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How to Determine When to Run a Full Extract for Reports

Summary: This article addresses the need to run a full extract when working with cohort puller reports and incremental extracts.

Understanding Full Extracts and Incremental Extracts

When working with data extracts, it is important to understand the distinction between full extracts and incremental extracts:

  • Full Extract: This process retrieves all data from the source, ensuring that the dataset is complete and up-to-date.
  • Incremental Extract: This process retrieves only the data that has changed since the last extract, which is more efficient but relies on the existence of a prior full extract.

When to Run a Full Extract

Based on the information provided, a full extract may be necessary under certain conditions:

  1. Update to Data Sources: If there has been an update to the data warehouse or sources, as noted in the conversation, a full extract is typically required. For example, it was mentioned that an update occurred in July, indicating that a full extract would need to be performed after this update.

  2. Error Messages: If you encounter an error message indicating that an incremental extract cannot be performed without a preceding full extract, this is a clear sign that a full extract is needed. For instance, an error response stated, "You have requested an incremental extract that does not have a full extract before," which suggests that the last full extract may not have been conducted since the update.

Steps to Perform a Full Extract

If you determine that a full extract is necessary, follow these steps:

  1. Verify Last Full Extract Date: Check when the last full extract was completed for the specific report.
  2. Conduct Full Extract: Initiate the full extract process to ensure all data is captured and updated.
  3. Confirm Data Integrity: After the full extract, verify that the data is accurate and complete before proceeding with any incremental extracts.

Conclusion

In summary, if there have been updates to the data sources or if you encounter specific error messages regarding incremental extracts, it is advisable to run a full extract. This ensures that your data is current and reliable for further analysis and reporting.