What's new in FastStats?

Added in Q3 25 - Introduction of ordering values in Pattern Match aggregations

  • The latest extension to on the fly Pattern Match aggregation allows you to search and return transactions where particular parts of a pattern fall into particular time periods. This type of analysis is useful, for example, to select people based on their behaviour in time windows leading up to an event, such as a campaign, their behaviour after such a campaign, as well as behaviour between specific time points.

    The new development is supported for selector, numeric and selector/numeric pattern types; you enter a date/datetime/numeric as an ordering value within the pattern. All existing pattern matching functionality is supported, including wildcards, return values, filter selections, and include/exclude lists.

    See Expressions: Aggregations on the fly - Pattern Match ordering values

 

Added in Q325 - Additional pre-defined Pattern Match type option

 

Added in Q3 25 - New LinearTrend list function in expressions

  • Linear trends allow you to examine increases and decreases over time - for example, to see which of your products are becoming more or less popular, or perhaps gaining or losing value. The LinearTrend list function calculates the linear trend across two lists of numbers - one representing the X-values, and the other the Y-values.

    This function is particularly useful when working with cube derived expressions and lists of values - often used to look across a date dimension and individual product categories in a cube. You can return:

    • the slope of the trend/gradient

    • the intercept point

    • the R-squared error

    • or calculate the value at index X for the trend line

    See Expressions: List Functions

 

Added in Q325 - Behavioural modelling templates

  • Preparatory work has begun for behavioural modelling templates to become available and usable in Apteco Orbit. In the interim, confident users can access and benefit from this development work through the FastStats modelling environment.

    See Behavioural modelling - templates

 

Added in Q3 25 - New rolling count function when creating Rolling on the fly aggregation expressions

  • The Rolling on the fly aggregation has an additional function which allows you to create a rolling count of transactions on a time window going backwards. This allows you to answer questions such as 'from this transaction, how many transactions were there in the previous days, weeks, months, quarters or years?

    See Expressions: Aggregations on the Fly - Running and Rolling

 

Added in Q3 25 - Simplified process for adding an expression into a new selection

  • Adding an expression into a new selection is simplified so that you now just right drag the expression onto your FastStats workspace and select "Add expression to new selection" from the context menu.

 

Added in Q3 2025 - PWE wizard allows user-specified codes and descriptions

  • In the PWE wizard, category descriptions have always been determined automatically. Whilst this remains the default, you can now specify your own custom codes and descriptions for the case when there are N bands in the created variable. This is not possible if you choose the size of each band.

    See Profile Model Wizard: Overview

 

Added in Q3 2025 - Point to Point wizard description override option

  • For the Point to Point wizard, in the case where you create a single selector variable from multiple centre points using a centre point file that has optional descriptions, those descriptions are now displayed. For example, if you create a 'Nearest Drivetime' virtual variable with 8 centre points from a file containing the location and store name, the store name is in each variable code description instead of the location.

    See Point to Point Wizard: Overview

 

Added in Q2 25 - Use of Z-scores in penetration maps

  • Penetration maps now allow the use of Z-scores to:

    • Display only statistically significant categories when applying shading based on the Index measure.

    • Set the map to display significant areas based on actual Z-score values.

    • Apply Z-score thematic shading to the map.

    You can also select Z-score shading when working with the cube and tree tools.

    See Bing Maps: Penetration Mapping with Z-Scores

 

Added in Q2 25 - Ability to carry out Category Grouping before applying Pattern Match aggregation

  • When discerning patterns at the individual transaction level is not possible or desirable, the power of Category Grouping and Pattern Match aggregation techniques are now combined and allow you to use an ordinal selector variable, such as Booking Year, to group transactions, and then apply a numeric function to all the transactions in each group, such as Sum(Cost). Here this produces a list of years and numeric values which can then be used as the input for pattern matching where you might then, for example, look for the longest sequence of years where a person's holiday costs have increased.

    See Expressions: Aggregations on the fly - Category Grouping with Pattern Match

 

Added in Q2 25 - New positional wildcards for use in creating Pattern Match aggregations

 

Added in Q2 25 - New Transaction Analysis wizard de-duplication options

  • The Transaction Analysis wizard allows you to examine patterns of transactional data and identify common sequences of transactions - for example, the most popular patterns of holiday destinations visited. A new option in the Pick Transaction Variable step means you can optionally de-duplicate and remove all direct repetitions, reducing a pattern to a single sequence which allows you more easily to see switches between products.

    See Transaction Analysis Wizard

 

Added in Q2 25 - New de-duplication options for Relative aggregation expressions

  • To support the de-duplication development in the Transaction Analysis wizard, de-duplication in Relative on the fly aggregations has also been extended, and you can now select:

    • No deduping (default) - Next N returns the Nth record after this one.

    • Different - Next N returns the Nth record after this one once direct repeats are deduplicated and removed.

    • Distinctly Different - Next N returns the Nth distinctly different record after this one.

    See Expressions: Aggregations on the fly - Relative Transaction

 

Added in Q2 25 - New option to band date and datetime variables and expressions into decades

  • You can now band date and datetime variables and expressions into decades for use in a:

    • Cube - as a dimension

    • Data grids - as a column

    • Selection - as an ad hoc date option

    This new option is useful when working with a date variable that has a large range.  Full support also extends to include the PeriodToDate and Comparison functions within calculated measures, as well as the equivalent expressions for derived cubes and PeriodToDateCubeRange, which all now support decade banding.

 

Added in Q2 25 - N% per variable functionality extended to support expressions

 

Added in Q1 25 - Support for extended text fields

  • The maximum size of a text field has been increased from 255 to 32767 characters. This means you can now load larger amounts of text into your Apteco system via Designer, and existing FastStats analytics are extended to accommodate strings up to the new limit. This includes, for example, selections using text variables, text or shredded text analysis in cubes and cube-based visualisations, the ability to display large text fields in a data grid, and expressions which take string parameters or return strings.

    Examples of extended text fields include data from customer reviews and feedback, and social media posts.

 

Added in Q1 25 - Option to preview cell contents in a data grid

  • With the introduction of support for extended text fields, we have also introduced the ability for you to easily preview such content via a new, right-click menu option in the data grid tool. Formatting options are provided in the user interface to make the text more readable by inserting line breaks, if necessary.

    For those with permission to do so, the text can also be copied from the preview window.

    See Data Grid: How do I preview cell contents?

 

Added in Q1 25 - New cube measures

  • Three new statistics are now available for cube-based analysis. This includes cubes, trees, segmentations, Venn diagrams, as well as variables and expressions.

    1. Range(variable or expression) – returns the difference between the maximum and minimum values of the variable.

      The introduction of the Range statistic removes the previous need to create a calculated measure to display this information.

    2. NthBiggest(variable or expression) – takes all the values in a cell in the cube and sorts them in order and returns a particular Nth value from the top of the list.

    3. NthSmallest(variable or expression) – takes all the values in a cell in the cube and sorts them in order and returns a particular Nth value from the bottom of the list.

      NthBiggest and NthSmallest are useful in cases when there are a small number of outliers that would skew a maximum statistic, or where there are a small number of values in a cell and a percentile measure isn’t quite what is required.

    See Cube: How do I include Statistics on a Cube? for more information on cube measures.

 

Added in Q1 25 - Extensions to on the fly numeric pattern match expression capabilities

We have added to the range and power of numeric pattern match analysis with three new capabilities:

  • Longest Particular (Range):

  • Include/Exclude ranges:

    • You now have the ability to select a set of numeric ranges for an include or exclude list when defining a numeric pattern match aggregation. This allows you to answer questions such as, what is the longest sequence of holidays a person has had to the USA, excluding any that cost less than £1000 or more than £2000.

      See Expressions: Aggregations on the fly - Pattern Match Include or Exclude List

  • New sum and mean numeric sequence return values:

    • You can set a return value as the sum or mean of the numeric values in the matched pattern allowing you, for example, to find the total cost of transactions captured by your defined sequence.

This new functionality is accessible in the user interface, both for creating Pattern Match aggregation expressions and when working with the Sequence Analysis wizard.

 

Added in Q1 25 - Ability to copy one expression into another

  • You can now drag one expression into another using its drag handle. This will copy all of the expression text to the insertion position of the new expression, and will also include any embedded queries, aggregations and cube lookups. This is also validated to ensure you aren’t adding too many queries/cubes for the expression. This has been requested by end-users who are creating complex expressions where they want to test part of an expression and then add it into one they are already working on.

 

Added in Q1 25 - Behavioural modelling extended to allow the use of selector variables when creating recency features

  • Behavioural models allow you to select a lookalike audience using time-based behavioural data. A person’s recent transactions can be aggregated and behavioural features identified that are indicative of the audience being targeted. These features are typically RFV-based aggregations such as the “count of purchases in the last year” or the “most recent donation value”.

    Whilst it has previously been possible to create recency features from numeric variables (e.g. cost of last booking), this new development means you can also use selector variables (e.g. destination of last booking). Consequently, you can create more powerful models and more targeted campaigns, since the category associated with a person’s recent behaviour is often very predictive.

    See Behavioural modelling - creating recency dimensions using selector variables

 

Added in Q4 24 - Segmentation change over time using relative time points

  • The Segmentation tool now offers a third option for specifying date rule schedules. 'Relative Time Points' allow you to specify the schedules as points that are relevant to a particular datetime point - for example, "every month from the start of this month backward by 12 months, to the start of this month". Over time, rerunning the segmentation automatically updates the volumes and the date reporting points. Significantly, any selections that are dragged off, or any virtual variables created from a segmentation using this type of schedule, are subject to the defined relative time points and can then be used in scheduled tasks, or regular campaigns, without the need for manual intervention and updating.

    See How do I explore a segmentation change over time using relative time points?

 

Added in Q4 24 - Ability to use date and datetime expressions in selections

  • You can now create and use date and datetime expressions directly in selections, interacting with them in the same ways as date or datetime variables. This provides several benefits, including eliminating the need to create a virtual variable when you want to make a selection based on the result of a date or datetime expression.

    See Using expressions in selections: Date and Datetime

 

Added in Q4 24 - New and updated expression functions

 

Added in Q4 24 - Copy data grid cell contents

  • You can now select and right-click on an individual data grid cell to copy its contents. This feature lays the groundwork for upcoming enhancements but also offers, for example, the added benefit of easily copying and pasting text for use in FastStats expressions. While visible in the user interface, access to this option is restricted to users with the necessary system privileges and permissions.

 

Added in Q4 24 - Cube caching

  • We’ve extended caching to include requests for cubes, trees, and cube-based visualisations such as charts and Venn diagrams. When configured in the FastStats Service settings by your administrator, cached results will be retrieved unless your system has updated between requests or sessions, or you make changes to the underlying criteria, cube dimensions, or cube measures. This feature will benefit all users, with results returned significantly faster when there is a cached result.

 

Added in Q3 24 - On the fly Pattern Match aggregation capability extended to include numeric variables

 

Added in Q3 24 - New Sequence Analysis wizard for creating on the fly pattern match aggregation expressions

  • A new Sequence Analysis wizard provides a mechanism for creating on the fly, pattern match aggregation expressions that allow you to look for particular patterns of transactions, or for longest sequences of transactions with a particular property - for example, bookings to the same holiday destination, purchases of a particular product, participation in different charity events, etc. Clear, guided steps lead you through the process of defining a transactional pattern of interest, and you can then use the resultant expression to interrogate your data and find records which match the pattern criteria.

    See Sequence Analysis Wizard: Overview

 

Added in Q3 24 - New user-defined date format append for scheduled tasks

  • When managing scheduled tasks, it is possible to append a run or system build date to your file output name. A new user-defined option brings greater flexibility and the ability to format this date to best suit your specific requirements.

    See Scheduled Tasks: User-defined appended date formatting

 

Removed in Q3 24 - Bing Maps - Public Transport feature

  • As notified in the Q2 24 release, from 30th September 2024, Microsoft are removing the Transit endpoint from the Bing API and it will no longer be possible to calculate public transport isochrones. From Q3 24, this drivetime option in the FastStats Map tool is removed from the FastStats user interface. For users working on pre-Q3 2024 software versions after this date, the option will remain visible but not return a result.

 

Added in Q3 24 - Updated expression functions

  • Today, TimeNow, BuildDate, and BuildDateTime - now support zero parameter versions.

  • VarSelect and VarSelectNth - extended from 255 to allow 65k parameters.

 

Added in Q2 24 - New predefined pattern match aggregation options to identify longest sequences

  • On the fly Pattern Match aggregation is super powerful, super sophisticated and super flexible. Whilst you can choose to use Pattern Match aggregations to manually search for and select based on longest transactional sequences, the process is now improved and simplified with the introduction of predefined 'longest' solutions.

    See Expressions: Aggregations on the fly - Pattern Match Longest Sequence

 

Added in Q2 24 - Improved output for selector type virtual variables created from an expression

  • The established but limited ability to output selector type variables from expressions has been improved with the introduction of two new options accessed through the Calculate Expression wizard. You can now choose to define codes and descriptions manually or, where appropriate, you can specify that the virtual variable takes its codes and descriptions from an existing variable. This is particularly useful in cases where the known values always match existing ones, and you want the values in the same order as the source variable.

    See Calculate Expression wizard - selector output example

 

Added in Q2 24 - Enhanced insight from new thematic shading on Index statistics

  • A new thematic shading has been introduced specifically for index measures. This development offers a more natural way of applying shading symmetrically around the fixed threshold value of 100, with the maximum deviation in each direction linked, and ranges either side of the threshold being of the same size .

    See Bing Maps: Penetration Mapping

 

Added in Q2 24 - On the fly Personal Best aggregations extended to allow grouping

  • The Personal Best on the fly aggregation processing mechanism is extended and now allows you to specify a selector type grouping variable, with transactions split into these groups before the personal best algorithm is applied to each group individually.

    See Expressions: Aggregations On The Fly - Personal Best

 

Added in Q2 24 - Notice of feature removal for Bing Maps - Public Transport

  • On 30th September 2024, Microsoft are removing the Transit endpoint from the Bing API. After this date, it will no longer be possible to calculate public transport isochrones. This functionality, currently available as a drivetime option in the FastStats Map tool, will be removed from the FastStats user interface with effect from the Q3 2024 release. For users working on pre-Q3 2024 software versions after this date, the option will remain visible but not return a result.

 

Added in Q2 24 - Modelling Environment - ability to user-define behavioural feature calculations

  • Behavioural modelling now allows you to define your own dimensions from a calculation involving any two other dimensions. This offers a significant extension to the existing predefined calculations used with behavioural features and, by honing in on more specific aspects of people’s behaviour, provides the potential to create even more powerful data models.

    See Behavioural modelling - user-defined calculations

 

Added in Q1 24 - New and more powerful selection capability for selector variables

  • The options for making selections using selector type variables have been extended and, in addition to working with the traditional variable picklist, you can now search for categories in the same way as when working with text variables. For example, for a selector comprising thousands of product categories, you could select based on a code or description that begins with, ends with, or contains particular characters.

    See Using Variables In Selections: Selector Variables

 

Added in Q1 24 - Ability to add banded date and datetime expression columns into a data grid

  • You can now create and add a banded date expression as a column in a data grid. Simply right drag your date expression onto a data grid and select from the list of possible date/datetime bandings, specifying the start and end year for the expression being calculated.

    This development forms part of ongoing work which allows you to use a banded date or date time expression without first needing to create a virtual variable.

    See Data Grid: How do I use Expressions in a Data Grid?

 

Added in Q1 24 - Drive times and drive distances extended to allow partial minutes or miles

 

Added in Q1 24 - Penetration maps mapping options

  • Penetration maps offer the ability to use an external file to display a column of results against which to compare records in your FastStats system. You can now apply mapping to postal sector and district to convert the external information into standard FastStats formats.

    See Expressions: Mapping options for List and File functions

 

Added in Q1 24 - New and updated expression functions

 

Added in Q4 23 - New penetration mapping capability

  • Penetration mapping compares particular groups of customers by location. This new functionality builds upon the capabilities of the modelling Profile tool, which allows you to find categories and characteristics of interest or over/under-representation within an analysis group and compare them to a wider base group. Now you can work in a similar way to to search for and visualise geographical insight in your data using the Map tool.

    See Bing Maps: Penetration Mapping

 

Added in Q4 23 - N% per variable sampling in selections

  • N per table (such as 1 per household) and N per variable (such as 1 per email) functionality has been available in FastStats for many years, but is now extended to provide a much simpler solution to a common sampling requirement - that is, to sample N% of records whilst maintaining the distribution across an underlying variable.

    See Selection: How do I make an N% per variable or expression selection?

 

Added in Q4 23 - Cube, tree and word cloud conversions to map

  • For a cube, tree or word cloud which has a single geographic variable, such as Postal Area, you can right drag and convert into a map. The variable must be a selector and have the GeoFormat property set for this to be possible.

    See Cube: How do I switch between cube-based visualisations?

 

Added in Q4 23 - Change to map drivetime dialogue

  • When creating drivetime analysis, you now have two choices for selecting the origin of the drivetime - either the point you clicked, or the point you searched for. This can help to produce more accurate drivetimes, particularly when supplying the Bing Isochrone API with a centrepoint that is not near any roads.

    See Bing Maps: DriveTime Calculations

 

Added in Q4 23 - Extension to Relative Transaction on the fly aggregation

  • The ability to include a third piece of transactional information was introduced for Rank, Recency and Pattern Match aggregations in the Q3 release. This is now extended to include Relative aggregations and, like Recency, allows you to specify two ordering variables and use the second one to break ties when the first one is equal.

    See Expressions: Aggregations on the fly - Relative Transaction

 

Added in Q4 23 - New and updated expression functions

A number of new, as well as updates to existing, expression functions have been implemented.

New functions include:

 

Added in Q3 23 - Extension to on the fly aggregation capabilities

For the ranking, recency and pattern match techniques, the on the fly aggregation processing mechanism now provides the option to pass through three pieces of transactional information instead of two.

  • Pattern match - allows you to specify a grouping variable, with transactions split into these groups before the pattern match algorithm is applied to each group individually.

    See Pattern Match with Grouping

 

Added in Q3 23 - Custom colours in cube, tree and map thematics

  • In addition to all existing thematic options, you can now user define and set a custom sequence of colours for the bands displayed in a cube, tree or map. This is useful for presenting insight when the graduation of colour is not significant, but differentiating information in the display is beneficial.

    See Custom Colours in Cube, Tree and Map Thematics

 

Added in Q3 23 - Custom labels in map thematics

  • The introduction of custom colours on a map also brings the ability to set up corresponding custom labels for each of the bands in your thematic shading. These labels are visible in the map legend and help to provide further meaning to user defined colours

    See Bing Maps: Shaded Map - Custom Thematic Labels

 

Added in Q3 23 - New context sensitive help in expressions

  • New context sensitive help in the expression window provides an explanation and worked example for each function.

    See Expressions: Overview

 

Added in Q3 23 - Enhanced scheduled task error notification

  • In addition to the task owner, you can now specify a list of additional email addresses to which a notification should be sent in the event that a scheduled task errors.

    For full details of the options see Scheduled Tasks

 

Added in Q3 23 - Bing transaction logging

  • Bing transactions are now recorded and stored in CSV files, allowing system administrators to easily track, verify and manage usage for those creating map analyses and visualisations.

    See Bing API - Bing transaction logging

 

Added in Q2 23 - Modelling developments

  • Incremental Insight

    A new Incremental Insight metric provides a single measure that allows you to select dimensions which are both predictive and diverse. It is based on the Insight PWE metric, but accounts for the correlation between dimensions.

  • Chart Options

    Scatter charts can now display bubbles to show both Insight PWE (using colour) and Insight Coverage (using size).

 

Added in Q2 23 - Map improvements

  • Bing API Isochrone caching

    • Drive zones created using the mapping wizards are now stored. This means that, when editing the variable, you do not incur new Bing API transactions for zones that have previously been calculated.

    • You can configure zones to have an expiry period after which they are then recalculated.
  • BIng API geocoding caching
    • Searching for locations on an interactive map, or through specifying centrepoints in the Map wizards, incurs Bing API geocoding transactions. From Q2 2023, specifying a centrepoint in 'Latitude.Longitude' format (for example, 52.281806,-1.588657) is treated as valid location information. This is a user-configurable property.
    • If you have to request a geocoded location from the Bing API, the resulting latitude and longitude is stored and can be reused if you request it again. This is supported in the interactive map search and the map wizards Centrepoint step.

    For more information on the above, see Bing API.

  • Territories wizard

    • For the option to create and link a new shapefile to an existing selector variable, FastStats now automatically checks for categories in the variable which do not match those in the shapefile. You then have the opportunity to update them in the Unmatched Categories step.

    • Clicking on the header row in the list of shapefile features also selects that option in the drop-down list.

      See Territories Wizard: Bing Map Territories

  • The following usability improvements allow you to create maps more quickly:

    • You can now drag variables directly on to the Statistics panel on a map layer, rather than having to use the Add Statistics button.

    • Changing the primary statistic on a thematic map layer automatically updates the thematic shading without the need to rebuild the map.

      See Bing Maps: Shaded Maps - Adding Statistics

    • On a thematic map layer, you can now right click on the Geographic Variable drop-box to easily access, select and add any available selector variables with a 'GeoFormat' property set.

      See Bing Maps: Shaded Map

    • On a plot map layer, you can now right click on the Geographic Variable drop-box to easily access, select and add any selector or text variable with a 'GeoFormat' property set.

      See Bing Maps: Plot Map - Using Longitude and Latitude Co-ordinates

    • In Map wizards, where you need to specify latitude and longitude variables, you can now right click and access a menu option that allows you to select and add variables which are marked with the relevant 'GeoFormat' property.

    • When using the Location Geocoder wizard, you can now select a check-box to confirm that your geographic variable is a UK postocode. This allows the virtual variable to be generated using the UKPostcode expression rather than using Bing Geocode. The results are returned significantly faster and without incurring Bing transaction costs.

      See Location Geocoder: Overview

 

Added in Q2 23 - Import Data wizard descriptions from column in file

In the Import Data wizard you can choose to create a selector type variable from the data file. Previously, both the codes and descriptions for the resulting variable were taken from the data column and had to be the same. From Q2 2023, you can specify a second column in the data file and use this to generate the category descriptions for the resulting variable.

See Import Data Wizard

 

Added in Q2 23 - New and updated expression functions

A number of new, as well as updates to existing, expression functions have been implemented.

New functions include:

  • Selector Functions

    • VarSelectNth - used to return an integer of the Nth code from the list that matches the code of the selector variable category

    • VarSelectCodeNth - used to return the Nth matched code based on each selector variable being checked against its own separate list of match codes

  • DateTime List Functions

    • FirstDateTime/LastDateTime - used to return the earliest or latest datetime from a list of datetimes

    • NthDateTime - returns the Nth datetime specified from a list of datetimes ordered from earliest to latest

 

Added in Q1 23 - Modelling developments

The selection of behavioural features has the greatest impact upon the final quality of a data model. Whilst recent development has focussed on charts and metrics which help you to assess existing features in order to identify subsets which might be predictive or diverse, this release makes it easier to generate alternative behavioural features. This includes:

  • Generating multiple Behavioural Features with different Criteria

    • Using simple variable criteria

    • Using combination criteria

    • Modifying multiple existing dimensions

A further significant development is:

 

Added in Q1 23 - Ability to reference selector and numeric values to use in a selection

Whilst text variables have always supported an option to reference a file of text values to use in a selection, this is now also supported for selector and numeric variables.

  • Numeric variables are supported as a set of ranges.

  • For selector variables there is a new option to reference the codes in the file at the time a selection is actually run. This is in addition to the pre-existing import option which takes the current values in a reference file and matches those current values to the relevant codes in order to select them.

    See Selection: How do I import values by reference?

 

Added in Q1 23 - Map wizard improvements

  • Drive Zone wizard

    When creating drive zones, in addition to the existing (now default) selector type virtual variable, you can also create a single multi-response (flag array) virtual variable from all of the centrepoints.

    See Drive Zone Wizard: Overview

  • Territories wizard

    It is now possible to see a sample of the selected shapefile's features and values, allowing you to more easily select a sensible field for the resulting variable's categories.

    See Territories Wizard: Json File Details

  • Removal of Microsoft MapPoint

    In the Q4 22 release notes we announced that we would cease support of MapPoint from Q1 23. As a result:

    • The Settings page in the Drive Zone and Point to Point wizards has been removed

    • You no longer need to specify World region and Preferred route in the FastStats Tools-Options

    • You can no longer select to use Routes API as a drivetime option in the Map tool

 

Added in Q1 23 - Ability to set GeoFormat via Expression wizard

Recent developments in the mapping wizards often require the use of latitude and longitude variables . Where such variables are not already present in your system data, you can use the UKPostcode expression function to turn a postcode into a latitude or longitude reference. In such cases, the Choose Data Type step of the Calculate Expression wizard now also allows you to set the GeoFormat on these virtual variables so that you can then use them in the mapping wizards.

 

Added in Q1 23 - New and updated expression functions

A number of new, as well as updates to existing, expression functions have been implemented.

New functions include:

  • NthDate - this Date List Function complements the existing FirstDate and LastDate functions and returns the Nth date in a list of dates

  • NthDistinct and NthDistinctIndex - two new Sorting Functions which sort numbers, dates or datetimes into ascending sequence and then selects the Nth distinct or Nth distinct index parameter respectively.

 

Added in Q4 22 - Improved mapping capabilities

Territories Wizard

  • The Territories wizard (previously used with Microsoft MapPoint) has been repurposed to work with Microsoft Bing Maps, allowing you to more easily generate map visualisations that are thematically shaded, either according to the number of people, or another selected metric. Setting up shape files is simpler, and the types of variables you can use extend beyond the typical options of Postal Sector, District and Area to include, for example, political or health region boundaries and even custom territories.

    Using the Territories wizard, you have multiple ways of creating virtual variables that are associated with map shape files and used to create the visualisations.

    See Territories Wizard: Overview

Drive Zone Wizard

Bing Driving (Isochrone API)

  • The default algorithm for generating drive time selections in the Map tool is now the Bing Driving (Isochrone API). The former Routes API algorithm remains as a Travel Type option in the Drive Time Settings panel.

 

Added in Q4 22 - Modelling developments

Behavioural Modelling

This release extends the functionality for visualising and identifying a diverse set of predictive features for use in a data model and includes:

  • Classification of features into positive, negative and balanced 'insight types'

  • Further chart options for the selection and display of dimensions

See Behavioural Modelling Development Update - Q4 2022

 

Standard Modelling

The concepts, charts and measures described for behavioural modelling are also fully supported for standard modelling.

See Standard Modelling Development Update - Q4 2022

 

Performance improvements

The processing of dimension results is now parallelized to improve performance. The three main stages are:

  • Caching the base and analysis selections - used in the profiling of all dimensions

  • Evaluating the Point-in-Time expression - each person’s event timepoint to aggregate their behaviour

  • Running the profiles for each dimension - in batches of 10 by default

See Parallel Running of Dimensions

 

Added in Q4 22 - new Expression functions

  • A new CreateTextList function has been added which allows you to create a text list from a number of strings

  • The Index (Logical) function has been extended to take text list parameters

 

Added in Q3 22 - Modelling Environment enhancements

Developments include:

  • Using Measures of Association to find Diverse Dimensions - relevant to both standard and behavioural modelling.

  • Improved organisation of behavioural features:

    • Potentially you can explore hundreds of alternative dimensions in behavioural modelling, each exploring a different aspect of behaviour. New functionality in the Modelling Environment helps you to organise and manage multiple dimensions by selecting and tagging. See Selecting and Tagging Dimensions

  • Further options to configure the display of charts. See:

  • Build Control

  • Invalid Dimensions

 

Added in Q3 22 - improvements for drivetime calculations created through Point to Point wizard

  • Introduction of the Bing API isochrone means that systems with latitude and longitude variables marked with the GeoFormat property can benefit from significant drivetime improvements. You can now use the Point to Point wizard to process larger volumes of records and provide a user-specified level of accuracy in drivetime calculations.

    For the simplest case, you must specify the maximum drivetime (for example 0-80 minutes) and accuracy (for example to within 5 minutes) and the resulting variable will be a numeric with values of 5, 10, ..., 75, 80 - or a missing value if further away than 80 minutes.

    You can also specify the drivetime to be a walking time calculation.

    See Point to Point Wizard: Overview

 

Added in Q3 22 - Drive Zone wizard to use Bing Isochrone API

  • The Drive Zone wizard will use Bing Isochrone API in lieu of the former Routes API. Drivetimes return significantly more quickly and have more accurate zones, with approximately ten times as many vertices on the drivetime shape. The option to construct zones using walking time is also available.

    See Drive Zone Wizard: Overview

 

Added in Q3 22 - new extensions to Pattern Match aggregation capability

  • Two new extensions have been added:

    • You can specify an include or exclude list of codes from the pattern variable which are either the only ones of interest (include list) or ones that you do not want to see (exclude list).

    • In addition to first and last, you can return an intermediate, Nth element of a pattern

 

Added in Q3 22 - new Expression function

  • A new LogN function has been added which takes the logarithm of the number to the given base.

    You can find this with Expression: Maths Functions

 

Added in Q3 22 - updated Expression function

  • In Location Functions, the GeoPointInArea expression benefits from the following updates:

    • a significant increase in speed

    • its first two parameters can be variables, but all other parameters must be fixed numeric values

    See Expression: Location Functions

 

Added in Q2 22 - Modelling Environment enhancements

  • A new metric - Uplift PWE - provides an alternative to the pre-existing "Power" metric and can be used, along with a selection of new charts, to help you identify and select the best behavioural features to use in your data model.

    See Identifying the best Behavioural Features to use in a model

  • The chart previously called Analysis % has been renamed Analysis Rate to avoid confusion with Percent of Analysis. For each category, the analysis rate shows the proportion of people in the analysis selection and, so, is equivalent to "response rate" in a scenario where the analysis selection is the responders.

 

Added in Q2 22 - improved DriveTime calculations in Map tool

  • With Bing's introduction of a native Isochrone API endpoint, it is possible to calculate drivetimes on maps more accurately, and often faster, compared to the original FastStats' drivetime algorithm. The new method also provides options for calculating walking and public transport travel types.

    See Bing Maps: DriveTime Calculations

 

Added in Q2 22 - new Date/DateTime bandings on Cubes

  • When you add a Date or DateTime variable as a cube dimension, there are four new banding options available via the right-click context menu:

    • Day of Month which relates to both variable types

    • Hour and Minute of Day, Minute of Hour and Second of Minutefor use with a DateTime variable

  • For more information see Cube: How do I create a Cube with Date and Date/Time Variables?

 

Added in Q2 22 - ability to add Date/DateTime Expressions as a Cube dimensions

  • You can drag a date or datetime expression directly onto a cube as a dimension without the need to create a virtual variable; you can then band these dimensions using any of the right-click options available for date or datetime variables, with prompts to define start and end years for the expression, if the default current year +/- 5 years is not appropriate.

    See Cube: How do I create a Cube dimension with a Date or DateTime Expression?

 

Added in Q2 22 - use of Regular Expressions (Regex) with new String expression functions

 

Added in Q2 22 - new Date and Time expression functions

  • Two new functions have been added to work with Date and DateTime expressions and tell you if the given date/datetime is a weekday or weekend.

    • IsWeekday - returns whether the given date/datetime is a weekday.

    • IsWeekend - returns whether the given date/datetime is a weekend.

 

Added in Q1 22 - Segmentation Migration extensions

  • The Migration (2-points) and Migration (All points) segmentation reports have been extended to include simplified general and specific views of people's movement between segments. You also have the option to display the reports in terms of volume only, or volume and value.

    See the Migration (2 points) and Migration (All points) topics for full details.

 

Added in Q122 - Modelling Environment enhancements

  • Data Grid options provide the flexibility to display values associated with evaluation contexts as well as training contexts in a Data Grid

  • Improved context evaluation

    • The default approach used when evaluating behavioural features has changed to provide a stronger indication of the effectiveness of predicting behaviour during the evaluation stage of the process.

  • Improved Decision Tree integration within the Modelling Environment

    • The Results tab of the Modelling Environment captures and lists models generated using the Dimensions you choose to explore. Previously this was only possible for Decision Trees built without any manual intervention - that is, by simply clicking the Build button. You can now capture Decision Trees built and modified using the manual options, such as growing or pruning particular branches.

  • Enhanced Decision Tree performance

    • When you create Behavioural Features within the Modelling Environment, there is extensive use of cached variables and expressions, often nesting several levels deep within selections. There are updates and improvements to the long-standing mechanisms used within FastStats for creating requests and evaluating the cache. As well as particularly noticeable when using Decision Trees with Behavioural Features, these changes benefit many areas of FastStats and have been patched back to the Q4 21 release.

  • Improved annotation of Selections, Dimensions and Results

    • When creating behaviour-based models, you can document your exploration and thought processes by editing descriptions and adding notes associated with Selections, Dimensions and Results generated as part of your modelling investigations.

  • Labelling enhancements

    • The automatic bands for the “Time since...” Behavioural Feature have been adjusted. For example, the “number of months since” feature breaks down the first 12 months and then groups any longer time-frames together. Because a "Time since..." feature starts counting at 0, only months 0 to 11 are broken down individually.

    • The wording on the “Modify time frame” dialogue has been improved to clarify the interval created.

 

Added in Q1 22 - new Expression function

  • System Functions

    • VarCountsInfoFind - returns the index of the code or description to find for your given variable.

 

Added in Q1 22 - Map Wizard enhancements

  • Drive Zone Wizard

    • For all three methods of calculating zone size, you can create zones more accurately using latitude and longitude variables, instead of using a geographic variable which is accurate only to the level of the underlying geographic shape files.

    • An option for using Driving Distance to create the zones has been added.

  • Point to Point Wizard

    • When selecting to create a variable based upon straight line - as the crow flies - distance, you can specify latitude and longitude variables and have FastStats create an expression based on the centre point to calculate the distance.

    • For all options, you can specify a maximum value in terms of drive time, drive distance or straight line distance and only the records within that area are then categorised in the resulting virtual variable.

 

Added in Q4 21 - Modelling Environment enhancements

  • Two new Behavioural Features have been added:

    Count distinct

    Time since first

  • More flexible specification of time frame to restrict the transaction rows being analysed

  • A number of usability improvements have been made to the handling of Dimensions (Behavioural Features) in behavioural modelling, including:

    • More streamlined interface with dialog-based menus

    • Improvement to the way criteria are applied

    • More practical batch processing for handling large numbers of Dimensions

    Behavioural Modelling Development Update - Q4 2021 provides full details.

 

Added in Q4 21 - Aggregation Expressions

  • Running/Rolling - now also support a rolling time window allowing you to determine, for example, the highest amount spent by a customer in any 12 month period.

Added in Q4 21 - Expressions

  • Derived Cube Expressions

  • Selector Expressions

    • NthSelectedFlag - to return the description of the Nth selected flag in a flag array

    • NthIndexSelectedFlag - to return the index of the Nth selected flag in a flag array

  • Set Expressions

    • IsSubset/IsSuperset - now have an optional parameter to specify 'proper' subset/superset

  • System Expressions

    • VarCountsInfoNth (natural order for varcodes) - allows the expression to pull out information from the VarCodes for a variable

  • Postcode Expressions

    • File now uses ONS data file for improved and more up-to-date postcode list

 

Added in Q3 21 - new list from file functions added to File Functions in Expressions

  • Two new File Functions allow you to refer to a column in a delimited data file and create a numeric or text list data type which you can use as parameters within other Expression functions. Should the values in your list need to change, an update to the data file will apply to the Expression itself, and also to any saved analyses in which that Expression has been used.

    Expression: File Functions

 

Added in Q3 21 - Expressions with open-ended parameters extended to allow new list from file parameters

  • Making the list from file functions widely usable, 26 existing functions with open-ended parameters have been extended to also allow list parameters. These are:

    Geo: GeoNearest; GeoDistMin; GeoNth; GeoDistNth; GeoPointInArea

    UKPostcode: UKPostcodeNearest; UKPostcodeDistMin; UKPostcodeNth; UKPostcodeDistNth

    String: AddStr; StrContains; StrContainsl; StrBegins; StrBeginsl; StrEnds; StrEndsl; StrShredContains

    Other: VarSelect; InList; Index; MaxIndex; MinIndex; BandUp; BandDown; Nth; NthIndex

  • Existing utility functions on lists (CountList, StrList) have also been extended to take Numeric or TextList parameters.

  • A new function – TextListContains({textList}, string, string…) has been created to search a text list for the specified values and return the index of the first match found.

 

Added in Q3 21 - Modelling Environment enhancements

  • For Behavioural Modelling you can now use the current date as the Scoring Date for model variables.

  • A number of usability improvements have been made - see Behaviour-based Modelling - an example scenario for an overview of these and a worked example.

 

Added in Q3 21 - the ability to update Segmentation reports using a scheduled task

 

Added in Q2 21 - Event-driven behavioural modelling extended to allow for detailed customer journey selections

  • The ability to carry out simple, event-driven behavioural modelling has been extended and you can now use the FastStats Modelling Environment to define detailed customer journey – or ‘event-driven’ - selections that allow you to better understand the differences between your customers in terms of their previous behaviour.

    Overview of Customer Journey Selections

 

Added in Q2 21 - Improved thematics in Maps

  • You can now shade, colour and examine geographic distribution in a Map using any of the thematic types available in the Cube and Tree tools.

    Bing Maps: Shaded Map

  • Having gained your insight, you can use the new selectable Map Legend options to highlight and create a drag-off selection of any bands of interest.

    Bing Maps: Selectable Thematic Map Legend

  • For multiple similar layers on a Map, you can now right-click a Map Layer tab and copy before then editing the settings as required.

    Bing Maps: Copy Map Layer

 

Added in Q2 21 - new 'User Defined' thematic option added for Cube, Tree and Map tools

  • A new - User Defined - thematic type is now available in the Cube, Tree and Map tools.

 

Added in Q2 21 - Segmentation enhancements

 

Added in Q2 21 - Improvements to the Create from Cube wizard

  • You can now right-click and edit a Virtual Variable created using the Create from Cube wizard

  • You can now right-click and view a copy of the Cube or Tree used to generate the Virtual Variable

    Create from Cube Wizard: Overview

 

Added in Q2 21 - new Expression functions added

  • Seven new Expressions have been added in the Q2 release.  This is to support development within Elapsed Time Segmentation and also to add consistency and power to DateTime analysis.

    • Age functions - AgeHours, AgeMinutes, AgeSeconds

    • Date functions - DateTimeStart, DateTimeEnd, FinancialDateTimeStart, FinancialDateTimeEnd

  • The following existing functions have been extended:

    • Case/And/Or expressions - now allow up to 65k parameters

    • MakeDateTime(int) function - alterered to also accept one integer parameter

 

Added in Q1 21 - new relative points and offsets provide more capabilities when working with DateTime variables

  • New functionality has been added to the DateRule dialog when working with DateTime variables. It is now possible to find information in almost real-time, e.g. Find me all the people who have booked in the last 4 hours...Select people who have booked a holiday so far today.

    Using Variables In Selections: DateTime Variables

 

Added in Q1 21 - Decision Tree enhancements

  • It is possible to create time-related Behavioural Features even when a table itself has no Date variable.

    Behaviour-based Modelling - Use of Tables without a Date Variable

  • The ability in the Profile tool to train and evaluate models on different dates is now also supported in the Decision Tree tool.

    Modelling Environment: How do I create a Behaviour-based Model?

 

Added in Q1 21 - Map drag-offs improved to accurately select people within the shapes drawn on the map