DSXchange

After running a column analysis and clicking View Details for a business name field, I went to the Format tab to see the formats identified. I saw only a single entry: "NA." I've seen this before when the values were blank, but viewing the Distinct Values panel on "NA" showed full business names like McDonalds Corp or Joe's Pool Bar. I'm wondering why IA is showing "NA" as a format for these values.

EDIT:
Data Class: Text
Properties: String
Format > General Format: NA

Just a guess here but perhaps... "North America".

Format of NA usually means NULL. It may also mean, rarely, that the data value is not appropriate for the defined data type.

Check that you drilled down on the correct format.

... or that.

What Ray said..

To add a bit more color commentary, in this context, 'NA' means 'Not Available'.

For the record, my guess was predicated on the OP being shocked at the value and thus assuming that it couldn't possibly mean "Not Applicable" which is of course the first assumption. Silly me.

ray.wurlod wrote:Check that you drilled down on the correct format. ...

I clicked on "NA" and in the Distinct Values panel, I saw the name values mentioned in OP. The Drill Down button does not lead to anywhere.

Copying the response I provided on developerWorks:

Have you run column analysis more than once? Did you 'update existing tables' when running the column analysis the second time? If you did, then the second run will 'update' the results of the first.
Otherwise, you should probably open a PMR because I would not expect those distinct values to show under that format.

I have run the column analysis probably twice and clicked Rebuild Inferences to see if it does anything. Any way to update the format and change it from "NA?"

Provided everything you have told us is the complete picture, then a patch will be needed. That involves notification through your official support provider.