Customizing your Model Schema

There can be occasions when the fdl.ModelSchema object generated by fdl.Model.from_data infers a column's data type differently than the type intended by the model developer. In these cases you can modify the ModelSchema columns as needed prior to creating the model in Fiddler.

Let's walk through an example of how to do this.

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Suppose you've loaded in a dataset as a pandas DataFrame.

import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_csv('example_dataset.csv')

Below is an example of what is displayed upon inspection.

Tabular view of CSV data.

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You then create a fdl.Model object by inferring the column schema details from this DataFrame.

model = fdl.Model.from_data(
  name='my_model',
  project_id=PROJECT_ID,
  source=df,
)

Below is an example of what is displayed upon inspection of model.schema.

Raw output of the the ModelSchema object properties.

Upon inspection you may notice that a few things are off:

1. The value range of output_column is set to [0.01, 0.99], when it should really be [0.0, 1.0].

2. There are no possible values set for feature_3.

3. The data type of feature_3 is set to fdl.DataType.STRING, when it should really be fdl.DataType.CATEGORY.

What's the downside of not making sure that ranges and categories are reviewed and properly set? A production traffic event that encodes a number outside of the specified value range or a category value that is not in the set of valid category values will further down the line be flagged as a so-called Data Integrity violation. Depending on the alerting config, this may result in an alert. It's also worth noting however that an event which has a violation in its columns is still processed, and metrics that can be generated are still generated.

The below examples demonstrate how to address each of the issues noted:

Modifying a Column’s Value Range

Let's say we want to modify the range of output_column in the above fdl.Model object to be [0.0, 1.0].

You can do this by setting the min and max of the output_column column.

model.schema['output_column'].min = 0.0
model.schema['output_column'].max = 1.0

Modifying a Column’s Possible Values

Let's say we want to modify the possible values of feature_3 to be ['Yes', 'No'].

You can do this by setting the categories of the feature_3 column.

model.schema['feature_3'].categories = ['Yes', 'No']

Modifying a Column’s Data Type

Let's say we want to modify the data type of feature_3 to be fdl.DataType.CATEGORY.

You can do this by setting the data_type of the feature_3 column.

model.schema['feature_3'].data_type = fdl.DataType.CATEGORY

Note: when converting a column to a CATEGORY, you must also set the the list of unique possible values:

model.schema['feature_3'].categories = ['Yes', 'No']

Note: if converting a column from numeric (integer or float) to a category, you must also remove the min/max numeric range values that were automatically calculated from the sample data.

model.schema['output_column'].min = None
model.schema['output_column'].max = None

A complete example might look like this:

sample_data_df = pd.read_csv('some.csv')

# configure your ModelSpec here
# model_spec = ...

# configure your ModelTask here, or use NOT_SET
# model_task = ...

# Infer your model's schema from a sample of data
ml_model = fdl.Model.from_data(
  source=sample_data_df,
  name=MODEL_NAME,
  version=VERSION_NAME,
  project_id=project.id,
  spec=model_spec,
  task=model_task
)

# Make any adjustments to the inferred ModelSchema BEFORE creating the model
ml_model.schema['feature_3'].data_type = fdl.DataType.CATEGORY
ml_model.schema['feature_3'].categories = ['0', '1']

# The original datatype was inferred as an integer, but we preferred a category.
# Clear out the min and max values derived from the sample data as it does not apply to categories
ml_model.schema['output_column'].min = None
ml_model.schema['output_column'].max = None

# Now create the model with the inferred schema and your overrides
ml_model.create()

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