Motivation

Jira-data extracted via JqlTableauExtractService is currently being recorded into Tableau hyper-extracts. Unfortunately Tableau’s ability to deal properly with delta-driven updates is very limited (it can only work on datasets with timeUpdated field) which has encouraged Analytics engineers to implement these “grab-everything” kind of jobs which do NOT have any time-based filter - as a result these jobs keep growing in size and time every day for eternity and Jira might start showing signs of (unnecessary) overload.

It would be great if jira-extract is rerouted into a regular datamart into DB which offers many options for advanced delta-driven ETL-handling.

Step 1: Use Einstein to cook up your NormalizedUrl (aka jqlLink)

Step 2: Create a corresponding table in the DB

CREATE TABLE ANALYTICS.BQMS_EXPLODED_SAMPLES
  (
  KEY VARCHAR2 (100),
  SUMMARY VARCHAR2 (100),
  STATUS VARCHAR2 (50),
  REPORTER VARCHAR2 (60),
  PRODUCT_AND_PROCESS VARCHAR2 (100),
  SAMPLE_ID VARCHAR2 (50),
  UPDATED DATE
 )
/

CREATE INDEX ANALYTICS.BQMS_EXPLODED_SAMPLES_IDX1 ON BQMS_EXPLODED_SAMPLES(KEY ASC) 
/

GRANT ALL ON BQMS_EXPLODED_SAMPLES TO analyticsetl
/

Step 3: Register a new JqlTask in “/home/unix/analytics/TigerETL3/jqlTasks.conf” file

Step 4: Test your ETL in manual mode

/home/unix/analytics/TigerETL3/runEtlAgent.sh Task db=analyticsetl 'task=jqlTask(taskName=bqms_exploded_samples)' 'delta=MillisDelta.manual(2021-mar-21 00:00:00,2021-mar-22 00:00:00)'

RUN3 is variable you should have defined in your TigerEnvironment (if it gives you trouble you can just replace it with /home/unix/analytics/TigerETL3/runEtlAgent.sh)

Step 5: Prepare a delta-tracker

Run following INSERT-statement and commit. Make sure you plug your TASK_NAME in appropriate place. This tracker will drive your ETL in automatic delta-driven mode. Pick a timestamp from which you want your ETL to start off.

INSERT INTO cognos.etl_property VALUES('analytics.tiger.agents.JqlTask.YOUR_TASK_NAME_HERE','2000-Jan-01 00:00:00')

Step 6: Test your ETL in delta-driven mode

Step 7: Schedule a cronjob to reach full automation

In order to avoid interference with production, you might want to put it 1st in your private crontab

crontab -e

Have it running like this for couple of days and then move your cronjob to production crontab.

HAPPY END

Some thoughts:

So called “JQL-explosion” (splitting given field - say “SampleIDs -“ into items and combining them with the rest of fields for given ticket) seems convenient however it is very wasteful - all non-exploded fields will be duplicated as many times as #samples are found. This could possibly lead to performance problems.

Alternative normalized approach worth looking into is “having 2 ETL tasks”

1st ETL would take care of all non-exploded fields. There will be no explosion (resp. duplication) and “key” would naturally be a PrimaryKey
2nd ETL would include only 2 fields (key and Sample). This would produce a very lean table having all (key → Sample) links.

both ETLs could be placed in the same task in jqlTasks.conf file

These 2 tables would be nicely equipped with indices/PKs so JOINs should perform fast.

2.

Analytics

Jira Extraction API v2 (JQL-ETL Edition)