Modelling and Transformation Orchestrator

Type	Pre-Set
Image	$DATAOPS_TRANSFORM_RUNNER_IMAGE

The Modelling and Transformation (MATE) Orchestrator is a pre-set orchestrator responsible for taking the models in the /dataops/modelling directory and executing them in a Snowflake Data Warehouse by first compiling them to SQL and then running the resultant SQL statements.

Multiple operations are possible within the Modelling and Transformation Engine (MATE). To trigger the selected operation within MATE, set the parameter TRANSFORM_ACTION to one of the supported values.

Usage

The Modelling and Transformation Orchestrator MUST always be used together with the DataOps Reference Project, providing, among others, the .modelling_and_transformation_base job.

pipelines/includes/local_includes/mate_jobs/build_all_models.yml

"Build all Models":
  extends: 
    - .modelling_and_transformation_base
    - .agent_tag
  stage: "Data Transformation"
  image: $DATAOPS_TRANSFORM_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    TRANSFORM_ACTION: RUN
  script: 
    - /dataops
   icon: ${TRANSFORM_ICON}

Supported Parameters

Parameter	Required/Default	Description
TRANSFORM_ACTION	REQUIRED	Must be one of RUN, COMPILE, SNAPSHOT, DOCS, TEST, OPERATION, RENDER, or SEED
TRANSFORM_MODEL_SELECTOR	Optional, defaults to blank	The scope of overall project to execute for. And the name of a model or a tag selector, e.g., 'person' or 'tag:curation'
TRANSFORM_OPERATION_NAME	REQUIRED, if TRANSFORM_ACTION is set to OPERATION	This is the macro/operation to be executed
TRANSFORM_OPERATION_ARGS	Optional, defaults to {}	The YAML string representing the macro arguments, e.g. {arg1: value1, arg2: 345}
FULL_REFRESH	Optional, defaults to blank	If set, it will force incremental models to be fully refreshed
TRANSFORM_PROJECT_PATH	REQUIRED, defaults to $CI_PROJECT_DIR/templates/modelling	The directory in the project structure where the base of the Modelling and Transformation project is located
TRANSFORM_FORCE_DEPS	REQUIRED, defaults to False	Whether to force a refresh of external transformation libraries before execution
DATABASE_PROFILE	REQUIRED, defaults to snowflake_operations	Which dbt profile to use
DATABASE_TARGET	REQUIRED, defaults to other	Which dbt profile target to use
TRANSFORM_DEBUG_TIMING	Optional, defaults to blank	When set, this parameter saves performance profiling information to a file timing.log in the TRANSFORM_PROJECT_PATH directory. To view the report use the tool snakevizby using the command snakeviz timing.log
TRANSFORM_PARTIAL_PARSE	Optional, defaults to blank	When set, this parameter disables partial parsing in the project. See the section on partial parsing for more information
TRANSFORM_EXTRA_PARAMS_BEFORE	Optional, defaults to blank	Additional command-line arguments to be added to the beginning of the transform orchestrator process
TRANSFORM_EXTRA_PARAMS_AFTER	Optional, defaults to blank	Additional command-line arguments to be added to the end of the transform orchestrator process
DATAOPS_REMOVE_RENDERED_TEMPLATES	Optional, defaults to blank	If set, the system will remove any templates found after processing. This allows files of the format <modelname>.template.yml to be used without creating extra models in the project.

The following details bear reference to and expand on several of these supported parameters:

Test Reporting

The test reporting feature is broken further down into the following categories:

• Enable Test Reporting
• Test States
• Test Report Control

1. Enable Test Reporting

The Transform Orchestrator generates a test report when running a TEST job. In order to surface this report into the DataOps platform, the job must include an artifact around it, as in lines 11 to 14 in the following example:

pipelines/includes/local_includes/mate_jobs/my_test_job.yml

"My Test Job":
  extends:
    - .modelling_and_transformation_base
    - .agent_tag
  stage: "Transformation Testing"
  image: $DATAOPS_TRANSFORM_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    TRANSFORM_ACTION: TEST
  script:
    - /dataops
  artifacts:
    when: always
    reports:
      junit: $CI_PROJECT_DIR/report.xml
  icon: ${TRANSFORM_ICON}

Once the job has run successfully, the test results will be added to the pipeline's Tests tab.

2. Test States

It is possible to categorize the test result or state test in one of the following ways:

State	Description	Example
PASS	The test executed and passed	The test is successful. The target fulfilled its specified condition, such as the correct number of rows present in a database table
FAIL	The test executed and failed	The test failed. The target did not meet its specified condition, such as the incorrect number of rows present in a table
ERROR	Error while executing a test	An error occurred while executing a test, such as an invalid column/table name specified in a table/dataset
SKIPPED	The test skipped due to an unfulfilled condition	The test did not execute because of an unfilled condition in a dataset/table

3. Test Report Control

The following parameters control the generation of test reports:

Parameter	Required/Optional	Description
JSON_PATH	Optional, defaults to $TRANSFORM_PROJECT_PATH/target/run_results.json	The path to the JSON result generated by the Transform Orchestrator
REPORT_NAME	Optional, defaults to report.xml	The generated report name
REPORT_DIR	Optional, defaults to $CI_PROJECT_DIR	The path where the generated report is saved. Note: This directory must already exist before these tests run
TREAT_TEST_ERRORS_AS_FAILED	Optional, defaults to FALSE	If enabled, it reports a test error as FAIL. See Test State for more information
TREAT_TEST_WARNS_AS_FAILED	Optional, defaults to FALSE	If enabled, it reports a test warning as FAIL. See Test State for more information

Partial Parse

Partial parsing can improve the performance characteristics of DataOps pipeline runs by limiting the number of files a pipeline must parse every time it runs. Here, "parsing" means reading files in a project from disk and capturing ref() and config() method calls. These method calls are used to determine the following:

• The shape of the dbt DAG (Direct Acyclic Graph)
• The supplied resource configurations

There is no need to re-parse these files if partial parsing is enabled and the files are unchanged between job requests. The Transform Orchestrator can use the parsed representation from the last job request. However, if a file has changed between invocations, then the orchestrator will re-parse the file and update the parsed node cache accordingly.

TRANSFORM_PARTIAL_PARSE is enabled by default. To disable this feature, set its value to 1.

To utilize partial parsing in a DataOps project, enable caching in the .modelling_and_transformation_base job by overriding the settings from the reference project base job by creating a definition in your project as follows:

pipelines/includes/local_includes/mate_jobs/base_job_modelling_and_transformation.yml

.modelling_and_transformation_base:
  image: $DATAOPS_TRANSFORM_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    DATAOPS_TEMPLATES_DIR: /tmp/local_config
    DATAOPS_SECONDARY_TEMPLATES_DIR: $CI_PROJECT_DIR/dataops/modelling
  cache:
    key: $CI_PIPELINE_ID
    paths:
      - dataops/modelling/target/
  icon: ${TRANSFORM_ICON}

Example Jobs

The examples below extend the base job .modelling_and_transformation_base to simplify the MATE job definition. See the reference project base job for all details about these examples .

For ease of reading, the examples below are summarized as follows:

1. Build All Models
2. Build a Directory of Models
3. Build Tagged Models
4. Test all Models
5. Build Models by Running a Macro
6. Run a Macro using the SOLE Admin Role

1. Build All Models

Build all the models in your project:

pipelines/includes/local_includes/mate_jobs/build_all_models.yml

"Build all Models":
  extends:
    - .modelling_and_transformation_base
    - .agent_tag
  stage: "Data Transformation"
  image: $DATAOPS_TRANSFORM_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    TRANSFORM_ACTION: RUN
  script:
    - /dataops
  icon: ${TRANSFORM_ICON}

2. Build a Directory of Models

Build all the models in the divisions/finance directory:

pipelines/includes/local_includes/mate_jobs/build_all_models.yml

"Build all Models":
  extends:
    - .modelling_and_transformation_base
    - .agent_tag
  stage: "Data Transformation"
  image: $DATAOPS_TRANSFORM_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    TRANSFORM_ACTION: RUN
    TRANSFORM_MODEL_SELECTOR: divisions/finance
  script:
    - /dataops
  icon: ${TRANSFORM_ICON}

3. Build Tagged Models

Build all the models tagged finance:

pipelines/includes/local_includes/mate_jobs/build_all_models.yml

"Build all Models":
  extends:
    - .modelling_and_transformation_base
    - .agent_tag
  stage: "Data Transformation"
  image: $DATAOPS_TRANSFORM_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    TRANSFORM_ACTION: RUN
    TRANSFORM_MODEL_SELECTOR: tag:finance
  script:
    - /dataops
  icon: ${TRANSFORM_ICON}

4. Test all Models

The TRANSFORM_MODEL_SELECTOR variable works the same way with TEST as it does with RUN.

pipelines/includes/local_includes/mate_jobs/test_all_models.yml

"Test all Models": 
  extends:
    - .modelling_and_transformation_base
    - .agent_tag
  stage: "Transformation Testing"
  image: $DATAOPS_TRANSFORM_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    TRANSFORM_ACTION: TEST
  script:
    - /dataops
  artifacts:
    when: always
    reports:
      junit: $CI_PROJECT_DIR/report.xml
  icon: ${TESTING_ICON}

5. Build Models by Running a Macro

Rather than building/testing all or part of the MATE models, a MATE job can also execute a standalone macro as its primary operation.

pipelines/includes/local_includes/mate_jobs/my_mate_job.yml

Run My Macro:
  extends:
    - .modelling_and_transformation_base
    - .agent_tag
  stage: "Additional Configuration"
  image: $DATAOPS_TRANSFORM_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    TRANSFORM_ACTION: OPERATION
    TRANSFORM_OPERATION_NAME: my_macro
  script:
    - /dataops
  icon: ${TRANSFORM_ICON}

6. Run a Macro using the SOLE Admin Role

Setting DATABASE_PROFILE and DATABASE_TARGET to the values snowflake_master and default, respectively (as per the example below) will execute the macro using the higher privileges that SOLE uses.

pipelines/includes/local_includes/mate_jobs/my_mate_job.yml

"Run My Macro as Admin":
  extends:
    - .modelling_and_transformation_base
    - .agent_tag
  stage: "Additional Configuration"
  image: $DATAOPS_TRANSFORM_RUNNER_IMAGE
  variables:
    TRANSFORM_ACTION: OPERATION
    TRANSFORM_OPERATION_NAME: my_macro
    DATABASE_PROFILE: snowflake_master
    DATABASE_TARGET: default
  script:
    - /dataops
  icon: ${TRANSFORM_ICON}

Project Resources

None

Host Dependencies (and Resources)

None