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8. Ideate Features

FeatureByte provides two primary methods for feature creation:

  • Manual Creation: Utilize the SDK declarative framework for complete control over feature engineering.
  • Automatic Creation: Accelerate feature engineering through Feature Ideation an AI-powered, automated approach.

How FeatureByte Ideates Features

Feature Ideation uses an agentic approach to tailor features to your use case. It can:

  1. Analyze tables and relationships to identify relevant data.
  2. Fill in missing semantic tags using column metadata.
  3. Suggest useful column transformations, such as time deltas, ratios, and differences.
  4. Recommend key filters to isolate important events.
  5. Highlight key columns for advanced feature engineering.
  6. Propose relevant time windows for feature aggregation.
  7. Analyze event frequencies to identify timing signals.
  8. Recommend features and evaluate their semantic relevance to your use case.
  9. Ensure feature reuse by detecting and avoiding duplicate features in the Catalog.

Each step is documented, ensuring complete transparency and traceability throughout the process

Modes of Operation

Feature Ideation offers two modes of operation:

  • Fully automated mode: Automatically executes the entire workflow.
  • Semi-automated mode: Enables you to review and refine recommendations step by step.

After ideating features, leverage exploratory data analysis (EDA) and advanced feature selection techniques to finalize your feature set.

This tutorial demonstrates the fully automated mode of Feature Ideation. A detailed guide to the semi-automated mode will follow in the next section.

Note

If you want to learn how to manually create features, please consult our SDK tutorials.

Step 1: Select Your Use Case

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

  2. Select the use case: "Customer Activity Next Week before a purchase".

    • If the target could not be created in the SDK, select "Customer Activity Next Week before a purchase (using the descriptive target)" instead.

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Step 2: Initiate a New Feature Ideation Workflow

  1. Click New Ideation Button to start the Feature Ideation process.
  2. Edit the Feature Ideation name and description by clicking Edit Button.

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Step 3: Start Automated Mode

  1. Begin the automated Feature Ideation workflow by clicking Auto Run Button.
  2. Optionally, you can stop the process at any stage if needed.

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Once the process is initiated, you’ll see confirmation that the run has started:

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Step 4: Review the Feature Ideation Report

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

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  1. Access the Detailed Report, describing each step of the ideation process, by clicking Report Button next to the Ideation name "Automated Mode".

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  2. Visualize the full report with an indexed view in a new tab, by clicking Report tab Button.

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Step 5: Run EDA

  1. Select All Ideated Features by clicking Select All Button.

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

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  3. Sort by Predictive Score. After EDA completes, each feature will have a univariate Predictive Score. Sort the features by predictive score to identify those with the highest predictive power.

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Step 6: View Detailed EDA for a Feature

To explore the EDA results for a specific feature:

  1. Click on the feature name to open its details, then navigate to the 'EDA' tab.

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  2. Interact with EDA Plots. Within the 'EDA'' tab, click on the plot to activate tooltips for additional insights.

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Step 7: Run Feature Selection

  1. Start Feature Selection by clicking on the Magic Wand Magic Wand.
  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 8: Review Features

Review Individual Features

  1. Click on a feature to open its details. You can use the filter or the search, to find a specific feature.

  2. Check Semantic Relevance in the 'About' tab of the feature.

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  3. Explore Feature Lineage by switching to the 'Lineage' tab. Click Lineage Button to trace the feature's origin and transformations.

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  4. Analyze Feature Distribution and its relationship with the Target in the 'EDA' tab.

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Review SDK Code for Feature Declaration

  1. Clear the search (if you used it), then select features in the feature list by clicking Select All Button after clearing the search.

  2. Download the notebook to inspect the feature declaration code by clicking Download Notebook.

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  3. Open the notebook to review the feature engineering code.

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Step 9: 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.

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