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Merge Fields

When a column is renamed in the source data, the next profile operation creates a new Active field with the updated name and marks the original field as Missing. The merge operation combines these two fields into one, preserving all historical data under the new column name.

Why Merge

Without merging, a column rename results in:

  • A Missing field that retains all historical profiles, anomalies, and quality checks
  • A new Active field with no history

Merging transfers the historical context from the old field to the new one, ensuring continuity in your quality monitoring.

What Happens During a Merge

When you merge a source field (the old field with history) into a target field (the new field with the desired name):

Step Action
1 The source field adopts the target field's name
2 The target field record is removed
3 The source field status is set to Active
4 All historical field profiles are renamed to match the new field name
5 Quality checks from the target field are reassociated to the source field

What Is Preserved

Asset Behavior
Field profiles All historical profiles from the source field are preserved and renamed
Quality checks Checks from both fields are combined under the merged field
Anomalies Historical anomalies from the source field remain linked to the merged field
Computed field definitions Definitions referencing the source field remain intact

Restrictions

  • Both fields must belong to the same container
  • A field cannot be merged with itself
  • Bulk merge is not supported — each merge must be performed individually

Example

Your database team renames the column cust_id to customer_id. After the next profile operation, you see cust_id marked as Missing and a new customer_id field created as Active. To preserve all historical data:

  1. Use the merge operation to combine cust_id (source) into customer_id (target).
  2. All field profiles, anomalies, and quality checks from cust_id are preserved under the customer_id name.
  3. Quality monitoring continues seamlessly with full historical context.

Tip

Merge is the recommended approach when dealing with column renames. It preserves your complete quality monitoring history and avoids the need to reconfigure quality checks from scratch on the renamed field.