate to the User Defined Function Catalog under the 'Formulate' section of the menu. Name

  2. Create the "embedding" UDF by clicking New UDF. Name

  3. Confirm that the new UDF is registered and visible in the catalog. Name

Step 1: Create New Feature Ideation

  1. Navigate to Feature Ideation from the 'Ideate' section of the menu. Name

  2. Click New Ideation Button to start a new ideation process. Name

  3. Edit the Feature Ideation name and description by clicking Edit Button. Name

Step 2: Start Semi-Automated Mode

  1. Begin the workflow by clicking Next Step Button.

  2. After complete, the table selection results will be displayed for review.

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Step 3: Review Table Selection

  1. Click Name to view details on the table selection. Name

  2. To open the detailed report with an indexed view in a new tab:

    • Click Report Button next to the Ideation run name "Semi-Automated Mode".
    • Then click Report tab Button.

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  3. After reviewing, return to the table selection screen. Name

  4. Keep the selection unchanged and proceed to the next step by clicking Next Step Button.

Step 4: Review Column Semantics Detection

  1. After the Column Semantics Detection step completes, review the results. Name

  2. Click Name to view the report. Name

  3. Adjust semantic tags as needed. For example, assign the Gender column a semantic type under categorical/nominal_categorical/demographic_attribute/gender in FeatureByte's ontology. Name Name

  4. Click Next Step Button to continue.

Step 5: Review Transforms Detection

  1. Once the Transforms Detection process finishes, review the results for the INVOICEITEMS table. Name

  2. Click Name to view the report. Name

  3. Attempt to create a new Transform, 'Total_Cost / Quantity'.

    • Open the Transform window by clicking Name. Name
    • Click Name.
    • Select the 'Ratio' operation. Name
    • Choose the Total_Cost column as the numerator and the Quantity column as the denominator Name Name Name
    • Generate a name and relevance by clicking Name. Name

  4. Review the relevance explanation. If it is low (e.g., redundant with the existing column Unit Price), delete the transform. Name Click Name to delete the transform.

  5. Close the Transform window by clicking Name.

  6. Click Next Step Button to proceed.

Step 6: Review Filters Detection

  1. Once the Filters Detection process finishes, review the results. In this example, no filters have been detected. Name

  2. Create a new filter. Click Name for the INVOICEITEMS table. Name

  3. Select Filter Column. Choose Product Group as the filter column. Name

  4. Complete the filter condition by specifying the filter values. This will open a new windown listing all elligible values. Name Name

  5. Identify the most relevant values by clicking Name. Name

  6. Create automatically meaningful groups of values by clicking Name. Select one group if any is relevant. Name

  7. Finalize your value selection. Name

  8. Generate filter name and relevance. Name

  9. Check the relevance of the new filter. Name

  10. Save the new filter by clicking Name. Name

  11. Click Next Step Button to proceed.

Step 7: Review Feature Ideation Setup

  1. Review the suggested setup. Name

  2. Go to 'User Defined Function' section and click Name to use the "embedding" UDF to transform the Product Group column of the PRODUCTGROUP table into embeddings. Name

  3. Click Next Step Button to complete Feature Ideation.

Step 8: Review the Feature Ideation Report

After the process completes, a table of ideated features will be displayed for your review.

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Accessing the Detailed Report: To view the full report describing each step of the ideation process, click Report Button next to the Ideation run name "Semi-Automated Mode".

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To visualize the full report with an indexed view in a new tab, click Report tab Button.

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Step 9: Run EDA

Select All Ideated Features: Click Select All Button to select all ideated features.

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Initiate EDA: Scroll to the bottom of the ideated features table and click EDA Button to begin the Exploratory Data Anaylsis (EDA) process.

Step 10: Run Feature Selection

  1. Start Feature Selection by clicking on the Magic Ward Magic Ward.
  2. Select the SHAP-Based mode and choose the option to exclude Low Added Value Features.

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Once the selection is complete, review the selected features.

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Step 11: Add Features to the Feature Catalog

  1. Clear the search (if you used it) and any prior selection (if any) by clicking Clear Button
  2. Select features in the feature list by clicking Select All Button.

  3. Save the selected features into the Feature Catalog by clicking Save Feature List. Name

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Step 12: Refine Selection

We will refine our prior selection by using GenAI.

  1. Start Feature Selection by clicking on the Magic Ward Magic Ward.
  2. Select the GenAI-Based mode and set target count to 20.

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Once the selection is complete, review the selected features.

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Step 13: Add GenAI selection to the Feature Catalog

  1. Clear the search (if you used it) and any prior selection (if any) by clicking Clear Button
  2. Select features in the feature list by clicking Select All Button.
  3. Save the selected features into the Feature Catalog by clicking Save Feature List. Name

Step 14: Run Rule-based Selection

  1. Change to All features by setting the dropdown list to All features next to the Magic Ward.
  2. Start Feature Selection by clicking on the Magic Ward Magic Ward.
  3. Select the Rule-Based mode. In this example, we want the top feature for each theme if it is part of top 100 features overall.

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Once the selection is complete, review the selected features.

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Step 15: Add Rule-based selection to the Feature Catalog

  1. Clear the search (if you used it) and any prior selection (if any) by clicking Clear Button
  2. Select features in the feature list by clicking Select All Button.
  3. Save the selected features into the Feature Catalog by clicking Save Feature List. Name

Step 16: Manage Feature Selections

Easily manage your feature selections to filter and refine ideated features.

Filtering Ideated Features

You can use any existing selection to filter the ideated features.

Feature Selection Dropdown

Reviewing Prior Selections

To review your past selections, navigate to the Feature Selection tab.

Feature Selection Tab

Click on a selection to access its details. Each selection provides information across three tabs:

  • About Tab: Displays a description and a summary of the signal range for the selected features.

    About Tab Screenshot

  • Settings Tab: Shows detailed information about how the selection was generated, including parameters and logic used.

    Settings Tab Screenshot

  • Features Tab: Shows selected features together with their semantic relevance.

    Settings Tab Screenshot

Step 17: Download the List of Ideated Features Metadata

Follow these steps to download a CSV file containing metadata for all ideated features (that we will use later for modeling):

  1. Clear the search (if you used it) and any prior selection (if any) by clicking Clear Button
  2. Select All Features Button.
  3. Download the csv file by clicking csv Button
  4. Choose the "filtered features" option and give a name to your file (e.g., "Ideated Features").

Download ideated features csv file