ACAW key terms

A tool that combines two input streams side by side by matching records on one or more common key fields, producing matched output plus separate left and right unmatched outputs.

A tool that stacks multiple input streams vertically into one stream, aligning fields by name rather than position and optionally reordering or renaming columns during the merge.

The field or combination of fields designated as the matching criterion in a join, where data types must be compatible for records to match correctly.

A generated numeric field indicating each record's sequence order in a stream, often used to preserve or restore row order after sorting or joining.

The classification of a field's values, such as string, integer, double, date, or boolean, which determines valid operations and how values are stored and compared.

A configuration tool that controls which fields flow downstream, letting you deselect, rename, reorder, and change the data type or size of each column.

The explicit pairing of source columns to destination columns during a merge or write operation, required when column names differ between inputs.

A tool that adds every field of one input to every record of another without a matching key, producing a Cartesian product of the two streams.

A workflow element that visually groups tools and can be enabled, disabled, or collapsed to control whether the enclosed tools execute during a run.

The sequence in which tools execute, determined primarily by data dependencies between connections rather than by their physical placement on the canvas.

A tool that forces downstream branches to wait until all upstream processing completes, used to sequence operations that would otherwise run concurrently.

A placeholder inside a macro workflow that receives data from the calling workflow, allowing the macro to be reused with different inputs.

A reusable workflow saved as a macro that accepts input and output anchors and runs once per invocation, acting like a custom tool on the canvas.

A macro that runs repeatedly, once for each incoming record or control group, producing output for every iteration and often used to process many files or parameters.

A macro that loops until a stop condition is met, feeding each pass's output back as the next pass's input, useful for convergence or recursive calculations.

A special macro input that passes configuration values rather than data records, letting the caller change the macro's behavior on each run.

A macro tool that modifies another tool's configuration at runtime, such as updating a filter expression or file path based on incoming control values.

A family of tools in an analytic app that presents prompts to the user, such as text boxes, dropdowns, and file browsers, and routes answers into the workflow.

A workflow packaged with interface tools so end users supply parameters through a guided form and run it without editing the canvas directly.

An app that, after finishing, presents a button to launch another app, enabling a sequence of guided workflows to be run in order.

An expression tool that references values from other rows relative to the current row, such as the previous or next record, enabling running totals and comparisons.

A tool that applies one expression to many selected fields at once, optionally creating new fields, which reduces repeated configuration across columns.

The formula-building interface where functions, fields, and operators are combined into a valid expression, with validation feedback before the workflow runs.

The rules governing how missing values propagate through comparisons and calculations, often requiring explicit checks because nulls do not equal any value, including other nulls.

A field type storing geometric shapes such as points, lines, or polygons in a spatial reference system, enabling distance, intersection, and containment analysis.

A tool that matches records based on geometric relationship between spatial objects, such as points within polygons or features within a distance threshold.

A polygon generated around a point or line representing a catchment or service region, typically built from a radius, drive time, or distance band.

The coordinate system and projection that defines how spatial coordinates map to locations on the earth, which must be consistent for accurate spatial calculations.

A modeling tool that fits a statistical or machine-learning model to historical data and scores new records, producing predicted values or classifications.

A modeling failure where a model fits training data too closely, capturing noise and generalizing poorly to new records, often revealed by validation error.

A parsing tool that applies regular expressions to extract, replace, or tokenize text, using named capture groups to output parsed fields.

A tool that splits a single delimited field into multiple fields based on a chosen delimiter, optionally keeping or dropping the original column.

The process of breaking unstructured or semi-structured text into structured, analyzable fields, often using delimiters, patterns, or fixed widths.

A tool that standardizes values by trimming whitespace, changing case, replacing nulls, and removing unwanted characters to improve consistency before analysis.

A tool that pushes processing to the source database engine instead of pulling records locally, reducing data movement and improving performance on large tables.

A runtime diagnostic that records how long each tool takes and how many records it processes, helping identify bottlenecks in a workflow.

The flow of records from one tool to the next during execution, where unnecessary materialization or repeated sorting can slow the entire pipeline.

A tool that raises a custom error or warning with a specified message when records reach it, used to enforce data quality rules and halt bad runs.